The Sage King was the younger brother of the current emperor of the Northern Dynasty. Since he was the eighth brother, he was also called the Eight Sage King.
Despite bearing some similarities to the Sage King, Cheng Yao fell short. The Sage King was a tall, powerful man, dressed in a dragon robe. His aura was royal and domineering, and the ring on his finger let out a powerful energy. The Sage King was a well-reputed man in the imperial capital, and he was known to be a master in the field of stone refinement. As a result, no matter how arrogantly Cheng Yao behaved, no one would dare to offend him.
When it came to gambling, even the gamblers at the Immortal Gambling House could barely match him. Why would someone of his stature come here? His appearance incited a flurry of questions.
Seeing that Xuanyuan had chosen stones with riches two times in succession, everyone knew that it was not a coincidence. Once would be understandable, but twice? That meant that he was experienced in the art of stone refinement.
Looking at the Sage King, Xuanyuan put away his sword and chuckled.
“One trillion king coins, and four hundred thousand pounds of pure energy source for your son’s limbs sound like a fair deal to me.”
The Sage King calmly nodded and waved his hand. A trillion king card fell into Xuanyuan’s hands. This card represented a trillion king coins, and one could get such a card at any branch of Taibai Trading.
Putting away the card, Xuanyuan looked at Cheng Yao and said, “You’re lucky your father is a good man. Otherwise, I’m afraid today would have been your last day.”
Seeing Xuanyuan’s fearless att.i.tude, people could;t help but be amazed. Despite being only a wandering cultivator, he still dared to talk like this in front of the Sage King. They didn’t know whether he had some kind of impressive background, or he was just plain ignorant.
Bitterness was evident on Yuechang’s face, but she immediately fixed her expression. She didn’t expect the outcome to turn out in such a way. However, if she could instigate a battle between Xuanyuan and the Sage King, it would be just as good, if not better.
Furious, Cheng Yao raored, “You son of a b.i.t.c.h! You dare humiliate me. Watch your step, the moment you step out of Cheng Men, I will kill you.”
“You can try, but I’m afraid you’re far too weak. Better bring some men along with you, otherwise your father will have to dispatch people to collect your remains.” Xuanyuan laughed carelessly, as if nothing in the world scared him.
Looking at Cheng Yao, the Sage King snapped, “Shut your mouth.” Cheng Yao immediately shut up, but his eyes were filled with resentment towards Xuanyuan.
“Younger brother, what’s your name?” The Sage King asked Xuanyuan gently.
“Ji Yuan.”
“Ji Yuan, huh. Are you from the Ji family by any chance?” The Sage King’s expression changed; the Ji family was very well known. If Xuanyuan was really from the Ji family, the matter before wouldn’t end pleasantly. The Ji family was not one to let slights go by. Hearing this, even Cheng Yao looked terrified.
“Haha, I’m afraid not. I’m a simple wandering cultivator, not worth mentioning in the same breath as them.”
The Sage King’s face once again became impa.s.sive as he asked, “Well then, Brother Ji. Would you like to play a few games with me? I saw that your technique is splendid, and I’m itching to test myself against you.”
Xuanyuan thought to himself, “Here we go. Undoubtedly he wants revenge, sugarcoating his words so that he doesn’t appear overly hostile. No matter, battling against him is good for experience.”
Nodding, he replied, “Sure, how do we go about it.”
Hearing Xuanyuan’s response, the onlookers exclaimed, “Huh? He accepted the Sage King’s challenge? Does he not know that the Sage King is proficient in the stone refining arts?”
“Challenging the Sage King…He’s going to lose for sure.”
“A bet of 4 million pounds of pure energy source, best of three. The loser also hands over anything they won in each of the rounds. We compare the values of the things cut out each round to decide the winner.”
“Excellent, that’s fine with me.”
“Is this bravery or stupidity? Does the kid even have 4 million pounds of pure energy source?”
“Haha, despite being poor, he’s not afraid of the rich. Even if he loses, he can offer his experience up. The Sage King is no fool; all the people he’s defeated are still alive. All he asked from them was their knowledge, which is how he managed to become so proficient. After all, advice from pract.i.tioners is infinitely more valuable than knowledge from dusty books.”
“You’re right. After all. Brother Ji did select a cracked marrow stone and make a ma.s.sive winning. He’s definitely got some skills.”
