93: The correct way to raise a mount! It eats dirt, I eat meat!

War God Hall, True Disciple Peak.

Gu Yang has officially moved into this independent mountain peak, a symbol of status and position.

The Spiritual Qi here is abundant; there is even a miniature Spiritual Vein running directly underground, and the gravity Formation is top-notch.

However, Gu Yang isn't happy at all right now.

He is squatting in the courtyard, staring eye-to-eye with a fist-sized, fluffy little beast that emits a faint starlight glow.

This is the Starry Sky Giant Beast cub.

"I say, can you be reasonable?"

Gu Yang holds a piece of fragrant roasted fourth-grade Yao Beast meat and waves it in front of the little beast.

"This is top-tier Thunder Leopard meat, dripping with oil with every bite, why won't you eat it?"

"Awoo~"

The little beast turns its head away in disgust, presenting its butt to the meat, then sticks out its pink little tongue to lick a bluestone slab on the ground, wearing a look of satisfaction.

Gu Yang: "..."

"You are a Starry Sky Giant Beast, not a stray dog! Why are you eating stone!"

He is going crazy.

It has been three days since he brought this little ancestor back.

In these three days, it hasn't eaten meat or drunk water; it only likes gnawing on stones and licking metal.

Gu Yang opens the "Spirit Beast Breeding Guide" that came with the "War God Illustrated Record", which clearly states:

【Starry Sky Giant Beast: In its juvenile stage, it needs to devour star essence, rare Ores, and high-grade metals to grow. Meat is ineffective.】

"Rare Ores? High-grade metals?"

Gu Yang touches his Storage Pouch, which is cleaner than his face.

His Spirit Stones were mostly spent on the road, and the remaining Materials are reserved for upgrading his own equipment.

"This isn't raising a mount, this is raising a money-shredding machine!"

Gu Yang sighs, looking at the little beast that is preparing to gnaw on his heavenly demon meteor hammer, and hurriedly puts the hammer away.

"You can't eat that! That's my tool for making a living!"

"Awoo?"

The little beast blinks its big eyes, looking innocent, while its stomach lets out a timely "rumble".

It is hungry.

When it is hungry, it cries, and although the sound isn't loud, it carries a strange penetrating power that makes Gu Yang's head ache.

"Fine, fine, I'm afraid of you."

Gu Yang stands up helplessly.

"Since you won't eat meat, don't blame me for being rude. From now on, we each do our own thing; I eat meat, you eat dirt."

"Let's go, I'll take you to eat something good."

...

War God Hall back mountain, abandoned Ore vein.

This was once a place where War God Hall mined Spiritual Ores, later abandoned because the vein dried up, but it still has many associated Ores remaining.

Gu Yang brings the little beast here and points to the abandoned Ore slag all over the ground:

"Eat up, it's a buffet, eat until you're full."

The little beast sniffs, excitedly dives into the pile of slag, picks up a piece of black iron Ore, and starts gnawing.

Crunch, crunch!

The hard Ore is as crisp as a cracker in its mouth.

Gu Yang watches with aching teeth, so he simply builds a fire and roasts the remaining Yao Beast meat in his Storage Pouch.

One man and one beast, one gnawing on stone, one gnawing on meat, the scene is surprisingly harmonious.

"Since you can eat so much, I'll call you 'Ergou' from now on."

Gu Yang says casually while eating.

"Awoo!" (Protest!)

"Protest invalid. Your formal name is 'Star Trace', your nickname is 'Ergou', it's settled."

Gu Yang makes the decision.

After eating and drinking his fill, Gu Yang begins to study the "War God Illustrated Record".

This is truly an supreme Cultivation Technique that leads directly to the Mahayana stage. Its core philosophy coincides with Gu Yang's Extreme Dao style, and it is even more systematic and profound.

"The human body contains great medicine, the body contains thousands of worlds."

"Open up the three hundred and sixty-five acupoints around the body; each acupoint can contain the power of a Small World."

Gu Yang is mesmerized.

But he soon discovers a serious problem—he is poor.

To open up acupoints, he needs massive amounts of pure energy.

Relying solely on the primitive accumulation method from the Great Wilderness is too slow.

"Must make money, get resources."

Gu Yang closes the book, a flash of light in his eyes.

"Since War God Hall is a major Sect in Central Plains, there should be many bounty missions, right?"

...

War God Hall, Task Hall.

Gu Yang carries Ergou (it fell asleep after eating) and walks in with large strides.

