Chapter 8: Gambling on Stones

For the next while, no more customers arrived; seeing no one, Long Xuan packed up his stall.

Although seven Cockroach Gu remained unsold, today he had at least earned six Medium Grade Spirit Stones, equivalent to six hundred Lower Grade Spirit Stones; for a Scattered Cultivator, this was no small sum, and Long Xuan was quite content.

Clutching this huge fortune, he finally had the confidence to go treasure hunting.

Long Xuan could not wait to stride into the depths of the Market, seeking that piece of Black Iron and the Upper Grade Spirit Stone that had lingered in his thoughts.

Yet, after a month and a half had passed, how could one expect to stumble upon them again so conveniently?

Moreover, every Gu Cultivator was busy cultivating, busy venturing into the wilds to gather resources; it was impossible for them to set up stalls here every day, so whether one encountered them depended entirely on luck.

After searching in a circle with no results, Long Xuan could only give up in disappointment; it seemed he did not possess that Protagonist Halo.

But it mattered little; there were countless treasures, and which day did the Market not see an influx of new stallholders and new treasures? Treasures were endless.

If old treasures do not leave, new treasures will not arrive; yet the newly arrived treasures were not necessarily inferior to the old ones.

Adjusting his mindset, Long Xuan walked toward a shop with a surprisingly vast footprint.

Some time ago, a new Merchant Association had established itself here, dealing in the fossil trade; the shop's courtyard was piled with countless fossils.

In this world, the sources of Spirit Insects were many: some came from capture in the wilds, others from artificial breeding.

Spirit Medicine in the Medicine Garden would also breed insects, but only those born from high-grade Spirit Medicine held value for Gu Refining; insects born from the commonplace First Grade Spirit Medicine would be killed by Pest Extermination Powder.

Certain Spirit Beasts also harbored parasitic Spirit Insects within their bodies, including humans who might possess them innately, known as Innate Spirit Gu; such individuals were often heaven-defying geniuses with bizarre abilities.

Another portion of Spirit Insects originated from underground, such as earthworms, mole crickets, and ants...

Even within hard stones, there might be insects, and their quality could be quite high.

Every long cycle on Earth would enter an Ice Age; in fact, this world experienced the same, only far colder.

During this period, temperatures plummeted, cold waves invaded the entire world, chill devouring every corner; the entire surface was covered by heavy snow and glaciers, the whole world becoming a realm of ice, a vast expanse of Bai Xue, with biting cold winds.

Henceforth, the earth would welcome an Eternal Winter; for countless ages, the land would not see a single day of warmth.

During this time, surface plants were frozen to death on a massive scale, the earth would no longer produce food, and all living beings would either freeze or starve; the vitality of all things was severed, countless species went extinct during the Ice Age, and survivors were few and far between.

As for the Yinghuochong, they were among the lifeforms with the strongest survival capabilities; when the Ice Age arrived, insects worldwide, led by High Grade Spirit Insects, would crawl underground to enter hibernation, while their bodies became wrapped in a thick Stone Coat to isolate them from the erosion of cold air.

Insects entering hibernation would fall into a state of apparent death; all bodily functions would cease operation, allowing them to survive without food or drink, pausing energy consumption and freezing their Lifespan, enabling them to endure endless ages.

Only when disturbed by external factors would they awaken, slowly crawling out from within their Stone Coats; by the time they emerged, the world might have passed ten million or even ten billion years.

These stones containing ancient Spirit Insects were called Fossils by Gu Cultivators.

The Spirit Insects within Fossils dated back too far; rare species might appear, even varieties that had gone extinct countless years ago, making their value immense; discovering one could easily lead to sudden wealth.

However, it was impossible for all Spirit Insects to survive the Ice Age; most, even with their Stone Coats for protection against the cold, would freeze to death, and those capable of enduring that period were exceedingly few.

Therefore, most stones contained dead insects; over endless ages, they had truly become fossils, and stones containing live insects numbered less than one in a hundred.

Thus, powers controlling Fossil Mine Veins, to maximize profits, would put all fossils up for sale, shifting all risk onto others; whether one lost or gained depended entirely on personal luck.

From this, the Gu Stone Gambling Industry, booming across the world, arose accordingly.

One cut brings poverty, one cut brings wealth, one cut leaves you in hemp rags; this industry was all about playing with one's heartbeat.

Although most people lost money, the vast majority of Gu Cultivators still indulged tirelessly, deluding themselves that luck stood on their side, hoping to unearth a heaven-defying Insect Species and become overnight millionaires; this crowd was entirely composed of gamblers.

There were certain patterns to gambling on stones; one could estimate whether live insects existed inside based on the stone's texture, giving rise to many gambling stone masters.

But even the most skilled gambling stone master in this world merely possessed a few percentage points higher success rate than others; no one could completely determine what lay inside a stone, whether it was a dead insect or a live one.

But today, an exception entered this Gambling Stone Shop.

In Long Xuan's eyes, stones where he could not see progress naturally contained no insects, while stones where he could see progress naturally contained insects; moreover, the more decimal places a stone displayed, the better the goods.

The good materials in the entire Gambling Stone Shop were just like free gifts handed to him.

A slight smile curved Long Xuan's lips; still masked, he stepped inside with full confidence.

This Gambling Stone Shop was huge, divided into several large zones; fossils with good appearances and high insect emergence rates were concentrated in one area, commanding very high prices.

Fossils with poor appearances, more likely to contain dead insects, were concentrated in another area; this zone occupied the largest footprint, and its fossils were also much cheaper.

The crowd gathering in this area was the largest, for everyone shared the psychology of coveting small gains to snag a huge bargain.

They would pick up fossils, knocking and touching them, studying them carefully for half a day, only to finally suffer from indecision; thus, although there were many people here, transactions were not frequent.

The stone materials varied in size, some as small as a fist, others reaching four meters in height; the largest was placed in the center of the courtyard for exhibition, known as the Stone King, surrounded by a crowd who touched and felt this fossil, exclaiming in wonder.

Of course, the price of this Stone King was naturally the highest in the entire venue; no one dared to buy it, and few could afford it, so it remained there; although many onlookers gathered, not a single person made a move.

Long Xuan was also startled by this Stone King; just how afraid of death was this Spirit Insect, to form such a thick Stone Coat? With such a thick Stone Coat, surely it would freeze anyone else before freezing itself.

Presumably, the insect emergence rate of this Stone King would be extremely high.

Long Xuan subconsciously activated his Golden Finger ability; sure enough, the center of the Stone King displayed a progress of 【82.68732%】.

Good heavens, a full five digits after the decimal point; this represented that hidden inside might be a Top Grade Spirit Insect from the Mature Stage of over ten thousand years, and Top Grade Spirit Insects were essential materials for refining Top-Grade Gu Worms.

Long Xuan's eyes instantly brightened, his heart pounding wildly.

(End of Chapter)