Desolate Devouring Art

Chapter 535 - Spiritual Essences

Madam Li stood firm, choosing not to intervene as long as Liu Wuxie remained unharmed. This meant she would ignore any mockery directed at him. Hai and Chen Shen exchanged glances and reluctantly returned to the crowd, realizing they couldn't openly snatch the items and would have to wait until Madam Li left.

Madam Li gave a slight nod to Liu Wuxie before stepping aside, allowing the stone betting to resume. Many people had started to leave, thinking the House of Tea Art's intervention would halt the betting. However, they were surprised to see that the House of Tea Art wouldn't interfere as long as Liu Wuxie's safety was ensured, even if he lost.

"Continue! Next one!" Everyone's excitement was ignited. They couldn't wait to see what was in the remaining seven items that Liu Wuxie had chosen.

Stone betting would only end when the last stone was cut. Even though Cheng Chen had already lost, the outcome would be determined only at the final moment.

Even Madam Li was curious about Liu Wuxie’s remaining seven stones, so she allowed the bet to continue.

Cheng Chen showed a hint of hesitation because he knew his odds of winning were already low. If he wanted to turn the tables around, he would have to cut out something even more extraordinary.

"Senior Brother Cheng, why not keep going since you have already come this far? Let's see what the remaining stones have to offer." The three friends egged Cheng Chen on. After all, they wouldn't be the ones humiliated if they lost, and they were only here for the excitement.

"Cheng Chen, what are you waiting for? Keep cutting, and don't disappoint us!" The crowd echoed, urging Cheng Chen to hurry up and stop wasting everyone's time.

There were already so many treasures in the first three rounds, and everyone's curiosity had been piqued. Many people even started to eye the remaining items from the Xiang Clan Manor, wondering if there were more treasures hidden within those items. After all, if they could buy an item that contained a treasure, it would be enough for them to enjoy luxuries for a lifetime.

Cheng Chen was placed in a difficult position, with many people urging him. If he admitted defeat, Liu Wuxie might drop the bet because he didn't have to cut open the remaining seven items.

After all, wealth shouldn't be revealed, and for an innocent person to wield treasures would only invite trouble. Just a few drops of the Saint Glazed Liquid had already placed Liu Wuxie in such danger, and the remaining items might contain more extraordinary items capable of causing a sensation in the city.

The Xiang Clan Manor's patriarch had never anticipated the items they had kept for many years to yield so many treasures. The items were transported out of the barren land centuries ago, where the probability of finding treasures was high.

The Xiang Clan Manor had preserved these items as a last resort, only to be brought out when the clan was in great hardship. Their appraisers had meticulously picked each item throughout the years, but they now benefited Liu Wuxie.

They would've cut open and sold the treasures if they knew which item contained the Saint Glazed Liquid. However, the wood picked by Liu Wuxie looked too ordinary to contain any treasures.

The Xiang Clan Manor had also cut many items throughout the years but often made more losses than profits. The clan invested a lot of resources in these stones, and they couldn't bear the losses if nothing were inside. This was why they had no choice but to put them up for sale.

Cheng Chen gritted his teeth and picked up a stone valued at three hundred thousand spirit stones. His palms were covered in sweat, and his cutting speed had slowed significantly compared to before.

The crowd's excitement grew, and the discussion gradually ended with everyone focused on Cheng Chen's dagger. Their eyes followed the movement of his dagger, and it was already late in the morning before they knew it. However, not one felt the heat and was engrossed in the bet.

The stone, as thick as a water bucket, began to shrink with each cut, reducing in size. However, there were no signs of spirituality, which made Cheng Chen even more nervous. His hands began to tremble, causing his dagger to miss precision several times.

When the stone was finally cut open, sighs of disappointment could be heard coming from the crowd. After all, such an expensive stone yielded nothing, but Liu Wuxie had only spent a hundred spirit stones to open something like the Saint Glazed Liquid. This was too unfair!

All eyes turned to Liu Wuxie, who casually picked up a stone and began cutting it. His movements were crude, like before, as he cut chunks off the stone.

The items Liu Wuxie picked weren't huge. The biggest was only the size of a basin, while the smallest was only the size of a palm.

"Is he doing this on purpose? Isn't he afraid of damaging the spirituality inside?" People frowned. Although Liu Wuxie had cut open so many treasures, his cutting method was still criticized by everyone.

His cutting method was not an art; even a butcher on the street had better skills than him. Butchers could at least maintain a balance between fat and lean meat for better sales.

However, Liu Wuxie’s cutting method didn’t resemble the careful process of opening a stone; it was more like he was chopping rocks. With each cut, he removed a large chunk, and in just a few cuts, the rock was reduced to a diamond shape.

