Luo Qingluan, the Luo Family's eldest young lady, had taken their little princess Luo Yue with her and won over a hundred thousand jin of pure source for the family. The news caused quite a stir throughout Luo City.
After all, a hundred thousand jin of source was almost equal to the entire wealth of some small and medium-sized factions in the Northern Region.
Only families and sects with a mighty cultivator at their helm could possibly produce so much source at once without cutting into their bones and sinews.
An astonishing wager had taken place in Luo City!
Now everyone knew that the Luo Family of Qingyun Province had produced an extraordinary prodigy in the Source Arts.
As the saying went, one household rejoiced while another grieved. Luo Yue and her companions returned laden with their winnings.
Meanwhile, inside the Great Evolution Gambling Stone Workshop, a young man frowned and asked again, sounding uncertain:
"You're saying Li Huan lost?"
"And he lost to a little girl of seven?"
He was Yanlong, the man currently in charge of this Gambling Stone Workshop, at least on the surface.
His position was much like that of the Luo Family's Third Master. Though nominally a disciple, he wielded considerable authority within the Great Evolution Sacred Land, commanding more influence than even some of its elders. He was also one of its current ten great disciples, his standing almost equivalent to Jiang Wei's in the Jiang Family.
"Yes. It was a crushing defeat. Before that little girl even opened her third stone, they'd already lost the full hundred and ten thousand they wagered."
"Kong Yuan was even frightened into fleeing the field by a single look," a subordinate reported respectfully.
By now, word that Luo Yue had scared off a prized disciple of a Source Arts family with a single glance had spread throughout Luo City.
Kong Yuan had been nailed to the pillar of shame. His reputation was utterly ruined.
Everyone also knew that the Luo Family had produced a Source Arts prodigy who, at merely seven years of age, had defeated an heir to the Kong Family's legacy in a stone-gambling match!
"A pack of useless fools. They couldn't even handle something this simple." Yanlong snorted coldly.
"The Luo Family certainly hid her well. To think they managed to keep a monstrous Source Arts genius under wraps until now."
"But if a prodigy like that grows to maturity, the so-called four great Source Arts families might find their titles rather shaky." Yanlong sneered.
He knew those Source Arts families' ugly habits all too well. Unless they could take the little girl as a disciple, make her serve their interests, and force her to change her surname, peaceful coexistence was absolutely impossible. They would spare no effort to suppress her.
After all, they called themselves hereditary families. How good could they possibly be? Naturally, they would never tolerate someone of another surname surpassing them in the Source Arts.
Anyone who dared reach into the trades and profits they monopolized would face the combined suppression of all four families.
"Still, the Luo Family's response this time was surprisingly forceful. They declared that the palace master of the Fire Cloud Palace must come in person to ransom his people. Could those divine physicians of the Jiang Family really have cured Luo Tiangang?"
Yanlong was somewhat puzzled.
This news did not bode well for them. Not only was Luo Tiangang unharmed, but the Luo Family also seemed poised to form an alliance with the Jiang Family!
With the Divine Source Ancient Mine involved, none of the factions had acted rashly. Those old monsters seemed to have reached some secret agreement: not a single Holy Lord level figure had personally entered the fray, leaving everything to their subordinates.
That was what had led to the current stalemate.
But this was also a good opportunity...
Yanlong's eyes flickered, and no one knew what schemes he was turning over in his mind.
Luo Yue knew nothing of the storms brewing outside.
Still, she could more or less guess that her actions today had officially brought her into the sights of the major factions.
"The Yellow River Chart and Lo Shu are just too overpowered. They can strengthen even an ordinary Qi Gazing Art to such a terrifying degree. There's no keeping a low profile now."
Luo Yue had already returned to her little courtyard and begun taking stock of the day's gains.
Besides the valuable variant source and [ice soul jade marrow] she had extracted herself, there were also the [essence of geng metal] and [crimson rosy source] that Li Huan and his companions had uncovered.
The treasures Li Huan and Kong Yuan had finally uncovered through an extraordinary burst of luck had now become spoils of victory, all belonging to her alone.
As for the 110,000 Jin of Source they had wagered...
The Fire Cloud Palace had yet to deliver it. Luo Yue was not someone who liked to keep the whole feast to herself, so she had left the matter entirely to her Third Uncle Luo and her young aunt.
"This source came far too easily!"
Looking at the treasures of various colors before her, worth over ten thousand in total, Luo Yue's eyes shone.
No wonder people said the combined wealth of the four great Source Arts families could rival any divine dynasty in the Central Plains! Heaven only knew how many fine treasures they had amassed over the past hundred thousand years.
If she had not been worried about offending them too deeply, she would have loved to spend a fortune before leaving and sweep up everything inside the Great Evolution Stone Workshop!
But she had not done so. If she really had, probably no Gambling Stone Workshop would ever dare let her through its doors again. They might even post a notice at the entrance saying, "A certain mysterious silver-haired girl and dogs are not allowed inside"...
I still need to boil the frog in warm water, not drain the pond to catch the fish. Slicing flesh with a blunt knife is the way to make this last, Luo Yue thought.
She took out the final stone she had not opened on the spot that day.
