“Haha, of course you can. It’s no trouble for you to join us.” The Emperor looked at the pig behind Xuanyuan. Seeing him use his techniques had arisen his suspicions. Frowning, the Emperor indicated towards the pig and asked, “Who is this?”
Xuanyuan was used to the pig drawing attention wherever they went. After all, a creature as unique as him was unheard of. A beast with the head of the pig and the body of a dog was very noticeable.
“That’s my mount.” Xuanyuan laughed.
“Boy, when did I become your fucking mount. Stop talking nonsense, and try your luck in Tianshuang city first.” The pig said, a trace of impatience slipping into his voice. Now that he was at the cusp of breaking through, he desired an abundant supply of pure energy sources. Lacking these made him anxious.
“Haha, what do you mean by ‘try your luck’?” Lu Fengxiao looked at Xuanyuan and asked. All the while, gears were turning in his head. “Ji Yuan…The pig with a dog’s body…Taibai’s Gold Medallion… This must be Xuanyuan, the fighter ranked first in the List of Dragons. While he can hide it from others, nothing escapes Taibai Trading. Looks like he wants to go to the capital of the Northern Lands.”
Smiling, Xuanyuan lightly replied, “Oh it’s nothing. I just wanted to try my hand at stone gambling. Do you know if there are any stone gambling houses here?”
“Oh, stone gambling? Looks like he is Xuanyuan after all. Since he’s proficient in dispositions, stone refining also must be up his alley.”
The Emperor shook his head and said, “We have no gambling houses here. The soldiers would get addicted to gambling if it were the case, seeing that the days get lonely and boring. If you want to gamble, you can do so in the imperial capital. There are four major gambling houses there, you can gamble to your heart’s desire.”
Not expecting that the city wouldn’t have any gambling houses, Xuanyuan simply nodded and laughed, “Well then, that just leaves us to drink! Cheers!”
Saying that, Xuanyuan immediately downed his entire jar.
“Haha, that’s good. Once we reach the capital, let’s rob the gambling houses of everything that they can give us.” The pig kept goading Xuanyuan. He always meant to gamble at the imperial capital, but he wanted to test his skills at the smaller gamblig houses in Tianshuang city, before going to the larger ones in the capital.
“Brother Ji, I possess some fighting stones from Taibai Trading. They’re not of low-quality. Would you like to try your luck and gamble with me?”
“I want to see the two of you gamble.” Hearing this, the Emperor was in no hurry to leave.
Smiling, Xuanyuan said, “Of course, lead the way.” This was exactly the opportunity he was awaiting.
“You two can gamble here, I need to go somewhere.” Saying this, the pig activated his spells and disappeared.
“There’s no doubt in my mind now. The techniques the pig uses are far too unique. I wonder what Xuanyuan wishes to do in the capital? Maybe he wants to challenge some of the strongest fighters?” Luo Fengxiao thought to himself.
Even the Emperor was surprised. Luo Fengxiao said nothing. After all, Xuanyuan was a VIP within Taibai Trading. If he wanted to keep his identity secret, so be it.
He took out nine fighting stones from his ring, each of them containing a different energy. Xuanyuan raised his eyebrows as he looked at them. Looking at Fengxiao, he said, “These are all source rocks, right?”
Fighting stones were divided into three categories: jade stones, crystal stones, and source stones. While source stones were generally empty, if one was lucky, they could find energy sources within them.
“Haha, Brother Ji is really perceptive. That’s right, these are all source stones. However, I don’t know which of these contain energy sources. Please, take your pick.” Saying this, Fengxiao arranged the stones in a line.
Xuanyuan’s eye gleamed with a spiritual light, as he activated the first level of the Heavenly Eye of Acquisitions. Suddenly, a beam of light shot out from his eyes. Both the Emperor and Fengxiao were surprised, only high level stone masters could see through all obstacles. Even this wasn’t a guaranteed thing. Taibai Trading had a few skilled stone masters, thus these stones were all checked in such a way that all of them would likely be duds.
But nothing was absolute, the certainty of one’s estimation was based on one’s stone technique. Xuanyuan closely looked at the shape of the nine stones in front of him. The formation of each source stone was dependent on the nature of the land around it. Each kind of disposition would create its own kind of energy source. His eyes fell on a prismatic source stone, and he pointed at it.
“That’s the one.”
Raising his eyebrows, Luo Fengxiao thought, “Good pair of eyes on him. That’s the stone that seven stone masters highlighted as the most likely to have energy source.”
“Haha, fine then. This stone costs ten million king coins.” Luo Fengxiao put out the stone indicated by Xuanyuan,
Stone gambling was expensive because of the high rate of failure, and the cost of investment. Each pound of pure energy source would net you 2.5 million king coins. Thus, to break even on this stone, Xuanyuan needed to gain four pounds of pure energy source.
Xuanyuan immediately took out the amount and handed it to Fengxiao. Taking out his Devouring Sword, Xuanyuan started cutting the stone with fine precision, carving the four foot stone in half in an instant.
As he was cutting the stone down, Xuanyuan frowned as he remembered a passage from the book. Since source stones came from dispositions, they naturally had a strong aura in them. If one did not possess a high enough cultivation, they couldn’t distinguish the aura of the energy source within the stone from the aura of the stone itself.
With one final strike, the sword was completely split into two. The energy of the stone dissipated to the skies, but the insides of the stone was empty.
“Haha, it seems as if Brother Ji is not very lucky. Would you like to have one more try?”
Xuanyuan realised that while some things could be learnt by theory, others were better learnt when applying the theory in real life. After all, nothing beats the first-hand experience gained.
The Emperor was amazed by Xuanyuan’s swordsmanship. He exclaimed, “Haha, Brother Ji, your swordsmanship is truly exquisite. Each swing, each stab, they all have the same level of precision, while your moves are flexible and unpredictable.”
“You flatter me, Emperor.” Xuanyuan smiled, and then addressed Fengxiao.
“I would like to try once more.”
Xuanyuan’s eyes shone brightly with spiritual light. Looking carefull at tthe eight reamining stones, Xuanyuan noticed that the flow of Qi was different in each stone. Following the instructions of the Book of Acquisitions, Xuanyuan picked a huge stone, the size of a water tank. It looked simple and uninspiring, and was littered with small holes.
Xuanyuan’s selection made Fengxiao frown as he thought to himself. “Xuanyuan picked the other end of the spectrum with this stone. The stone masters said that this stone is the least likely to contain pure energy source. However, nothing is absolute in the world, maybe he sensed something from this stone.”
“Considering the size of this stone, its value is eight million king coins.” As a businessman, Fengxiao knew what to say, and when to say what.
Handing in the money, Xuanyuan began to cut the sword at a breakneck pace. His sword was a blur as he nimbly cut the stone into sections. He moved so fluidly that it looked as if he were cutting into tofu, eventually reducing the stone to the size of a wash basin.
Shaking his head in disappointment, the Emperor said, “What a waste. Looks like Xuanyuan wasted eighteen million king coins for nothing.”
Not everyone could afford to gamble on fighting stones. There were unlimited possibilities as to what stone contains pure energy source, and the cost for each stone was extremely high. Unless one was a master of stone refining, they would end up losing far more than they gain. The Emperor of Acquisitions was one such prodigy. With his knowledge of stone refining, he once made the master of a sect into his handmaiden for a whole year.
“That does seem to be the case…” Luo Fengxiao commented as well.
“Haha, don’t rule it out so quickly.” With one final swing of his sword, the stone split apart, releasing a pure Qi to the skies. The aura of a pure energy source burst out from within the stone.
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