"There's spirituality again!" Spirituality had already leaked from the stone before it was entirely cut open. By now, everyone had grown used to it, and it was simply unheard of for anyone to achieve a hundred percent success rate.

"This is unbelievable. Can he possibly see through the stones?" He Hai had just arrived and was already stunned by what he saw. He had never seen anyone with such a high success rate.

Then again, there was another possibility that the Xiang Clan Manor's products were top-quality, and any random item could yield spiritual essence.

A spiritual essence the size of an egg floated in front of Liu Wuxie, and it was purer than the one Cheng Chen had previously cut out.

No words could describe everyone's feelings now, and many people had already started to curse. Some people spent an entire lifetime cutting stones and couldn’t even open a spiritual essence. However, Liu Wuxie had yielded two spiritual essences, one ancient fragment, and a bottle of Saint Glazed Liquid with four items in a row.

Liu Wuxie kept the spiritual essence and ignored the gazes from the surroundings.

"Cheng Chen, is there any point in continuing?" Liu Wuxie didn't want to continue cutting and hoped that Cheng Chen could give up.

"Why not? Do you think I'm afraid?" Cheng Chen looked like a gambler who had lost everything. He insisted on continuing even if he knew he would lose because he wanted to know what Liu Wuxie could cut open in his remaining stones.

This time, Cheng Chen cut all five stones simultaneously, except for the last one. He didn't want to wait any longer and wanted to end the bet quickly because the stress of it was overwhelming for him.

After ten minutes of cutting, five stones were cut open, and he only yielded a spiritual essence the size of a fingernail. He was only left with the last one, the largest one with the highest chance of yielding a complete ancient fragment.

If he could cut open a complete ancient fragment, he still had a chance to turn the tables around.

"It's your turn now! Hurry up!" Cheng Chen turned to look at Liu Wuxie after cutting five stones in one go.

Liu Wuxie had no choice because everyone would pounce on him if he refused to cut. He looked at the remaining six items, his gaze lingering on a piece of decayed bamboo no bigger than his palm.

However, he ultimately picked up a palm-sized stone and left the bamboo for the last, which puzzled everyone.

After all, the bamboo seemed the least likely to contain spirituality, but Liu Wuxie left it for the last.

His cutting methods were crude like before, and when the stone broke apart, he yielded three spiritual essences of high quality. Liu Wuxie hadn't uncovered any low-grade spiritual essence so far.

"Have you all noticed? That kid had picked two stones but put them back for some reason before picking two new stones. The new stones he picked all yielded spiritual essence. Do you think the two stones might also contain spiritual essence, just of lower quality?" Someone speculated, and everyone began to notice a pattern.

There were two stones that Liu Wuxie had picked initially, but he later abandoned them, which was an act that puzzled everyone.

"I want those two stones!" Shopkeeper Li acted quickly and bought the two stones that Liu Wuxie gave up for ten thousand spirit stones, and he cut them on the spot.

The two stones were cut open in less than one minute, but nothing was inside them. This baffled everyone, and they wondered what game Liu Wuxie was playing at. Did he give up these two stones because there was nothing inside them?

Only Liu Wuxie knew the truth. He deliberately chose two empty stones because he didn't want to stand out too much. After all, he would cause an uproar in the city if all the stones he picked yielded spiritual essence.

Moreover, he had also wanted to leave some profit for the Xiang Clan Manor. If he took all the items containing treasures inside, the Xiang Clan Manor would find it hard to survive in the future.

However, the attitude of the Xiang Clan Manor's patriarch made him change his mind. Right from the beginning, the old man had mocked him and flattered Cheng Chen.

This naturally enraged Liu Wuxie, and he knew that the Xiang Clan Manor was no better than scoundrels. Since that was the case, he would pick all the items that contained treasures to teach them a lesson.

"Another spiritual essence!" This was the fourth spiritual essence, and everyone had become used to it. Even the House of Tea Art's Madam Li was at a loss for words, and she wondered if Liu Wuxie was the person Murong Yi was looking for. That Liu Wuxie could achieve this much was enough to state that he wasn't simple.

The sounds of stones being cut continued and a pile of stone fragments lay at Liu Wuxie's feet.

Everyone was numb as they watched Liu Wuxie cut open spiritual essence in the sixth, seventh, and eighth stones. The stones ranged from the size of an egg to the size of a pebble, but they were all of high quality. The worst quality was a mid-grade spiritual essence.

"This kid has hit a jackpot. With so many spiritual essences, they're worth at least one billion spirit stones!" Everyone looked at Liu Wuxie with their eyes blazing with greed, wishing they could devour him.

Liu Wuxie finally picked up the ninth stone, the size of a palm, which cost him only ten spirit stones. This was also the cheapest of the ten he picked.