To be honest, even Luo Yue was not quite sure what to make of this stone.
When she used the Qi Gazing Art, apart from stones that had been tainted by primordial qi...
Almost no other stone could hide anything from Luo Yue's eyes. Some sent clear qi rising; others bore purple qi coming from the east. Each color matched its properties, and she could judge the value of the treasure inside entirely by how brightly its color shone.
This stone alone, under the Qi Gazing Art enhanced by the Yellow River Chart and Lo Shu, displayed a peculiar color of primal chaos, carrying an indescribable depth and restraint.
What drew Luo Yue's attention most, however, was the hazy five-colored radiance veiling that chaos.
The five colors held their splendor within, neither ostentatious nor dazzling, yet exuding an indescribably peaceful and ancient aura, as though tempered by the passage of countless ages.
"It seems to carry a peaceful aura, too..."
Luo Yue murmured to herself. A thread of icy divine power curled around her fingertips as she gently brushed the rough stone rind.
The five-colored halo lingered around her fingertips with a strange, warm smoothness, faintly resonating with the icy divine power of her divine king body.
"What exactly is hidden inside?"
She hesitated no longer. Taking a jade stone-cutting knife she had prepared, she worked with a steadiness and precision far beyond that of ordinary stone cutters.
During the day's gambling, she had already observed the stone cutters' techniques and directly used the [Yellow River Chart and Lo Shu] to copy them.
The jade knife cut along the stone's natural grain, sending stone chips pattering down.
Unlike the smooth cutting of the previous two stones, this stone's rind was exceptionally tough. The jade knife gave off faint metallic ringing as it cut, as though slicing into some kind of metal ore.
Luo Yue's gaze sharpened slightly. She channeled a thread of divine power into the blade, and only then did the cutting become smooth.
As the grayish-brown outer rind was stripped away layer by layer, the hazy five-colored halo grew clearer and more substantial. Its peaceful aura intensified as well, even dispelling the chill naturally emanating from Luo Yue's divine power in the stone chamber and bringing a sense of warmth and tranquility.
When the final thin layer of rind was carefully peeled away, there was no earth-shaking eruption of radiant light, no surging fluctuation of divine power.
At the stone's core lay only an irregular stone fragment roughly the size of an infant's fist.
Five gentle colors flowed throughout the fragment: red, yellow, azure, white, and black. They intertwined and revolved, forming a hazy, sacred halo.
Its radiance did not spill outward but remained contained within, as though holding some Chaos Origin from the first opening of heaven and earth.
Fine cracks covered the fragment's surface!
Its edges were sharply angular, clearly marking it as part of something that had shattered.
An indescribable aura-ancient, boundless, peaceful, yet tinged with sorrow-spread from the five-colored fragment, instantly filling the entire meditation chamber.
"What is this?!"
Even Luo Yue's ice-blue eyes could not help flashing with shock.
This was neither divine source nor any kind of variant source, much less any known artifact-refining material!
Its substance was neither metal nor jade, neither stone nor wood. The flowing five-colored radiance contained an aura of origin that pointed directly to the Great Dao, more ancient and purer than anything she had ever seen!
Even the Jiang Family's Divine Islands, which had stood for over a hundred thousand years, were not as ancient as this!
It even seemed to faintly resonate with the [Yellow River Chart and Lo Shu] floating in her sea of consciousness...
"A five-colored stone... fragment?"
A name she had heard only in ancient legends instantly flashed through Luo Yue's mind.
She extended her cool little hand and carefully touched the five-colored fragment.
The instant her fingertip made contact-
Hum!
The fragment's five-colored radiance suddenly brightened for an instant. A warm, vast, and boundlessly majestic aura flowed into her through her fingertip.
Luo Yue felt the life spring within her bitter sea tremble slightly. The icy divine power gushing from it seemed to be cleansed by this aura, instantly becoming a shade purer and more concentrated.
What it contained was not mere Source Power, but a kind of "Dao" and "principle" closer to the very origin of heaven and earth!
What shook her even more was that the [Yellow River Chart and Lo Shu] in her sea of consciousness also trembled gently.
The ancient patterns and star-like points on the tortoise shell seemed to be lit by that five-colored radiance. At that moment, the "computing power" of Deduction and Traceback seemed to receive some indescribable enhancement, becoming clearer and swifter!
"Could it really be that thing?"
Luo Yue's heart tightened.
If so, the value of this Five-Colored Stone fragment probably far surpassed all the variant source she had previously uncovered combined. It might even be more astounding than that scroll of imperial text from the "Hengyu Scripture"!
"Fuck!"
At that moment, Luo Yue swore, a rare occurrence for her.
The [Yellow River Chart and Lo Shu] finally stopped their autonomous deduction. Black-and-white star patterns and tortoise-shell characters continually rearranged themselves, until several imposing words appeared in Luo Yue's sea of consciousness-
Gather the Five-Colored Stone, mend the breach in heaven!
In the unseen depths, something like a voice rang out-not beside her ears, but directly within the depths of Luo Yue's divine soul. Vast and desolate, bearing indescribable compassion and the majesty of eternity, it seemed to cross the endless river of time and space, arriving from the very beginning when heaven and earth were first cleaved apart.