The bamboo grove gleamed jade-green. A spirit spring bubbled up from the earth, clear and tranquil, serene and still.

The stone platform stood tall, facing toward the sun, gathering the sun’s pure essence. Ye Fan stood atop it, observing the stone figure in the sunlight. His expression was one of focused concentration as he slowly rotated the extraordinary stone, earnest and meticulous.

Suddenly, something shifted in his face. When the right eye of the stone figure was struck by the sunlight, he seemed to glimpse a flicker of solar essence flash through it and vanish. Was this…an illusion? He could not be certain. Having looked toward the sun for too long, he suspected his eyes had been dazzled.

Ye Fan stood utterly still, holding the nine-orifice stone figure directly facing the sun, his spirit focused to its utmost as he observed with all his care.

By this point, anyone could see that this fine-featured young man was a master of source arts. His every technique was precise and considered — in fact, many of them had never been seen or heard of before.

“Could he be a young man from a source art lineage? His methods are highly unusual — something no one has ever seen.”

“A true master of source arts — when selecting stones, half is luck and half is skill. This young man must have quite an origin.”

“Didn’t a group of people from a source art lineage come last time? They also looked at the nine-orifice stone figure. Their methods were nothing like his — so he’s clearly not from the same lineage.”

The crowd of old men watching nearby discussed among themselves in low voices, and a spark of avid interest kindled in their eyes. If this young man was a prodigy in source arts, he would undoubtedly be worth cultivating a connection with.

Outside the Celestial-Grade stone garden, though many people had gathered, it was very quiet. From the moment Ye Fan began to engage seriously with the nine-orifice stone figure, no one spoke. All eyes watched in silence.

Even the transcendent Jiang Yifei — clad in white from head to toe, his very boots white and spotless, his bearing free-spirited and refined beyond measure — waited with an expression of focused attention.

An Miaoyi’s dark hair drifted lightly in the air. Her beauty was natural and inherent, unforced and unhurried. Her eyes flowed with expression as she observed Ye Fan — her flawless form like a flower tree draped in snow, captivating to the heart.

Ye Fan stood motionless for a full quarter of an hour, yet observed nothing further out of the ordinary. The right eye of the stone figure was dry and bare, with no solar essence passing in or out, no animated vital energy.

Suddenly, Ye Fan moved. His right hand began to glow with points of radiance — five colors of light, a dazzling, dreamlike display.

These were not the techniques of an ordinary cultivator. This was the mysterious art of source — drawing upon the vital essence of grasses and trees, gathering the pure substance of the sun, drawing in the elemental essence of heaven and earth, channeling them all together.

Ye Fan’s right hand swept through the air with nimble grace, channeling that five-colored radiance into each of the nine orifices. His eyes glittered with points of starlight as he fixed an unblinking gaze upon the stone figure.

“Indeed a master of source arts — a remarkable art, an extraordinary technique. No one has ever seen its like.”

“Can this kind of source art probe the rare treasures within the stone?”

…

The old men watching nearby all revealed expressions of astonishment and great expectation, deeply curious to see what wonders he would demonstrate next.

Ye Fan emitted no fluctuation of divine power whatsoever. He was purely demonstrating source arts — this being the most solemn and serious he had ever been, because the nine-orifice stone figure was simply too extraordinary.

A long time passed. The five-colored radiance channeled into each of the nine orifices produced no response of any kind. The extraordinary stone remained simple and unadorned, as it always was.

Ye Fan’s brow furrowed. He stepped down lightly from the stone platform, no longer facing the sunlight to examine it. These techniques had yielded nothing.

Li Heishui transmitted: “Can’t see through it clearly? Better just leave it — I just heard someone say this stone has been sitting here for years, and even those who thought highly of it ultimately gave up at the last moment.”

The violet-robed Yaoyue Kong also spoke up in warning: “Little brother, if you have no confidence, perhaps don’t move it. Many masters of source arts have looked it over, and in the end they all walked away.”

Ye Fan was quite calm. “Let me have another look.”

He set the nine-orifice stone figure down on the grass, carefully measured out positions across the stone figure’s body, then quickly began to act — striking downward again and again with rapid, successive touches of his fingers.

Clearly visible: one after another, inch-long golden glints of light sank into a series of specially chosen positions, like grains of gold dropping one by one.

“The Touch-Stone-to-Gold Hand!” The white-haired source master cried out, standing out markedly among the crowd.

