Exploring the Gu House with brother Fang Yuan and little sister Yao Le

Gu Yue Yao Ji with her granddaughter cute Yao Le approached Chi Yan.

"Granny Yao Ji," Chi Yan forced words out of his mouth, forcing a smile, before he looked at Yao Le with a gentle smile. "Little sister Yao Le."

Gu Yue Yao Le's eyes opened wide upon seeing Chi Yan for the first time. She was still young and didn't interact with people much. After receiving Chi Yan's firm eye contact, she shyly lowered her head, thinking, 'This is Senior Brother Chi Yan? Woah, he's really extremely handsome just like in the rumors…'

Her granddaughter's change of expression was reflected in Gu Yue Yao Ji's eyes as she chuckled in her heart. Looking at Chi Yan, she smiled and said, "Little brother, I heard that you challenged a few seniors to a duel and defeated all of them. You really gave all of us old timers a surprise again."

Chi Yan faintly smiled. "It's nothing, they were all not very strong."

Gu Yue Yao Ji chuckled grandmotherly and then looked at Fang Yuan next to Chi Yan. "And this little brother, it must be Fang Yuan, right?"

Yao Ji had watched the year-end tournament thus she was aware of Fang Yuan's appearance. When she faced Chi Yan, Yao Ji's expression was full of warmth and a grandmotherly smile was on her lips, but when she turned to Fang Yuan, she had the demeanor of a higher-up looking down on someone insignificant.

"Fang Yuan pays his respects to Elder Yao Ji." Fang Yuan cupped his fists expressionlessly.

Gu Yue Yao Ji nodded expressionlessly and turned back to Chi Yan, saying lightly, "Little brother, do you plan to buy this Liquor Worm or are you only observing?"

"This Liquor Worm is only five hundred primeval stones, it's worth buying!" The shy Yao Le suddenly said.

Chi Yan smiled at Yao Le. "Although the price on the display is five hundred primeval stones, it's only there to attract customers. This Liquor Worm can't be directly bought, it's put on an auction. The selling price will be much higher than five hundred primeval stones."

"Ah, so it's like that…" Yao Le muttered with an embarrassed expression.

"Let me show you." Chi Yan smiled and walked toward the counter. He picked up a piece of paper and a pen, and then returned, saying, "The price for this Liquor Worm should be something like this…"

He wrote down his own name on the piece of paper and under the eyes of Gu Yue Yao Ji, Yao Le and Fang Yuan a number 580. He then found the hole in the counter and stuffed the paper in.

Chi Yan scanned the crowd with his eyes and then, looking at his group, he said, "As long as my bid is the highest, this Liquor Worm will be sold to me. It's possible that someone would bid higher, but if they really did, then they would overpay. I should get this Liquor Worm."

"I see…" Yao Le said.

Gu Yue Yao Ji said, "That indeed should be a good price for the Liquor Worm. If anyone bid higher, then they would be a fool. Little brother, do you need this Liquor Worm to refine a Gu?"

Chi Yan shook his head. "I don't need it myself, but it would be useful to other geniuses in the Chi family. And I can always provide it to the clan."

Gu Yue Yao Ji nodded and then asked Yao Le, "Grandma is now going upstairs to look around. Dear granddaughter, are you coming?"

Yao Ji had no interest in the Liquor Worm since Chi Yan had already bid the regular price.

"Eeeh…" Yao Le seemed to hesitate.

"Then I'll also be going up with you," Chi Yan said. "There's nothing else on this floor that I'm interested in."

"Ah. Okay, then let's go," Yao Le suddenly said, smiling.

Meanwhile Fang Yuan remained silent at the side.

Chi Yan, Gu Yue Yao Ji and Gu Yue Yao Le began walking away, and only Fang Yuan was left behind.

When Chi Yan looked back at him, Fang Yuan said, "You can go to the second floor, I still want to take a look around."

Fang Yuan approached a stand with the Jade Skin Gu and pretended to be interested in it. 

"Okay," Chi Yan nodded.

Leaving Fang Yuan behind, Chi Yan walked upstairs with the grandmother and granddaughter duo, laughing in his heart, 'Fang Yuan stayed behind and must be trying to secretly place a bid for the Liquor Worm, but I just wonder if he even has enough money to afford it. Heh, if he wants to borrow primeval stones from me to bid for the Liquor Worm or the Black Boar Gu, just what should I ask from him? '

"Sigh, let's leave. Chi Yan with Lord Yao Ji just tossed in a paper."

