A busy day of the caravan

Gu Yue Chi Lian gently raised his eyebrows at his grandson and said, "Yes, of course. The Mo family specializes in using Moonlight Saber Gu to fight in close range. Gu Yue Mo Yan and Mo Chen are both using one."

"So there's a Rank 3 advancement recipe for it, what about Rank 4?" Chi Yan asked.

Gu Yue Chi Lian looked around, before saying, "We can talk about it later."

Chi Yan raised his eyebrows. He was slightly interested in this Moonlight Sabre Gu, not necessarily to use one, but he was curious of how it works. By using this base he thought that he might perhaps be able to create something like a saber made of concentrated fire or concentrated plasma, melting everything it touches like a lightsaber.

But that was something to consider in the future.

After taking a look around through the few Rank 3 Gu, Chi Yan wasn't interested in bidding on anything other than the Silver Relic Gu, but he didn't want to buy this one relic Gu that's up for auction and instead wanted to buy it directly from Jia Fu. And he didn't even have the money to do so. Plus, if someone from the Gu Yue clan bought this relic Gu, then there would still be a chance for Chi Yan to snatch it later if it went unused.

"Grandfather, I will need your help to sell the various Gu worms and Gu materials that I gained recently," Chi Yan said.

Gu Yue Chi Lian said, "Alright. But I also need to begin selling various things. According to Sir Jia Fu, the caravan would stay in the Gu Yue village for eight days and eight nights, so how about we'll sell your items in a few days from now?"

"Okay."

Gu Yue Chi Lian nodded. "We've now seen everything that's in the Gu house. How about we come back?"

"Grandfather, what about the Fire type Gu recipes from Sir Jia Fu?" Chi Yan mentioned something they requested during the last caravan.

"Ah. Okay. Then we might as well visit Sir Jia Fu today and also sell some of your items."

…

Following a clerk's instructions, Gu Yue Chi Lian and Chi Yan approached a wall on the third floor.

Branches and leaves stacked together and covered the wooden wall.

Swoosh…..

The branches and leaves automatically parted to the sides and revealed a concealed door.

Gu Yue Chi Lian pushed open the door and they saw an exquisite whirling staircase that moved up.

The two walked along the stairs and came to a small study room.

In the study room, Jia Fu was handling some accounts, his hand was writing away speedily.

He raised his head when he heard the Chi family duo's footsteps, revealing the scar on his face. He gave a gentle smile, "We meet again, Elder Chi Lian, little brother Chi Yan."

"Respects to Sir Jia Fu." Gu Yue Chi Lian cupped his fists respectfully.

At the side Chi Yan also cupped his fists.

"Please, sit down." Jia Fu pointed at the nearest desk. He then smiled as he looked at Chi Yan, saying, "Little brother's cultivation has already advanced to Rank 2 middle stage, you must have worked hard."

Chi Yan faintly smiled. "Thank you, sir Jia Fu. Yes, I worked hard."

Jia Fu turned to Gu Yue Chi Lian. "Elder Chi Lian, the things that you ordered last time are all with me. I also have a few fire type Gu that you might be interested in."

"That's good, thank you Sir Jia Fu. We shall talk business in the next few days, for now my grandson has some things that he would like to sell," Gu Yue Chi Lian said.

Jia Fu raised his eyebrows.

"These are my spoils of war." Chi Yan faintly smiled. "A portion of them were sold to the clan, but I still have Gu worms and Gu materials that might interest you, sir Jia Fu."

At this time Chi Yan took out a few Gu worms from his Aperture one by one and some Gu materials from the Clam Shell Gu that he prepared. For around half an hour Chi Lian and Chi Yan bargain with Jia Fu, selling these several items to him.

Some of the Gu worms from the Bai clan Gu Masters, the Wild Boar King and the Gu Yue Gu Masters that Chi Yan defeated in the duels were already sold to the clan, but for some of them it would be more appropriate to sell them to the caravan, like the Wild Boar King's fur that isn't in high demand in the Gu Yue village and Rock Lump Gu that no one would want to buy here.

