Chapter 11

Looking at the poor little insect in his palm, Zhang Nuo gave a bitter smile; the things this little fellow wanted to eat were very special—they were actually metal!

Judging from the information transmitted by the Mysterious Heaven Gold-Devouring Insect, the food it ate was different from the insects of the mortal world; it only needed to eat metal to survive. However, Zhang Nuo had absolutely no metal here to provide for it, which was a problem that was not easy to solve.

With no other choice, Zhang Nuo tucked the Mysterious Heaven Gold-Devouring Insect into his bosom, then stepped out of the Stone Chamber; just as he exited the door, he happened to run into Ye Linger.

Ye Linger swept her beautiful eyes over Zhang Nuo, a flash of suspicion in her heart; ever since this Junior Brother had gone to the market with the Eldest Senior Brother, he had been hiding in the Stone Chamber and refusing to come out, so why would he suddenly come out today?

"Junior Brother, where are you going?"

Ye Linger walked quickly to Zhang Nuo's side; looking at the elfin-like Senior Sister walking toward him, Zhang Nuo was terrified that she would discover the matter of the Mysterious Heaven Gold-Devouring Insect, and he said with an extremely unnatural expression:

"Nothing, just going out for a walk!"

After saying this, he ran toward the outside of the Cave Abode without even looking back; Ye Linger stood blankly on the spot, unable to speak for a long time. Zhang Nuo had always been very respectful toward the three of them, never lacking in etiquette, yet today he was so flustered!

Zhang Nuo left the Cave Abode and ran straight toward the mountains; he had only just cultivated to the Third Layer of the Qi Refining Stage and could not fly using Dharma Treasures, so his transportation basically relied on walking.

After running for a while, feeling that he was already more than five miles away from Lin Fan's Cave Abode, Zhang Nuo finally stopped, took the Mysterious Heaven Gold-Devouring Insect out from his bosom, and whispered:

"I don't know where there might be metal you like to eat, so I've brought you out of the cave; you can look for it yourself outside!"

The golden beetle seemed to understand Zhang Nuo's words, joyfully flapping its wings, and its body immediately soared into the air, continuing to fly toward the depths of the great mountain. Zhang Nuo dared not let it fly off alone, so he could only follow closely behind; fortunately, the Mysterious Heaven Gold-Devouring Insect did not fly too fast, and he could keep up just by walking.

After walking another dozen miles into the mountain, the Mysterious Heaven Gold-Devouring Insect suddenly stopped; in front of it was a stone half a yard in size.

Zhang Nuo also walked to the front of the stone at this time and examined it carefully; the stone was not very special, being grayish-black with a pitted surface.

Just as he was scrutinizing this stone, the Mysterious Heaven Gold-Devouring Insect finally started; as if it had discovered some delicacy, it landed on the stone and began to gnaw at it in large mouthfuls.

"Crunch! Crunch!"

The pair of mandibles in the golden beetle's mouth seemed as if they could destroy anything; one bite into the stone was like biting into a steamed bun, and in the blink of an eye, nearly half of the stone had already entered the belly of the Mysterious Heaven Gold-Devouring Insect.

Zhang Nuo watched, dumbfounded; the information the insect transmitted to him said it ate metal, so why was it even eating stone? If he had known this earlier, wasn't the Stone Chamber he lived in full of stone? Why had he run such a long way?

But thinking about it again, Zhang Nuo felt that this line of thought was wrong; he had encountered countless stones on the road just now, but the Mysterious Heaven Gold-Devouring Insect hadn't even glanced at them, only becoming interested when it encountered this particular stone.

"Could it be that the stone it eats is not just ordinary stone?"

Muttering softly to himself, Zhang Nuo walked over slowly; by this time, the stone had been gnawed into a mess by the Mysterious Heaven Gold-Devouring Insect, and inside the stone, tiny specks of light were radiating!

Seeing these lights, a flash of inspiration suddenly crossed Zhang Nuo's mind! So this stone really wasn't an ordinary stone; it was an ore containing metallic elements! Zhang Nuo was happy now; if the Mysterious Heaven Gold-Devouring Insect could also eat metal ore, then it would be much easier. In the vast Divine Sword Mountain Range, there were many such metal ores, enough for the beetle to eat, and this was much less trouble than directly finding metal for it to eat.

However, one thing Zhang Nuo still couldn't understand was that even after eating so much metal ore, the Mysterious Heaven Gold-Devouring Insect's body size hadn't changed at all; it was still the same size as a thumb. He truly didn't know where it had put the ore it had eaten.

In a short while, the entire stone had been eaten into the beetle's belly; it gently vibrated its wings, looking very satisfied, and flew back into Zhang Nuo's bosom.

Waking up from his astonishment, Zhang Nuo thought about what had just happened while walking back. After eating so much stone, the insect hadn't changed at all, not even increasing in weight; this was too bizarre. But what made him look forward to it even more was: what would happen to the Mysterious Heaven Gold-Devouring Insect after eating the stone?

Returning to the Cave Abode full of hope, Zhang Nuo hid in his Stone Chamber again and began to cultivate in seclusion. During this time, because there was no Linger Insect in his body sucking his essence and blood, his cultivation speed was much faster, even faster than the speed at which he had taken Pills before. He had to win back the cultivation he had lost and had to win back some face for his master.

Three days later, when Zhang Nuo released the Mysterious Heaven Gold-Devouring Insect again, he saw that it still had no changes at all, just as it had been before.

After pondering bitterly for a long time, he still couldn't figure it out. It seemed this insect only knew how to eat things like metal and had no other use, but why were so many cultivators fighting and scrambling to obtain it?