Inside and outside the premier stone garden, all eyes turned in their direction. Ye Fan and Li Yishui had become the center of attention.

Everyone was astonished. At this moment, Li Yishui ought to have been brimming with satisfaction — yet instead, his face was dark, his mood plainly terrible.

While Ye Fan — whose stone had been stolen — wore an expression full of sunshine, his teeth gleaming, a word for it: delighted.

As for the black-skinned young man beside him, however one looked at him, he was clearly suppressing a wicked grin, straining to hold back his laughter, like a wolf in sheep’s clothing — his mouth split nearly to his ears.

“It’s over. Li Yishui has definitely been played.”

“Really? He was so cunning with his move just now — how could someone that shrewd get played?”

“Didn’t you see those two kids smiling in that unmistakably meaningful way? They look exactly like foxes eyeing a nest of chicks.”

Everyone in the arena focused on the two men and that priceless unusual stone.

Li Yishui could no longer maintain his nonchalance. Every trace of his previous breezy composure had vanished, replaced by a darkened expression. Beside him, Yang Kun’s face was equally somber as he stared down at the unusual stone on the ground.

This stone was named “Feathered Immortal Ascending” — about a meter in length with no particularly distinctive shape, quite irregular. Yet across its surface grew many veining patterns resembling feathers.

The Feathered Immortal Ascending Stone lay beside a thousand-year-old ancient tree. Many cultivators had examined it over the years, yet to this day no one had dared cut it open. Its value: one hundred and twenty thousand jin of source stones.

“This is a genuinely rare precious stone, marked with a primordial aura — absolutely old-pit material.” Ye Fan commented with a smile.

Li Yishui’s expression darkened further. He said nothing, produced a silver blade, and began cutting the stone. His movements were slow and careful — this was a priceless unusual stone, after all, and he feared damaging whatever might be inside.

“You have it wrong, Senior Li. For this kind of feathered precious stone, you need to cut against the grain of the veins — peeling it back like scales, working upward from the bottom bit by bit.” Ye Fan offered earnest guidance from the side.

Li Yishui’s forehead veins throbbed. “No need to tell me!” he snapped.

Beside him, Yang Kun let out a deep, cold huff, revealing an expression of extreme impatience.

But just then, Li Yishui pressed too hard, and the Feathered Immortal Ascending Stone let out a sharp crack and split.

Yang Kun was startled. “Be careful.”

This stone had cost one hundred and twenty thousand jin of source stones to purchase. Even if they suspected they had been played, they couldn’t help but tread carefully.

“Cut along the veins — don’t use brute force. Go with the flow of the stone.” Ye Fan began offering guidance once more.

Though Li Yishui’s veins were practically jumping off his forehead, he said nothing further. This kind of feathered stone material was something he had never cut before. If he wasn’t careful, it truly could shatter completely.

“Right — ease up on the blade just a little. Let the cut drift.” Ye Fan smiled and coached him, yet Li Yishui and Yang Kun felt every word of it like a slap across the face.

Their expressions were longer than the Dark Emperor’s. They were itching to bring a blade down on him instead. But the angrier they became, the more mistakes they made cutting the stone.

Crack!

Another large chunk of the Feathered Immortal Ascending Stone split off and fell to the ground — yet this piece revealed nothing when it landed.

Sweat had broken out on Li Yishui and Yang Kun’s faces. They had staked one hundred and twenty thousand jin of source stones on this stone — beyond their own reserves, they had borrowed from others as well.

If this all turned out to be a waste, the very thought of it made them want to spit blood. They had brought this entirely upon themselves!

Crack, crack, crack…

Stone powder trickled down steadily. The Feathered Immortal Ascending Stone grew smaller and smaller. Still nothing emerged. Sweat had soaked through Li Yishui’s back.

Yang Kun hadn’t taken a turn with the blade, yet the feeling in his chest was no less torturous — even calling it like a hundred claws scratching at his heart would barely be an exaggeration.

Li Heishui gaped with a silent laugh. It wasn’t just Yang Kun and Li Yishui — even Wu Ziming and Li Chongtian were beginning to feel ill.

Crack!

When the Feathered Immortal Ascending Stone had been reduced to the size of a palm, Li Yishui and Yang Kun’s faces went completely white. It was obvious this stone was unlikely to produce anything extraordinary.

When they looked up, they found Li Heishui watching in perfect leisure, using the dragon-patterned black gold Holy Spirit Sword to trim his fingernails — the very picture of relaxed ease.

