Chapter 1633: Chapter 1503: Testing the Waters

The Rongsheng Gambling Stone Workshop has many courtyards, with stones everywhere, ranging from tens of thousands of pounds to just a few pounds, densely packed and artfully arranged across the grounds.

The First Level courtyard contains the most ordinary stones, which can even be said to include a lot of waste stone simply brought to make up the numbers. Hardly anyone lingers here.

However—

Ye Fan did not rush to leave; he had already gained some insights into the Dragon Seeking Formulas, at least to be able to use Earth Vein Dragon Qi in battle, but he wasn’t yet skilled at Stone Appraisal. He came here wanting to practice, not necessarily to gamble for top-grade spirit stones, but to accumulate experience.

He wandered around the First Level courtyard, patting one stone and knocking on another, with a very earnest appearance, causing the few guards watching him from the Gambling Stone Workshop to look at each other incredulously.

Is this guy really a master?

To know that the stones in the First Level courtyard are basically ignored; they are just waste stones. Why is he so interested?

"Ye Zi, the stones here have no good items; they are all scams. Let’s go inside," Hu Fei suggested beside him.

"No worries, today is mainly to test the waters, let’s take a look first, don’t rush." Ye Fan glanced at the guards watching them with crossed arms and continued to select stones.

Seeing those guards, Hu Fei frowned, a mischievous idea came to him, and shouted to them: "Hey, you gate dogs, go get us some tea!"

"You..."

Being called gate dogs to their faces made those men’s expressions instantly change, but they didn’t dare to provoke them. Although these three looked like miners, they were clearly cultivators, otherwise, they couldn’t be using a Space Spiritual Artifact.

"What about you? Hurry and get us some tea!" Hu Fei glare fiercely at them, and a menacing aura exuded, terrifying them into jumping and obediently going to pour tea.

Ye Fan walked around the courtyard, realizing that there were thousands of stones, and indeed, they were just fillers. He felt only a few contained spirit stones, but they were also of very poor quality, lacking much value.

"How should these stones be priced?" Ye Fan inquired.

"The stones here are the cheapest; one tael spirit stone can buy a thousand pounds of stones," Hu Fei came over, explaining.

As a local snake of the Northern Domain, Hu Fei was very familiar with the prices of stones, immediately discerning the true value of these stones.

"You guys, bring me that Source Stone," Ye Fan pointed to a giant stone weighing nearly a thousand pounds amidst a heap of chaotic stones.

The faces of the Rongsheng Gambling Stone Workshop workers turned green; although they were also cultivators, they were only in the True Qi Realm, moving a multi-thousand-pound giant stone was still a physical labor.

"I say, are you throwing money down the drain? Such a large stone requires half a pound of precious spirit stone, and you’re certainly not going to find anything gambling out!" one of them cursed.

"Cut the crap, move it already, don’t want to do business? Or call your boss out to move it himself?" Ye Fan frowned.

Hearing this, their faces turned green again, afraid of dirtying their reputation, they just grimaced and dragged themselves to move it.

After managing to move out that multi-thousand-pound stone, their tongues hung out, and large beads of sweat streamed down.

"I want to select a stone too!"

Hu Fei covertly gave Ye Fan a thumbs-up; he initially thought of messing with these blind gate dogs, but Ye Fan was on the same page.

Although he might not have Ye Fan’s proficiency in stone gambling, he knew simple stone appraising. Quickly, he took fancy to a stone, yet it was pressed under a mammoth stone weighing over ten thousand pounds, serving as a footstone.

"You guys, move that stone for me!" Hu Fei pointed to the ten-thousand-pound giant stone.

"Ah?!"

They were dumbfounded at once, having just moved a multi-thousand-pound stone, not even catching their breath, now moving again?

But seeing Hu Fei’s fierce and sinister bandit face, they dared not utter another word, used all their strength as they moved the massive stone.

However, after just a few steps, Hu Fei shook his head and said: "What are you doing? I meant the stone under that giant rock."

"I&*%￥#..."

They were about to explode with anger, isn’t this intentionally messing with them?

Hu Fei lifted the footstone in his hand, weighing just two or three pounds, smiling as he looked at them.

"I want this one."

The Barbarian pointed at a stone also pressed under a large rock.

He had figured out the situation; Ye Fan and Hu Fei were deliberately messing with people, as these few guys looking down on others with their dog eyes truly angered him, so he was unreservedly causing trouble now.

Of course, compared to selecting and appraising stones, he fell far behind Ye Fan and Hu Fei, just interested in messing with these fellows.

The anger that flared up among the Rongsheng Gambling Stone Workshop’s people was instantly ignited, one of them said: "What egregious bullying!"

"It’s not us bullying, but your dog eyes too low."

Shi Ye shook his head, said: "If you don’t move it, I’ll call your boss."

"You..." they pointed at Shi Ye.

"What you, sir has spirit stones, now fancy that stone, hurry up and move it," The Barbarian confidently crossed his legs, sipping tea, demonstrating the demeanor of a local tyrant.

