Golden Cicada Wasn't Jinchanzi

Led by the young temp worker, Heavenly Insect arrived at a small room. Its furnishings offered considerable privacy, clearly out of consideration for the customers. The trading house deserved praise for that.

Inside, a refined middle-aged man sat at a counter, tea in his left hand and a book in his right, looking perfectly at ease.

Seeing Heavenly Insect enter, he quickly set aside his book and cupped his hands in greeting. "Welcome, honored customer. What would you like to sell? Please take it out so I can appraise it."

Heavenly Insect glanced around the small room, which was only a few dozen square meters at most. If he took out all his spirit materials, they would probably fill the entire place.

The experienced middle-aged man immediately understood his hesitation. His heart stirred as he realized that a major customer might have arrived, and he hurriedly said, "If you find this room too small, please follow me..."

Heavenly Insect nodded, then watched the man step on a section of floor beside him. An entrance leading underground opened in the floor.

"Hehe, our trading house has temporary storerooms prepared underground. You can place the items you wish to sell there, and I will appraise them one by one."

Now that's convenient. I didn't expect this trading house to be so well prepared.

Upon reaching the underground storage area, Heavenly Insect found that it was quite spacious. Other people came and went through the corridors, presumably sellers much like himself...

They entered a large storeroom, and the middle-aged man gestured for Heavenly Insect to take out his goods.

Rustle, clatter...

Heavenly Insect swept his palm across his Mustard Seed Bracelet, and an enormous quantity of spirit materials poured out. Within a few breaths, they had formed a small mountain.

The sight left the middle-aged man dumbfounded. When he recovered, the way he looked at Heavenly Insect had changed, filled with astonishment and respect...

After all, acquiring so many high-grade spirit materials took real ability!

Could this youthful-looking fellow actually be a formidable expert?

Unfortunately, as an ordinary man, he could not discern Heavenly Insect's strength. He could only guess.

After a cursory inspection, the middle-aged man found that the materials were indeed all high-grade, but there were too many varieties for him to identify quickly on his own. He apologized to Heavenly Insect, then went out to fetch help.

Before long, the door opened again, and more than a dozen people filed inside.

Leading them was an elderly man in brocade robes. The moment he entered, his gaze settled on Heavenly Insect, and his smile creased his aged face.

"Hehe, please forgive us for neglecting an honored guest. I am Lin Xiu, a steward of the Ling Tian Trading House."

"Greetings, Steward Lin," Heavenly Insect said with a nod.

"Judging by your attire, honored guest, are you an Insect Master?"

At that moment, Heavenly Insect had two Spirit Insect Pouches hanging on the left side of his waist and a Spirit Insect Flute on the right. Combined with the many materials harvested from spirit insects piled in the room, his identity was not difficult to guess.

"That's right."

Although Heavenly Insect maintained a faintly aloof expression throughout, the other man did not mind at all. He was in business, after all...

"Honored customer, our Ling Tian Trading House also carries some items an Insect Master might need. If you are interested, I can introduce them to you."

Heavenly Insect gave him a surprised look. He had not expected such a small regional trading house to actually stock a little of everything.

Insect Masters were exceedingly rare in the Great Thousand World. Some people might go their whole lives without ever meeting a genuine one.

"Tell me what worthwhile items you have. If I need them, I'll consider it," Heavenly Insect said, looking interested.

Steward Lin's smile widened at those words, and he hurriedly said, "I can see that your strength is exceptional, honored customer. Ordinary goods likely wouldn't catch your eye. As it happens, our trading house acquired a special Spirit Artifact a few days ago, the Heaven-Covering Net,

which is designed specifically for capturing large spirit beasts and spirit insects..." "The Heaven-Covering Net? That sounds like a useful tool..."

Although Heavenly Insect already knew several methods for capturing spirit insects, they all required advance preparation and were not particularly effective against large ones.

Having a Spirit Artifact dedicated to the task would save him considerable trouble.

"How much?" Heavenly Insect asked directly after a moment's consideration.

"As the Heaven-Covering Net is a high-grade Spirit Artifact, its price is five million spirit stones. However, such a substantial transaction with our trading house today naturally qualifies you as a VIP. This is the Ling Tian Trading House's VIP card. Cardholders receive ten percent off all purchases, so you need only pay four and a half million spirit stones for this high-grade Spirit Artifact, the Heaven-Covering Net!"

