Desolate Devouring Art

Chapter 561 - Unrefusable Offer

Liu Wuxie scanned the vast display of stones once more. There were over a hundred thousand stones, far too many for him to inspect.

“The stone-betting event is about to begin. Shall we go down?” someone suggested as the event had officially started.

Stone betting was usually done individually and not as a group. People bet on their luck to see if any treasure existed in the stone they purchased. Hundreds of stones were sold in just a few minutes and immediately cut open.

The elders of the three major sects came down from the pavilion to maintain order in the guild.

“Brother Liu, shall we go down as well?” Chen Ruoyan asked excitedly. She wanted to try her hand at picking a stone, hoping to see if she could cut out any spiritual essence.

Jian Xing’er’s face also lit up with anticipation, and her excitement was barely contained.

“Let’s go,” Liu Wuxie agreed. He had planned to go down even if they hadn’t asked. He had already spotted a few treasures within the stones that would greatly help him.

Ordinary spiritual essences no longer interested him. His main objective was to search for high-grade spiritual essence or spiritual core.

When they went down the pavilion, Chen Ruoyan quickly ran into a heap of stones, eager to pick one for herself.

“Brother Liu, what do you think of this one?” Chen Ruoyan asked, holding a stone about the size of a basin.

“Not bad,” Liu Wuxie nodded in approval.

With his approval, Chen Ruoyan quickly paid ten thousand spirit stones and grabbed a dagger to cut it open.

A crowd soon gathered in the surroundings. Though many people were present, they were merely onlookers because they weren’t brave enough to participate.

The stone Chen Ruoyan had chosen wasn’t of outstanding quality, which explained the low price.

Chen Ruoyan instantly garnered a large crowd around her extraordinary beauty despite wearing a veil that covered most of her face.

With a few cuts, anyone could tell that Chen Ruoyan’s experience was lacking, but it didn’t take away the spectacle. The basin-sized stone was swiftly reduced to the size of a fist after ten-odd cuts.

Chen Ruoyan and Jian Xing’er had closely observed Liu Wuxie during stone betting with Cheng Chen. Thus, Chen Ruoyan knew the entire process, even if this was her first time.

When the dagger sliced through the stone, a large piece fell off, causing an outburst of spirituality.

“Spiritual essence! She cut open a spiritual essence!” the crowd exclaimed. Ten thousand spirit stones for an intermediate-grade spiritual essence was a hefty profit.

This was the charm of stone betting. If Chen Ruoyan couldn’t find anything in the stone, the ten thousand spirit stones she paid for would go down the drain.

“I found a spiritual essence!” Chen Ruoyan chirped excitedly, holding a tiny piece of spiritual essence in her hand. It was the size of a fingernail, but she chirped like a bird excitedly beside Liu Wuxie.

The greatest thrill of stone betting was the overwhelming joy when the stone yielded something.

“Sister Jian, go and pick one as well!” Chen Ruoyan urged Jian Xing’er to try her luck after her success.

“Alright!” Jian Xing’er ventured into the pile of stones. After some time of looking around, she chose a stone about the same size as Chen Ruoyan’s at a similar price.

“Junior Brother Liu, what do you think of this one?” Jian Xing’er asked.

“The fun of stone betting is when you find something inside. If you can’t find anything inside, you can just consider it entertainment,” Liu Wuxie replied with a smile. He didn’t go too direct with his words with so many people around.

After all, there would be severe consequences if everyone found out he could see through the stones.

After she paid for it, Jian Xing’er took out a dagger to start cutting the stone. The stone was reduced to the size of a fist in less than five breaths, leaving a pile of fragments lying on the ground.

The atmosphere in the crowd become tense because the next cut would reveal if there were anything inside.

Taking a deep breath, Jian Xing’er made the decisive cut in the middle, splitting it into two.

However, there was no spirituality inside, which left Jian Xing’er disappointed. Her luck wasn’t as good as Chen Ruoyan’s.

The crowd sighed in disappointment because ten thousand spirit stones went down the drain just like that.

Teng Yue quietly observed this scene from a distance. He had also suspected Liu Wuxie to possess some kind of extraordinary vision, but he soon dismissed that idea after seeing Jian Xing’er fail to find anything.

“Liu Wuxie, I want to rechallenge you!” Cheng Chen stepped out from the crowd. He rushed over immediately upon hearing that Liu Wuxie was there.

