Chapter 1339: On Purpose
Heichi Gu immediately froze. Forget about him, that was the case for Ban Ka too. Whatever confidence he had had previously, that was how badly he was panicking.
The others were also extremely depressed. They had initially planned to benefit from what seemed to be an easy payday, and yet they had been the ones to pay dearly. If there were something else in this rock too, many of them would be losing their entire family fortune!
Zu An was about to fall over from laughter when he saw what was going on. He called out, “Come on, why is everyone getting so scared? The chance of there being something in this rock is really small, right?”
Their expressions all turned strange. That was exactly why they had been so confident in gambling against him. They hadn’t expected him to say the same thing right back to them. The tides really had turned…
“How about this? We’ll just continue with our earlier bet. If there’s nothing in this rock, we’ll compensate all of you with a thousand ki stones. If there is something, though, all of you still need to compensate us with the same amount. What do you think?” Zu An asked.
The others were stunned. They couldn"t help but become tempted. After all, according to the previous agreement, Zu An had already won. Whether there was something inside or not, he wouldn’t have to pay them a thousand ki stones. Meanwhile, they still had to compensate him if there really was something inside for some reason.
And yet, perhaps out of pity for the poor, he had actually proposed such a condition. Why wouldn’t they agree? After all, the prior two thousand ki stones had already made them lose a good chunk of their lifespans. It would be good if they could have a thousand ki stones to stanch the bleeding a bit.
“Brother, thank you for your generosity.”
“The Snake Race is kind and sincere after all.”
…
They spoke praises out loud, but inwardly, they were instead cursing Zu An for being an idiot.
Zu An could tell that these people had sinister designs. He also sneered. Let’s see who’s the dumb one later.
He walked up to Ban Ka and Heichi Gu and said, “The two of you must be quite thirsty right now. How about some water?” He grabbed a teacup that some random person had drunk out of and handed it over.
The two of them were disgusted, replying, “No need!” Pieces of rock flew out of their mouths as they spoke. Even Heichi Gu’s teeth had turned somewhat white.
You have successfully trolled Ban Ka for +555 +555 +555…
You have successfully trolled Heichi Gu for +555 +555 +555…
Zu An looked toward Shi Min and the others, asking, “If the princes have no objections, why don’t we open the final stone?”
Shi Rong and Shi Gong instinctively glanced toward their third brother. Shi Min nodded with a smile, saying, “Our Lion Race cares about the mentality of a knight the most. We will not go back on the bet we have agreed to.”
“That’s good then. Old sir, please begin,” Zu An said politely to the Jade Garden’s butler. However, inwardly, he was quite puzzled. Is this Shi Min really just so generous?
The Jade Garden’s butler gave Zu An a surprised look. He had thought that this was a brat who was just too arrogant and wild, but now, it seemed that he was eating tigers while pretending to be a pig. He nodded with a smile. Then, he began to cut into the last rock.
Shi Rong sneered, “Hmph, just now, that was nothing more than a blind cat stumbling upon a dead mouse. I refuse to believe that you’ll be able to find anything.”
Ban Ka said in deep sympathy, “What the seventh prince says is indeed the case. This brat really is a bit too hateful.”
Heichi Gu spat a wad of spit filled with rock fragments onto the ground. He said, “Hmph. I’ll make him have a taste of rocks later too.”
However, as soon as he spoke, a blinding expanse of red filled his vision. This time, the butler didn’t need to cut for a long time at all. Just a single slice had already shown that there was something.
The others were stunned. We’re done for! We’re finished!
Just a grape-sized earth-grade ki stone had already made them bleed; this one was clearly much larger! Weren’t they going to lose their entire family fortunes?!
Heichi Gu swallowed with great difficulty. He couldn"t even be bothered to deal with the rock fragments scratching his throat, saying, “Everyone, don’t panic. This might just be an empty layer. We’ve seen such things before. It looks nice on the outside, but the inside is just rock.”
“You’re right, you’re right.” The others seemed to have found some comfort. They all sighed in relief.
That’s more like it. How can there be something that good from the yellow floor? Let alone the cheapest few rocks.
It has to be just a bit on the surface! It’s definitely rocks inside. Yeah, that has to be it.
Even Shi Rong and Shi Gong were starting to pray inwardly. Furthermore, Shi Min, who previously seemed to have had everything within his grasp, changed his expression for the first time.
