Chapter 370
Studying the Gold-Eating Bug
Four months passed in a flash.
The Tianfeng Empire is already full of alchemists.
Alchemists were originally a rare group, rarely seen in normal times, but now, just walking down any street, you can run into an alchemist, or even more than one.
These alchemists came from all over the world and from various regions. When the alchemists from all over the Western Regions gathered together, the alchemists in the Tianfeng Empire would be as numerous as dogs.
Although there were still several months before the start of the alchemy competition, there were already many early arrivals, including a large number of first and second rank alchemists.
Although it is impossible for low-level alchemists to enter the finals, it does not stop them from wanting to watch the fun. How could they miss such a rare alchemy event?
Among those who arrived early was Long Xuan. After entering Tianfeng City, he changed his face according to the instructions of Jade-faced Rakshasa.
This is a young and handsome face. Since he plans to represent the Long family in the competition this time, he also uses the pseudonym Long Xuan.
Tianfeng City was very lively at this time, with a large number of alchemists walking around on the streets. Alchemists were an extremely wealthy group, and the massive influx of alchemists into the city would naturally boost the city's economy.
Especially the price of elixirs began to skyrocket in this city.
This also made the astute businessmen smell the scent of making a fortune, and they transported large amounts of treasures to Tianfeng City. At this time, Tianfeng City could be described as being full of treasures.
Long Xuan couldn't help but sigh inwardly, it was indeed the right thing to arrive early.
He began to spread out his clones, frantically looting the city for treasures that could be useful to him.
His real body was looking for a trade fair in the city.
With so many wealthy alchemists gathered together, a trade fair is bound to come into being.
The most valuable treasures will definitely appear at the trade fair.
Under the perception of powerful soul power, he walked towards an attic, only to see a sign on the attic that read "Third-Rank Alchemist Trade Fair".
There was no need to notify anyone. At this moment, many third-grade alchemists in the city were walking quickly here after sensing this sign with their soul power.
Alchemists are one of the groups with the strongest spiritual power, so it is not difficult for them to sense this sign.
At this time, the special trade fair for third-grade alchemists seemed to have not started yet. Long Xuan tidied his clothes and walked in.
Guarding the door were two Linghai peak Gu cultivators, a man and a woman. When they saw the third-grade alchemist medal hanging on the chest of the visitor, they immediately showed respect.
"Excuse me, sir," the male security guard asked respectfully.
"Long Xuan." Long Xuan said his pseudonym without hesitation.
There are many people named Long Xuan in this world, but it is highly unlikely that there is a third-grade alchemist named Long Xuan.
Therefore, no information can be found about this person's name, and anyone with a discerning eye can tell that it is a pseudonym.
At this point he had made up his mind that if the two guards insisted on asking him questions, he would not attend the trade fair.
Upon hearing this, the two guards looked puzzled, as they had never heard of this person.
There are many alchemists in this world, but there are not many above the third rank. As long as you do a good job of intelligence gathering, it is not difficult to get to know all the third rank alchemists in the entire Western Region.
The two guards had obviously investigated all the third-grade alchemists in the Western Regions and were very sure that there was no third-grade alchemist named Long Xuan in the Western Regions. They knew that he was undoubtedly using a pseudonym.
But the male guard still smiled and said, "So it's Master Alchemist Long Xuan. I've heard a lot about you. Please come in. There's still some time before the trade fair starts, so there should be vacancies inside."
Long Xuan nodded, put his hands behind his back and walked in with an arrogant look.
Looking at the man's departing back, the male security guard looked thoughtful and quickly wrote the two words "Long Xuan" on a notebook.
Seeing his actions, the female guard on the other side asked in confusion: "This person is obviously using a fake name, why are you still recording it?"
"The Ninth Prince wants to take this opportunity to learn about his competitors. Don't record this irrelevant information."
The male security guard shook his head and smiled confidently: "Although this person used a pseudonym, his last name is definitely real."
"Don't forget the bet between the Feng Alliance and the Long Alliance. In this case, no one will pretend to be Long unless their surname is really Long."
"This bet should have scared out many of the reclusive third-grade alchemists of the Long family. These third-grade alchemists of the Long family who don't want to leave their fate in the hands of others must be extraordinary. At least they are confident that they can get a good ranking. They are worth paying attention to..."
……
After Long Xuan walked into the attic, he saw alchemists sitting together in groups of three or four, talking and laughing.
Everyone here is a third-grade alchemist of extremely noble status and position, and each of them has an extraordinary aura.
After seeing someone coming in, many third-grade alchemists subconsciously turned their heads to look over.
Seeing that the visitor was a stranger and their identity and background were unknown, no one came forward to talk to him.
Long Xuan was happy to have some free time, so he chose to walk to an empty corner and sit down.
As time went by, more and more third-grade alchemists noticed the plaque, and more and more third-grade alchemists walked into the attic. Gradually, Long Xuan's hidden corner was filled with third-grade alchemists, and the surrounding area began to become noisy.