When the Rongsheng Square workers managed to lift the giant stone, tired like dead dogs, Shi Ye and Hu Fei quickly chose more targets.

"That one, yes, the one pressed underneath."

"And this one, quickly get it for us."

While sipping their tea, the two directed them.

"Three masters, we were wrong. We shouldn’t have looked down on you. Please forgive us."

"You are magnanimous, don’t hold it against us. Please spare us." These people were played to exhaustion by Hu Fei and Shi Ye, along with Ye Fan, and were completely defeated.

Finally, Ye Fan took matters into his own hands, sliced open the massive thousand-pound stone he chose, and unearthed a piece of Mid-Grade Spirit Stone weighing over a pound. It was the best Spirit Stone in this courtyard; the others weren’t even worth considering.

Hu Fei’s stone also yielded a Spirit Stone, but it was a pitiful half-tael of Low Grade Spirit Stone with poor quality, heavy impurities, and a dull, mottled color.

"Uh..."

Even so, it made the few people collapsed on the ground nearby stare in disbelief, watching them enter the Second Level courtyard.

This time, Ye Fan and his companions didn’t linger. They took a round and headed inward.

The courtyard inside was luxurious, with young female cultivators responsible for reception, introducing various Source Stones, and stone-cutting consultants overseeing the stone cutting.

Soon, they arrived at the Fifth Level courtyard, encountering people from the Chi Xia Sect again.

"What? Had a change of heart? Ready to bet against me now?"

The attendant of Young Master Wei from Chi Xia Sect looked at the three with a mocking expression.

"Let’s bet, afraid you won’t?"

Hu Fei bristled immediately, not even the Saint Heirs of the Holy Land would dare treat him like this.

Earlier in the First Level courtyard, he had seen Ye Fan’s stone appraisal technique, able to find top-grade Spirit Stones even in such a place. He believed Ye Fan wouldn’t miss here.

Besides, he himself had some insights into stone appraisal; while not mastering the skill, he spent years in the craft and his discernment was certainly higher than Young Master Wei’s attendant.

"Then let’s bet!"

Young Master Wei glanced at the three without expression and began selecting material with his attendant.

Soon, they chose a stone weighing twenty to thirty pounds, Young Master Wei patted the stone and told his attendant, "Let’s pick this one!"

The attendant respectfully took it, then looked at Ye Fan and said, "You three bumpkins, hurry and pick one too."

Ye Fan circled once and finally chose a watermelon-sized stone, tossing it forward, saying, "This one."

Both stones chosen weren’t large, but they were quite expensive, as Source Stones in the Fifth Level courtyard had high chances of yielding Spirit Stones.

"Master, please cut the stone!"

The attendant of Young Master Wei from Chi Xia Sect directed the request to the Spirit Stone master responsible for cutting stones.

"Alright! I must first consecrate the blade!"

An elderly man with a youthful demeanor approached, drew the Stone Cutting Blade with a clang, lifted it above his head, and bowed to the four directions, then bowed three times to the stone, chanting something indecipherable.

Next, the old man stood up and began cutting the stone.

"Crack!"

With the blade flashing, the stone skin peeled away, and the stone chosen by Chi Xia Sect grew smaller, but no Spirit Stone appeared.

"Consider yourself lucky, next I’ll make you cry out for your parents." The attendant of Young Master Wei was a bit dissatisfied, and even Young Master Wei frowned.

"Master, cut mine now." Ye Fan sent his stone forward.

"This broken stone is obviously a waste stone, need it be cut?" the attendant scoffed.

Others also shook their heads, saying, "This stone is gray-brown with black spots, clearly a common material called ’Night Sky Star’, definitely a waste stone, no need to cut to know."

"It’s too obvious, indeed a waste stone." Almost everyone frowned.

Even the Spirit Stone master shook his head, saying, "No need to cut this stone."

Hearing everyone say this, the Barbarian felt uncertain, quietly suggested to Ye Fan, "Why not change it? It hasn’t been cut yet!"

"Ye Zi, are you sure? This stone doesn’t look promising, don’t let it be waste material or we’ll be embarrassed." Hu Fei also doubted, fearing embarrassment.

"Don’t worry, no need to change, otherwise some may deny the deal, this stone will do." Ye Fan wasn’t fussed about the rules, picked up the nearby blade and chopped directly.

"Crack!"

With a crisp sound, the stone split open, and a dazzling light burst from the crack, revealing a fist-sized Seven-Colored Spirit Stone, crystal clear, embedded in the stone layers.

Ye Fan’s cut nearly split the Spirit Stone inside, narrowly missing it.

"Ah, there’s really a Spirit Stone? How can there be a Spirit Stone inside Night Sky Star?"

"This is almost two pounds, what a gain!"

Everyone nearby exclaimed in surprise, overturning their understanding!

Originally, they thought nothing would be inside, but unexpectedly there really was a Spirit Stone, and a Seven-Colored Mid-Grade Spirit Stone at that!

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