In the Task Hall, many Disciples see this newly promoted "fierce man" and avoid him, whispering.

Gu Yang ignores everyone's gaze and walks straight to the counter.

"Give me the most expensive mission, the kind that has... many monsters, lots of meat, and great rewards."

The deacon in charge wipes his sweat and looks through the mission list.

"Senior Brother Gu, there is a red mission here to 'Clear the Beast Tide'."

"Location: 'Ten Thousand Insect Valley' on the edge of Central Plains."

"Description: The insect race has been rampant there recently, and even a Soul Transformation Stage Insect Mother has appeared, causing severe disaster to the surrounding Mortal kingdoms. The Sect urgently needs to clean it up and collect the Insect Mother's Yao Beast core."

"Reward: One hundred thousand contribution points (can be exchanged for massive resources)."

"Bugs?"

Gu Yang frowns.

He doesn't like eating bugs; they have little meat and hard shells, making them troublesome to process.

But just then, Ergou on his shoulder wakes up, its nose twitches, its eyes light up, and drool drips onto Gu Yang's shoulder.

It smells... some special mineral scent?

No, that is the trace amount of rare metal elements contained in the insect race's carapace!

"Awoo! Awoo!"

Ergou points excitedly at the mission board, meaning: Go! Go! I want to eat that!

Gu Yang is stunned, then reacts.

"You want to eat bug shells?"

Ergou nods frantically.

Gu Yang is amused: "Good fellow, so you don't just eat dirt, you also do waste sorting."

"Fine, since you want to eat, let's go."

Gu Yang takes the mission board and waves his hand:

"Let's go, Ergou, I'll take you to eat 'deep-fried assorted platter'!"

...

Several days later, Ten Thousand Insect Valley.

This is a huge valley shrouded in poisonous miasma, with all kinds of basin-sized poisonous insects crawling densely on the ground: Iron-Armored Centipedes, Corrosive Beetles, Scythe Mantises...

Ordinary Cultivators seeing this scene would probably have their trypophobia triggered.

But Gu Yang and Ergou stand at the entrance of the valley, the green light in their eyes even scarier than the poisonous insects.

"So much protein..." Gu Yang licks his lips.

"Awoo..." (So many crispy crackers...) Ergou drools.

"Charge!"

At Gu Yang's command, man and beast rush into the insect sea like hungry wolves.

Boom!

Gu Yang punches out, and dozens of beetles are shaken to death.

He casually grabs a fat centipede, pinches off the head and tail, and Earth Core Lotus Fire appears in his palm.

Sizzle, sizzle!

Instantly roasted, crispy, tastes like chicken.

"Although this centipede meat is sparse, the Spiritual Qi is quite pure."

Ergou is even more fierce.

It doesn't need roasting; it just pounces, hugs an Iron-Armored Beetle, and gnaws.

Crunch, crunch!

The hard carapace is like potato chips in its mouth, and it eats with relish.

And as it devours, the starlight on Ergou's body gets brighter, and its size also fine-tunes and grows at a speed visible to the naked eye.

On this day, Ten Thousand Insect Valley meets its doom.

There are no earth-shattering Spell duels, only bone-chilling chewing sounds.

Gu Yang and Ergou start "assembly line eating mode".

Gu Yang is responsible for killing, roasting, and eating the meat.

Ergou is responsible for cleaning the battlefield, eating shells, eating Ores, and eating everything hard.

The two cooperate tacitly; it is simply like a locust plague passing through, leaving nothing behind.

Just as they eat their way to the depths of the valley, preparing to have a heart-to-heart talk with that Soul Transformation Stage Insect Mother.

Gu Yang suddenly stops.

Behind the Insect Mother's nest in front, a very special spatial fluctuation faintly drifts over.

Through the thin mist, a flickering whirlpool-shaped entrance can be seen.

System prompt:

【Detected high-energy plane aura leakage!】

【Spatial node is extremely unstable... suspected to be connected to some ancient lost... herb garden?!】

"Herb garden?!"

The roasted centipede in Gu Yang's hand drops to the ground.

"Doesn't that mean... there are many radishes? Many ginsengs? Many spirit fruits?"

He turns to look at Ergou, and Ergou also seems to have sensed something, excitedly wagging its tail.

"Ergou, stop eating trash."

Gu Yang wipes his mouth, a flame named "Greed" burning in his eyes.

"We might have... discovered a Treasure Trove."