Chapter 103: One Slash, Life or Death, Just Knew You’d Bully Me

She wanted to cut the stones on the spot, which naturally pleased the shopkeeper. After finalizing the winner for the stone with the exposed crimson vein, he had the guards come to move the stone.

The stone was handed over to Gong Yu. He offered the highest bid but didn’t intend to cut it on the spot. Instead, he stored it in his Spatial Pouch.

Lian Mu noticed that the Spatial Pouch he used was the lowest grade. It could only hold one stone before it was full. Ordinary cultivators wouldn’t use such a low-tier pouch.

She recalled the information she had learned from the silver-faced man earlier. Gong Yu had Four Spiritual Roots and hadn’t reached the optimal threshold for cultivation yet.

Lian Mu couldn’t help but wonder: Four Spiritual Roots, how does he tame high-level magical beasts?

This Gong Yu, along with the previous silver crane, were both not ordinary people.

During her silent contemplation, Gong Yu looked back at her. Finally, he spoke, saying, “Your spirit pet isn’t bad. Your judgment, however, is poor.”

It was the first time Lian Mu truly listened to him, and she realized that although he appeared handsome and fair-skinned, always giving off an aloof vibe, he stuttered when speaking.

Lian Mu: “What does it have to do with you? Is your brother fine? Still have time to meddle with my business?”

At the mention of Linghu Meng, Gong Yu’s expression immediately changed. He coldly said, “You’ll lose money.”

“Really? How about you try cutting the stone on the spot and see who loses more?” Lian Mu said with a smile.

Gong Yu glanced at her. “I won’t fall for your tricks.”

Everyone knew that with Refined Jade, if it was cut and used immediately, its spiritual energy would diminish after an hour. Most people would take a stone containing possible Refined Jade away and have an Artifact Refiner cut it later.

Cutting stones on the spot was essentially a waste unless the Artifact Refiner could use the jade within the hour.

Lian Mu: “Suit yourself.” After all, it wasn’t her who would lose millions.

The shopkeeper moved the stone-cutting tool over and asked her, “Would you like to buy a treasure box? If something good comes out, you can temporarily store it inside.”

“Get one for Refined Jade,” Lian Mu said.

After thinking for a moment, she added, “The best one.”

The shopkeeper fell silent for a moment. “…Alright.”

Others: “…”

Guess she had too much money to spend? How could anything good come out of this pile of waste stones? At best, it would be a decorative jade.

Following her request, the shopkeeper had someone cut the smallest stone first. One slash, and nothing came out.

The second stone was brought up, proceeding from smallest to largest.

The noise of the cutting tool echoed in everyone’s ears, and they all watched intently.

The second stone was cut, and still, there was nothing useful inside.

The shopkeeper glanced at her. “Still going?”

Lian Mu: “Cut until it’s done.”

There was a moment of silence. “…”

Gong Yu: “You really won’t give up until the very last moment.”

The third, fourth stone… Several more cuts, and still, nothing.

The shopkeeper was smiling wide. Selling a pile of waste stones for fifty thousand was indeed a huge win.

“Stop cutting, send it back to recuperate,” someone couldn’t watch any longer.

Although fifty thousand was a small amount in a Spirit Stone shop, outside, it was a considerable sum, one that an ordinary person couldn’t afford to lose.

Lian Mu didn’t say anything, just signaled for the two silver-faced men to continue. The pile of stones was quickly nearing its end.

“There’s just one left,” the silver-faced man said as he picked up the final stone and placed it on the cutting tool.

This was a green-skinned original stone, a special type among the spiritual ores, known for the saying “One Slash, Life or Death.” It contained precious items, but the shell was thick. A stone the size of a human could only yield something the size of a fist.

And this one, it seemed, only had something the size of a fingernail, barely worth anything.

Green-skinned original stones came in different sizes, and only those large enough could be considered top-quality. Anything smaller was basically trash.

The silver-faced man first cut a slit on the side. As the stone split, only a layer of greenish shell appeared, with no sign of jade.

However, when the second cut was made, everyone froze.

A dark red mark appeared at the cut, a color deeper than the previous million-dollar stone.

Lian Mu’s heart settled: it was right here.

The brief flash of spiritual energy she had sensed came from this stone. Because the shell was so thick with no cracks, the spiritual energy had been difficult to detect.

“Keep cutting,” Lian Mu said.

The silver-faced man continued along the cut, revealing more and more of the dark red part, until it completely dropped off. Beneath a three-finger-thick shell, the interior was entirely red, as big as a palm.

The shopkeeper paused for a moment: “…?”

A top-quality Refined Jade of such size shouldn’t have come from such a small stone.

The shopkeeper couldn’t react immediately, and the others were stunned as well.

The silver-faced man quickly removed the useful part and placed it in the treasure box, hesitating whether to return it to Lian Mu.

He looked at the shopkeeper, who finally snapped out of his daze and said, “Congratulations, young friend. You have excellent luck.”

To cut out pure, thousand-year-old red jade in one slice? What kind of luck was that?