“What?! That’s truly the highly renowned Touch-Stone-to-Gold Hand from the source arts — even cultivators who’ve come out of source art lineages may not necessarily be able to perform it!” Some of the old men were shocked.

“Real or not — this young man is using the Touch-Stone-to-Gold Hand? This… is beyond belief! What a true prodigy of source arts!”

The crowd of senior figures watching on all sides revealed expressions of astonishment. They had heard of this source art technique, but had almost never seen anyone perform it.

Outside the Celestial-Grade stone garden, Wu Ziming and Li Chongtian and the others exchanged glances — their faces dark, as though they had bitten into something as bitter as coptis root.

The Great Xia prince, though astonished, paid even more attention now. He stood as close to the front as he could get, nearly pressing up against the nine-orifice stone figure.

The violet-robed Yaoyue Kong also leaned his body down for a close-range look. He felt that Ye Fan’s source arts were even more remarkable than he had imagined — if he could cultivate this relationship well, it would bring tremendous benefit to the Celestial Demon Treasury in days to come.

A full one hundred and eight inch-long golden glints of light were driven into the stone figure by Ye Fan. This was no divine power — there was no risk of shattering the stone.

Among the crowd, the source master marveled aloud continuously: “He actually completed the full sequence — it’s the complete Touch-Stone-to-Gold Hand!”

Ye Fan’s concentration was absolute, wholly unaffected by the audience watching around him. He began striking the stone in a methodical pattern, both ears listening intently — and did not stop until a very long time had passed.

“How is it?” Li Heishui asked anxiously. With so many eyes upon them, a sky-high price on the line for this stone material — it would be difficult for anyone to remain calm.

“Still can’t be certain — but I’m buying it. Sold!” When the words “sold” left Ye Fan’s lips, the stone garden at last lost its stillness. A great clamor broke out, and every person began talking at once.

The nine-orifice stone figure — a stone of extraordinary and sky-high value — had stood in this place for many years without a single person daring to touch it. It had very nearly become the prized centerpiece of the Daoist Yishi stone workshop.

Today, at last, someone was going to cut this stone. Every single person was itching with impatience, desperately wanting to see what had taken shape within the stone figure.

“Today was truly worth coming for — this will put to rest a wish we’ve all carried for many years!” Some of the old men exclaimed with deep feeling.

“Heroes come from the young after all — what spirit, what boldness. So many people have looked at this stone, even those from source art lineages — and in the end, not one of them bought it.”

Inside and outside the stone garden the noise was overwhelming. Everyone was sharing their own opinion.

Wu Ziming laughed coldly: “I think he’s about to be in serious trouble. So many experts studied this stone carefully and still shook their heads and walked away. He actually dares to buy it? Heh heh!”

Li Chongtian also gloated with undisguised pleasure: “Soon enough he’ll take a fall that leaves him with a broken head, and then we’ll see how he gets out of it!”

Inside the stone garden, Li Heishui frowned. “You can’t see through this stone clearly — you have no way to be certain. Why would you still buy it?”

“What is stone gambling? The word ‘gamble’ comes before the word ‘stone.’ When source arts have reached their limits of usefulness, there’s nothing left but to take a bold chance.”

Ye Fan had studied the Heavenly Book of Source deeply, and his source arts had not yet reached their full mastery — unable to compare with a true Source Heavenly Master. He genuinely couldn’t see clearly through this stone. And yet he had perceived, however faintly and indistinctly, a thread of something unusual within it.

He felt it could not be an ordinary stone. He simply didn’t know whether a peerless rare treasure would be cut from it. He was unwilling to let it pass him by — especially since a group from a source art lineage had visited not long ago, and he feared an even more formidable figure might be drawn here.

“Good, good, good!” The source master was the most agitated of all, his body trembling. He had guarded this garden for several dozen years. He was no cultivator himself, and his life’s greatest wish had been to see someone cut open the stone figure and reveal what lay within.

Even the old Daoist nun, usually the most composed of all, showed a flicker of something unusual — she was no longer quite so utterly impassive.

The young Daoist woman of the Daoist Yishi sacred ground had drawn closer as well. It was evident she also wished to see.

When Ye Fan raised his blade, all sounds ceased. The enormous stone garden fell into complete and utter silence, leaving only gazes burning with intense anticipation.

Across the entire stone garden — utterly still and quiet, so still a falling leaf could be heard — Ye Fan began to cut the stone. Cautious and careful, each movement small, each stroke of the blade steady and precise.

