A Single Cut Revealed Red Sun Fire Essence

"It's rising! It's rising! Green's showing!"

"It's over! Nothing but pale white rocks! My Spirit Stones!"

"Another one! I refuse to believe this nonsense!"

Roars, laughter, and wails mingled together, composing a symphony called desire.

Ye Xingchen straightened his collar. Deep within his originally clear black-and-white eyes, two rotating formation patterns, one black and one white, faintly emerged.

Source Heaven Eye, activate.

He licked his lips like a starving wolf charging into a flock of sheep, then strode forward.

"Tremble, Myriad Treasures Pavilion."

Ye Xingchen wandered through the crowd with his hands behind his back, looking around like a country bumpkin who had just entered the city.

The rules here were simple: pick a stone, pay for it, and cut it open.

If something valuable came out, the Myriad Treasures Pavilion would buy it back on the spot at a high price. It could also be sent to the auction house, or the buyer could take it away personally.

But if it turned out to be a pile of pale white stubborn rocks, then one could only admit bad luck and swallow the loss without even a sound.

One cut made you poor, one cut made you rich, one cut left you wearing hemp cloth.

This place specialized in curing every kind of defiance.

Ye Xingchen stopped before row after row of wooden racks. Deep in his pupils, the black-and-white formation patterns quietly revolved.

Most of the stones were solid inside, lifeless and no different from pebbles by the roadside. Occasionally, a few gave off faint fluorescence—perhaps a bean-sized piece of mixed-color jade, perhaps a fingernail-sized low-grade spiritual material. They would hardly even cover their cost.

"Swindlers."

Ye Xingchen cursed inwardly.

Nine times out of ten, the items displayed openly by the Myriad Treasures Pavilion were scraps others had already picked through. Trying to pan for gold in this pile of trash was harder than ascending to heaven.

Without slowing down, he passed over those "hot items" priced at tens or even millions of Spirit Stones and headed straight for the low-price section in the corner.

There were fewer people here, more dust, and the stones were even more misshapen. Some looked as though dogs had gnawed on them, some were covered in cracks, and a few even had moss growing on them. They looked utterly shabby.

"This one, fifty Middle-Grade Spirit Stones."

"This one, thirty."

Ye Xingchen shook his head as he walked. Too expensive. Not worth it.

Until his gaze landed on a stone casually tossed into the corner by the wall.

The stone was about the size of a watermelon. Its surface was pitted and covered in spiderweb-like cracks, its color dull and gray. Price: ten Middle-Grade Spirit Stones.

At the Myriad Treasures Pavilion, that price was practically giving it away for free.

It was no more than the cost of admission.

Yet in Ye Xingchen's vision, a ball of incomparably blazing red light pulsed within that "rotten melon."

The red glow was rich and viscous, like magma sealed away.

A huge score.

Ye Xingchen's heart abruptly clenched, but his expression remained unchanged.

He crouched down and pretended to pat the stone, then rapped it twice with his fingers, producing two dull thuds.

"I'll take this one."

He rose, lifted the "rotten melon," and walked toward the stone-cutting platform.

"Oh? What newcomer picked such poor-quality material? What an idiot..."

A shrill voice came from the side.

Several young masters dressed in brocade gathered around.

The pale-faced young man at the front waved a folding fan. His eyes tilted upward at the corners, and his face was full of mockery.

Pointing at the stone on the ground, he burst into exaggerated laughter.

"You actually fancy a footrest like this? Tossing ten Spirit Stones into the water would at least make a splash. Buying this thing—do you have so much money that it's burning a hole in your pocket?"

The surrounding crowd erupted in laughter.

"I looked at that stone too. The cracks run too deep; all the spiritual energy leaked out ages ago. It's standard scrap."

"Looking at how shabby he is, this kind of trash is probably all he can afford."

"Has he gone mad dreaming of finding a bargain? If the Myriad Treasures Pavilion could let you find bargains, it would have shut its doors long ago."

Faced with the overwhelming mockery, Ye Xingchen did not even raise an eyelid.

He weighed the stone in his hand and grinned at the pale-faced youth. "That needn't trouble you. What if I get lucky and turn a bicycle into a motorcycle?"

"Turn a bicycle into a motorcycle?" The pale-faced youth froze, unable to understand the strange phrase.

"You don't know the height of heaven or the depth of earth. This young master wants to see what kind of flower your rotten melon can cut out today!"

Ye Xingchen could not be bothered with him. Turning around, he slapped the Spirit Stones onto the counter.

"Master, please cut it carefully. Shave along the skin. Don't damage the treasure inside."

The stone-cutting master glanced at the crack-covered stone, his face full of impatience.

He had seen plenty of greenhorns dreaming of getting rich. They treated a broken stone like a treasure, then expected him to wait on it with care?

"Got it."

The master gave a perfunctory reply, then ignored everything else and brought his blade down directly at the center of the stone.

The blade flashed, cleaving down with a shrieking gust of wind.

Crack.

The stone skin shattered.

The instant chips of stone flew everywhere.

A terrifying wave of heat burst from the crack without warning.

Then, a beam of red light exploded outward.

The radiance was too intense, instantly dyeing the stone-cutting master's stunned face crimson.

Even the space within several yards around them seemed to have been set ablaze.

The originally noisy stone-gambling area fell into dead silence in that instant.

The pale-faced youth's gaping mouth froze in midair. Strange clicking sounds came from his throat, but he could not force out a single word.

The stone-cutting master's hand trembled, and the cutting blade fell to the ground with a clang.

His eyes widened as he stared fixedly at the half-cut stone, as though his eyeballs were about to pop out.

The stone skin fell away.

It revealed a crystal only the size of a fist, yet crystal-clear and so red it seemed ready to drip blood.

Within the crystal, a pattern resembling a firebird could faintly be seen swimming about. The heat it emitted made the air begin to distort.

"This... this is..."

"Red Sun Fire Essence?!"

"Supreme grade! This is supreme-grade Red Sun Fire Essence! A heavenly treasure that could only possibly be nurtured within the mouth of a ten-thousand-year volcano!"

"My heavens, such a large piece... How much is this worth?!"

Cries of shock erupted like a tsunami, instantly drowning out the entire hall.

Ye Xingchen stood at the center of the red light.

Ye Xingchen bent down and picked up the Red Sun Fire Essence, feeling the scorching heat in his palm.

Then he turned to look at the pale-faced youth, who had been completely dumbfounded.

"Oh dear, I'm truly sorry."

Ye Xingchen blew the stone dust from the crystal, a cold arc curling at the corner of his lips.

"By accident, I turned a bicycle into a motorcycle."

The pale-faced youth's face instantly turned the color of pig liver, burning with pain.

As though someone had viciously slapped him across the face.

Ye Xingchen did not spare him another glance.

Trash like him was unworthy.

His gaze swept over the crowd that had been sneering at him moments ago.

Wherever his eyes passed, everyone subconsciously looked away, their faces burning with pain.

"Master."

Ye Xingchen looked at the still-stunned stone cutter and pointed at the remaining stone skin.

"No need to cut the rest. I'll take it with me."

The stone-cutting master abruptly came back to his senses.

When he looked at Ye Xingchen again, his gaze had changed completely.

His contempt had turned into reverence, even carrying a trace of fear.

A single cut had revealed supreme-grade Red Sun Fire Essence.

How could that be luck?

This was clearly an unfathomable expert keeping his true abilities hidden!

"Master, this Red Sun Fire Essence, could you..."

"Red Sun Fire Essence?!"