Many of the items like the enormous Wild Boar King's fur were still stored in the Chi Manor, so Chi Yan could only complete the sale later.

Jia Fu then took out a Bookworm from his aperture and put it on the desk, saying, "This is the list of refinement recipes for various Fire type Gu."

Chi Lian and Chi Yan raised their eyebrows.

"Little brother, you already have a Bookworm, right? I'll lend you this Gu worm and you will return my empty one later, how about that?" Jia Fu asked, smiling.

Chi Lian looked at his grandson for a moment and told Jia Fu, "Thank you, sir Jia Fu. How much should we pay?"

Jia Fu chuckled. "It's alright. It didn't cost me much effort to have someone collect these recipes. I'm glad to be of help to a talented junior."

Chi Yan cupped his fists, bowing respectfully. "Thank you, sir Jia Fu."

Jia Fu smiled, thinking in his heart, 'If I asked for primeval stones for running this errand, just what would I get? Some few hundred primeval stones? It's far more beneficial for me to build connections with this young man. It's impossible for one to not hear everyone talking about how he defeated several senior Gu Masters as a junior. In ten years or so from now he might even reach Rank 4…'

"Sir Jia Fu, then I will study this Bookworm for now. I hope we can do more business later on," Chi Yan politely said.

Soon, Chi Lian and Chi Yan left Jia Fu's room, returning to the third floor of the Gu house.

Once they entered the first floor again, Chi Yan saw that at the counter in the center, where the Liquor Worm was previously displayed, there was now a Cleansing Water Gu.

When the two walked close to the door, Chi Yan told Chi Lian, "Grandfather, I still want to take a look around. Let's split."

Chi Lian raised his eyebrows but only said, "Alright. Then I'll see you later, grandson."

After Chi Lian left, Chi Yan looked at the Cleansing Water Gu and frowned.

The Cleansing Water Gu resembled the leech on Earth, except it was much cuter than the leech; its whole body had a light-blue luster like that of the glimmering water.

In the original novel this Cleansing Water Gu was bought by Gu Yue Chi Lian because Chi Yan had a faked C-grade Aptitude. They needed it to cleanse the polluted essence in Chi Yan's Aperture which was the result of Chi Lian transferring his primeval essence into his grandson's aperture to help him forcefully raise cultivation and keep up with the B-grades.

The key point was that Fang Yuan would need this Cleansing Water Gu in the future to remove the mixed aura in his Aperture after he breaks through to Rank 3, but at this moment he wouldn't even think about getting it, not expecting that his cultivation would be so quick.

'If I don't buy it, then Fang Yuan will very likely not be able to get this Gu from anywhere else. His Aptitude would continue to slowly degrade, at least until he uses Blood Skull Gu to override the effect, I guess. Question is - should I even care? For my plans - yes, I might. Sigh, I will need to buy this Cleansing Water Gu and re-sell it to Fang Yuan later on,' Chi Yan thought and then picked up a piece of paper at the center counter.

Because Jia Jin Sheng was already killed and a year already passed since Spring Autumn Cicada was first used, Chi Yan wanted the story to progress at the very least past the Qing Mao Mountain arc.

Chi Yan had already thought of how he could benefit from the final events of the Qing Mao Mountain arc, so he decided to help Fang Yuan progress until Rank 3 in the dark.

'I remember that Chi Lian's original quota should be around six hundred thirty to six hundred forty, but there isn't anyone in the Gu Yue village who desperately needs this Cleansing Water Gu that I know of, so if I bid six hundred thirty, I should most definitely win it.'

Chi Yan wrote down the price and placed the bid in the hole of the counter. A few people watched him do it, but if anyone went to question him, he already had an excuse.

He then looked around the first floor briefly, before leaving the Gu House.

In the treehouse, a Rank 1 Gu worm would only be displayed for half a day once there was a bid on it. Rank 2 Gu worms would be displayed for a day and Rank 3 for two days.

