Immortal of the Nine Realms

Chapter 349: Choosing the Smaller Ones

Even if two high-grade, yellow rank treasures couldn't help Little Sword advance to the third rank, they would be enough to further strengthen his sword body. Fang Chen reckoned he'd be able to deal with late-stage Foundation Building Realm cultivators or even those at the grand completion stage without needing to resort to the Eight Desolation Supreme Sword Scripture by then.

The stronger the sword body became before he advanced to the Foundation Building Realm, the stronger his defensive capabilities would be.

Fang Chen's divine soul left his body once again. This time, he was extremely serious. He ignored the huge Immortal Origin Stone and chose those of moderate sizes. After observing for a while, his spiritual energy became depleted as it turned transparent.

Suddenly, strong wood elemental energy surged forth.

Fang Chen felt as though he had entered an ancient forest. Every breath he took in was filled with rich spiritual energy.

When the anomaly disappeared, Fang Chen spotted a dry branch inside the Stone.

Fang Chen felt somewhat uncertain. "A dry branch? If there was an anomaly with the Immortal Origin Stone, the contents inside definitely wouldn't be so simple. What's the origin of this dry branch...?"

The cultivation world contained a wide variety of things, and his knowledge wasn't enough to easily assess the value of any item he came across. This dry branch was not simple, but he also didn't have a clear idea of its specific value compared to mid-grade spirit stones.

With that in mind, Fang Chen looked at Master Wu. Although it seemed like Master Wu had put a lot of effort into observing a single Immortal Origin Stone, his gaze kept flickering to another one nearby. Clearly, he was being cautious.

Seeing this, Fang Chen directly used his divine soul to examine both stones. Although they didn't exhibit anything strange, they both contained something valuable. One contained a transparent crystal resembling a diamond, while the other contained a withered hand!

Just as Fang Chen saw this, the person who'd go first was decided.

Qian Feng won, and he looked triumphantly at Master Wu. "Master Wu, you may choose the Immortal Origin Stone now."

Master Wu smiled and picked the Stone he had been secretly observing. This Stone was worth four hundred low-grade spirit stones.

Subconsciously, Qian Jiuye looked at Fang Chen, only to see Fang Chen pointing to the other stone.

"That one."

"This one?!"

"The stone Master Wu chose was obviously of excellent quality. Fang Chen chose a pretty decent one, but compared to those around it, it looks slightly inferior."

"It's also priced at only two hundred low-grade spirit stones."

Whispers spread among the crowd.

Qian Jiuye stepped forward to make the payment without hesitation.

"Prince Jiuye, I'll be the one paying since I'm taking part in this bet," said Fang Chen as he took out two hundred low-grade spirit stones and handed them to Tong Baizhou.

Qian Jiuye was taken aback for a moment, then a smile appeared on his face. "It seems that you're quite confident, Master Fang."

The more confident Fang Chen was, the better Qian Jiuye felt.

After each side selected their Stones once, it was Master Wu's turn to choose once more. However, each selection required careful observation and he couldn't easily reveal his target, so the process wasn't fast.

Master Wu seemed a bit hasty in his selections, not spending much time pondering over each Stone. However, with Fang Chen's powerful divine soul, his subtle movements were easily seen through.

The slower the opponent picked, the better for Fang Chen, as his spiritual energy was slowly recovering. Following this rhythm, he could gain more opportunities to find a better Immortal Origin Stone.

Before long, both sides made their choices.

Half an hour had passed by now.

The cultivators at the scene had grown nervous. Every time the two selected an Immortal Origin Stone, they'd use their experience to judge the probability of the Stones containing valuable items.

Fang Chen looked at the Immortal Origin Stones and realized they contained nothing good, but Master Wu seemed particularly interested in them.

"Would any of you two consider this Immortal Origin Stone?" said Tong Baizhou, pointing to one of the Stones while wearing a smile on his face. The Stone was about a foot long and wide.

A strange look appeared on the faces of the crowd.

