Human Origin Fruit

"Sister, if you're not busy, help me hold these stones."

Seeing Yao Xi hovering around him, Fang Yang raised the stone materials in his hands with a helpless look and asked her.

"Oh, sure."

Yao Xi reached out and took them.

After picking for a long time, Fang Yang had selected only two stone materials, both fairly small. She could easily hold one in each hand.

Neither of them thought there was anything wrong with this.

But the cultivators watching nearby certainly did.

"How can you make Fairy Yao carry those worthless stones?"

"Let me carry them for the Saintess."

"I'll do it!"

Faced with the cultivators' fawning offers, Yao Xi met them with a cold gaze. With her status, she had no need to worry whether this might reflect badly on her.

The true prodigies of great powers wouldn't abase themselves to curry favor with her over a mere pretty face.

The most distinguished person among this group was only a direct descendant of the Jiang Family, a Four Extremities Realm cultivator of twenty-five.

Under Yao Xi's cool, sweeping gaze,

some shrank their heads and forced out a few awkward laughs.

Some were angry, but didn't show it.

Others only burned with greater fervor inside.

But, without exception, they all fell silent and stopped offering to carry the stones.

Seeing this, Yao Xi stayed by Fang Yang's side, watching him choose the stone materials and trying to figure out what he saw in them. She got nothing out of it.

"Junior Brother, can these two stones produce anything?"

Yao Xi asked eagerly.

"Guaranteed."

Fang Yang replied offhandedly.

He was concentrating on the honeycombed, ink-black stone in his hands. Even after carefully examining it with Source Heaven Divine Sense, he still couldn't be certain.

According to the Source Technique Treasure Record,

this kind of stone was either worthless or concealed a valuable Exotic Source.

Fang Yang wouldn't spend all this time deliberating over a mere pound of Source. He was using the opportunity to train his eye.

After a long while, as Source Heaven Divine Sense raced through its calculations, he glimpsed a clue. He seemed to sense a warmth like the morning sun coming from inside the stone.

Without further hesitation,

Fang Yang handed the stone to Yao Xi and continued searching the stones with Source Technique.

Half an hour later,

Fang Yang held one stone in his hands.

Yao Xi cradled five stones in her arms.

Behind them, the crowd looked on with complicated expressions, watching the Goddess in their hearts play the part of a maid for a man, their hearts aching with envy, jealousy, and resentment.

"Elder, here are six pounds of Pure Source. Please take them."

Fang Yang took out exactly six pounds of Source and placed them securely on the empty ground in front of the old man.

"Good."

The old man replied blandly.

"Old man!"

"How much for these stones?"

A moment later, a cultivator from the Tuoba Family arrived at the entrance with six stone materials and asked their price.

He looked down on the old man, but he wasn't short of Source. He wouldn't take six stones without paying; he couldn't afford to lose face like that.

"Six pounds of Source."

The old man replied without looking up.

The Tuoba Family cultivator saw how disrespectfully the old man treated him, but couldn't be bothered to argue. He casually tossed down six or seven pounds of Pure Source.

"Fellow Daoist Tuoba Sheng comes from a family with profound knowledge. I'm sure the six stones he's chosen will open our eyes."

Source Technique prodigies were never short of people trying to curry favor with them. The Tuoba Family was a renowned Source Technique clan, with a grandmaster of Source Technique among its ranks. Even elders from the Holy Lands treated them as friends.

So someone offered a compliment, hoping to befriend Tuoba Sheng.

"Fang Yang picked six stones, and you picked six too, Tuoba Sheng. Don't tell me that was deliberate?"

The Jiang Family's direct descendant stoked the flames.

"Just a coincidence."

Tuoba Sheng offered that explanation, then fell silent.

He had done it on purpose, but some things could be done without being said. Otherwise, targeting Yaoguang's Candidate Holy Son might provoke the collective hostility of Yaoguang's disciples.

In the distance,

Fang Yang had already begun cutting the first stone, its powder pattering onto the ground.

When he finished cutting it, only two half-round chunks of waste stone remained.

Empty.

Fang Yang's expression didn't change. He continued cutting the second stone.

"You've never studied Source Technique. Even if you are Yaoguang's Candidate Holy Son, how could you compare to me?"

Tuoba Sheng withdrew his gaze and sneered inwardly.

Then he, too, began cutting the stones in his hands.

Nearly everyone present turned to watch him.

Compared with a Candidate Holy Son who knew nothing about Source Technique, the results of a Tuoba Family cultivator's Stone Gambling were far more interesting to them.

Tuoba Sheng's technique was practiced. He showed off, using every stone-cutting method he had learned.

The first stone.

Empty.

"Nine times out of ten, Stone Gambling yields nothing. These stones were poor quality to begin with..."

Tuoba Sheng immediately offered an explanation.

But when he looked up, he saw Yao Xi still standing beside Fang Yang. She hadn't even glanced his way.

He stared blankly, then lowered his head and continued cutting.

Empty.

Empty.

Empty.

Empty.

Tianxuan Stone Workshop hadn't replenished its stones in six thousand years. The remaining stones really were poor quality.

Cold sweat beaded on Tuoba Sheng's forehead.

He stared at the last stone, the one he'd pinned his hopes on, his palm clammy with sweat.

If this one didn't produce anything...

Tuoba Sheng took a deep breath and began cutting.

Ten breaths later,

a Purple Crystal Source the size of a melon seed appeared in his palm.

"This little Purple Crystal Source is worth thirty pounds of Pure Source. That's five times what I paid. At least I haven't lost too much face."

Tuoba Sheng breathed a sigh of relief.

He looked up, ready to defend himself by explaining that the stones at this lousy workshop were simply too poor, not that his Source Technique was lacking, when he suddenly froze.

Huh?!

Where had everyone gone?

Tuoba Sheng looked around and saw that, while he'd been concentrating on cutting stones, everyone had gone over to Fang Yang.

His cultivated Source Technique had naturally sharpened his eyesight.

He saw the fist-sized Exotic Source in Fang Yang's hand, along with a small, rosy fruit.

"A fist-sized Exotic Source is worth around two thousand pounds of Pure Source."

"He even found a Human Origin Fruit! This is a precious medicine that can extend a mighty figure's life by nearly a hundred years. It's worth no less than a hundred thousand pounds of Pure Source."

Tuoba Sheng's face flushed red, then pale. He hurried away, utterly discomfited.

He wasn't a fool. He understood that the odds of cutting these two treasures by luck alone were about the same as his odds of becoming a Source Heaven Master.

Rather than humiliate himself here, it was better to slip away quietly and save what little face he could.

Nobody paid Tuoba Sheng any attention.

"Fellow Daoist Fang's mastery of Source Technique is astonishing. You've truly opened our eyes!"

"You're still young, Fellow Daoist, and probably have little need for a Human Origin Fruit. Would you sell it to me? I promise my elders will offer you a price you'll be happy with."

A crowd surrounded Fang Yang, chattering away. They were even more eloquent than they'd been when standing beside Tuoba Sheng.

The Human Origin Fruit.

It was one of the finest life-extending medicines.

Refined into a Divine Pill with some auxiliary ingredients, it could extend an Immortal Second Realm Mighty Figure's life by a hundred years. Naturally, they wanted to buy it and win their elders' favor.