The Path of Immortality: Starts With Creating Water Bear Gu

“Little friend, do you intend to cut the stone on-site or take it away directly? If you choose to cut it here, I can do it for you free of charge,” Qian Duoduo said as he approached Long Xuan.

“Let's cut it on-site. I don't have enough storage space,” Long Xuan casually replied while touching the giant stone king.

Hearing this, the entire crowd perked up, their eyes shining as they immediately gathered around. Watching someone cut stones was their greatest pleasure, especially when it involved a rare stone king. This excited everyone, and they rushed over eagerly to watch.

Those who were selecting stones also put down their fossils and ran over excitedly. In no time, a large crowd had gathered.

Seeing that Long Xuan planned to cut the stone king here, Qian Duoduo was delighted. Cutting the stone here would not only satisfy his curiosity but also attract a crowd, boosting business. If a good insect was found, he could acquire it immediately, achieving multiple goals at once.

He took out a large red axe from his storage bag, smiled at Long Xuan, and said, “This spiritual axe is a peak-grade spiritual weapon, capable of cutting through iron like mud. It can easily cut through any fossil. Where do you want to start?”

Long Xuan examined the peak-grade spiritual weapon with curiosity and then drew a line on the fossil, almost splitting it in half.

He could see the progress of the spiritual insect inside the fossil and could judge its position based on the numbers. The height and width of the numbers allowed him to estimate the size of the spiritual insect.

This cut would perfectly avoid the insect's position, missing it by a hair.

Inspired by his experiences in jade gambling fields in his past life, Long Xuan planned to pretend to fail with the first few cuts and then sell the remaining material. Although the value of the remaining material would decrease due to the initial failures, there would still be people hoping to get a bargain.

His plan was simple: using his ability to locate the spiritual insect, he would pretend to fail initially, cut out a fist-sized piece containing the insect, and then sell the remaining material at a high price. Since a small piece was unlikely to contain an insect, no one would want to buy it, and he could take it away unnoticed.

Long Xuan pretended to be very nervous, rubbing his hands and pointing to the line. “Let's start with this line.”

Qian Duoduo's spiritual axe flew up and gently cut down, splitting the fossil like tofu with no resistance.

To avoid damaging the insect inside, the axe did not cut through the fossil in one go but peeled it layer by layer, wasting some time.

Everyone held their breath, eyes fixed on the crack in the stone without blinking.

When the fossil split in half, the crowd immediately swarmed around. Seeing the smooth cut with no insect, everyone was greatly disappointed.

Long Xuan also showed a very disappointed expression, looking as sad as possible.

Qian Duoduo patted his shoulder to comfort him, “Don't be discouraged. It's normal not to hit the right spot with such a large fossil. The good stuff must be in another spot.”

Hearing this, Long Xuan's eyes lit up again. He picked up the pen and drew another line in the middle of the two halves, splitting them again.

This cut would divide the fossil into four parts, again perfectly avoiding the insect's position.

“Please cut along this line,” Long Xuan said firmly.

“Alright!” Qian Duoduo operated the spiritual axe again, repeating the previous steps. Under everyone's tense gaze, he split the two halves again.

As expected, the smooth cut revealed no insect.

“Still no insect?”

The crowd exclaimed, becoming a bit restless. In stone cutting, the first few cuts are crucial. After several cuts in the center without finding an insect, hopes were dim.

Such a large, high-quality fossil without an insect was unbelievable and surprised everyone.

Some people showed a look of gloating, as they couldn't stand others' success.

“How could this be?”

Long Xuan feigned a shocked expression, hurriedly wiping the cut, looking anxious.

“Here! Here! Here! Keep cutting!” Long Xuan pointed to several spots, acting like a desperate gambler.

Over the years, Qian Duoduo had seen many gamblers with such expressions and was used to it.

He shook his head helplessly and continued cutting the fossil according to Long Xuan's markings.

Again, he perfectly avoided the insect's position. Long Xuan, losing his mind, kept drawing lines and cutting the stone.

Time passed, and as night fell, the giant stone king had been cut into fifty pieces without revealing the insect.

Everyone was disappointed. The initial excitement of stone cutting had vanished, and many people had left.

In their eyes, after so many cuts without finding an insect, the stone was likely worthless. They all looked at Long Xuan with pity.

Long Xuan sat on the ground, looking soulless, muttering to himself, “How is this possible? Such a large stone without an insect? This is unfair.”

Qian Duoduo also looked bewildered, puzzled. This shouldn't have happened. How could there be no insect in a stone that was supposed to contain one? It was unbelievable.

“Young man, accept it. This is stone gambling. There's no stone guaranteed to contain an insect. If there were, the Qian Commerce association would have cut it themselves long ago instead of selling it to transfer the risk,” an elderly man in the crowd advised.

However, his advice was useless. Long Xuan remained despondent, looking hopeless as if the sky had fallen.

His acting could win an Oscar.

“No! No! I haven't lost yet!”

Long Xuan suddenly stood up and shouted to the crowd, “There must be an insect in this stone king. I just happened to miss it. It was just bad luck.”

“The spiritual insect must be in one of these fifty pieces. I'm willing to sell them. Whoever buys the piece with the insect will depend on their luck.”

Hearing this, everyone shook their heads and smiled. This was truly taking them for fools. Who would buy a stone that was almost certainly worthless? Only a fool would buy it.

But Long Xuan's next words stunned everyone present.