Chapter 9: Chapter 9: The Stone King

With an exceptional spirit insect, he could immediately start creating a peak-grade Gu recipe, thus refining the first peak-grade Gu insect in his Gu cultivation career.

It must be known that there were no peak-grade Gu insects in the entire market. Owning a peak-grade Gu insect was indeed a tremendous attraction for him.

This Stone King had thoroughly tempted him.

However, figuring out how to acquire it through a bargain required careful consideration. Direct purchase was out of the question, as he certainly didn't have enough spirit stones.

At this moment, he remembered several methods of acquiring bargains mentioned in novels, but they required extreme conditions to cooperate, such as buying scrap materials for bargains, which needed someone to cooperate with him.

But could anyone really afford this Stone King? His gaze suddenly shifted downward, and when he saw the price tag on the Stone King, he felt a bit speechless.

Good heavens, ten million!

Why don’t they just rob people? Have they gone mad with their desire for spirit stones?

Even if he sold his blood and kidneys, he couldn’t afford the ten-million price tag.

“Shopkeeper, isn't your pricing unreasonable? Even if this Stone King can indeed produce a peak-grade spirit insect, isn’t the price too high? You must know that refining Gu has a very high failure rate!”

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

This fat man was Qian Duoduo, the shopkeeper responsible for this store.

Hearing this, the fat man's round face squeezed out a smile. He turned to look at the masked young man and laughed, “Are you an outsider?”

“Who told you that the highest you can get from the stone is a peak-grade spirit insect?”

“The birth principle of Gu insects is that insects devour each other. In the insect world, it's survival of the fittest. Spirit insects that feed on other insects can naturally, by chance, turn into Gu insects after consuming a lot in a short time.”

“Although rare, naturally born Gu insects absolutely exist.”

“I’ll teach you a principle only known by stone gambling masters: when a Gu insect enters hibernation, the stone shell it forms is often very thick.”

“This Stone King definitely has the potential to produce Gu insects, and there’s even a chance for it to produce some heaven-defying Gu insects.”

“If it produces one of those heaven-defying Gu species on the ranking list, it could sell for billions. My ten-million price tag is already very low.”

After another glance at the Stone King, Long Xuan tentatively asked, “Is there any activity, like completing a game to get this Stone King for free?”

Qian Duoduo was stunned by Long Xuan's statement.

Giving it away for a game?

Does he think he's a fool? Who would give away a ten-million-valued Stone King for a game? He really dared to think.

“Are you kidding me? Taking a ten-million-worth item as a game prize, are you crazy, or am I crazy?” Qian Duoduo shouted frantically.

“Your idea is a good way to gather popularity, but the prize cannot be so extravagant.”

“However, there is indeed a way to take this Stone King without spirit stones, though no one can achieve it,” Qian Duoduo suddenly said mysteriously.

“Oh? I’d like to hear more,” Long Xuan's eyes lit up, becoming spirited.

“The abilities of Gu insects can be deeply developed, you know that, right?” Qian Duoduo first asked.

Long Xuan shook his head. He was a small rogue cultivator without any master or inheritance. No one taught him any knowledge, and various families kept their treasures secret, not even selling books. He had to explore everything on his own and did not understand many common things in the Gu world.

Qian Duoduo showed an expression of understanding and patiently explained, “The biggest difference between humans and Gu insects is that humans have the highest wisdom among all beings, while Gu insects have the lowest intelligence but possess the power to kill humans instantly. The two can complement each other.”

“Human wisdom can make Gu insects exert even more terrifying power.”

“For example, the Fireball Gu, which has the ability to spit fireballs, but it has low intelligence and doesn’t understand flexibility, only spitting fireballs repeatedly.”

“But humans are intelligent; humans can think divergently, making the fireball bigger, turning it into a Great Fireball Technique, or making more fireballs, turning it into a multi-Fireball Technique.”

“In this way, the Fireball Gu essentially masters two more abilities, greatly increasing its combat power.”

“There are many similar examples. Many ordinary Gu insects become terrifying existences in the hands of highly intelligent people, with their value skyrocketing.”

“It can be said that there are no useless Gu insects, only useless Gu cultivators. As long as your wisdom is high enough and your imagination broad enough, the abilities of Gu insects will have unlimited possibilities.”

“Most Gu insects have only one ability, but a Gu cultivator with a strong enough imagination can develop a second, third, or even tenth ability for them.”

“See that bidding box over there?”

Qian Duoduo pointed to a wooden box beside the Stone King.

“My young mistress recently acquired a high-grade natural-type Gu insect. Apart from the eye-type Gu insects, the natural-type Gu insects are the most sought after by Gu cultivators in this world.”

“Natural-type Gu insects have no physical form and are in an energy state, capable of being immune to most attacks. My young mistress spent quite some effort to capture it.”

“Unfortunately, this Light Gu insect is extremely low in intelligence and only knows the Illumination Technique.”

“Therefore, my young mistress is collecting everyone’s wisdom here. Anyone with an idea can write their thoughts on a piece of paper and put it in the bidding box.”

“Anyone whose developed ability satisfies my young mistress will win the bid and take away the Stone King.”

Qian Duoduo smiled at Long Xuan. He had said similar words to countless people and enjoyed seeing their expressions of thinking they were about to receive a windfall.

Upon hearing this, Long Xuan's heart moved, but he quickly calmed down and hurriedly questioned, “That’s not right. There’s no standard for what counts as a powerful enough ability to win the bid.”

“She says it wins if it wins, and it doesn’t if it doesn’t. Isn’t this just her word alone, with final interpretation rights belonging to her?”

“What if someone’s idea impresses her, but she can’t bear to give away the Stone King and dishonestly says it didn’t win? Doesn’t this mean we all become suckers, getting swindled one by one? I believe I’m not the only one with this thought.”

“Haha, you’re an outsider, aren’t you?” Qian Duoduo still wore a smiling expression and wasn’t angry at all. He explained again, “You’re wrong; you’re the only one in the world with this thought.”

“All Gu cultivators know that our Qian clan members cultivate the Integrity Gu. The Integrity Gu has a very deadly weakness: the host must act with honesty and integrity; otherwise, they will be counterattacked by the Integrity Gu.”

“The least severe consequence is leaving a heart demon, preventing any progress in cultivation for life.”

“However, there’s a benefit with this weakness.”

“Because of this weakness, all Gu cultivators trust our Qian Clan’s merchants, preferring to buy cultivation resources from us first.”

“When selling valuable treasures, they also prefer our Qian Clan’s merchants, because a Qian Clan merchant with the Integrity Gu can’t harm customers by any means, not even indirectly.”

“This is why our Qian Clan’s business has grown so large, becoming one of the biggest merchant groups here.”

“The Integrity Gu’s constraint is instrumental to the Qian Clan’s current size.”

“Our Qian Clan has established a rule that all managers must cultivate the Integrity Gu.”

“So your worries are completely unnecessary. My young mistress would never do anything against her conscience, especially for a mere ten million, which is just a small amount to the Qian Clan. It’s not worth the risk.”

“If you can develop a sufficiently heaven-defying ability for the Light Gu insect, the Stone King will be yours. Our Qian Clan always keeps its word.”