Chapter 342: Sky Stone
Xuanyuan had been selecting stones and carving them in order to elicit the very feeling he had sensed, but until now there was no reaction. Unexpectedly, it had suddenly resurfaced, and this time it was even clearer. It made Xuanyuan’s heart throb with excitement and confirmed his suspicion.
“This feeling is that of a king stone. It must be hidden somewhere here.”
However, the sensation was fleeting, for the reaction had disappeared just as soon as it had come. But that much was enough for Xuanyuan; he had managed to ascertain that the special source stone was present amongst those around the pool. He was certain that the rare treasure within this stone would be a piece of spiritual ice.
Generally, spiritual ice had the power to interfere with the ability of stone refinement masters to ascertain the quality of stones. This allowed them to mislead gamblers and protect themselves. Spiritual ice tended to loathe being controlled, and as such tried to avoid getting into the hands of gamblers as much as possible. This was mainly due to the fact that spiritual ice could one day ascend to the ranks of heavenly energy sources, and even G.o.dly energy sources. They had their own form of sentience and wisdom.
Back in the Black Dragon Mountain, if Xuanyuan had encountered the G.o.dly dragon source without the will of the ancient dragon, there would have been no way for him to acquire it. he would have needed to be at the xian realm, and have completed the soul refinement stage.
The G.o.dly dragon source was a very rare treasure. The fact that Xuanyuan possessed it was top-secret, and only the Yin family should have been aware of it, however news of it had spread out. The only reason why no one tried to rob it from him was due to the threat of the Nightmare Ghost. Luckily for him, this matter was known only by people ranked in important positions within the Eastern Dynasty, and no one from the Northern Dynasty knew of this.
Xuanyuan walked to the source stones beside the pool, and a small golden chessboard appeared on his palm. He pressed it against each source stone and a.n.a.lysed the feedback he received from it.’
The pattern on his hand was called the Sky-Covering Hands of Acquisition. Just as the name implied, it could control everything under the skies with just one hand.
However, Xuanyuan still couldn’t fully utilise the power of the Sky-Covering Hand of Acquisitions, and thus couldn’t sense the rare energy source.
Sighing, Xuanyuan walked until he came to a curiously shaped source stone. It looked like a man lying down, with his hands outstretched. It appeared as if he controlled everything, as he reached into the sky, but at the same time he looked as if he were begging for something. A terrible immortal strength surrounded the stone, accompanied by an aura of fear. It was a perplexing stone.
Seeing Xuanyuan stop in front of this stone, Yuechang thought, “He chose the single worst stone here. Looks like he is doomed to lose to the Sage King. This stone was appraised by the top 18 gamblers of Cheng Men, and all of them said that this stone can’t even be compared to the one that the Sage King picked out.”
Xuanyuan looked towards Yuechang, and she immediately knew that he had settled on this stone.
Cautioning him, she said, “Master Xuanyuan, please think about it. This stone is far less expensive than the Emperor Meteorite.” Her foxy eyes were charming, and her luscious red lips slowly parted, seducing everyone present.
Chuckling, Xuanyuan asked Yuechang, unaffected by her beauty. “What name has been given to this stone.”
“It’s called the Sky Stone. It resembles a man reaching out to the skies, and thus is named the Sky Stone.”
“Haha, Cheng Men is truly average. Despite being one of the four biggest gambling houses, they can’t properly appraise stones. What a shame. Anyway, I’ll be buying this stone. Please deduct it from the amount I gave you before and return the rest to me.”
Yuechang immediately calculated the amount and returned the rest of it to Xuanyuan. Smiling, she gently said, “I truly hope that it was indeed my Cheng Men which has misjudged the stone as you said.”
Taking the money, Xuanyuan put it away and drew his sword. Everyone knew that Xuanyuan was ready to cut the source stone.
“Do you think he can actually cut out an energy source more valuable than the kingsfall energy source?”
“Impossible. The kingsfall energy source is extremely rare. It even has the patterns of the disposition engraved on it. It’s near impossible for Xuanyuan to cut out something more valuable.” The one who spoke just now was ex-Minister Yu. Having been in Cheng Men for a long time, he naturally knew the value of the energy sources within Cheng Men.
Xuanyuan turned a deaf ear to the comments of the others. After all, what they said are just words. One only had themselves to believe in, and they needed to break the barriers in front of them. Only by doing this would they be able to walk their own path. If they were too affected by what others said, they would end up living their lives for others. That is a sad way to live.
The patterns on his hand slowly crept onto the hilt of the Devouring Sword. The Devouring Sword was completely wrapped up in the golden patterns, and felt as if it was integrated with the heavens and the earth.
Xuanyuan smashed the head of the stone into pieces immediately, and reduced the pieces to ashes. There was no sign of an energy source in the ashes that remained.
“How can he cut the stone so recklessly! Isn’t he afraid of damaging the energy source within?”
“He doesn’t have the slightest bit of common sense.”
“That’s not true.”
“That’s right. There’s only one explanation for his behaviour. It’s his absolute confidence in which part of the stone contains the energy source.”
Yin Zhenluo narrowed her eyes slightly. Cheng Yang, the Saintess of the Bingleng Sect, the Saint of the Xuanwu Sect and the Lady of the Nine Heavens all frowned, while the other spectators held their breaths.
Whether Xuanyuan would last to fight another round depended on the result of this round.
Xuanyuan swung his sword once more, severing the legs in a single slash. The tip of the sword released sword Qi, which proceeded to shred the legs into smaller pieces.
“Once again…”
Smiling, Yin Zhenluo was happy. “Just as expected. Xuanyuan seems to have a high chance of winning.”
The imperial master of the Northern Dynasty murmured, “Xuanyuan truly is a master in the art of stone refinement.”
His son, the minister of the Ministry of Military Affairs looked surprised. Obviously he didn’t understand what just happened.
Everyone was in an uproar, saying that Xuanyuan should not be cutting the stone so recklessly. However, once Xuanyuan finished cutting the legs off, his style of cutting changed drastically. He began cutting off smaller sections and not cutting too deeply, like a dragonfly skimming over water. His control was precise, yet strong. He was able to cut it exactly as deep as he wanted. It was as if he had perceived everything about the stone, and everything was under his control.
Seeing that Xuanyuan’s swordsmans.h.i.+p was far superior to that of Eight Virtuous Kings amazed everyone.
Most people used short swords and daggers to carve the stone for one reason. It was easy to control and adjust the power. Long swords were tough to wield and control. But Xuanyuan just demonstrated that he was able to freely wield a longsword to cut the stone as he wished. In a sense, he had beaten the Sage King.
Each and every stroke of his contained the mysteries of the heavens and the earth, and this slowly imbued itself into the source stone and covered it.
Dilettantes watched the scene of battle; adepts saw the contents. When the five earth masters saw this scene, they all frowned. They regarded Xuanyuan with dignity; after all, such exquisite skill was worthy of respect.
Suddenly, Xuanyuan’s movement halted. The pattern on the sword burst out and hit the source stone, and the surface crumbled bit by bit.
Everyone held their breaths, looking forward to the results.
“Is it coming out? Doesn’t look like there’s anything coming out. Looks like Xuanyuan has lost.”
“Don’t judge the result until the last minute…”
“You’re right. But the kingsfall energy source is extremely rare. It’s impossible for Xuanyuan to unearth a heterogeneous energy source more valuable than that. The source stone hasn’t even reacted after all this time.”
All of a sudden, a gray light broke through the surface, followed by several other. They gave off an aura of death and despair, and made everyone feel helpless.
Xuanyuan smiled, it was just as he expected.
“What is that? It has such a terrifying aura.”