Divine Marrow Treasure Liquid

Though Heaven-Sealing City was an ancient city with a long history, it was not particularly prosperous. Instead, it was somewhat desolate, mainly because of its geographical location.

Heaven-Sealing City now stood close to the Great Wilderness. Fierce Beasts came to swagger and flaunt their might from time to time, so it was destined to never prosper.

If not for the appearance of the Mist Mountains, this ancient city would probably have been just like Void-Breaking City: lively only during certain periods, and otherwise no different from a dead city.

Su Ye rode a Big Black Dog into Heaven-Sealing City, drawing plenty of attention. After all, he was riding a dog, which gave people a rather incongruous impression.

Black Emperor felt the strange looks people were giving them and quietly suggested, "Um, everyone's looking at you strangely. This really isn't good. Why not do what the others do? Then nobody will stare."

He didn't want to be ridden. It was too humiliating. But he couldn't refuse outright, so he wanted to use the strange looks around them to get Su Ye to stop riding him.

"Quit whining and keep walking."

Su Ye's expression remained calm. He paid no attention to the strange looks around him, his lively eyes full of curiosity as he looked around.

A few scattered stalls stood along the street, and most of them displayed stones. This puzzled him.

Most of the stones looked perfectly ordinary, not like rare ores at all, yet they were being sold in such large quantities.

When things were out of the ordinary, there was bound to be something strange going on.

Su Ye jumped down from Black Emperor and walked over to one of the stalls. "Sir, are these stones some kind of rare ore?"

The stall owner was an old man who looked to be in his sixties or seventies. His face was weathered by time, but his eyes were bright and alert. Looking at Su Ye, he smiled and said, "Looks like this is your first time here, young man. These aren't ordinary stones. They're stones from the Mist Mountains."

"What's the difference?"

Su Ye looked at the stones on the stall, puzzled. So stones from the Mist Mountains weren't stones anymore?

Runes appeared deep in his eyes as he tried to see through one, but he couldn't make out anything. He picked one up; it felt a little heavy in his hand, but that was all.

"Stones from the Mist Mountains... Could there be treasure liquid inside them?"

Black Emperor leaned his big dog head over, staring eagerly at the few very ordinary-looking stones on the stall, practically drooling.

"Treasure liquid? There's treasure liquid inside the stones?"

Su Ye asked, confused.

"Yes and no."

The old man explained, "The Divine Marrow Treasure Liquid in the Mist Mountains isn't all hidden inside stones, but some of it is. Of course, not every stone contains treasure liquid. The only way to find out is to break them open."

"So these are source stones."

Su Ye understood at once. So this was stone gambling, or rather, the earliest form of it.

The old man looked confused, not understanding what that meant. He continued, "The Mist Mountains are an Ancient Battlefield. The soil and stones there were stained with the blood of the ancient gods. The blood of the gods contains an extremely rich Divine Essence. After endless years, the stones stained with their blood gradually drew that essence inward, concentrating it until it became Divine Marrow Treasure Liquid. Would you like to try your luck, young man?"

"I don't have any Jingbi on me. Can I trade this?"

Su Ye took a shard of bone, crystalline as jade, from his clothes. It was a Fierce Beast's Precious Bone, though it had been shattered. After all, Fierce Beasts shattered their Precious Bones before they were killed, so they wouldn't fall into their enemies' hands.

Though a shattered Precious Bone could no longer reveal a Fierce Beast's Primal Rune, that didn't mean it was worthless.

"A Precious Bone fragment."

The old man looked at the jade-like bone shard in Su Ye's hand, surprised that the young boy had such a valuable item. "Sure. A piece this size can get you three stones."

Though shattered, Precious Bone remained extremely hard. Runes could be carved into it to make low-grade treasures or Talisman Treasures. It was a highly sought-after item that could easily be sold for Jingbi.

"These three."

Su Ye casually picked out three stones. He didn't fully activate his Samsara Eye; doing so would cause too much of a commotion and invite needless trouble.

"Crack."

Su Ye crushed the stone in his hand. Though it had been stained with divine power and was extremely hard, under his strength of a hundred thousand jin, it was hardly any different from tofu.

"Gasp..."

The old man saw Su Ye crush the stone with his bare hand and sucked in a sharp breath. The stone could withstand a force of thirty thousand jin, yet the little fellow had crushed it with his bare hand. Just how strong was his grip?

"Nothing."

Su Ye ground the stone in his hand into powder, but there was nothing inside. He picked up the second stone. With a "crack," it split apart.

Hum.

The instant the stone broke, a dazzling light burst from within. Hazy, radiant mist surged upward, its brilliance dazzling, while a faint, sweet fragrance drifted through the air.

Runes appeared in Su Ye's palm. The stone fragments turned to dust and scattered on the wind, leaving behind only an amber-colored droplet the size of his thumb, glowing with Auspicious Mist.

"So this is that Divine Marrow Treasure Liquid?"

Su Ye looked at the large droplet in his hand and sensed a rich power within it. Judging by its size, he said with some disappointment, "This is way too little. It wouldn't even be enough for an ant to bathe in."

"Bathe in it?"

The old man's mouth twitched at his words. This stuff was worth a fortune. Even disciples from great powers could hardly get their hands on it. Even if they were lucky enough to obtain some, they would save it for a critical moment. And this kid wanted to bathe in it?

"Oh? Divine Marrow Treasure Liquid."

Just then, a surprised voice rang out. A figure approached and snatched the droplet of Divine Marrow Treasure Liquid from Su Ye's hand, acting with utter arrogance.

Su Ye's expression remained calm, showing neither anger nor joy. He looked at the person who had taken his Divine Marrow Treasure Liquid. The man wore luxurious robes made of silk; anyone could tell he came from a great power.

"I'll take this Divine Marrow Treasure Liquid. This is your reward."

A flash of light crossed the young man's hand, and a fist-sized crystal appeared. He tossed it to Su Ye, not looking at him once, then turned to leave.

"Give it back."

Su Ye said coolly. He didn't look at the lavishly dressed young man. Instead, he waved a hand and shattered the crystal flying toward him, then picked up the third stone on the stall.

Black Emperor blinked and stared at Su Ye, momentarily stunned. He quickly realized that Su Ye wanted him to make a move. Without hesitation, he swung a paw at the young man.

All along the way, this hateful human boy had kept him in check, and anger had been simmering in his heart. Now was the perfect chance to let it out. He would show them what happened when a Qilin got angry: blood had to be spilled.

"Clang!"

Black Emperor's paw didn't strike the lavishly dressed young man's head. A figure blocked it instead.

It was a middle-aged man of ordinary appearance, golden runes swirling all over his body. Those runes had formed a golden shield.

"Not bad."

Seeing that the man had blocked his attack, Black Emperor wasn't angry. Instead, he grinned. Arcane runes appeared on his black paw, and a terrifying force erupted.

Crack!

Cracks spread across the golden shield, racing outward.

The middle-aged man who had formed the shield changed expression. Power surged within him as he formed more golden runes to reinforce it.

At that moment, the lavishly dressed young man, who had been about to leave, finally reacted. Fear appeared in his eyes, but it quickly turned to anger. "Kill this dog! And kill that person too! How dare they attack me!"

He didn't bother to wonder why they had attacked him. All he knew was that they had dared to lay hands on him. It was a trampling of his status, an insult to his dignity.

He was furious. He would kill the man and the dog before him and let everyone know the price of angering him.