At that sight, the two men’s faces shifted from white to green and then to purple. It was infuriating beyond measure. If not for the fact that they were in the Ji Family’s stone shop, they would have genuinely considered killing someone.

Crash!

Li Yishui slammed the palm-sized stone fragment down on the ground with force. It shattered into pieces. No rare treasure emerged. He rose to his feet, his face an iron grey.

In that instant, he felt the world spinning, and nearly coughed up a mouthful of blood.

One hundred and twenty thousand jin of source stones had been flushed down the drain. Nothing at all had been cut out. The implication was clear — he had been played. The misery was complete — there was no second word for it. In all of life, there was no second chance to live it…

“You two…” Li Yishui was shaking so hard with fury that he could barely raise a pointing finger at Ye Fan and Li Heishui, his hair practically standing on end with rage.

“What do you mean, ‘you two and us’? You stole our stone, and when you cut nothing out of it, you want to blame us?” Li Heishui roared with laughter.

Li Yishui and Yang Kun felt their vision go dark, dazed with fury, nearly passing out on the spot. They had truly taken a catastrophic loss. Every scheme they’d deployed, every piece of cunning they’d employed to snatch someone else’s unusual stone — all of it had come back to bite them. There was no one else to blame.

Even so, the two were seething with rage, their hair nearly on fire, wanting to howl at the sky.

“Those two old fossils — what a miserable fate. They walked right into a trap of their own making. They jumped into the pit themselves and have no one to be angry at.”

Everyone outside the stone garden was talking about it. Many couldn’t hold back their mockery, erupting in laughter.

“This is what they brought on themselves. They were so clever just now — stealing someone else’s source — and look at the end they’ve come to.”

“That young man is really something else. He dug a pit that deep and waited for people to jump in. Who could have imagined it.”

“All because of greed!”

“Now this really is a skilled craft — this absolutely counts as a form of art.” Li Heishui spoke with double meaning, making a comment while staying entirely removed from the situation.

“Ha ha…” Many people couldn’t hold back their laughter.

Li Yishui and Yang Kun felt like coughing blood. To have been played so artfully and then mocked on top of it — anyone would struggle to bear it.

Ye Fan walked toward another priceless unusual stone and patted it lightly. “Actually, this one’s not bad either. I rather favor this one.”

Another round of laughter erupted from the crowd.

Li Yishui wanted to throttle him. What kind of position did a remark like that put him in? Yang Kun was so furious he spun on his heel, swirling his robes, and stormed out of the stone garden.

“Have you chosen your stone yet?” Tuoba Chang’s voice was cold as he asked.

Beside him, the human-head-sized Divine Source hovered quietly in midair, divine beams radiating outward in all directions — resplendent and extraordinary. Even the stone skin couldn’t contain its divine brilliance.

“Already chosen!” Ye Fan answered.

To everyone’s surprise, he did not move toward the last remaining priceless unusual stone. Instead, he carried out a stone that had been sitting beside the Feathered Immortal Ascending Stone.

This stone looked entirely ordinary — roughly the size of a millstone, nothing remarkable to the eye, a uniform dark blue-green color, shaped like a stone block.

Everything in the premier stone garden was a precious stone. This one was priced at thirty thousand jin of source stones — an expensive price, certainly, but nowhere near the level of a treasured stone of the garden.

A moment ago, when Ye Fan had been examining the Feathered Immortal Ascending Stone, he had probed this stone with his Source Heaven Divine Perception and caught a glimpse of something extraordinary within it — something that had made his heart tremble.

He wasn’t sure whether this was the Stone King, but it seemed unlikely to be far off!

“Please, honored seniors, lend your aid — seal off this area of space.” Ye Fan spoke gravely.

Everyone present revealed expressions of astonishment. Could he truly be about to cut out a supreme rare treasure? After all, Tuoba Chang had already produced a Divine Source — something almost impossible to surpass.

“Do you truly think you can cut out a rare treasure?” Wu Ziming sneered.

Just now, he had watched his sect elder Yang Kun be played right before his eyes, and the sight had filled him with fury — yet there was nothing he could do to help.

“I want to see exactly what you can cut out!” Li Chongtian sneered as well.

The Honored Elder of the Illusion Destruction Palace, Li Yishui, stood to one side without a word, his face an iron grey. One hundred and twenty thousand jin of source stones had been wasted, and now he still had to hand over eighty thousand jin. It was like a crushing blow to the head. He genuinely felt close to coughing up blood.