But Long Xuan had his eyes closed the whole time, so no one was tactless enough to talk to him.
Finally, with the sound of a bell, the trade fair finally began.
Hearing the sound, Long Xuan slowly opened his eyes with anticipation in his eyes.
The third-grade alchemist special trade fair is the highest-level trade fair he has ever attended. He is looking forward to finding treasures that will be of great help to him in this trade fair.
After the bell rang, a handsome young man walked to the table at the front of the crowd, looked around, and said with a smile:
"I am the host of this special trade fair for third-grade alchemists. Let me introduce myself first."
"I am from the Huiyue Empire and I am the Ninth Prince of the Huiyue Empire. You can just call me the Ninth Prince."
"I, the ninth prince of the Huiyue Empire, am not very talented in cultivation, but I am quite talented in alchemy. I dare not say how good my alchemy skills are, but in the Huiyue Empire, I am qualified to be called the number one third-grade alchemist."
As soon as he said this, an arrogance that was difficult to conceal appeared on his face.
Many people below showed some fear at this moment. The Huiyue Empire is a superpower that is capable of ranking among the top ten in the entire Western Region, and it is one of the organizers of this alchemy competition.
The title of the number one third-grade alchemist in the Huiyue Empire is definitely not low in value, and this person is definitely a formidable competitor.
Long Xuan also glanced at him. He didn't care how high this person's alchemy level was. Anyway, no matter how high it was, it was definitely not as high as his. What he was really interested in now was what kind of trading item the Ninth Prince would come up with next.
The Ninth Prince of the Huiyue Empire must be very wealthy, and as the host of this third-grade alchemist trade fair, he certainly cannot offer too shabby items.
The value of the item he offers might be the highest in the venue, so he has no choice but to concentrate.
The Ninth Prince took in the gazes of everyone below.
He said these words not to show off, but for other purposes. If someone looked at him with a stern or fearful look at this moment.
There is basically no need to pay attention to these people. Their alchemy skills must not be very good, so they are afraid of their competitors.
At this time, he needed to pay more attention to the few people with expressionless faces. Most of these people were extremely proud of their alchemy skills and did not regard him, the Ninth Prince, as their opponent at all.
He focused his eyes on the man hiding in the corner, who didn't even look at him. "Ninth Prince! Since you are the host of this trade fair, you should start first. As the host, the things you bring out can't be too shabby."
Some people in the crowd didn't seem to be afraid of his identity and suddenly started to make jokes and cheer loudly.
The others also smiled at this time.
The Ninth Prince glanced at the man and said with a smile, "Okay! Then this trade fair will start with me."
As he spoke, he took out a bottle containing two golden bugs from his storage ring and placed it on the table. He glanced at the faces of the people below and said with a slightly smug smile:
"I believe many people have never seen this insect, so I won't keep you in suspense."
"This insect is called the Gold-eating Insect. It reproduces asexually and ranks 21st on the list of the best spirit insects."
"I don't need to explain the value of the 21st-ranked top-grade spirit insect. Most top-grade poisonous insects are far inferior to it."
"The reason why the gold-eating bug ranks so high is because it has three rule-based abilities."
"One is that it can devour metal of any hardness and make itself have the same hardness as that metal, but it can only maintain this hardness by devouring that type of metal for a long time."
"Second, the gold-eating bug can devour anything that is less hard than itself without any conditions."
"Third, the gold-eating bugs are immortal and can only be killed by physical attacks that exceed their upper limit."
"So the strength of the gold-eating bugs varies depending on how much metal they eat over a long period of time."
“If the gold-eating bugs devour the world’s hardest metal and reproduce to a certain size, they will be able to kill gods and Buddhas and devour everything in this world.”
"However, if its owner is poor and cannot feed it with too hard metal for a long time, then the gold-eating worm will be extremely fragile."
"It is limited by the rules and can only devour things that are less hard than itself. Once its own hardness is not enough, this top-grade spirit insect may not be able to defeat even a low-grade spirit insect."
"I have made it clear what is at stake with this top-grade spirit insect. There is no deception involved. Who wants to trade my gold-eating insect now?"
"I have everything I need. Anyone interested in the gold-eating bugs can bring out any treasures, but I will choose to trade with the person who brings out the most valuable treasure. The one who offers the highest price wins."
The Ninth Prince looked at the alchemists below with a smile on his face, and was extremely confident about his first transaction item.
To put it simply, the strength of a gold-eating bug is linked to the wealth of its owner. The richer the owner, the stronger the bug.
The gold-eating bugs might have limited value if sold somewhere else, but among this group of extremely wealthy alchemists, he believed that his gold-eating bugs could be sold at a sky-high price.
As expected, as soon as he finished speaking, many of the alchemists below showed signs of interest and wanted to make a deal, but they were hesitant for a moment.
It is true that they are not short of money, but the hardest metal in the world is limited and cannot be bought with money.
