REVEREND INSANITY
Chapter 40: Gu Toads Sleeping on Purple Golden Stones

Chapter 40: Gu Toads Sleeping on Purple Golden Stones

The further it goes, the more developed and prosperous it becomes. Small PKLs were reduced while large tents were increasing in number.

There is a wide variety of large tents that can be seen – red, blue, green, yellow, in various shapes and sizes, some cylindrical. Some erected two door pillars at the entrance of their tents, while others hung large red lanterns instead. Inside, some tents have lights on, while others are dim and dark.

Fang Yuan scanned his surroundings as he walked, finally stopping near the gray-colored tent.

"It's here," he evaluated while looking at the tent; it had two pillars at the entrance, and there were carvings on the pillars, two rows of antithesis couplets (1).

The left side wrote, "Little display of courage, get lucky for four seasons."

The right side writes, "Great skill display, gain good prosperity in all four directions."

In the middle there is still another line: "Luck changes with time."

That's right, this is a gambling den.

This gambling nest ate about one mu(2) of land; it was considered a large-sized tent.

Fang Yuan walked in. Inside the tent, there were three rows of counters on the side. On the table are pieces of amber or fossils. Some are as big as a palm, some are as big as a face. There are also greater ones; they are as tall as humans. It obviously couldn't fit on the counter, so it was directly put on the ground.

Different from other tent shops, here deserted.

Some of Gu's masters stood in front of the counter, some meticulously observed the stone at the display counter while others took the fossil and rubbed it in their hands to feel it. There were some who had a quiet discussion with their friends, and there were those who discussed the price with their store clerks.

But no matter what they discussed, they spoke softly, doing their best not to disturb others.

This is a nest of stone gambling.

In the Gu world, there were all kinds of Gu, coming with different shapes and sizes and all sorts of effects. Guworms have their own food to consume. Without food, they could only survive for a short while before dying.

But nature, towards life forms, is uncaring and benevolent.

If they were short of food, the Gu worms still had a chance to survive. It was for hibernation, undergoing self-sealing.

For example, if Moonlight Gu did not have Moon Orchid petals to consume, he might experience sealing on his own. He will try to maximize the conservation of his powers, such as winter hibernation, falling into deep sleep. At this moment, not only would the blue light on his body disappear, it would also change from a transparent crystal state to a gray stone, covered in layers of stone shells. Over time, the crust of the rock will get thicker and turn into chunks of rock.

Or for example Liquor Worm, if it undergoes self-sealing, it will form a white cocoon around it, curl up its body and fall into a deep sleep inside the cocoon.

Of course this situation of sealing and hibernation may not occur in every Gu worm. This has a small chance of occurring, and in most cases, the Gu worm will not fall into hibernation but instead die of starvation. Only a small number of Gu worms can, in certain situations, experience self-sealing.

Some of Master Gu who accidentally obtained this sealed stone or Gu worm cocoon would awaken the Worm Gu sleeping within it. They will have luck. Some Gu masters became successful because of this, it became a turning point in their lives. This situation is frequent in the world of GuMaster, often false or real rumors, giving people hopes and dreams.

The source of the idea behind this stone gambling den came from this rumor. Of course, all of these stones looked the same on the outside. Only after opening it can one determine if there really is a Gu worm hidden inside.

“In a small-sized stone gambling den like this, nine out of ten stones is a solid core, it has no Gu worms in it. Even if there were Gu worms inside the stone, they might not be living worms, most of them were dead Gu. But once one gets the jackpot from Gu live, in most situations, one will be able to earn a lot of money. If Guworm was a rare species, they would be successful people in life or be killed and robbed of its wealth.”

Fang Yuan was clear about this in his heart, very familiar with the situation outside these doors.

In his past life, he had participated in the merchant caravan before, becoming an employee in the stone gambling den. Some time later, he even operated his own stone gambling den, even larger than this one; it was a medium-sized stone gambling den. He managed to fool some gamblers, and also sometimes misjudged, allowing other gamblers to win valuable Gu worms.

Fang Yuan stood at the door for a bit, looking around him before slowly walking to the counter on the left side.

Behind the counter, there was a shop assistant every few meters, both men and women. On their waists hung a green-colored belt, indicating that they were not ordinary people but a rank one Gu master. Most of these are early stages, while some chosen are middle stages.

Looking at Fang Yuan in front of the counter, a female Master Gu nearby walked up to him and smiled, softly saying, "Young master, what kind of worm Gu do you need? Each stone on this counter was sold for ten ancient stones. If this is your first experiment, just for that, why don't you go to the right counter, the stones there are sold for only five ancient stones. If you are looking for a sensation, you can go to the high-end counter in the middle, the stones sold there are twenty ancient stones each. ”

This was an experienced female Master Gu, having worked in a stone gambling den for quite some time.

