Chapter 9: Stone King

With a Top Grade Spirit Insect, he could immediately begin creating his own Top Grade Gu Formula, thereby refining the first Top Grade Gu Worm of his Gu Cultivator career.

One must know that there was not a single Top Grade Gu Worm in the entire Market, so possessing one held immense attraction for him.

This Stone King had thoroughly tempted him.

However, figuring out how to pick it up as a bargain required careful thought; buying it directly was definitely impossible, as he certainly did not have that many Spirit Stones.

At this moment, he truly recalled several bargain-hunting methods mentioned in novels, but they required extreme conditions to cooperate, such as buying waste material to find a bargain, which necessitated someone cooperating with him.

But could anyone really afford to buy this Stone King? His gaze suddenly shifted downward, and upon seeing the Stone King's price tag, his teeth immediately began to ache.

Good heavens, a ten million price tag!

Why don't they just go rob people instead? They must be crazy for Spirit Stones!

Even if he sold his blood and kidneys now, he still could not afford a ten million price tag.

"Shopkeeper, isn't your pricing unreasonable? Even if this Stone King truly yields a Top Grade Spirit Insect, isn't this selling price too high? One must know that Gu Refining has an extremely high failure rate!"

Long Xuan looked at a fat man standing beside the Stone King with his hands behind his back and asked with confusion.

This fat man was named Qian Duoduo, precisely the Shopkeeper responsible for this store.

Hearing the voice, the fat man's round face squeezed out a smile; he turned to look at this masked youth and laughed, "You're an amateur, aren't you?"

"Who told you that stones can only yield Top Grade Spirit Insects at most?"

"The principle of a Gu Worm's birth is that groups of insects devour each other; in the Gu World, the weak are food for the strong, and when a Spirit Insect that feeds on insects eats too many insects in a short time, it will naturally, by chance opportunity, transform into a Gu Worm."

"Although the quantity is small, naturally born Gu Worms are absolutely real."

"Let me teach you a principle known only to gambling stone masters: once a Gu Worm enters hibernation, the Stone Coat it forms is often very thick."

"This Stone King absolutely has the possibility of yielding a Gu Worm, and it could yield any sort of Heaven-defying Gu Worm."

"Once one cracks open one of those Heaven-defying Gu Species on the rankings, it could sell for hundreds of millions; my price of ten million is already very low."

After glancing at the Stone King once more, Long Xuan asked tentatively, "Then are there any events, such as completing some game where this Stone King is given away for free?"

Hearing Long Xuan's shocking statement, Qian Duoduo was stunned.

Play a game and give it away for free?

Does he think I'm an idiot? What brain-damaged person would play a game and give away a Stone King worth ten million? He really dares to imagine such a thing.

"Are you teasing me? Using an item worth ten million as a game prize—are you crazy or am I crazy!" Qian Duoduo shouted in a frenzy.

"Your idea is indeed a good method for gathering popularity and could be done, but the prize absolutely cannot be so extravagant."

"However, there truly is a way to take this Stone King away without using Spirit Stones, it's just that no one can achieve it," Qian Duoduo said suddenly with a mysterious air.

"Oh? I would love to hear the details." Upon hearing this, Long Xuan's eyes lit up, and he immediately became spirited.

"The abilities of Gu Worms can be deeply developed; you know this, right?" Qian Duoduo asked rhetorically first.

Long Xuan shook his head; he was a Scattered Cultivator with no master and no inheritance, no one taught him any knowledge, every family guarded their own treasures jealously so he could not even buy books, everything relied on his own exploration, and he did not understand many common-sense things in the Gu World.

Qian Duoduo showed an expression of 'just as I thought' and explained patiently, "The greatest difference between humans and Gu is that humans possess the highest wisdom among all living beings, while Gu Worms have the lowest wisdom yet possess the power to kill humans in seconds; the two can combine to form a complement."

"Human wisdom can allow Gu Worms to unleash even more terrifying power."

"For example, the Fireball Gu; the Fireball Gu's ability is to spit fire balls, but its intelligence is low, it does not understand flexibility, and only knows how to constantly spit fire balls."