With this cut, the value had definitely increased by more than a few million.

Everyone looked at Lian Mu, finding that she didn’t seem surprised at all, as if she had already known what was inside.

The shopkeeper furrowed his brows and had someone call Seven-Two over, secretly pinching him: “Why did you bring another expert in here?”

Watching others profit was even more uncomfortable than losing himself. He’d rather these stones be treated as waste and discarded.

Seven-Two: “Wasn’t that gentleman, the expert in stone identification, just outside?”

He had just seen him squatting by the door, having a staring contest with General Dou.

“I’m talking about her.” The shopkeeper secretly pointed at Lian Mu.

Seven-Two glanced at Lian Mu, then at the top-quality Refined Jade just cut out, falling silent.

Gong Yu took some time to recover from the scene. He hadn’t expected her to actually get lucky and make a profit instead of losing.

It was a pity that even though the Refined Jade was placed in a treasure box, it could only be stored for an hour.

“Ah, such good jade, it’s really a shame,” someone sighed.

Lian Mu saw that the silver-faced man was unwilling to let go, so she directly grabbed the box from him. “Thank you to the shopkeeper for selling such good goods at a low price. Once I’m out of here, I’ll be sure to recommend your shop to my friends and visit often.”

The shopkeeper: “Are your friends like you?”

Lian Mu: “They’re even more capable than me, and they can teach everyone some experience.”

She was just trying to scare him. After all, Xu Xianxing’s stone-identification method was a family secret, not to be shared casually.

The shopkeeper’s eyelid twitched: “…”

Trying to ruin my business?

His face immediately darkened.

Lian Mu, considering the time limit for using the Refined Jade, didn’t want to stay too long. She took the items and was ready to leave.

Gong Yu coldly stared at her and said, “I haven’t forgotten about Linghu’s matter. You’d better hope we don’t run into each other at the Beast Arena. Otherwise, I won’t show any mercy.”

Lian Mu: “Oh.”

Gong Yu: “…”

He pressed his lips together, as if he wanted to say something more, but when he saw her indifferent and provocative expression, he suddenly swallowed his words, snorted coldly, and left with a flick of his sleeve.

Under the strange gazes of the crowd, Lian Mu also prepared to leave. She had spent the least amount of money today and acquired two pieces of Refined Jade. Now, she only needed the last one.

The remaining money would be used to buy other Spiritual Materials, with a portion saved for later. Once she climbed another hundred ranks, she could get another freebie.

She had everything planned out in her mind. As she was about to leave, the shopkeeper personally came to see her off, secretly slipping her a Spatial Pouch, smiling as he said, “Young friend, business in our line is not easy. Please, don’t bring your friends next time.”

Lian Mu: “…”

The shopkeeper: “How about this? If you come back with a stone exchange token, you come alone, and I’ll let you pick three pieces. Everything here is valuable; I guarantee you won’t lose out.”

Lian Mu thought for a moment. Such a good deal? She pretended to hesitate, considering for a while. “Alright.”

The two made an agreement, and the shopkeeper finally relaxed, his tension easing.

Once outside the Spirit Stone shop, Lian Mu opened the Spatial Pouch he had given her. Inside were various Spiritual Materials. It seemed like she wouldn’t need to spend money on them.

Lian Mu looked around and noticed Xu Xianxing squatting in front of Green Bean, staring it down.

Green Bean was lying near the door of the spiritual ore shop. Because of its large size and ugly appearance, it attracted the attention of many people. With a silly-looking young man squatting there, even more people stopped to look.

Lian Mu walked over and patted his shoulder. “Let’s go. You were worried about being watched earlier, but now you’re not afraid of embarrassing yourself?”

Xu Xianxing’s legs had gone numb from squatting. He tried to stand but nearly lost his balance and quickly grabbed Lian Mu. “I was looking at its eyes.”

Lian Mu pulled him up. “What’s so interesting about its eyes? Its face is ugly. No matter how bright its eyes are, it doesn’t matter.”

After saying that, she thought about her words. Strictly speaking, Green Bean didn’t really have a proper face.

Green Bean had also heard her. It moved its legs and swung one of its claws at Xu Xianxing.

“Hiss!”

Xu Xianxing: “…”

It wasn’t him who insulted it, so why was it attacking him?

“Just know how to bully me,” Xu Xianxing muttered as he silently moved behind Lian Mu to avoid another strike.

Xu Xianxing thought for a moment before seriously answering Lian Mu’s question. “Its eyes are strange.”

“What’s strange about them?”

Xu Xianxing furrowed his brows. “I don’t know… it’s a feeling I can’t explain, but it just feels strange.”

Lian Mu: “It’s probably the Artifact Refiner’s sickness acting up. Sometimes, I think about taking it apart to see what’s inside. Don’t waste time on things like this. Let’s go. I’ve got two pieces of Refined Jade. Let’s go try them out.”

Xu Xianxing hesitated for a moment and then said, “…Alright, maybe I’m just overthinking it.”