He looked at the incoming Fang Yuan, and decided that he was a student of his appearance, age and height, etc.

Those who came to gamble were all Master Gu. Students were only considered second-rate Master Gu, just starting their cultivation. Since they were often financially deprived from feeding their Gu worms, where would they find the money to come and gamble the stones?

Students like this, usually they just come to look and get an eye-opening experience, satisfying their curiosity. Most are just window shoppers, though if some have a well-off family, they may try buying one to try. But most just buy the cheapest fossils.

Thus, the female Master Gu had no hope towards how many stones Fang Yuan could buy.

In his memory, it should be at this counter in this stone gambling den.

But it's been 500 years, it's been too long. Many things were already unclear to him, especially when the memory of 500 years was an enormous capacity, so to be honest Fang Yuan was unable to recall clearly.

He could only vaguely remember, that during this year on the first night the caravan arrived, a lucky bird spent ten ancient stones to buy fossils with a purple gold luster.

After he opened it on the spot, he obtained a Mud Skin Toad. After that Gu these toads were bought by others, thus causing him to gain quite a bit of wealth from the ancient stone.

Fang Yuan frowned after observing for a while.

In this counter, fossils with a purple gold luster numbered up to twenty. In which rock is the hidden Mud Skin Toad?

Each stone here was sold for ten ancient stones. Currently Fang Yuan had ninety-eight ancient stones with him, and he could buy up to a maximum of nine pieces.

But realistically, he couldn't count like this.

In any kind of risk and betting, one must consider the consequences.

Fang Yuan was no longer a greenhorn, just like the gamblers who thought they were blessed by heaven. Those who think they are blessed by destiny are usually those who fall under the ravages of destiny itself.

“I'm alone, with no relatives or friends who can help me. I had to store some ancient stones to survive, as well as buy food for my Gu worm. ” He counts and under the most basic reservation, he can buy at most seven pieces of fossils.

"This stone, purple gold dotted like a star, but flat like an omelette, there's definitely no mud-skin frog in it."

“This piece has a striking purple gold color, but it is only the size of a fist. If there is indeed a mud skin frog inside, the stone is at least 30% larger.”

“This purple gold fossil, wah is big, but the surface is very smooth, while the skin of the mud frog skin should be rough and uneven, it is not this one..”.

Fang Yuan continued to observe and evaluate, using the cancellation method.

When the Gu worms hibernate after sealing themselves, they will form into natural fossils, undetectable from most of the world's detection methods. The remaining detection method was too crude, and after use, it would instantly kill the barely living Gu worm.

Thus, when Gu Masters chose stones, they could only rely on their guesses, experience, and luck, sometimes relying on a little instinct.

Otherwise, this would not be called gambling.

Of course, in this vast world, there were countless miracles, and one could not exclude the fact that there was a very gentle method of detection, he said, that allowed a Master Gu to know if the stone contained Guworm.

Fang Yuan had heard such rumors in his past life, but after experimenting, discovered that it was all a lie.

Fang Yuan assumed personally, "If such a method really existed, it should be a hidden legacy, controlled in the hands of a small number of mysterious people, having no impact on the gambling business."

It was still tame around the mountainous region of Qing Mao, but the more it moved east, the more prosperous gambling dens became. In the mountainous region of Bai Tou(3), each family village has its own gambling den. In some large-sized forts, there were even large-sized gambling dens built. Three villages famous for their stone gambling are Pan Shi Village (4), Gu Mu Village (5) and Cang Jing Village (6), and there are even large gambling dens.

These three large gambling dens each have a thousand-year history. Today, their business is still blooming, with an endless number of gamblers. There was never a clean sweep situation by anyone.

Right now, the tent where Fang Yuan was located was barely able to qualify as a small-sized gambling den.

If any other 15-year-old were to come, they would definitely be confused by all the different fossils, and even if they chose them, it was just by guessing at random.

But Fang Yuan was different.

First, he already knew part of the answer from the start, so his search range shrank to less than thirty pieces.

Of course, to find one stone out of these twenty strange pieces was also very difficult. But using his five hundred years of experience as a support, with such a rich pool of information, he selected six pieces of purple gold fossils that best fit the criteria after observing for a while.

He has an 80% chance of being convinced that a mud-skin frog is hibernating inside one of these six fossils!

(1) Antithesis Couplet: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antithetical\_couplet

(2) Mu ( ⁇ ): 1 Mu is 666 meters²

(3) Bai Tou directly means White Head, (4) Pan Shi is Monolith, (5) Gu Mu means Ancient Tomb and (6) Cang Jing is Pale Pope. To be honest most of these mountains will never appear again, so you don't need to remember them.