Second Blade: Earthvein Yellow Essence

"Smash it?!"

The stone cutter stared blankly, the blade in his hand nearly falling onto his foot.

The surrounding crowd burst into laughter.

"Hahaha! Smash it directly? Is he afraid whatever's inside isn't shattered thoroughly enough?"

"Amateur! A complete and utter amateur!"

Shen Li laughed so hard he could not straighten his back, reaching for the spirit note on the table. "No need to look any further. I win this round—"

"Don't speak too soon."

Ye Xingchen shot him a cold glance.

Then he grabbed a rusty iron hammer beside the stone-cutting table.

Spirit power flooded into his arm, making his sleeve billow.

There were no fancy movements—just one simple, brutal swing.

Bang!

The dull impact sounded like a heavy drumbeat striking everyone's hearts.

Before the crowd's horrified eyes, the moss-covered stone exploded straight down the middle.

Stone fragments flew everywhere, and dust billowed into the air.

There was no radiant treasure light, no eruption of spiritual energy.

Inside the split stone was a lump of dull gray soil. It looked even more worthless than the outer stone shell, carrying the rotten, earthy stink of decaying dirt.

"Hahahaha!"

Shen Li pointed at the clump of soil, laughing until tears came out. "Mud! It's actually a lump of mud! Kid, those hundred thousand Spirit Stones are mine!"

A wave of booing rose from the crowd, and the anticipation on their faces instantly collapsed.

"Sure enough, it's scrap."

"Lost, lost... wiped out in one go..."

Ye Xingchen remained expressionless.

He tossed aside the hammer, crouched down, and rummaged through the seemingly worthless dirt twice.

His fingertips touched something hard.

He dug at it forcefully.

Click.

He pulled out something the size of a palm, entirely withered yellow and shaped like a piece of dead wood.

It still had moist mud clinging to it. No matter how one looked at it, it resembled a tree root freshly dug from the ground.

"What kind of junk is that? A tree root?" someone could not help mocking.

However.

Master Liu, standing at the very front, had had disappointment in his eyes, but the instant he saw that piece of "dead wood," the fat all over his body quivered violently.

As if he had seen something inconceivable, he rushed forward.

"Don't move! Don't move!"

Master Liu's voice turned shrill and warped from extreme excitement.

Trembling, he reached out and took the tree root from Ye Xingchen's hand.

"This is..."

Master Liu's Adam's apple bobbed violently before he abruptly looked up at Ye Xingchen.

The shock in his eyes was ten times stronger than when he had seen the Red Sun Fire Essence earlier.

"This is the companion ore of Tuxing Sun—Earthvein Yellow Essence!"

"Look at these patterns! Its color is like gold, its texture like wood. It has been nurtured for at least three thousand years!"

The entire hall instantly fell silent.

Not the exaggerated kind of dead silence; everyone was simply stunned, their minds unable to process the information for the moment.

The wild grin on Shen Li's face froze, while the corner of his mouth still twitched, making him look absurdly comical.

"Earthvein Yellow Essence?" someone asked blankly. "What's that?"

"Idiot!"

An elderly man beside him, clearly knowledgeable, was so excited that his beard trembled wildly. "A supreme earth-element treasure! Not only can it be used to refine defensive artifacts, it is also a divine item for cultivating earth-element techniques! Most importantly, it can nourish spiritual roots and increase the purity of earth spiritual roots!"

Increase spiritual root purity?!

Those words were like a bolt from the blue, making everyone's scalps tingle.

In this world, spiritual roots determined one's fate.

Treasures capable of improving spiritual root purity were priceless and unavailable on the market—strategic resources for which major sects would fight to the death!

Master Liu took several deep breaths, forcibly suppressing the turmoil in his heart. His voice was dry as he said:

"This piece of Earthvein Yellow Essence may not be large, but its age is remarkable. Myriad Treasures Pavilion is willing to offer... five hundred thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones!"

Five hundred thousand.

Added to the previous hundred thousand.