Heavenly Insect frowned. While the price was not excessive, it was certainly not cheap. As for all that talk about VIP status and discounts, he did not believe a word of it.

"Fine. I'll take the Heaven-Covering Net. We can settle everything together later."

"Not a problem!" Steward Lin was delighted.

Although the Heaven-Covering Net was a high-grade Spirit Artifact, its use was far too specialized. What ordinary person would spend so much money on something useless to them? It had therefore sat unsold in the warehouse all this time.

As for the price, Steward Lin had not lied. A high-grade Spirit Artifact cost five million at the trading house, and he had even offered a ten-percent discount...

"Besides that, I also need high-grade voidstone, jade marrow spirit liquid, yin-attribute spirit soil, moonlight sand..."

Heavenly Insect went on to list several dozen materials he needed.

Despite his age, Steward Lin had a remarkably sharp mind. He remembered every name Heavenly Insect listed without missing a single word, and he knew precisely whether the trading house had each item in stock, how much they had, its quality, and its price...

After listening to him smoothly recite all the details, Heavenly Insect could not help marveling that the man truly knew the trade that put food in his bowl!

In the end, besides the Heaven-Covering Net, Heavenly Insect purchased a high-grade Cosmic Bracelet, three pieces of high-grade voidstone, ten liters of jade marrow spirit liquid, and multiple portions of other materials such as moonlight sand.

When the final bill was tallied, he had spent over ten million spirit stones in one go!

Fortunately, Heavenly Insect had brought plenty of spirit materials this time. Altogether, they sold for nearly thirty million spirit stones, leaving him with over eighteen million after expenses.

At market rates, ten million spirit stones could be exchanged for a single drop of supreme spirit liquid. Heavenly Insect tried asking Steward Lin where he could make such an exchange...

But the answer left him deeply disappointed.

"Honored customer, it isn't that I am unwilling to help. There truly is nowhere in Ling Tian City that exchanges spirit stones for supreme spirit liquid." Steward Lin spread his hands helplessly.

"Supreme spirit liquid is incomparably precious in Ling Tian City. Only those lofty Supreme experts possess it, and they use it for their own cultivation. How could they lavishly offer it for exchange?"

This outcome was not unexpected. Ultimately, the place was too remote. There were few powerful experts, and supreme spirit liquid was rarer still. Things would probably be better in one of the continent's principal cities, such as Hundred Spirits City.

Unfortunately, with his current strength, he might not even reach Hundred Spirits City safely. Even if he managed to obtain supreme spirit liquid there, he probably would not be able to keep it.

"I'll have to find another way..."

After leaving the Ling Tian Trading House, Heavenly Insect had a golden VIP card in hand. Steward Lin had told him that he could use it to attend the annual Ling Tian Auction the day after tomorrow.

The auction catalog was also recorded in the VIP card. Heavenly Insect looked through it and found nothing that caught his eye.

Or rather, anything that did catch his eye was beyond his means. Those items were auctioned directly in supreme spirit liquid; spirit stones were not accepted at all!

That was depressing. He was a pauper with eighteen million in his pocket! The whole thing felt absurd...

He wandered around the city for another half day without finding anything suitable. As for his original hope of finding rare insect eggs or the like, he did not even hear a whisper of any. It showed just how rare Insect Masters truly were in the Great Thousand World.

Even more depressing, when Heavenly Insect noticed that it was getting late and tried to find lodging, he discovered that the overcrowded Ling Tian City had not a single place left for him to stay. He could only leave the city and sleep out in the wilderness...

Even with two lifetimes behind him, he was instantly left bewildered and speechless.

"Forget it. I didn't want to stay in this lousy place anyway!" After a few stubborn words to save face, Heavenly Insect left the city in a huff and headed straight for the valley where his bodyguard was.

This was a training journey, after all. Only eating in the wind and sleeping beneath the dew could temper one's character. He should stop thinking about luxury and decadence. Those were all temptations, "demons" seeking to shatter his resolve in the Dao!

After returning to the valley, Heavenly Insect immediately began refining the materials he had just obtained...

First came the High-Grade Spirit Insect Pouch.

Heavenly Insect now had the core material needed to make a Spirit Insect Pouch: high-grade voidstone. Together with the high-grade spirit beast hides he had kept and spirit beast essence to serve as an energy source, making a High-Grade Spirit Insect Pouch was not particularly troublesome. It would merely take some time.

