2853 Betting with life

"Similarly, we have one day to choose," Niu Buqun said.

This time, he didn't have much pressure. Even if he lost, it would be Leng Xiuran who had to pay with his life, so Niu Buqun was calm and bore a composed demeanor, with a kind of detachment like an outsider.

"Alright," Ling Han said.

There were about 3,000 raw stones here. With his current speed, a day's time was sufficient for him to sort through all of them.

Having known that there was stone gambling in the mid-grade area, even the shopkeeper of the raw stone lane came.

He was a white-haired old man. He appeared to be old and decrepit, but no one would dare to underestimate him, because this man was a Fourth Tier Heavenly Venerate.

The world has changed indeed. A dignified Fourth Tier was actually here as a shopkeeper?

It wasn't that he had no aspirations, but rather that he was able to enjoy the benefits of his favorable position. If there was any treasure unearthed, he would get first priority in bidding. He was a Fourth Tier with the financial resources; in addition to some coercion, few people would dare not to give him face.

He was given the title "Great Clouds," and had been a cultivator for over a dozen epochs.

Everyone was watching on the side. Perhaps they might learn a thing or two from the methods of Niu Buqun.

Great Clouds Heavenly Venerate specially allowed Ling Han and Niu Buqun to personally select their raw stones respectively and settle the final bill once everything ended.

Niu Buqun rushed out immediately. He was only at the Ninth Heaven; it was no problem for him to take out a few pieces of Divine Metal, but he was unable to take out a dozen or several dozen pieces even if he wanted to. Therefore, only under the circumstances of having the support of an extremely wealthy backer would he be able to come here to select what he needed.

There was no helping it, as he hadn't been a raw stone grandmaster for very long, and so he naturally didn't have significant savings.

Ling Han didn't waste time, either. It couldn't be ruled out that Niu Buqun's luck would be heaven-defying, with him picking 10 raw stones with the highest value. No matter how awesome Ling Han was, it would be impossible to overturn his defeat in that case.

Both of them stopped talking, and concentrated on looking for raw stones.

Time passed quietly; one day's time was quite short indeed, and it was very soon time for the two sides to face each other with the outcome.

Leng Xiuran couldn't help becoming nervous; his life or death was about to be decided at this moment.

Ling Han had looked through all the raw stones once, while it seemed that Niu Buqun only looked through half of them. Although there were much fewer raw stones here, the quality of each piece was so good that the challenge of distinguishing one from the other became accordingly much more difficult.

Ling Han smiled. Among the raw stones that Niu Buqun hadn't looked through yet, at least four of them could be squeezed into the top 10. He didn't believe that Niu Buqun's luck would be so good to the point of heaven-defying.

"Begin selection of the stones."

Niu Buqun stretched out his hand, and 10 raw stones flew towards him immediately with his grabbing motion.

Ling Han made a move at the same time, and 10 raw stones similarly fell into his hands.

The two respectively handed over the raw stones to the staff of the raw stone lane beside them, and cutting of the stones began immediately.

The first piece… was a scrap stone.

Niu Buqun couldn't help showing disappointment. He was full of confidence. With him making his move in the mid-grade area, it ought to be that each stone wouldn't have come to nothing. Unexpectedly, the first piece was a scrap stone.

Fortunately, Ling Han also opened up a piece of scrap stone.

Again.

For the second pair, the two staff members were very careful. The probability of harvesting a treasure in the mid-grade area was very high, so they had to be extremely careful.

"There's treasure," someone immediately shouted after a few cuts by the blade.

"There's also something here." Someone pointed at Ling Han's stone.

After a few more cuts, everyone's eyes lit up immediately as a Great Herb was actually unveiled out of the raw stone selected by Niu Buqun! On the other hand, Ling Han merely got a piece of Divine Metal.

The gap was so wide that there was no comparison at all.

However, everyone didn't start placing their bids, because it had yet to be known who would emerge victorious in the end. The victor would obtain everything; there was no telling to whom this Great Herb would belong.

