Long Xuan slowly put down the "Eternal Life Sutra," lost in thought. Isn't the purpose of cultivation to achieve immortality? If the "Eternal Life Sutra" can really grant him a lifespan of tens of millions of years, it would be equivalent to immortality. He would have achieved the ultimate goal of cultivation and could relax.
Of course, this was just a random thought. Even if an ordinary person without martial arts could achieve immortality, they might not live long. After all, this is a world where martial arts are revered. The top priority should be to refine his first Gu.
As an entomologist in his previous life, Long Xuan had a keen sense for the fusion of Gu worms. In his opinion, the fusion of genes isn't necessarily the best combination of the strongest. For example, the strongest tiger and lion on Earth might produce a lion-tiger hybrid with very weak overall abilities, low immunity, and extreme difficulty in surviving.
Although ants are weak, fusing their genes with certain other creatures could yield terrifying results.
Due to his professional background and the freedom to conduct various taboo experiments without cost, creating a Gu recipe wasn't a difficult task for him. However, considering his limited funds as a novice, refining a heaven-defying Gu worm right away was an unaffordable luxury.
Therefore, the first Gu recipe he created was extremely cheap. But low cost doesn't necessarily mean weak. His philosophy was that the combination of the strong might not always result in something stronger. Sometimes, using the genes of weak insects could produce very terrifying effects.
In his previous life, centipedes, venomous snakes, scorpions, spiders, and toads weren't insects, but Miaojiang Gu Masters classified these five creatures as insects and used them to make Gu. The same applied in this world. These five creatures were not only classified as insects but were also the five strongest insect species, known as the Five Poisons.
Most Gu practitioners used the Five Poisons to make Gu because they were the strongest among insects. Long Xuan had never heard of anyone using flies or caterpillars to make Gu. It wasn't because flies and caterpillars weren't insects but because they were too weak.
The reason why Long Xuan's Gu recipe was cheap was that it used very unpopular insects. For instance, cockroaches might be weak in combat, but people in this world probably didn't know about their indestructible nature. Cockroaches could withstand hundreds of times their body weight without injury, survive months without food or water, regenerate broken limbs, and even survive for days after being decapitated.
In his previous life, after an atomic bomb exploded, all creatures died except cockroaches. Their resilience was simply outrageous. Although cockroaches weren't strong fighters, the internal Gu setting of this world allowed for symbiosis. By parasitizing the Gu worm in the body and feeding it with blood and spiritual power, the Gu worm would feed back to the host with magical power, forming a mutually beneficial relationship.
Could humans obtain the cockroach's immortal power through this method? In a world with spiritual power, all spiritual insects have spiritual power. Spiritual insect cockroaches in this world were far more terrifying than those in his previous life. Their attributes were enhanced, and refining them into Gu would further enhance these attributes.
Immortality in this magical world might not be a fantasy. Long Xuan's first goal in this world was to study how to make humans immortal.
Considering that the abilities born from the mutual devouring of various spiritual insects were uncontrollable and unpredictable, Long Xuan created his own Gu recipe using only various types of cockroaches. This way, the immortal genes of different types could be perfectly integrated, and he wouldn't unintentionally birth other abilities.
Now everything was ready except for the final step. After a year of accumulation, he had gathered a lot of spiritual medicines. As long as he sold them, he could get the funds needed to refine his first Gu.
Long Xuan stood up excitedly, walked into the medicine garden, pulled out all the spiritual medicines with 100% maturity, put them into his storage bag, replanted new ones, and rushed out.
He planned to take the spiritual medicines to the nearby Jixi Market to sell. Today, he would attempt to refine Gu, and he couldn't wait.
It's worth mentioning that killing and robbing were prohibited in and around Jixi Market. This rule ensured the market's prosperity, as no one would dare to show off their treasures otherwise. As long as the traded materials weren't too extraordinary, Long Xuan didn't have to worry about being robbed. This novice protection allowed him to develop safely for a while.
Dashi Village was very close to the market, and Long Xuan could get there in half an hour. Although the market town was close, this was his first visit. As soon as he entered, he was immediately shocked by the lively scene.
There were many casual cultivators sitting on the ground, setting up stalls with all kinds of treasures such as elixirs, spiritual insects, spiritual medicines, exercises, spiritual tools, minerals, and animal materials. The stall owners argued until their faces turned red, and the noise of bargaining was everywhere.
In a region full of Gu cultivators, Gu insects were naturally the most traded items. Long Xuan saw all kinds of Gu insects, which was eye-opening. Many casual cultivators had Gu recipes but never sold them. They only refined Gu insects and put them up for sale for a long time.
Gu cultivators cherished their recipes, fearing that once they spread, others would find ways to counter them. More people refining the same Gu would also create competition.
With his current wealth, Long Xuan could buy an ordinary Gu insect, but he quickly abandoned the idea. Buying second-hand Gu insects was risky as they could be tampered with. The Gu insects he refined himself would be the most loyal and compatible. The more owners a Gu insect had, the more complicated its thoughts, making it more likely to backfire.
For his own safety, he decided to create his own recipe and make his own Gu.
Long Xuan first found a chamber of commerce, sold all his spiritual medicines, and earned 307 low-grade spirit stones. He then spent a lot of money on materials for his recipe and ten Gu cups for making Gu.
He didn't expect the price of first-grade spiritual medicines to be so low. A full storage bag of spiritual medicines sold for only 307 low-grade spirit stones. After asking around, he learned that low-grade spiritual medicines could be planted on a large scale without environmental restrictions. Hiring a group of mortals could yield as much as desired. First-grade spiritual medicines were so common that they were almost worthless.
Realizing this, Long Xuan felt that even if he had secretly taken all the spiritual medicines from the garden, Old Long probably wouldn't have minded. Accepting this reality, Long Xuan used his remaining ten spirit stones to explore the bustling market, wondering what he could buy with them.
Casual cultivators were generally poor, and there was little of particular value on the stalls. However, casual cultivators liked to venture deep into the mountains and forests, picking up a variety of things. While there might not be many valuable items, there were still some treasures.
Another characteristic of casual cultivators was their limited knowledge. They often sold valuable treasures at low prices, creating opportunities for others to find bargains. This attracted large clan Gu cultivators who liked to hunt for bargains, making this place a paradise for treasure hunters. Some people got rich here, while others lost everything.
At this moment, Long Xuan discovered another function of his golden finger. He could see the progress of all the treasures on the stalls. This ability allowed him to judge many things. For example, if there was no progress on some items, they were probably fake, such as false exercises and various defective recipes.
There was also black iron with progress infinitely close to 100%. Long Xuan suspected that once the progress of black iron reached 100%, it would become black iron essence, increasing its value by more than a hundred times. Unfortunately, he couldn't even afford ordinary black iron now, so he had to give up on this idea.
The same applied to spirit stones. Once the progress of high-grade spirit stones approached 100%, they could transform into top-grade spirit stones, which were priceless treasures of immense value.
As for living things, some spiritual insects had progress of 15.0%, while others had 25.6800%, with long strings of numbers after the decimal point. This indicated that the longer the maturity period of a spiritual insect, the more decimal points were used to improve accuracy. Spotting a spiritual insect with many decimal places was crucial as it indicated a long lifespan and extraordinary potential. The lifespan and strength of a spiritual insect Gu were positively correlated.
This ability allowed Long Xuan to find many opportunities for bargains. Although he was a novice and didn't recognize many treasures, no one here could compare to him in finding hidden gems.