“I refuse to believe you can still turn this around at this point!” A mocking, cold smile hung on Wu Ziming’s face.
Not just him — none of the others believed a miracle could still occur.
What was Divine Source? It was the most precious of all source stones — formed from the most primal vital energy of heaven and earth. Even the Sacred Grounds themselves coveted it desperately.
The Sacred City had not seen one cut out in many years. A piece as large as a human head, priceless beyond measure. Who could possibly turn things around under these circumstances? What could be more precious than this? It was virtually impossible.
“Today, I’ll sell everything I own to bet against you!” Wu Ziming sneered repeatedly.
Not long ago, he had lost tens of thousands of jin of source stones to Ye Fan. Now, he finally saw a chance to take revenge. On the spot, he and Li Chongtian went around borrowing source stones from various people.
Their connections were fairly broad — they knew quite a few people. More importantly, their respective sects were among the more prominent great orders of the Northern Region: the Five Elements Palace and the Illusion Destruction Palace both had considerable reputations, and elders from both were present. Between them, the two men gathered a substantial amount of source stones.
Not only were those two tempted — the others could not remain calm either. Since Ye Fan had already issued the challenge, many people were eager to join in.
A human-head-sized piece of Divine Source had already emerged into the world. Most people didn’t believe Ye Fan could reverse the situation. This was virtually impossible. Such a divine object was exceedingly rare throughout the world.
“We’ll bet against you as well!”
Over twenty cultivators banded together, pooling fifteen thousand jin of source stones, and strode forward to place them in a gleaming heap on the ground.
Just then, Wu Ziming and Li Chongtian had also gathered enough, bolstered by their sect elders’ support. In total, they had scraped together thirty thousand jin of source stones.
“I’ve been waiting for this day for a long time!” Wu Ziming said through nearly gritted teeth. In that previous crushing defeat, he had not only lost a great sum of source stones but had also been left humiliated and mocked by others.
Now, with an opportunity like this presenting itself, he felt it was a heaven-sent gift.
“Is there anyone else?” From beginning to end, Ye Fan remained utterly composed. After rising from beside that priceless unusual stone and walking forward, he asked again whether anyone else wished to place a bet against him.
“He’s far too calm and steady.”
“Doesn’t he know the value of Divine Source? A piece that large — unless he cuts out a complete primordial divine medicine, there’s no way he can possibly compete.”
Many people wanted to participate, but seeing Ye Fan’s unruffled composure — not a trace of dejection on his face — everyone began to hesitate.
People couldn’t help but think back to the last time. When the nine-aperture stone figure had been more than half cut open, everyone had assumed nothing would come of it — only for Ye Fan to reveal that he had dug a pit and waited for people to jump in.
Though many were confident about the Divine Source, they still wavered. They feared this would be like the last time — that Ye Fan had kept an ace up his sleeve.
“Is there truly no one left? That is Divine Source, after all. Have you no confidence in Tuoba Chang?” Ye Fan asked again, walking out quite a distance. Fallen blossoms drifted around him, crystalline petals landing on his person as he moved beneath the ancient trees.
The trees swayed in the fragrant air. As Ye Fan strolled beneath the ancient trees, he had already moved some distance from the two priceless unusual stones.
Suddenly, two figures walked out to the center of the arena, moving swiftly toward the stone that Ye Fan had just examined carefully and had nearly settled on.
“Our hands are itching. We’ll choose a stone as well.”
The two had chosen the unusual stone Ye Fan had been studying a moment ago, and they stacked one hundred and twenty thousand jin of source stones on the ground.
These were two elders who had been in the stone garden all along, not far from where everyone stood. Thus, they had quickly made it to the front.
One of them was Li Yishui, the Honored Elder of the Illusion Destruction Palace — the same man who, the last time, had encouraged and lent tens of thousands of jin of source stones to Li Chongtian and others to bet against Ye Fan.
Today, he had not acted rashly. He had spent the entire time observing, and now, at the critical moment, he had made this move.
“You two…” Li Heishui’s expression changed instantly. He had faith in Ye Fan and believed he would certainly choose something of supreme rarity.
Yet no matter how he thought about it, he could never have anticipated that Li Yishui would act this way — teaming up with another elder of considerable standing to swoop in at the last moment and steal that stone from under their noses.
This was absolutely deliberate — bordering on shamelessness, exploiting a loophole in the rules to purchase that stone for themselves.
“Do you have some objection?” Li Yishui smiled faintly, wearing the air of someone entirely unconcerned.