When selling his spirit materials earlier, Heavenly Insect had not brought out precious items such as high-grade spirit beast essence. Otherwise, their total value would have been far above thirty million.

Heavenly Insect had kept these things not only because some were useful as materials, but also because others were intended for the Golden Origin Heavenly Silkworm...

"Hey, can you refine these high-grade spirit beast essences?" Heavenly Insect asked the Golden Origin Heavenly Silkworm directly through their mental connection.

"First of all, my name isn't Hey..."

"Stop, stop, stop! You're a bug, so quit playing with memes. Just tell me your name." Before the other could finish, Heavenly Insect rubbed his forehead and cut the reply short.

The Golden Origin Heavenly Silkworm was clearly baffled by his words and had no idea what he meant.

But upon hearing his final request, the silkworm answered directly, "Just call me Golden Cicada..."

"Golden Cicada... I think you could call yourself Jinchanzi!"

Heavenly Insect cautioned, "Let's get this straight first. If you can refine these spirit beast essences, we split the spiritual energy thirty-seventy..."

"Why do I only get seventy percent?!" the Golden Origin Heavenly Silkworm immediately protested.

Heavenly Insect grinned. "In your dreams! The seventy percent is mine. Even getting thirty depends on keeping your big brother happy..."

"What? Forget it! Most of the spiritual energy has to go to me after refinement. Don't forget that only my ability can directly devour these spirit beast essences!"

The Golden Origin Heavenly Silkworm shouted furiously through their mental connection.

I do the work and still don't get the lion's share? Where's the justice in that!

Besides, how could spirit beast essence be so easy to refine? It contained the consciousness left behind by the spirit beast itself. The slightest carelessness could deal a blow to one's soul. Otherwise, wouldn't everyone cultivate using spirit beast essence?

The Golden Origin Heavenly Silkworm was the larval form of the Six-Winged Golden Cicada. The ability inherited from the latter allowed the silkworm to devour and refine all substances, including spirit beast essence.

This was also an important reason why the entire Great Thousand World feared this species.

"Then have you forgotten that I'm the one providing all these spirit beast essences? And you're still living in my qi sea... So you're in no position to bargain. Understand?"

Heavenly Insect's tone was utterly blunt. His expression infuriated the Golden Origin Heavenly Silkworm so much that the silkworm wanted to break out of the cocoon early and bite him.

"But you promised to help me emerge from my cocoon quickly. Isn't that good for you too?" The Golden Origin Heavenly Silkworm's mental voice was full of grievance, like a little girl tricked by a wicked uncle, enough to stir anyone's pity.

Unfortunately, a little insect hiding in a cocoon clearly could not soften Heavenly Insect's heart.

Heavenly Insect raised an eyebrow. "I did promise, but only on the condition that it wouldn't hinder my growth, right? Think back. Didn't I include that condition..."

"..."

The Golden Origin Heavenly Silkworm suddenly wondered whether this fellow had duped the silkworm earlier.

Although endowed with intelligence equal to a human's, the Golden Origin Heavenly Silkworm was ultimately a shut-in who had never even left that underground space. How could the silkworm know the treacheries of the outside world?

Things had already reached this point. There was no way to back out now...

After a long silence, the Golden Origin Heavenly Silkworm finally spoke again. "We split the spiritual energy fifty-fifty, or I won't refine it..."

"Fine, fine. We'll split it the way you want, all right..."

"...!"

A smile appeared on Heavenly Insect's face, and he decided not to provoke the little insect any further. He took out a high-grade spirit beast essence and first brought it into his qi sea, using his own divine soul to suppress the beast soul within. Then he sent it directly before the Light Cocoon...

Streams of golden light extended from the Light Cocoon like tentacles, binding the spirit beast essence tightly and beginning to drag it inside.

A terrified beast's roar rang in Heavenly Insect's ears. He saw the phantom of a Blood-Colored Giant Wolf within the spirit beast essence struggling in terror.

Unfortunately, with only a remnant soul left, the wolf could do nothing. Bound by both Heavenly Insect and the Golden Origin Heavenly Silkworm, the wolf could only submit to being pulled into the Light Cocoon...

Gulp...

A sound like swallowing rang out. Then the Light Cocoon fell completely silent and began refining the immense spiritual energy contained within the high-grade spirit beast essence.