That being said, Chi Yan would only know if he won the Multiply Gu or the Cleansing Water Gu at the end of the day, so he left.

It was early afternoon. Waves of clansmen crowded the Gu Yue village.

The spring sun shone brightly and even if the air and wind was slightly cold, Chi Yan didn't feel it thanks to both his copper skin and Double Ortifice Stove Gu.

It was just like a summer day.

After leaving the Gu House, Chi Yan began to browse through various stalls and tents, buying some Gu food for his Fire Path Gu worms. Other than for Rank 2 Gu that he already owned, today he also stacked up some food for the Rank 3 Fire Snake Gu that he planned to get no matter what.

Chi Yan felt regretful about the fact that there would be no caravan next year and that he was still only at Rank 2, unable to know which Rank 3 Gu worms he would be able to successfully refine in the end. Today, and for now, he only stacked up a reasonable amount of Gu food to last him 2 years for the Rank 2 Gu and the Fire Snake Gu.

Fortunately as a Gu worm's rank increases, the type of food it consumes often doesn't change and only the quantity increases, as long as the effect of the Gu remains the same, so the food that Chi Yan stacked up for his Rank 2 Gu would also be usable for Rank 3 Gu.

Afterwards, Chi Yan's primeval stones savings had instantly lowered by a significant amount just with this. Fortunately, Chi Yan used the money that came from the Chi family's Nine Leaf Vitality Grass to buy this Gu food.

Chi Yan unloaded the Gu food in his room, plucked the Vitality Leaves from Nine Leaf Vitality Grass since it was the time and then visited the caravan again.

When the evening was nearing, Chi Yan came to the gambling den. Looking around the place, it appeared that it had also grown compared to the past. The tent seemed now half as big and there were a few more counters, and much more rocks on display.

"It's Chi Yan," someone whispered.

"Chi Yan, last year he won a Clearing Heat Gu from a gambling rock in front of everyone's eyes, I remember it clearly."

"He was just a student back then, to think that he would grow so quickly…"

The moment he entered, he immediately attracted the attention of Gu Masters inside, including a few of his classmates, who discussed him softly.

Chi Yan ignored the people present and looked toward the counters.

'It's her.'

'It's him!'

Chi Yan and the female clerk he met last year immediately recognized each other.

"We meet again, Miss." Chi Yan approached the female clerk with a faint smile.

"Y-young Master!... Yes, we met again." The female clerk smiled charmingly and shily after a long moment's lag, not expecting Chi Yan to actually approach her among the few other clerks around her.

Chi Yan chose rocks randomly and opened the Rank 2 Clearing Heat Gu in public. Apart from Chi Yan's outstanding appearance, it left a very deep impression on her, and she might not forget this event for the rest of her life.

Right now upon seeing Chi Yan's Gu Master outfit, her eyelids slightly dropped. Chi Yan was already at Rank 2 Gu Master all of a sudden, cultivating for just a single year, whereas over the last year the progress that she made herself was only finally advancing from Rank 1 middle stage to Rank 1 upper stage.

'Sigh, cultivating as a D-grade talent is simply too pitiful and slow. Just maintaining my livelihood and feeding my Gu worms is not easy,' the female clerk sighed deep within her soul.

On the outside, however, she wore a bright smile as she told Chi Yan, "Young master, are you interested in rock gambling this time as well?"

"Yeah, I want to take a look around first."

The female clerk smiled even brighter and said, "Alright, young master, this time our gambling den has slightly expanded. On the right counter are the scrap grade rocks sold at five primeval stones each. At this counter the rocks cost ten primeval stones and are of higher grade, whereas the rocks on the left are sold at twenty primeval stones. In the middle of the tent is the high-end counter and rocks there are sold at thirty primeval stones each."

Chi Yan faintly nodded, saying, "Alright, thank you."

He then proceeded to browse the rocks on the counters, thinking, 'I have no knowledge or experience on rock gambling. If I did, it might have helped me to increase my chance of winning Gu worms. I would at least avoid choosing the rocks that anyone experienced could tell that they are 99% empty.'