“Have you no shame?” Li Heishui was so furious he jabbed a finger at the two of them, and finally could hold back no longer — the words burst out.
Li Yishui’s expression darkened immediately. “Young man, watch your tongue. If you keep speaking so insolently, I will discipline you on behalf of your elders.”
“The two of you are truly…” Li Heishui was so angry he nearly broke into cursing, desperate to spit in their faces. He could barely swallow this humiliation.
Ye Fan quickly stepped forward to hold him back, then turned to face Li Yishui, his own expression grim. “The two of you have gone too far, haven’t you?”
Li Yishui was nonchalant. “Oh? How have we gone too far? You mean the stone selection? You didn’t make your selection, and walked away — so we’ve purchased this stone.”
“You old fossils — couldn’t you see that Gufeng was just there tapping and examining that stone? He had clearly already chosen it!” Li Heishui wanted to thrash both of them on the spot.
“He never finalized his choice, did he? He walked away, didn’t he?” Li Yishui answered with a half-smile.
At this moment, the stone garden inside and out was in an uproar. Voices of discussion filled the air from all sides — there were those who envied, those who cursed, those who sympathized, and those who gloated.
“Those two old foxes truly are sharp. They made such a decisive move out of nowhere. It was completely unexpected.”
“That’s absolutely despicable. That’s utterly shameless. How could they do something like this?”
“Truly, age breeds cunning. They actually pulled a stunt like this. Though it really is a bit underhanded.”
“Why didn’t I think of that? That source-reading prodigy is still too green — he let someone exploit such an obvious gap.”
Outside the arena, the clamor was endless, impossible to quiet down. There were those seething with resentment, those sneering with mockery, those crying out in indignation on behalf of the wronged party…
Everyone acknowledged Ye Fan’s source-reading ability and believed that his confident demeanor just now meant the stone he had chosen likely contained a supreme rare treasure.
Though many thought it would be difficult to match that piece of Divine Source, there was a general consensus: something of considerable value would be cut out.
“Don’t hold me back — if I don’t give those two a beating, I won’t be able to get this rage out!” Li Heishui was truly furious. He wanted to hurl his black iron token at the two men and send it crashing into them.
“Your temper is quite sizable for someone so young. Didn’t your elders teach you to respect your seniors?” Li Yishui’s face darkened, and a faint flash of killing intent appeared and vanished from his eyes.
“You stole our unusual stone, and now you’re even directing killing intent at us…” Li Heishui was about to throw his black iron token and give them a solid thrashing.
Ye Fan grabbed him tightly, refusing to let him go forward.
Li Heishui calmed himself. Instead of acting impulsively, he turned to face the Ji Family representatives. “We had already paid one hundred and twenty thousand jin of source stones — are you really going to do nothing about what they just did?”
The Ji Family’s source master wore a troubled expression. “Though you did pay, that payment only applied to the group of treasured stones in general. You hadn’t yet specified which stone you were choosing.”
Ji Biyue, dressed in a green robe that accentuated her shapely figure, her jade-like feet bare, walked forward with elegant steps. She smiled gently. “Two young brothers, there’s truly nothing that can be done about this. You can only blame yourselves for not finalizing your choice sooner.”
Since the Ji Family had spoken, the matter clearly could not be undone. Li Heishui simmered with fury and resentment.
Yao Yuekong stepped forward and advised Li Heishui. “Let it go.”
The Great Xia Prince shook his head as well, transmitting privately, “You two were too careless.”
Some present found Li Yishui’s conduct beneath contempt but could only voice their displeasure in words — there was nothing anyone could do to change the outcome. This was the Ji Family’s premier stone garden, and everything had to follow the established rules.
Even some of the senior elders couldn’t bear to watch, yet they too found themselves unable to say anything further.
The small island was radiant with splendor. The human-head-sized Divine Source hovered in the air without sinking, dozens of divine beams shooting from within the stone skin, bathing every ancient tree and every fluttering crystalline flower petal in sacred brilliance.
Li Yishui had resumed his air of breezy detachment. He glanced at Ye Fan and Li Heishui and said, “Young people, the world is fair in some ways and unfair in others. There are many things in life well worth learning from.”
“You profited from wrongdoing and now you crow about it — well played,” Li Heishui said, pointing at the two men ahead of him.
Li Yishui took it in stride. In a composed and unhurried manner, he said, “This old one and Brother Yang Kun borrowed some source stones from a few old friends — not only to purchase a priceless unusual stone, but also to place a bet against you.”