While they were close, none of them knew the truth. Afterall, how could they guess that he had the inheritance of the Emperor of Acquisitions, The Book of Acquisitions?”
“Well, since we have both agreed to the terms of the bet, shall we start? Would you like to go first?”
“It’s fine, you can go first.” Xuanyuan gestured towards the pile of stones.
“Very well, I shall take you up on that offer then.” The Sage King stepped up. As he approached the pile, he gave off the feeling of complete fusion with the heavens and thee earth, shocking Xuanyuan.
“He’s really a master of stone refining, already able to completely fuse with the heavens and the earth. I was right, that stone in his ring is spiritual ice.”
“Boy, this is good practice for you. The Sage King is experienced, as is any master of stone refinement. Any stone master should have acc.u.mulated a wealth of experience before they have achievements. It is said that before the Emperor of Acquisition wrote the Book of Acquisitions, he had at least cut a trillion stones. That book is the culmination of all his experience.” Greed’s laughter resounded in Xuanyuan’s head. Xuanyaun inhaled deeply; he couldn’t fathom what cutting a trillion source stones would even be. Just how many years had the Emperor practiced for, how many stones of all kinds he had cut?
Cheng yao’s face was surly. Cursing Xuanyuan, he thought to himself, “This time you will lose. You dare challenge my father? You really have no idea how stupid you are. Once you lose, I’ll take my sweet time torturing you.”
None of the women dared to stand beside the Sage King. He was not a regular of Cheng Men, and he was extremely skilled anyway. He had no need for them. Along with all the masters of stone refinement, the Sage King spent most of his time at the Immortal Gambling House. He had an extremely good relations.h.i.+p with several famous gamblers. Alongside the other four masters, the five of them were known as the Five Earth Masters.
The Sage King continuously deployed his techniques. Beams of spiritual light fell on the stones, illuminating them. Each source stone had a different response to the Sage King, as he continuously discarded those he deemed useless.
The xian realm fighters present all marvelled at his skill.
“The Authority of Spirits… There’s no way the little boy can win.”
“That’s right, the Authority of Spirits allows the Sage King to instantly detect the presence of pure energy sources in a source stone. While he doesn’t win every time, he has an equal chance of winning or losing when he gambles. They say that he even once cut out a piece of spiritual ice. While not big, it definitely shows his skill.”
“Ah, that’s right. I heard from those who visited the Immortal Gambling House when this happened.”
“Did you see his ring? That spiritual source embedded in the ring is the spiritual ice he cut out. I heard that ever since he cut out the spiritual ice, his win rate drastically improved.”
Hearing this, Xuanyuan’s confidence did not go down in the least. Rather, his compet.i.tive spirit burned even more. Only by fighting against such experienced stone masters could he hone himself. Looking at the spiritual source in his ring, Xuanyuan’s heart quickened.
“Ah, that’s the Spirit Seeking Source. No wonder his win rate increased after cutting out that spiritual source. The Spirit Seeking Source reacts to pure energy source. As long as there’s even a hint of pure energy source, his ring will react. This allows him to win small-scale bets, but large scale bets are a whole different matter.”
Time continued to pa.s.s, until the Sage king finally picked a huge source stone beside the pool. It was as tall as a water tank.
The woman who was standing by Cheng Yao spoke up, “That’s known as the Spiked Stone, valued at one billion king coins.”
The price of a source stone depended on its quality and size. Nodding, the Sage King immediately handed over the amount and took out a short knife.
The woman took it and immediately moved back. Until one paid for their source stones, they couldn’t cut it open. Cheng Men never operated on credit basis.
The Sage King began carving the stone down. His swordsmans.h.i.+p was quick as lightning, just as exquisite as Xuanyuan’s.
Xuanyuan could see the resemblance, however Cheng Yao’s skills were a shallow shadow of what his father’s. Unfortunately, the apple fell far from the tree in this case.
As tiem pa.s.sed by, the spiked stone was slowly cut to form a perfect sphere. The Sage King was obviously a veteran. He calmly cut the stone, neither too fast nor too slow. Once the stone was reduced to size of a baby’s head, he gently cut the surface of the stone.
As he cut the surface, a strong killing Qi burst out, causing some people to exclaim.
“That’s a heterogeneous killing source!”