"This Great Herb is cyan in color, and it is one grade higher than the previous one."

"You can't even exchange it for a thousand pieces of gold."

Although there was no bid, it was still necessary to evaluate the approximate grade of this Great Herb.

The greater the age of this peerless Great Herb, the better grade it was. Going by the order of seven colors from red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and purple, red was the oldest and purple the youngest. However, it was said that the most valued medicine that had ever been unveiled was an orange-colored medicine, which was the supremely valuable medicine that previously allowed a Fourth Tier Heavenly Venerate to break through to the Fifth Tier.

Niu Buqun was taken aback for a moment, and then burst out laughing, being extremely pleased with himself.

Even if it was easier to unveil treasures in the mid-grade area, a cyan-colored Great Herb was still extremely rare.

He was even feeling slightly regretful as he should have paid for it himself.

Leng Xiuran also showed a relaxed expression. This time he could be more at ease.

The third piece.

Niu Buqun unveiled a scrap stone, while Ling Han once again harvested something.

"Yi, it seems there's some treasure, green in color."

"Is it Divine Metal?"

"It's not clear yet."

As they had no idea whether it was Divine Metal or something else, the staff naturally didn't dare to make too much movement, and continued to carefully cut open the stone, peeling off more layers of stone.

"Gasp!"

Suddenly, everyone gasped.

This was a Great Herb, and moreover it was of the green grade.

The order was red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and then purple, so the green-colored Great Herb was naturally better than the cyan-colored Great Herb—this point didn't need to be considered at all.

Ling Han had gained the upper hand!

Leng Xiuran's expression immediately crumbled. One had to know that his life was on the line this time.

"Young Master Leng, don't worry, don't worry, the game is far from over! Please believe me, I will definitely turn defeat into victory," Niu Buqun said hastily.

Leng Xiuran suppressed his wildly throbbing heart and nodded. Before this, Ling Han had also made a comeback on the last raw stone and managed to reverse a losing game in one fell swoop. Why couldn't they?

This was the wonder of stone gambling. No one would know the outcome of the gamble until the last moment.

"Continue."

In cutting open the fourth pair, yes, both sides still continued to get scrap stones.

Then came the fifth pair. Ling Han continued to unearth a piece of Divine Metal, while Niu Buqun got another Great Herb, but it was of the lowest grade, purple.

The two plants together couldn't compare to Ling Han's one plant. However, in the end, the gap had been drawn closer by a bit.

Again.

For the sixth pair, Ling Han still got a piece of Divine Metal, while Niu Buqun continued his good luck, and got another Great Herb, but this time it was cyan-colored again.

The combination of these three Great Herbs could just barely contend with the green-colored Great Herb.

Leng Xiuran calmed down again as now the two sides had basically returned to the same starting line.

Ling Han remained calm. He had already grasped the entire game in his hands.

The seventh pair.

Ling Han opened up a piece of scrap stone, while Niu Buqun opened up a purple-colored Great Herb.

Although it was only purple-colored, which was the lowest grade, the combination of the four Great Herbs was slightly higher than the green-colored Great Herb in value because it could only improve one's cultivation level and shorten the duration of cultivation. Meanwhile, if one wanted to advance to the next cultivation level, it was said that only the orange-colored Great Herb was capable of facilitating it.

This was the dividing range; one orange-colored Great Herb was more precious than 10 yellow-colored Great Herbs.

Leng Xiuran calmed down again, and even had a smile on his face. This time… he was sure to win.

For the eighth pair, both sides opened up to scrap stones, and it was the same for the ninth set.

Now it would all depend on their respective 10th piece. If both sides continued to open up scrap stones, then it would be obvious that Leng Xiuran had won.

'Oh, Master, do you need to play the game with such suspense?' Fu Tianxing complained inwardly. Although there was no evidence, he just believed that such a sequence of opening stones was within Ling Han's control.

This master of his could really be very mean whenever he played around with people.

"Open up the 10th piece," Ling Han said lightly.

The two stonecutters picked up the last raw stone, and began to cut it open.