A group of old masters gathered around. Though they admired Ye Fan’s source-reading ability, none of them truly believed he could cut out something more precious than Divine Source.

Nevertheless, everyone cooperated, combining their power to erect a curtain of light that sealed off the area.

The stone garden’s guardian — the silver-haired elder with skin as smooth as white jade — also walked over, prepared for any unexpected development.

Li Heishui reminded him privately, “Didn’t you say there was a Stone King here? Don’t let it mess with your judgment again.”

“Don’t worry. This time, I confirmed through my Source Heaven secret techniques — this stone definitely contains a world-shaking rare treasure.” Ye Fan answered with certainty.

Even so, a trace of uncertainty lingered. He still had the vague sense that this was a stand-in — not the true Stone King.

“Tuoba Chang cut out a Divine Source, and I’ve found a stone like this one. If both of them are substitutes for the Stone King, then what lies within the real Stone King would be terrifying beyond imagination — I truly can’t fathom what it might contain.” Ye Fan thought to himself.

He began cutting carefully, pinching the dragon-patterned black gold Holy Spirit Sword between two fingers, steadily paring away the outer skin.

In the distance, everyone grew tense alongside him — for they noticed that his posture was strange: he seemed ready to pull back and retreat at any moment.

The Great Xia Prince was standing nearby. “Brother Gu, your source-reading ability is extraordinary. Could it truly be that you’re about to cut out a supreme rare treasure again?”

Yao Yuekong, dressed in purple robes, his eyes occasionally flashing with a purple gleam that carried the air of a divine demon spirit, said, “Perhaps there will truly be a surprise.”

An Miaoyi smiled softly and said nothing, her captivating eyes sweeping back and forth between Ye Fan and Tuoba Chang.

As for the group of old masters, they wore solemn expressions, their fingertips flickering with divine light — they had already prepared themselves to act.

After all, Ye Fan had previously cut out a primordial divine medicine and a Holy Spirit Sword. These people took the words he had spoken a moment ago very seriously.

Ye Fan drove the sword swiftly. The dark blue-green millstone-sized stone shrank rapidly as the outer skin fell away in continuous sheets.

In the end, when the stone had been reduced to just over half a head’s size, Wu Ziming and Li Chongtian finally couldn’t suppress their cold laughter.

A piece this size — how could it possibly compare to a Divine Source the size of a human head?

Even the Honored Elder of the Illusion Destruction Palace, Li Yishui, gradually relaxed. A faint cold smile curved his lips — he no longer looked as grim as before.

Quite a few people shook their heads, convinced that Ye Fan was bound to lose. Even Li Heishui had started to feel nervous.

Clang!

When Ye Fan struck away another piece of stone skin with his small black blade, a sudden scorching divine beam shot out, so blinding that no one could keep their eyes open.

Everyone was stunned. Many people stretched their eyes wide, straining to observe.

Ye Fan brought his small blade down in rapid succession. The stone skin fell away. A stone sphere roughly half a head in size had been cut free — and through the remaining skin, dozens of divine beams surged skyward.

The area was lit up in magnificent brilliance. Every ancient tree was bathed in divine radiance, their leaves a vivid crystalline green, and even the blossoms had become sacred — shimmering and translucent, scintillating with light.

“Divine Source!”

Many people cried out in astonishment. They never could have imagined it — a second piece of Divine Source had emerged into the world.

“Half a head in size — at the most conservative estimate, that’s worth two hundred and fifty thousand jin of source stones!” One of the old masters exclaimed in shock.

“Heavens — another Divine Source has been cut out. Unbelievable!”

“It’s beyond comprehension. Two pieces of Divine Source cut out in a single day — even in the past, how many times has such a thing ever happened?”

“Priceless beyond measure — why are these supremely rare divine objects emerging one after another?”

Everyone was talking at once. Even the little white-robed nun couldn’t resist pressing forward, blinking her large eyes curiously for a closer look.

“My eyes can’t take it — these divine beams are too scorching. There’s no way to look directly at them.” Someone’s eyes had gone red, and they were forced to turn their head away.

“Ha ha…” After the initial shock, Wu Ziming couldn’t help but burst out laughing. “And so what if it’s Divine Source? It’s only half the size of Tuoba Chang’s piece.”

“Exactly — you’ve lost. This piece of Divine Source will belong to us.” Li Chongtian also broke into unrestrained laughter, practically vibrating with excitement.