The butler’s expression also became somewhat grave. He didn’t cut boldly the way he had before, instead cutting very carefully. As the outer layer of stone fell away, the red light coming from inside grew brighter and brighter. Meanwhile, the faces of those outside became paler and paler.
In the end, there was a fist-sized red gemstone at the very center, and surging heat radiated from it. The entire room seemed to be filled with extremely rich ki that was much purer than that of the earth-grade ki stone from before.
“This aura… is it heaven-grade?” The voices of the spectators began to shake.
Yan Xuehen had previously been a bit worried for Zu An. When she saw that, she sighed in relief.
“Count this kid lucky.” Yun Jianyue harrumphed. Even though she said that she was a bit disappointed that she couldn"t see him eat rocks, there wasn’t a trace of disappointment between her brows.
“This is a piece of heaven-grade Soaring Flame Gla.s.s! It has tremendous effects on a fire element user’s cultivation!” Even the butler’s voice was starting to shake as he spoke. Even though he had opened up many things more precious than this item, such a thing coming out from the yellow floor was simply unprecedented! It was enough to become an absolute legend in his trade!
“How many ki stones is this worth?” Zu An asked. Among the women at his side, Big Manman was a user of the fire element. He wondered if she needed such a thing.
The butler said, “At least a hundred heaven-grade ki stones.”
“Ah, only a hundred?” Zu An asked, sounding a bit unsatisfied. When they were in Lord Sui’s Tomb, trapped in the fog forest, the amount of ki stones Suolun Shi, Kong Nanjing, and the others had each had to take out to help Wu Liang activate his formation and get rid of the fog was precisely a hundred heaven-grade ki stones.
However, when he thought about it, all of those people had been the younger generation of the fiend races’ very best clans. The resources at their disposal were definitely no joke. Even if the Demon race’s princess and the Peac.o.c.k King race’s princess carried around a hundred heaven-grade ki stones when they traveled around, it seemed that amount was actually quite a bit
The others got upset when they heard what he said. Is this something anyone with a conscience would say?
This was a hundred heaven-grade ki stones, which was equivalent to a hundred thousand earth-grade ki stones, or ten million ordinary ki stones! If they had ten million ki stones, would they be playing around on the yellow floor? And yet, out of greed for a thousand ki stones, they had ended up losing ten million!
Thud, thud, thud…
Several loud noises followed. It seemed that many of them had lost strength in their entire bodies, falling onto the ground.
Heichi Gu had an absent-minded expression. The Heichi Clan was known for their ties to the emperor, so ten million was definitely something he could pay. However, he was just a son of a branch family; did he have the right to use so many ki stones?
Ban Ka was even more depressed. The Hyena race had been poor to begin with, and their awareness of danger was rather strong. That was why, if they had any ki stones, they would use them to increase their own cultivation. How could they have that many to spare?
Zu An didn’t seek them out first. and instead walked over to Shi Min’s group. He called out, “These princes over here, it’s time to pay up, right?”
“d.a.m.n brat, don’t go too far!” Shi Gong and Shi Rong roared furiously. This guy was asking for them to pay up face to face!
You have successfully trolled Shi Gong for +444 +444 +444…
You have successfully trolled Shi Rong for +444 +444 +444…
Zu An’s expression grew cold as he replied, “What, who was previously bragging about having the mentality of a knight? And yet now, you’re thinking of becoming hostile and defaulting on the debt?”
Shi Gong and Shi Rong were about to act up when Shi Min stopped them, saying, “We did lose. There are three hundred heaven-grade ki stones here. I will pay for my brothers.”
Afterward, he took out a heavy embroidered pouch. Everyone could sense the rich ki even through the bag. Those in the surroundings clicked their tongues. The Lion race really was rich and powerful,; even a prince could easily bring out three hundred heaven-grade ki stones.
Shi Gong and Shi Rong panicked. Even though a hundred heaven grade ki stones was a good amount, with their status, it wasn’t that big of a deal. However, if they were going to look bad in public because of it, they would feel horrible.
“Third brother, aren’t you pretty good at choosing rocks? Why did you end up giving him two rocks that were this precious?” Shi Rong asked Shi Min through ki, sounding resentful.
“Seventh brother, rock betting is never a hundred percent accurate. This can’t be blamed on third brother,” Shi Gong quickly replied, trying to stop him.
Shi Min’s expression was extremely strange. He said, “Actually… I knew that these two rocks had something inside.”
“What? You knew, but you still recommended them?” Shi Rong almost screamed out loud. Even Shi Gong looked at his older brother with shock.
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