"I saw it too, it seems I'm not fated to have this Liquor worm."

The Gu Masters surrounding the Liquor Worm's counter all left dejected.

They were scared off by Gu Yue Yao Ji's and Chi Yan's aura and backed out of their own accord, thinking that the price Chi Yan bid was not something they could afford.

Only Fang Yuan gazed at the Liquor Worm with the corners of his eyes, sighing in his heart, 'Sigh, at least I know the amount that Chi Yan bid, but getting this Liquor Worm will still not be easy. I wonder how many others are there who have already placed the paper into this hole?'

'And in fact, I'm not even able to compete, I'm just too poor. I received my parents' inheritance over a week ago, but I lent the Nine Leaf Vitality Grass to Chi Yan, otherwise I might have been able to accumulate enough primeval stones. The sale time of this Liquor Worm is only a few hours. What should I do?'

On the second floor.

Gu Yue Yao Ji, Yao Le and Chi Yan browsed the counters together, chatting.

There were three floors in this treehouse; the first floor sold Rank 1 Gu worms, the second floor sold Rank 2 Gu worms and the third floor sold Rank 3 Gu worms.

The higher you went, the lower the number of Gu worms and the more expensive the price.

Naturally, the Gu worms that were put for sale in the treehouse were all decently rare and precious.

However, Chi Yan was slightly disappointed with the second floor. Although the Gu worms there were a little rare and valuable, they were not ones that fit his Gu set or were useful as Gu refinement materials.

However, at one of the counters he found something that really interested him. 'A Rank 2 Multiply Gu. This Gu is quite good, and in the past I also thought of getting it. Although it isn't as rare and powerful as Amplify Effect Gu or Enlarge Gu, it would be quite useful to me.'

"Little brother, are you interested in this Multiply Gu?" Gu Yue Yao Ji asked Chi Yan as she noticed him intensely looking at the counter.

Chi Yan looked back at Yao Jia and honestly replied, "Yes, I'm a bit interested in it. I would like to use it with my Fire Pellet Gu to multiply the number of my fireballs, but I'm not sure how much I should bid."

"Using Multiply Gu is very primeval essence intensive for a Rank 2 Gu Master, but if you still want to buy it, then a good price should be something like this," Gu Yue Yao Ji picked up a paper and wrote down a number, presenting it to Chi Yan. 

The price was one thousand five hundred fifty. 

Gu Yue Yao Ji said, "This should win you this Gu Worm and I don't think anyone else in our village would bid more for it."

A Rank 2 Multiply Gu has the effect of tripling the amount of attacks performed by certain Rank 2 and Rank 1 Gu, so its effect was substantial

Naturally, the primeval essence cost when using Multiply Gu would also more than triple, while the power of the attack would not increase and only the amount of attacks would. Because most of these attacks would miss the intended target, for Rank 2 Gu Masters using a Multiply Gu would be incredibly wasteful of their very limited primeval essence, so this Gu wasn't very sought after by Rank 2 Gu Masters, especially in the Gu Yue village.

For example, sending out three Rank 2 Moonglow moonblades consumes 30% of Rank 2 initial stage primeval essence. If these were multiplied by three, just for three attacks a Gu Master would need to use 90% primeval essence. It was incredibly costly.

Even if it was Chi Yan who used the Mutliply Gu at Rank 2, then he would also be drained of primeval essence very quickly. At this moment, however, Chi Yan was actually thinking of the future when he reaches Rank 3 and can use Rank 2 Fire Pellet Gu endlessly. At that point a Rank 2 Multiply Gu would shine!

Chi Yan hummed for a while before he made up his mind and wrote down his own name on Yao Ji's piece of paper, thinking, 'Even if I don't win this Multiply Gu, I should be able to get another one directly from Jia Fu just like with the Rank 1 Gu that are on the first floor.'

"Thank you, Granny Yao Ji." Chi Yan sincerely cupped his fist toward Gu Yue Yao Ji.

Gu Yue Yao Ji waved her hand. "It's nothing, I'm glad I could help a talented junior. By the way, little brother, what about our deal with the Clearing Heat Gu?"

"I can definitely sell it, but I need more time," Chi Yan said.

It was at this moment that Fang Yuan suddenly came up to them and got their attention.

"Fang Yuan?" Chi Yan asked.

