Chapter 15: The Drawbacks of the Golden Finger

At this moment, Long Xuan finally realized that Gu Refining need not adhere to old conventions, and the materials did not have to be insects; he could include some materials that ordinary people would never dare to imagine.

In this way, the upper limit of the Gu Path became much greater.

Inspired by the Ox Eye, Long Xuan soon thought of the Eagle Eye, which also had the ability to magnify objects, even more sharply, allowing one to see prey ten kilometers away as if it were nearby.

If he added the Eagle Eye to the Gu Formula, he might even gain the ability of the Thousand-Mile Eye.

After he wrote the two characters for "Eagle Eye," the Progress on the Gu Formula changed again instead of disappearing, proving that he had succeeded once more...

Next came the long process of grinding out the Liver Gu Formula; every day, Long Xuan either hid at home to grind on the formula or went to the Far West Market to collect the materials listed on it, while also picking up bargains and frantically amassing wealth.

He had already realized that the cost of the second Gu Worm would likely be an astronomical figure.

This brought up one of the drawbacks of the Golden Finger.

It must be known that the same material is often used in many different Gu Formulas.

So how did the Golden Finger identify which Gu Formula the Incomplete Formula written by Long Xuan belonged to?

Therefore, the Golden Finger's judgment relied on the Gu Formula requiring the most materials.

It must be known that the number of materials recorded in each Gu Formula differs; some have few, while others have many, with the fewest requiring nine mature Gu and the most requiring tens of thousands.

In this world, the quality of a Gu Worm is determined by the quality of the Spirit Insect, so the strength of the ability a Gu Worm can carry is entirely determined by the number of Spirit Insects.

The strength of a Gu Worm depends on its quality, and for the same quality, it depends on the quantity of materials.

However, this is not absolute; a Gu Worm with more materials does not necessarily mean it is stronger than one with fewer materials, and such situations occur frequently.

Because the Heavenly Dao's criteria for judging strength differ from those of humans; for instance, the Illumination Technique of the Light Light Gu Insect seems weak in the eyes of the Heavenly Dao, but after someone developed it, was it still weak?

Moreover, Gu Worms are divided into practical and impractical types, as well as combat and non-combat types.

There are numerous examples of Gu Worms refined using tens of thousands of materials that carry impractical supportive abilities and possess no combat power whatsoever.

In ancient times, when Heaven and Earth Spiritual Power was abundant and Spirit Insects were everywhere, people could research Gu Formulas without worrying about consumption; the Gu Formulas from that period were each longer than the last, endlessly long.

Legend has it that some Gu Formulas were entire books, with materials numbering in the hundreds of millions, so many that no Gu Refining vessel could hold them.

When refining such Gu, one could only use mountain ranges and basins as vessels, or even use Heaven and Earth as the vessel.

When the Gu was completed, Heaven and Earth would suddenly change, Heavenly Phenomena would descend, triggering extremely terrifying scenes.

These Gu Worms with lengthy formulas all possessed the power to destroy heaven and earth, and some could even carry Space Power and Time Power.

Therefore, if the Golden Finger judged based on the maximum number of materials, the number of materials in the Gu Formula created by Long Xuan could be anything; it was even possible for the Progress of the Gu Formula to appear with seven digits after the decimal point.

But humans generally share a psychological trait: greed.

Even knowing clearly that a long Gu Formula would consume vast amounts of time and resources, and that the refined Gu Worm might not be stronger than one with fewer materials.

Yet, in pursuit of perfection, Long Xuan gritted his teeth and persisted.

At this moment, he dared not imagine how many Spirit Stones this seemingly somewhat long Gu Formula would cost him.

Fortunately, the reputation of the Cockroach Gu he had researched had already begun to spread.

When Li Er Niu was dueling his arch-enemy, he successfully killed his foe by trading injury for injury.

At the same time, his heart was pierced by the enemy's final strike before death, yet Li Er Niu simply did not die.

This event caused a sensation at the time, and the Cockroach Gu became thoroughly famous because of this battle, exploding in popularity.

The Cockroach Gu became widely known overnight; from then on, its sales channels were completely opened, with people coming to trade in an endless stream every day.

If Long Xuan had not feared that others would discover the secret of his one-hundred-percent success rate in Gu Refining, he would have really wanted to sell unlimited quantities every day.

By selling Cockroach Gu, occasionally picking up bargains at street stalls, and occasionally finding deals at the Gambling Stone Shop, he earned a fortune, which was enough to support the consumption of his second Gu Formula.

Of course, all various transactions were completed by him in disguise; every time he traded, he covered his face and pretended to be a different Identity.

Although the Market had rules prohibiting killing to seize treasures, and one would not be targeted as long as they did not carry a Heavy Treasure, his cautious nature still led him to decide to play it safe.

Time flowed, and unknowingly two years had passed; he was still the same, at the Spirit Gathering Early Stage, with his Cultivation showing little growth, leaving him completely numb.

Fortunately, he possessed longevity; if Aptitude was insufficient, time could make up for it.

Long Xuan believed he would sooner or later stand at the peak of the world, and he was quite optimistic about his future.

Speaking of longevity, although his Cultivation Aptitude was shockingly poor, he was a genius when practicing Health Preservation Methods.

In just two short years, he broke through two layers, cultivating the Longevity Sutra to the twelfth layer, causing his Lifespan to surge by two hundred years.

Therefore, even though two years had passed, he still looked like a youth under eighteen, frighteningly young.

With the total Lifespan increased, the time to mature naturally had to be extended proportionally, which troubled him greatly.

As for the research on the New Gu, since he had not spent time deducing the Longevity Sutra, after grinding for two years, he had successfully completed it.

Although he had long mentally prepared himself for the possibility that the Gu Formula materials might be numerous, when the formula with over three thousand materials emerged, it still startled him.

It must be known that other Scattered Cultivators refining Gu use only a few dozen materials, or at most a few hundred; his several thousand types of materials were simply shockingly numerous.

A Gu Formula with several thousand types of materials included many expensive Upper Grade Spirit Insects; the cost of refining the Gu alone was already an astronomical figure.

A rough estimate placed it at several million Spirit Stones, a price simply absurdly high.

Over these years, he had frequently visited the Market, using the Golden Finger to unearth countless treasures in the Market and selling countless Cockroach Gu, only managing to scrape together the Spirit Stones needed for one set of materials through piecemeal efforts.

However, this Gu Refining session had essentially drained all his assets, returning him overnight to square one.

Long Xuan felt heartbroken to death.

Having spent such a huge sum and consumed such a long time, if the completed Gu did not carry a good Illusion Technique, his mindset would surely collapse.

(End of Chapter)