“Indeed!” The elder known as Yang Kun — the Honored Elder of the Five Elements Palace — immediately stacked sixty thousand jin of source stones on the ground.
This move was absolutely ruthless. They had just seized someone else’s stone, and now they were seizing on this moment to place a bet — one could only call it vicious. It was purely an attempt to deliver a killing blow.
“The two of you have truly gone too far,” Ye Fan said, his expression grim.
“Words spoken are water poured — it was you yourself who said you wanted to bet against everyone here,” Li Yishui replied with a half-smile.
Though many present felt this was excessive, there wasn’t much anyone could say. The two sides clearly had a prior grudge, and the two young men had been outmaneuvered. It seemed they would have no choice but to swallow the loss.
Li Heishui’s temper flared immediately. What the other party was doing could truly be called bullying — using every underhanded means available. This kind of move made it impossible for him to hold back.
“Old fossils — thinking you can crush us with brute force? Not good enough!”
“Oh? And what exactly can you do about it?” Yang Kun asked.
Li Yishui remained perfectly composed, his tone offhand as he spoke. “I have a considerable interest in the dragon-patterned black gold Holy Spirit Sword on your persons. I estimate it’s worth around one hundred thousand jin of source stones. Perhaps I’ll go borrow a bit more from a few old friends — once we’ve gathered one hundred thousand jin, you can repay your debt with the Holy Spirit Sword.”
Yao Yuekong, An Miaoyi, and others had previously estimated the dragon-patterned black gold Holy Spirit Sword to be worth thirty-five thousand jin of source stones. Li Yishui’s suggestion was transparently malicious — he wanted to seize the sword at a fraction of its real value.
“Keep dreaming for a thousand years!” Li Heishui erupted.
“It’s fine — let him.” At the critical moment, Ye Fan transmitted privately and pulled him back firmly.
“Little Ye, you…” Li Heishui turned to look at him, then seemed to remember something. Suppressing the turbulent emotions within him, he slowly steadied himself.
“I’ve only managed to borrow two more tens of thousands of jin, so it’ll just be this amount — eighty thousand jin in total. We’ll bet against you.” A faint smile touched the corner of Li Yishui’s lips. “I have a rather fond attachment to that dragon-patterned black gold Holy Spirit Sword.”
“Very well. I accept. Go ahead and cut your stone first — give us all something to open our eyes.” Ye Fan then asked loudly, “Is there anyone else who wants to join in?”
Yao Yuekong transmitted privately, urging him: “Brother, are you truly going to bet against them? Just concede this time and let it go.”
“There’s no need to act out of wounded pride.” The Great Xia Prince also counseled restraint.
In this moment, all eyes turned in their direction. Jiang Yifei stood in white robes like snow, his expression serene, refined and handsome. An Miaoyi’s eyes shimmered with spiritual light — a beauty almost dreamlike — as she watched quietly. Jin Chixiao’s expression was solemn; he didn’t stir.
More senior figures from the elder generation also fell silent, watching everything unfold.
“In that case, we’ll try our hand as well!”
More than ten people stepped forward, pooled their resources, and gathered eighteen thousand jin of source stones — a glittering heap stacked up in a large mound.
Though many others were tempted, they held back their impulse. Partly because kicking someone when they were down felt too indecent, and partly because seeing Ye Fan issue the invitation with such unnatural calm gave them pause.
“Good. Since there’s no one else, let’s limit it to those of us gathered here.” Ye Fan revealed a smile.
In the first group, over twenty people had pooled fifteen thousand jin of source stones. Wu Ziming and Li Chongtian together had gathered thirty thousand. Li Yishui and Yang Kun had collectively assembled eighty thousand for the bet. The final group had pooled eighteen thousand jin.
Combined, all the source stones from these parties totaled one hundred and forty-three thousand jin.
At this moment, Li Yishui’s expression changed. He had seen Ye Fan smile at him — a bright, clean smile on that fair and elegant face, with perfectly white teeth that gleamed brilliantly.
His heart sank immediately. His mind rang like a thunderclap, and inwardly he cried out: Disaster! This seemingly harmless young scoundrel might have just dug another pit and baited me into jumping in!
“Senior Li, aren’t you going to cut the stone yet? Let us all open our eyes a little.” Ye Fan said with a smile.
Everyone present froze. Gazes snapped over in unison, fixing on Ye Fan and Li Yishui and that priceless unusual stone.
Li Heishui finally let out a long breath and nearly threw his head back laughing. He muttered gleefully under his breath: “Ye Black, Ye Black — this really is a skilled craft. Even pit-digging qualifies as a form of art.”