'But I don't have any experience in rock gambling, so I guess the best way would be to still choose the rocks purely randomly based on my instinct. If I try to overthink it, it would only harm my luck.'

After browsing for a short while, Chi Yan returned to the female clerk. "Missy, I would like to purchase some rocks."

The female clerk faintly smiled, seeing that Chi Yan wanted to purchase rocks after browsing just for a few minutes again. 'Ah, I wonder just what it feels like to have enough money to even randomly gamble for fun…'

"Then which rocks would you like to buy?" The female clerk asked charmingly.

Chi Yan then chose twenty rocks at the scrap-grade counter that cost him 5 primeval stones each, focusing on the larger ones, ten rocks for 10 primeval stones each, ten rocks for 20 primeval stones each and ten rocks which cost 30 primeval stones each.

In the end, Chi Yan bought sixty rocks and had to pay seven hundred primeval stones for them.

Because of the large amount of rocks, Chi Yan purchased them in batches through the same female clerk from each counter, and then stored them inside the Clam Shell Gu.

Upon seeing how Chi Yan was buying batches of rocks after batches, paying hundreds and hundreds of primeval stones, the watching Gu Masters were tongue tied.

"Spending several hundred primeval stones to gamble rocks randomly, my heart bleeds when I watch it."

"This Chi Yan really is rich. Wish I had such a rich background."

"But he's certainly not a prodigal son. His strength is real. Just from defeating Man Shi and the others, he won a few Rank 2 Gu worms himself."

The Gu Master in the tent discussed, while the female clerk also felt speechless inwardly - Chi Yan bought so many rocks, spending so much money! Most importantly, Chi Yan bought these rocks from her in particular which would get her a small cut of the profits, so she was happy about that.

At this time Chi Yan stored the last ten rocks that he paid three hundred primeval stones for. He already refused the gambling den to open any of the rocks for him.

The female clerk sensibly didn't push the matter.

The act of opening so many rocks would definitely attract a lot of attention and if in the end Chi Yan didn't win even a single Gu worm despite so many attempts and spending so much money, it would negatively affect the further sales of rocks. Opening so many rocks would also be a bit costly for the gambling den.

The female clerk naturally didn't think that Chi Yan would earn profits from choosing rocks at random. If that was not the case, just how would a gambling den do business?

In most cases, a gambler would need to spend a thousand primeval stones just to get a return of 100. Yet, because of the thrill, the uncertainty and the chance of making it big, gambling dens still attracted a lot of customers.

Chi Yan, however, believed that his luck was better than average. With sixty gambling rocks, shouldn't he win something decent?

'Opening the Clearing Heat Gu might have been the arrangement of Heaven's Will rather than the effect of my Luck, but I still think that I have a good chance of earning profits here. It's only seven hundred primeval stones that I spent, it's definitely worth a shot,' Chi Yan thought inwardly.

"Miss, I have a request," Chi Yan told the female clerk after storing the rocks and faintly smiled at her.

"Yes, young master? Please say it," the clerk said softly.

"I want your help with opening the rocks. Since I'm a big customer, I don't think your boss would mind if you were gone for some time?" Chi Yan smiled flirtatiously as he looked into the female clerk's brown eyes in a playful manner.

"Ah. Hahaha," The female clerk chuckled sheepishly, smiling shyly. "I… I don't think that my employer would have a problem with it."

She smiled charmingly, fluttering her eyelashes. 

"Then that's it." Chi Yan lightly smiled.

This gambling dens' female clerk was indeed incredibly charming and adorable. Since they had a bit of a history together and she was a character from the novel, it triggered Chi Yan's conqueror's instincts since first he saw her. Although her talent was low, Chi Yan, silly, didn't view it this way - what he saw was that she was a girl with plenty of blood-related clansmen!

...

(AN: I'm busy and things are happening. I will move to uploading a single chapter every week or two (every Wednesday)... I am over 20 chapters ahead on the story, but I need to proof-read and change some things before uploading.)