Upon receiving everyone's attention, Fang Yuan cupped his fists toward Chi Yan with a humble expression, saying, "Brother Chi, do you remember what we talked about in the past? Although I received my parents inheritance, I only got it a short time ago. I would like to borrow some primeval stones to buy a few Gu worms."

"You want a loan? I can give you one, but I can at most lend you fifteen hundred primeval stones and…." Chi Yan pondered for some time, before smiling, "Let's just say that you will owe me a favor."

So in the end it turned out that Fang Yuan was too poor right now to even buy the Liquor Worm.

As for the compensation, apart from Nine Leaf Vitality Grass Gu there was simply nothing that Chi Yan could come up with that he could officially ask from Fang Yuan, and after this point Chi Yan would have no need for the Nine Leaf Vitality Grass in Fang Yuan's possession, so he simply asked for a favor.

"A favor?" Fang Yuan chuckled. "Alright, we can do it like this. But Brother Chi, can you lend me two thousand primeval stones instead? The caravan won't visit for at least a year, so I won't have any other chances to purchase good Gu."

"Two thousand… I can lend you two thousand, but if you don't spend it all, please return the excess before the caravan leaves," Chi Yan said.

"Okay."

Chi Yan nodded and approached one of the benches at the side, taking out ten bags of primeval stones out of his storage Gu.

Chi Yan then said, "I'll give you the second thousand later or you will have trouble carrying it all."

"Many thanks, Brother Chi." Fang Yuan cupped his fists, his eyes flashing with mild surprise.

At the side Gu Yue Yao Ji secretly observed. 'Chi Yan lent this Fang Yuan a whole two thousand primeval stones without writing any loan recipes. It seems that their relationship is not ordinary. Fang Yuan must have already been recruited by Chi Lian and the Chi faction in the end.'

Chi Yan then sighed as Fang Yuan was leaving. 'Giving my savings aways at this moment is bad for me, because I need every penny, but Fang Yuan needs to be able to purchase the Liquor Worm for the novel events to proceed smoothly...'

Originally Chi Yan had thoughts of placing another bid on the Liquor Worm to later resell it to Fang Yuan, but he decided against it and allowed Fang Yuan to have it. Fang Yuan asking Chi Yan to acquire the Liquor Worm for him from Jia Fu or asking to buy it from him if Chi Yan won it would be too suspicious and strange, because he already possessed one, so Chi Yan simply allowed Fang Yuan to be sneaky about it.

After Fang Yuan went back to the first floor, Chi Yan's group of three soon entered the third floor.

"What Gu is this?" Yao Le curiously pointed at the central counter on the third floor.

Gu Yue Yao Ji and Chi Yan followed Yao Le's gaze and saw a round bucket-shaped, tall and thin tree stump. The stump had five branches like five fingers of a human and were intertwined in the middle.

A sphere-shaped Gu worm that was thumb-sized was wrapped around by the fine branches and covered by green leaves, emitting a white silvery glow.

"This is a White Silver Relic Gu. It can be used by a Rank 3 Gu Master to instantly increase their cultivation by a small realm with no consequences," Chi Yan explained.

Relic Gu was a series Gu worm.

Rank 1 had Green Copper Relic Gu which was specially targeted towards Rank 1 Gu Masters. Rank 2 had Red Steel Relic Gu which was effective only on Rank 2 Gu Masters, and Rank 3 was this Silver Relic Gu.

"The price is thirty thousand primeval stones, it's so expensive!" The young girl was so shocked, she stuck out her tongue.

Gu Yue Yao Ji nodded, "Its final price should reach at least fifty thousand primeval stones."

"Eh, so much!" Yao Le exclaimed.

"Being able to advance a single stage at Rank 3 is a big deal, greatly increasing A Gu Master's combat strength. It might also save a Gu Master years of cultivation time," Chi Yan said.

Chi Yan then hummed as he looked at the silver pearl on the counter. 'At this time I only have around twenty thousand primeval stones of my own money and I will earn several thousand more once I sell the Gu worms I have for sale, having around twenty eight thousand. When discounting the money I lent to Fang Yuan, it would be twenty six thousand of my own money. As for the money from selling the Vitality Leaves I got from Chi Lian, it's around fourteen thousand.'

Chi Yan's expression was slightly dim. Unless something special happened, he would be simply unable to buy a Silver Relic Gu even if he keeps selling Vitality Leaves for the next several days.

Without a Silver Relic Gu, Chi Yan expected that he might be able to raise his cultivation at Rank 3 only by a small stage before the final battle of Qing Mao Mountain that's supposed to happen in a year and a half, reaching Rank 3 middle stage.