Snap!

When the first sound rang out, everyone gave a start. That sound announced: the prized centerpiece of the Daoist Yishi stone workshop was at last about to be opened!

Stone chips flew in every direction. Ye Fan applied the blade with total focus. In no great span of time, the stone figure’s arm had been stripped away.

The result: nothing but stone powder on the ground. Not even an ordinary piece of source had been cut out. The interior of the stone figure was ordinary in every respect — pale white throughout, bearing none of the qualities of stone material that could harbor rare and precious things.

“This is bad!” Li Heishui knew things were looking very wrong.

“Just as I thought — no wonder those source art masters all shook their heads and gave up in the end. This nine-orifice stone figure looks special on the outside, but the interior is white stone. Source simply will not come from it!”

Some of the old men were deeply disappointed. They had been waiting years to see this stone, and today someone finally cut it — only for it to prove so utterly ordinary, with not even the faintest unusual quality.

Some even began to suspect that the Daoist Yishi sacred ground had set this up deliberately — a trap to catch those with exceptional mastery of source arts.

“Thank goodness — back then, I suppressed my impulse and didn’t buy this stone material.”

Ye Fan turned a deaf ear to all of this and continued swinging the cutting blade. It wasn’t long before the stone figure’s legs were also stripped away — still nothing but pale white.

“A pity. All these years, this stone never let me go — and yet it turns out to be like this.”

“If there had been a peerless rare treasure inside, the phenomenon of an immortal flying from the stone would have appeared long ago. There isn’t even a ripple of response — it’s deeply disappointing.”

The old men were shaking their heads all around.

The most anxious of all was Li Heishui. This was a stone of sky-high price. If nothing was cut from it, the divine medicine they had earned earlier would all have to be used to fill the hole.

Ye Fan said nothing and continued striking with the blade, stripping open the stone figure’s abdomen — still pale white. Then he cracked open the head — still the same. Finally, he brought the blade down on the chest cavity. Stone chips flew — still nothing.

Li Heishui’s cold sweat began to run. He had come full of hope, and now was drowning in disappointment.

At this moment, what remained was one fist-sized chunk of stone, still uncut, located in the position of the heart — and in addition, the forehead of the head had not yet been touched.

By now, no one outside the stone garden was keeping quiet any longer. Not a single person still held any confidence in the nine-orifice stone figure. Having cut this far and found only white throughout — stone material like this had almost no chance of harboring anything rare or precious.

“Ha ha ha!” Wu Ziming burst out laughing. “Overestimating yourself! So many years have passed, every expert shook their head and walked away without selecting it, and you really thought you’d become a great Source Master?! “

Li Chongtian also crowed with gleeful mockery: “There are always those who don’t know the height of heaven or the depth of the earth, who think they can point and instruct the world — and in the end they fall flat on their faces. When it comes down to it, they’re nothing!”

“Ha ha ha!”

Their whole group was roaring with laughter. Outside the stone garden, it was a cacophony of noise.

Some mocked, some taunted, some pitied — every kind of expression was present, every face of human nature on display.

No one maintained their silence any longer. All was clamor and noise, and not a single soul still believed in the nine-orifice stone figure.

“Heh heh heh…” A deep, meaningful cold laugh rang out from nearby. The Grand Elder of the Illusory Extinction Palace, Li Yishui, had also appeared.

Even Yaoyue Kong and the Great Xia prince were disappointed, standing silently to one side, somewhat doubtful — wondering whether they had misjudged Ye Fan.

In the distance, Jiang Yifei’s brow furrowed slightly, and his attention here diminished.

An Miaoyi also shook her head very slightly. The expression on her flawlessly beautiful face became one of placid indifference.

The old men who had gathered beside Ye Fan fell quiet, watching in silence, and said nothing more.

The young Daoist woman, gifted with a natural, heavenly beauty, stood to one side — still utterly calm, offering no reaction.

“Damn it all — this is infuriating!” Li Heishui was thoroughly vexed, and shot a fierce glare at Wu Ziming, Li Chongtian, and the others in the distance.

At this moment, only the little white-robed nun was still crouched on the ground, her chin resting in her palms, with a pure and innocent air, still staring with curious eyes at that fist-sized stone chunk. Blinking her big eyes, she said: “Why have you stopped cutting?”

Ye Fan’s expression was untroubled like the surface of still water. He rose to his feet, and called out loudly to all those around him: “Is anyone willing to make a wager with me?”