Qian Feng sneered. "Young Master Tong, this Immortal Origin Stone is priced at four thousand low-grade spirit stones. If it turns out to be a loss, even I will regret it for years to come."

The crowd in agreement.

Indeed. This Immortal Origin Stone was large, and the chances of cutting out something valuable from it were high. But what exactly was inside? No one knew. Perhaps it was just a pile of useless spiritual materials.

Facing the high price of four thousand low-grade spirit stones, neither Qian Jiuye nor Qian Feng bothered to consider it.

Tong Baizhou chuckled and said, "To be honest, this Immortal Origin Stone has a bit of a background. It was once buried deep beneath the tomb of a sword cultivator!"

The crowd chuckled along.

"Even if it belonged to a sword cultivator, they wouldn't have the ability to place items inside an Immortal Origin Stone, right? So, that doesn't have anything to do with the value of the Stone."

Fang Chen's divine soul turned to inspect it.

HIs spiritual energy suddenly began to deplete rapidly, catching even Fang Chen off guard.

He originally had two or three chances left to observe the remaining Immortal Origin Stones, but with how quickly his spiritual energy depleted, there was probably no way for him to do that now. If it weren't for him increasing the capacity of his spiritual energy after comprehending the scripture in the Profound Void Temple, he would have been knocked unconscious on the spot.

The next moment, powerful sword intent pounced at him.

Little Sword reacted immediately.

"Little Chen, there's a sword inside this stone, and I want to devour it!"

Fang Chen's thoughts stirred slightly. Such a strong sword intent. Could it be a top-grade, yellow rank spiritual treasure?

Coincidentally, Master Wu had already picked his tenth piece, and his gaze fell on Fang Chen.

"You can choose your last Immortal Origin Stone now," said Master Wu.

Fang Chen pointed to the largest Stone around. "I'll take this one."

Varying degrees of surprise appeared on the faces of those present.

"Does this guy think that just because the Stone is overpriced that it'll definitely have something valuable inside? If it incurs a loss, the outcome of the bet wouldn’t be the only thing affected!"

"Master Fang, are you not going to reconsider?" Qian Jiuye felt a slight tingling in his scalp and quickly whispered, "This Stone is too expensive. We’re going for profits today, and if this one incurs a loss, the profits from the previous ones may not cover the gap."

Fang Chen smiled and took out four thousand low-grade spirit stones. "Your Highness, I'll pay for this myself."

Everyone was amazed at Fang Chen's wealth.

They assumed that the money came from the Fang Family’s Golden Core Realm Ancestor, but in reality, Jue Wudi and some others knew that the low-grade spirit stones hadn't been delivered to Fang Chen yet.

Could Fang Chen's wealth be far beyond their imagination?

The more they thought of it, the more likely it became. Jue Wudi and Fang Lingxing glanced at each other and noticed the astonishment in each other's eyes.

"Now that Master Fang has spent four thousand two hundred low-grade spirit stones, I won't question his judgment. We’ll take it!" said Qian Jiuye, clenching his teeth.

Out of the ten Immortal Origin Stones, Fang Chen paid for two out of his own pocket, and the remaining eight only cost him three thousand low-grade spirit stones in total. Fang Chen's investment was higher than his, so Qian Jiuye didn't waste any more words.

Qian Feng couldn't help but chuckle. "Ninth Brother, you're treating him like your savior, but he might end up disappointing you. We always choose the smaller ones when gambling in order to lower our risk. He doesn't even understand this basic rule. How can he compete with Master Wu if that's the case?"

When Qian Feng said "small," he wasn't referring to the size but rather the value of the Stones.

Now that Fang Chen had spent a whopping four thousand low-grade spirit stones to buy an Immortal Origin Stone, even if the remaining nine Immortal Origin Stones yielded four thousand low-grade spirit stones worth of profit, they would barely break even if the largest one was useless!

What were the chances that all nine remaining Immortal Origin Stones would yield something valuable anyway?