To get the best profits from the situation he would be quite a bit too weak!

"Little brother, are you interested in this Silver Relic Gu?" Gu Yue Yao Jia asked with a teasing expression as she noticed the longing in Chi Yan's eyes.

Chi Yan pursed his lips and said nothing.

Around this time Gu Yue Chi Lian entered the third floor and overheard the conversation. He faintly smiled, 'Chi Yan must be pretending that he wants to buy the Silver Relic Gu, good. His acting skills are really good.'

After greeting Gu Yue Chi Lian, Gu Yue Yao Ji said, "Anyway, we have strolled for quite some time already. The results of the Liquor Worm's bidding should have come out at this point, little brother."

Chi Yan nodded his head. If everything went well, then he lost.

The three went down to check the result, while Gu Yue Chi Lian stayed on the third floor.

At the reception desk.

"The Liquor Worm has actually been bought by someone else?" Gu Yue Yao Ji raised her eyebrows upon seeing the results. Chi Yan had put a high price and she was confident that he would win the bid, but to think that someone offered even more.

Gu Yue Yao Le observed Chi Yan's expression, biting her lower lip.

Chi Yan plaintly smiled, saying, "Well, life is unpredictable. It seems that someone really wanted this Liquor Worm."

Gu Yue Yao Ji chuckled. "That's right, but whoever bought it must have overpaid quite a bit. Since little brother wasn't very interested in it, then nothing bad happened."

"Yes. Honestly, I mostly wanted to buy this Liquor Worm just so I could sell it later for a higher price," Chi Yan said.

"Little brother is really cunning." Gu Yue Yao Ji smiled.

Chi Yan lightly smiled. "Granny Yao Ji, little sister Yao Le, thank you for the stroll. I will now go join my grandfather on the third floor."

Yao Le shily smiled under Chi Yan's eye contact, saying, "Goodbye, Senior Brother. Thank you for selling your Liquor Worm to grandma."

"You're welcome. See you later, little sister." Chi Yan smiled at Yao Le and walked upstairs.

On the third floor Gu Yue Chi Lian was seen observing the Silver Relic Gu.

"Grandfather." Chi Yan approached Gu Yue Chi Lian.

Gu Yue Chi Lian turned his head and said, "Chi Yan. Hmm, who would have thought that the caravan would come so early this time…"

Chi Yan remained silent.

Chi Lian continued, "Grandson, you've been browsing for a while with Lord Yao Ji, did you find anything interesting? Why did you bid for the Liquor Worm?"

Chi Yan replied, "I found a Rank 2 Multiply Gu on the second floor and bid for it. As for the Liquor Worm, I only bid the regular price on it to resell it later."

"Ah." Chi Lian faintly smiled. "So it's like that. Have you seen the Gu worms on this floor yet?"

Chi Yan shook his head. "Not yet."

"Okay, then let's browse together," said Chi Lian and began strolling through the room, browsing the few counters there with Chi Yan.

Among the counters on display on the third floor, the Gu worm that slightly interested Chi Yan was a Rank 3 Sabre Gu.

This Gu formed an extremely sharp saber in a Gu Master's hand that didn't need a continuous expenditure of primeval essence. Once the created saber dulled or broke, the Gu Master only needed to activate the Sabre Gu again to form another sharp saber.

However, this Sabre Gu was of Metal or Sword Path, so it didn't fit Chi Yan's combat system. Only if he were able to combine the Sabre Gu with fire type Gu worms to create something like Fire Saber or Flaming Saber, would it be useful to him.

'But this is a Rank 3 Gu whose ability is to create a blade purely made of metal. It has a base of Metal Path Dao Marks. To invent a brand new killer move that forms a blade mostly of Fire Path, it would be simply too difficult and require too much experimentation with too many Gu worms. I don't have time for that on Qing Mao Mountain…' Chi Yan thought regretfully.

Creating a burning saber might be easy, but a saber made of fire itself would be completely different, and even if Chi Yan succeeded, the result might not even be strong.

Creating a killer move from scratch with no base was simply not something that Chi Yan had spare time or resources for at this time. He was sensible and knew that he needed to focus on efficient cultivation that would give him the highest and quickest power boost, not on playing around.

Looking at Gu Yue Chi Lian, Chi Yan asked, "Grandfather, our clan has the Moonlight Sabre Gu recipe, right?"