"But humans are clever; humans can use divergent thinking to make the fire ball larger, turning it into the Great Fireball Technique, or to make the fire balls multiply, turning it into the Group Fireball Technique."

"In this intangible way, the Fireball Gu is equivalent to having mastered two additional abilities, causing its combat power to surge violently."

"Similar examples are numerous; many ordinary Gu Worms have become extremely terrifying existences in the hands of highly wise people, causing their value to skyrocket."

"One could say there are no useless Gu Worms, only useless Gu Cultivators; as long as your wisdom is high enough and your imagination big enough, the abilities of a Gu Worm will have infinite possibilities."

"The vast majority of Gu Worms possess only one ability, but a Gu Cultivator with strong enough imagination can develop a second ability for them, a third ability, or even a tenth ability."

"Do you see that bidding box over there?"

At this moment, Qian Duoduo pointed to a wooden box beside the Stone King.

"Some time ago, my young lady obtained an Upper Grade Natural System Gu Insect; in this world, besides Pupil System Gu Insects, the type of Gu most coveted by Gu Cultivators is the Natural System Gu Insect."

"Natural System Gu Insects have no physical form; they are an energy state that can immunize against the vast majority of attacks; it took my young lady considerable effort to catch it back then."

"It is a pity that this Light Light Gu Insect's intelligence is truly too low; its ability is to manipulate light, yet it only knows the Illumination Technique."

"Therefore, my young lady is broadly soliciting the wisdom of the crowd here; whoever has an idea can write their imagination on paper and throw it into the bidding box."

"Whoever develops an ability that satisfies my young lady can win the bid, become the Bid King, and take that Stone King away."

Qian Duoduo looked at Long Xuan with a beaming smile; he had spoken similar words to countless people, and he greatly enjoyed seeing the expression on others' faces when they thought manna was about to fall from the sky.

Upon hearing this, Long Xuan's heart moved, but he quickly calmed down and immediately questioned, "That's not right, is it? There is absolutely no standard for how powerful a developed ability must be to be considered a winning bid."

"If she says it wins, it wins; if she says it doesn't win, it doesn't win; wouldn't that make it solely her word, with the final right of interpretation belonging entirely to her?"

"What if someone's imagination moves her, but she is reluctant to give away the Stone King, so she goes against her conscience and says it didn't win the bid? What then?"

"In that case, wouldn't we all become suckers, getting exploited by her one by one? I believe I am not the only one with this kind of thinking."

"Hehe, you're an amateur again, aren't you?" Qian Duoduo wore a beaming expression, not angry at all, and explained once more, "You are mistaken in this statement; in fact, there is only one person in the entire world who has this kind of thinking, and that is you."

"Every Gu Cultivator under heaven knows that my Qian Clan members refine the Honesty Gu; the Honesty Gu has a very fatal weakness, which is that the host must act with honesty, otherwise they will suffer Backlash from the Honesty Gu."

"The least consequence would be leaving behind a Heart Demon, causing one's Cultivation to never advance for the rest of their life."

"However, for every disadvantage, there is an advantage."

"Precisely because the Honesty Gu has such a drawback, every Gu Cultivator under heaven trusts my Qian Clan Merchant Association, and when purchasing cultivation resources, they prioritize choosing my Qian Clan Merchant Association."

"When selling Heavy Treasures, they also necessarily prioritize considering my Qian Clan Merchant Association, because Qian Family Merchants who possess the Honesty Gu absolutely cannot harm guests by any means, not even through indirect violence."

"Therefore, my Qian Clan Merchant Association has grown larger and larger, becoming one of the largest Merchant Associations here."

"For the Qian Clan Merchant Association to reach its current scale, the constraint of the Honesty Gu undoubtedly contributed significantly."

"My Qian Clan has therefore established a Family Rule that all managers must refine the Honesty Gu."

"So your worry is completely unnecessary; my young lady absolutely cannot do anything against her conscience, moreover, a mere ten million is just small change in the eyes of my Qian Clan Merchant Association, making it even less worth risking."

"As long as the ability you develop for the Light Light Gu Insect is Heaven-defying enough, then this Stone King is yours; my Qian Clan Merchant Association keeps its word."

(End of Chapter)