On the stone-cutting platform, Kong Ming took a deep breath, brought out a Jade Knife, and carefully began peeling the rind from the Qilin Treading the Moon Stone.
As the rind fell away, what emerged was not divine source or some rare treasure, but a violently churning mass of dark mist, thick with a corrosive aura.
The mist spread instantly, carrying a bone-piercing chill, as though countless tormented souls were wailing within it!
"It's primordial beginning demon miasma! Get back!"
Someone in the crowd cried out in terror.
Kong Ming's expression changed. He swept his feather fan rapidly, sending out streams of clear light in an attempt to purify it, but to little effect.
In the end, this expensive stone yielded only a small, contaminated piece of mixed-colored source worth a few hundred jin, along with a mass of fierce baleful qi that would take considerable effort to clear away.
He had struck out!
"An unfortunate start..."
Kong Ming shook his feather fan.
Even with his mastery of Source Arts already at the grandmaster level, he could do little about it.
But that was also the allure of stones from the source-bearing region of the Primordial Ancient Mine. They held countless uncertainties, and despite their hefty prices, even great grandmasters of Source Arts often came crashing down.
On the other side.
Ice-blue divine radiance flickered at Luo Yue's fingertips. Like the most precise scalpel, it shaved away the rind of the Dead Star Stone layer by layer.
Once the rind was gone, the interior proved completely hollow. Only a tiny mound of gray-white powder lay at its center, exuding an aura of decay and deathly stillness.
"A bust!"
"It's all dead ash. Not worth a penny."
"What a shame! Even these two Source Arts prodigies struck out!"
"If I remember