If the gold-eating insects were allowed to devour the Gengjin essence and reproduce to a certain scale, so that each gold-eating insect had the hardness of the Gengjin essence, they would indeed be able to kill gods and Buddhas.
It is no exaggeration to say that if tens of thousands of Gengjin gold-eating insects were really cultivated, their combat power would be enough to be invincible at the same level.
But the problem is that Gengjin Essence is too expensive. Even with their wealth as third-rank alchemists, they can only buy a few pieces at most. They are not allowed to use Gengjin Essence to feed the gold-eating insects.
What's more, there are not so many Gengjin essences in this world, and feeding Gengjin essence to insects is simply a waste of resources.
Geng Jin Jing is just an extreme example. Even if there are hard metals that rank much lower than Geng Jin Jing, once they are used to feed gold-eating insects, no one can afford it, including the Duobao merchant.
So although the strength of the gold-eating beetle is related to the hardness of the metal, no one dares to let it swallow the hardest metal because no one's wealth can afford it.
The theoretical maximum strength of the gold-eating beetle is simply impossible to achieve in this world, even in the ancient times when precious resources were everywhere.
If you want to cultivate a large number of gold-eating bugs, you can only consider metals that rank in the middle in hardness. The quantity must be large and the hardness cannot be too low.
But how to make a choice has become a huge problem. If the metal is too cheap, it will make the gold-eating beetles very weak. If the metal is too expensive, it will be too costly.
How to balance the relationship between strength and cost is really a headache, which makes many people hesitant.
Therefore, although many people were interested in the gold-eating beetle, no one made a bid for it for a while.
The atmosphere at the scene was silent for a long time, and finally a fat third-grade alchemist raised his hand and said, "My family has a black iron vein, and the black iron production is sufficient."
"The hardness of black iron is not as good as the best, but better than the worst. It is perfect for feeding gold-eating bugs."
"How about I offer you a top-grade spirit stone and let you give me these two gold-eating bugs?"
As soon as he finished speaking, before the Ninth Prince could reply, someone immediately raised his hand and said, "The hardness of the black iron is still too low. Giving you the gold-eating bugs is simply a waste of nature's gift."
"My family is in the ore business, and we can easily collect a large amount of purple gold. Please give the gold-eating bug to me."
"I'll offer five Broken King Pills!" a young female alchemist shouted with great wealth.
As the two began to speak, the crowd below suddenly became lively and people began to raise their hands to bid.
There are quite a few wealthy third-grade alchemists here, and quite a few of them are interested in this money-burning machine.
Looking at the sounds of bidding one after another below, a smile appeared on the Ninth Prince's face.
At this time, Long Xuan closed his eyes, tapping the table with his fingers, thinking about the value of the gold-eating insect to himself.
This incredible insect species, whose strength varies according to the hardness of the metal, really piqued his interest.
You should know that the gold-eating insect is not a poisonous insect, but a spiritual insect. Spiritual insects can reproduce on a large scale. As long as it is allowed to swallow the metal with the highest hardness and reproduce a certain number, the upper limit is simply terrifyingly high.
You should know that the hardest metal in this world is far from Gengjinjing. In the divine world, there are countless metals that are harder than Gengjinjing.
If the gold-eating bugs were allowed to devour the hardest metal in the divine world, his army of gold-eating bugs would have the power to kill gods.
He saw the shadow of the gold-eating beetle in the novel in the gold-eating beetle. Once the gold-eating beetle swallows the hardest metal in the world, its body will be equivalent to the hardness of the metal, which means that its defense is invincible.
The gold-eating beetle can unconditionally swallow anything that is less hard than itself. Once the gold-eating beetle swallows the hardest metal, it means that it can swallow everything in the world and swallow everything. This power is really terrifying.
The upper limit of the gold-eating beetle is exactly the same strength as the gold-eating beetle. He feels that he may be able to cultivate the gold-eating beetle into a gold-eating beetle.
No one dared to let the gold-eating beetle swallow the hardest metal, and no one could let the gold-eating beetle evolve into the theoretically strongest state, even in the ancient times when resources were the most abundant.
But he felt that he might be able to do what the ancients could not do and evolve the gold-eating insect to its theoretically strongest state.
At this moment, he thought of the alloy from his previous life. Could he use his golden finger to create an alloy formula from another world?
The metals used in this alloy formula are all the cheapest metals, but when combined together, their hardness is comparable to or even greater than the hardest metal in the world.
In this way, others cannot use the world's hardest metal to feed gold-eating beetles, but he can.
He can cultivate the gold-eating bugs to their theoretically strongest state at a very low cost.
Once the gold-eating insects of this magnitude multiply to hundreds of thousands or millions, he will be able to control such a terrifying army of insects to destroy gods and Buddhas.
Long Xuan's eyes lit up and his expression became more and more crazy.
He decided that he wanted these two gold-eating bugs... (End of this chapter)