"My friend, do you plan to cut the stone on the spot, or take it away directly? I can do it for you for free," Qian Duoduo said, approaching Long Xuan.
"Let's cut the stone on the spot. I don't have that much storage space," Long Xuan replied casually, touching the huge Stone King.
Hearing this, the entire audience suddenly became excited. Their eyes lit up, and they all gathered around immediately. Watching someone cut stones was their greatest pleasure, especially when it was a rare Stone King, making everyone eager to see the outcome. Those who were selecting stones put down the fossils in their hands and ran over excitedly. In a blink of an eye, a large group of people gathered.
Seeing that Long Xuan planned to cut the Stone King here, Qian Duoduo showed joy. Cutting the stone here would not only satisfy his curiosity but also gather popularity and stimulate consumption. If a valuable insect was found, he could get it as soon as possible, killing two birds with one stone.
He took out a big red axe from his storage bag, turned around, and looked at Long Xuan with a smile, saying, "This spiritual axe is a top-grade spiritual weapon. It can cut iron like mud and can slice through any thick fossil. Where do you plan to cut first?"
After examining the spiritual weapon with curiosity, Long Xuan drew a line on the fossil with a pen, almost dividing it in half at the center.
He could see the progress of the spiritual insect within the fossil. By observing where the numbers appeared, he could determine its location. From the height and width of the numbers, he could roughly gauge the size of the spiritual insect. This cut would pass by the spiritual insect, perfectly avoiding its position.
Long Xuan pretended to be very nervous, rubbing his hands. He pointed to the line and said, "Let's cut from this line first!"
Qian Duoduo's spirit axe flew up from his hand and chopped down gently from top to bottom. It didn't seem very powerful, but the fossil was like tofu, splitting with no resistance.
To avoid harming the spiritual insects inside, the spirit axe did not split the fossil all at once but peeled it carefully layer by layer, a bit time-consuming.
Everyone watched with wide eyes, holding their breath, and staring at the cracks in the stone without blinking.
When the fossil was split into two pieces, the crowd immediately gathered around. Seeing the smooth and flat cut surface, everyone was disappointed that there was no insect.
Long Xuan showed a very disappointed expression, looking as sad as he could.
Qian Duoduo patted his shoulder and comforted him, "Don't be discouraged. It's normal that such a large fossil wasn't cut in the right place. The good stuff must be somewhere else."
Hearing this, Long Xuan's eyes brightened, and he picked up the pen again to split the two fossils in the middle.
This cut would divide the fossils into four parts, cleverly avoiding the location of the spiritual insect.
"Sorry for the trouble, cut along this line," Long Xuan said firmly.
"Okay!" Qian Duoduo controlled his spiritual axe again, repeating the previous steps. Under the nervous eyes of everyone, the two fossils were split into two pieces again.
As expected, the cut was smooth with no bugs.
"No bugs again?"
The crowd exclaimed in commotion. Cutting a stone often depends on the first few cuts. If there are no bugs after cutting a few times horizontally and vertically in the center, the hope becomes slim.
It was unbelievable that such a large and beautiful fossil did not have any bugs. It was beyond everyone's expectations.
Many showed looks of gloating. Some people just couldn't stand seeing others succeed.
"How is it possible?"
Long Xuan showed a stunned expression, rushed over, wiped the cut repeatedly, and looked extremely anxious.
"Here! Here! Here! Keep cutting!"
Long Xuan frantically pointed out several positions. At this time, he seemed like a gambler who had lost his mind.
Over the years, Qian Duoduo had seen many gamblers with such expressions and was used to it.
He shook his head helplessly, controlled the spirit axe, and continued to cut the stone according to the positions marked by Long Xuan.
As expected, the cuts perfectly avoided the position of the spirit insect. Long Xuan lost all his reason and drew another line to continue cutting.
I don't know how much time passed. When the sky gradually darkened, this huge Stone King had been cut into fifty pieces. After cutting fifty pieces, there was still no trace of spiritual insects.
Everyone was bored and disappointed. The initial nervousness and excitement had completely disappeared. Many people shook their heads and left.
In their eyes, after so many cuts without finding insects, it was basically hopeless. They looked at Long Xuan with sympathy.
Long Xuan sat on the ground, looking lost and muttering to himself, "How is this possible? How can such a big stone not have insects? This is unfair."
Qian Duoduo was also puzzled. This shouldn't be the case. There must be insects; how could there be none? It was truly baffling.
"Young man, accept your fate. This is stone gambling. There's no stone that is 100% guaranteed to have insects. Otherwise, the Qian's Chamber of Commerce would have cut this Stone King themselves. They wouldn't keep it until now to sell to others and transfer the risk," an old man in the crowd consoled.
However, his consolation was useless. Long Xuan still looked distraught, with a look of despair, as if the sky was about to fall.
His acting skills could win an Oscar.
"No! No! I haven't lost yet!"
Long Xuan suddenly stood up frantically and shouted, "There must be a worm in this Stone King, but I happened to avoid the location of the spiritual worm. I'm just unlucky."
"The spiritual worm must be in one of these fifty stones. Now I plan to give this good opportunity to you. I intend to sell the fifty fossils. Whoever buys the fossil with the spiritual worm depends on your luck."
Hearing this, everyone present smiled and shook their heads. They weren't fools. Who would buy a stone that was basically determined to fail? Whoever buys it is a fool.
However, everyone present was stunned by Long Xuan's next words.