In less than half an hour, six hundred thousand had entered his pocket.

Ye Xingchen patted the dirt from his hands and did not even glance at the priceless Earthvein Yellow Essence.

There was not the slightest excitement of having obtained a treasure.

He turned and looked at Shen Li, whose face had gone blue-purple, as though his parents had died.

Ye Xingchen walked over to the table, leisurely hooked that "Clearheart Jade" around his finger, and swung it before Shen Li's eyes.

"Oh dear, I'm truly sorry."

Imitating Shen Li's earlier tone, he curled his lips into a malicious arc.

"This jade pendant belongs to me."

"Impressive methods."

Shen Li stared fixedly at the Clearheart Jade spinning on Ye Xingchen's fingertip, his eyes red enough to drip blood.

"The green hills remain unchanged, and the green waters flow on. You'd better hold onto that jade firmly. Don't let it burn your hand."

After delivering that parting threat, Shen Li flicked his sleeve and walked away.

His lackeys hunched their necks and hurried after him in embarrassment.

Ye Xingchen casually put away the jade pendant, his expression calm and undisturbed.

He had no grudge against the Shen Clan. If Shen Yuan wanted first place, he could have it; Ye Xingchen had no interest in it.

But Shen Li's divine sense had been clinging to him all along, and that sinister malice made him deeply uncomfortable.

Since someone insisted on shoving his face forward and begging to be slapped, how could Ye Xingchen feel at ease without giving him one?

"Young friend, this Earthvein Yellow Essence..." Master Liu rubbed his hands together, his eyes gleaming. "Take this old man's advice. If this thing goes up for auction three days from now and meets a buyer urgently in need of an earth-element divine treasure, its price could rise by at least another thirty percent!"

Thirty percent meant another hundred thousand-plus Spirit Stones.

Anyone else would likely have nodded immediately.

Yet Ye Xingchen shook his head without hesitation.

An auction? The procedures were cumbersome, they would take a commission, and most importantly—cash in hand was safest.

"No need. We'll do as we agreed: five hundred thousand, settled immediately."

Ye Xingchen spoke crisply, leaving no room for negotiation.

Master Liu paused, clearly not expecting someone to turn down money.

But he was a shrewd man. With a turn of his eyes, he understood that this young man likely urgently needed Spirit Stones for turnover, or feared that the longer the night, the more dreams would arise.

"Fine! Decisive!"

Master Liu did not hesitate either and immediately made the decision.

Including the hundred thousand from selling the Red Sun Fire Essence, Ye Xingchen's wealth had soared to six hundred and fifty thousand Spirit Stones in less than half an hour.

With this enormous sum, it was enough to reach the Initiation Stage of One Qi, Three Purities.

Just as he was about to turn and leave, Master Liu suddenly called out to him.

"Young friend, wait."

Master Liu took a purple-gold token from his robes. Both sides were carved with intricate formation patterns, faintly exuding an oppressive aura, and handed it to Ye Xingchen.

"What is this?" Ye Xingchen accepted the token. It felt heavy in his hand, and its material was neither metal nor wood.

"In ten days, Myriad Treasures Pavilion will hold an internal appraisal gathering." Master Liu lowered his voice, his tone carrying a trace of mystery. "Several batches of 'old-pit' materials will be shipped over from Central Province then. Those are the true kind that even immortals cannot judge. With eyes as discerning as yours, young friend, it would be a pity if you did not come."

Central Province.

Ye Xingchen stroked the patterns on the token. That was the center of the cultivation world, where spiritual energy was far richer than here, and the ores produced there were naturally no trifling matter.

If the raw stones here were merely scraps from the edges, then those from Central Province were a true "treasure vault."

"Thank you." Ye Xingchen put away the token without refusing.

As he walked out of Myriad Treasures Pavilion, the sunlight outside was somewhat dazzling.

The glittering wealth behind him was cut off, while the streets outside were bustling with carriages and people.

Ye Xingchen had just stepped down the stairs when a graceful figure blocked his path with perfect precision.