“Heh heh heh…” Li Yishui exhaled a long breath of frustration and let out a string of cold laughter.

Suddenly, the stone sphere moved. In an instant, it shot upward into the sky, attempting to escape.

Boom!

It slammed into the curtain of light. Had this area not already been sealed off, it truly would have fled.

“What’s happening — this stone sphere can fly?”

“Heavens — what is contained within this Divine Source? Why is it levitating and moving on its own?”

“A flying stone — how is this possible?!”

Everyone was stunned into stillness. This defied all common sense. It was incomprehensible.

Divine Source could hover in midair and resist sinking — but it was absolutely impossible for it to fly and flee under its own power. This was unquestionably a world-shaking rare treasure. Something else of extraordinary value had to be contained within.

Boom, boom…

The curtain of light held firm. The stone sphere crashed against it from every direction in its desperate attempts to escape, but could not succeed.

Inside the premier stone garden, the old masters moved as one — not to attack, but to pour out gentle divine light to subdue it, drawing it down and sealing it in place.

For they feared that the Divine Source contained a world-shaking rare treasure, and they dared not use excessive force lest they damage it.

The stone skin could not contain the divine light radiating from the Divine Source within. Countless streams of divine brilliance shot out from the cracks, dazzling and resplendent. It was drawn downward.

The group of old masters stared with burning eyes, fixing it in the air. Every one of them was visibly stirred with excitement.

“Young friend, your source-reading ability truly is extraordinary. You’ve cut out another supreme rare treasure — sell it to us.”

“We’re prepared to pay a sky-high price to purchase it!”

Those who spoke were representatives from various great forces, all eager to acquire it.

“This rare treasure surpasses that human-head-sized piece of Divine Source in value.” The Ji Family stone garden’s guardian said this plainly.

“Indeed — it surpasses that piece of Divine Source.” Others nodded in agreement.

Wu Ziming and Li Chongtian were struck as though by lightning. They stood there, faces draining white. A moment ago they had been bursting with joy and excitement — now, in the blink of an eye, everything had reversed. They were close to despair.

Li Yishui was worse. His face was covered in dark lines, his veins visibly twitching. This outcome had dealt him a devastating blow. His body swayed slightly. He nearly toppled over right there.

He and Yang Kun had already tumbled into one pit. Now they still had to hand over eighty thousand more jin of source stones — it was like a heavy cudgel swinging down and smashing him in the head.

“Brother Gufeng, sell this rare treasure to us. Great Xia will give you a satisfactory sky-high price!” The Great Xia Prince transmitted privately.

“Little brother Gufeng, Miaoyi wishes to purchase this treasure. Whatever your conditions, I will do my best to meet them.” An Miaoyi also transmitted sweetly.

“Two brothers…” Jiang Yifei also opened his mouth to speak.

…

In an instant, Ye Fan was inundated with mental transmissions from all directions. Inducements, promises, and all manner of attractive offers poured in one after another.

“Everyone, let’s first peel away the stone skin and see what exactly is inside the Divine Source,” Ye Fan replied. He had no interest in selling it off in a muddle without knowing what it was.

“Yes — peel back the skin! Let’s see what has been growing inside the Divine Source!” Outside the premier stone garden, everyone else shouted loudly in agreement.

These people couldn’t enter the stone garden, and their standing was certainly incomparable to the representatives of the great forces and the many old masters within — but they were the most numerous, and their voices shook the air.

At this moment, news spread at lightning speed: something more precious than Divine Source had been cut out, and the entire Sacred City was shaken once more.

Inside the premier stone garden, the group of old masters made no move to stop this — they too wanted to see what lay within.

“Please, honored seniors, lend your hand.” Ye Fan did not step forward himself.

In the end, the stone garden’s guardian — the elder with skin like white jade — walked forward. Divine light flickered at his fingertips as he peeled the stone skin back with painstaking care. In an instant, the area blazed with radiance, like a sun had appeared in their midst.

Those of weaker cultivation could not open their eyes at all — they had no way to observe. Only those of considerable strength could watch. This was Divine Source — its radiance dazzling and brilliant beyond measure.

“What is that? There’s a creature inside the Divine Source!”

“There really is something living inside!”

“Is it a golden serpent? No — it seems to have horns on its head. Could it be… a dragon?!”

“Too blinding — I can’t see clearly. It shouldn’t be a dragon.”

…

Everyone was stunned, the crowd erupting into turmoil. Inside the Divine Source, there was a living creature.