Liu Wuxie frowned at the sight of Cheng Chen, who was like a stubborn cockroach that provoked him repeatedly. Cheng Chen still didn’t give up even after Lui Wuxie had spared his life back on the street.

“I don’t pick a fight with dogs. Didn’t your elders tell you that?” Liu Wuxie retorted, openly insulting Cheng Chen as a stray dog.

Cheng Chen was humiliated in their last stone betting, but he dared to jump out to rechallenge him. This behavior was no different from that of a stray dog.

His insult caused an uproar among the crowd because that was akin to insulting the Azure Crimson Gate. More people began to gather from the surroundings, curious about the commotion.

“Liu Wuxie, how dare you call me a dog! You’re dead! I’ll make sure you die today!” Cheng Chen trembled angrily, his eyes bulging.

“Don’t lower yourself to his level,” a voice came from the crowd as Teng Yue stepped forward and patted Cheng Chen on the shoulder. Judging from his attire, he was also a disciple of the Azure Crimson Gate. He continued, “Some people are just cowards, only knowing how to hide behind others. Why bother getting worked up over someone like him?”

“That’s right! He only knows how to hide behind a woman,” Cheng Chen agreed, looking at Teng Yue with respect as they continued to mock Liu Wuxie.

Dense murderous intent flashed in the depth of Liu Wuxie’s eyes, annoyed by their provocation.

“Liu Wuxie, my junior brother isn’t worthy to gamble with you, but I challenge you. We will each pick three stones, and the winner with the highest value wins. Whoever loses will have to die!” Teng Yue heard from the surroundings that Cheng Chen had lost to Liu Wuxie in stone betting a few days ago, thus losing the qualification to challenge the latter.

This gave Teng Yue no choice but to challenge Liu Wuxie.

Liu Wuxie looked troubled by the issued challenge, and the crowd perceived it as him being afraid.

“Can I refuse?” Liu Wuxie rubbed his nose, looking to be in a tough spot. His overbearing attitude from before had vanished, and he looked completely different. He was the one who had insulted Cheng Chen by calling him a stray dog earlier, but his attitude had diminished in the face of Teng Yue’s challenge. This made everyone wonder what Liu Wuxie was trying to do.

“Sure, if you’re willing to admit that you’re garbage in front of everyone,” Teng Yue sneered.

“It looks like I can’t refuse this challenge!” Liu Wuxie said helplessly. Despite looking troubled on the surface, he was laughing hysterically to himself. After all, it didn’t seem like a bad choice that he could kill Teng Yue without shedding any blood.

“Sign the Life-and-Death Pledge then!” Teng Yue took out the pledge, fearing that Liu Wuxie might change his mind or that someone from the House of Tea Art might interfere. Once the pledge was signed, there was nothing the House of Tea Art could do to stop him from taking Liu Wuxie’s life.

“Brother Liu, don’t do it!” Chen Ruoyan and Jian Xing’er stepped forward, worried that Liu Wuxie might fall for Teng Yue’s trap.

Oddly enough, Murong Yi didn’t intervene; she simply wore a smile and remained silent the entire time.

The surrounding crowd grew as word spread of Murong Yi’s presence. They weren’t even qualified to enter the House of Tea Art, which was why they wanted to take this opportunity to see her.

Murong Yi’s face was covered by a light veil, and she had a curvaceous figure. Many people were burning with curiosity, wishing they could remove her veil to see her face.

The Life-and-Death Pledge hovered before Liu Wuxie, leaving him with no way out.

“You want to take it that far?” Liu Wuxie asked, his face scrunched up in a troubled look. He looked as though he was hesitating whether to accept Teng Yue’s challenge.

He would have to admit that he was garbage if he refused, which made everyone wonder what his odds of winning were if he agreed.

“Liu Wuxie, where’s the courage you showed the other day? Hurry up and sign it!” the crowd began to urge Liu Wuxie to sign the Life-and-Death Pledge.

Many people were jealous of Liu Wuxie’s performance on the boat. Not only had he defeated the four great scholars of Serene Sea City, but he had even won Murong Yi’s favor. This naturally made him an enemy to everyone, regardless of whether they had a personal grudge against him.

“Liu Wuxie, you killed everyone from my clan, and I will avenge them today. But it’s disappointing to see what a coward you are,” Teng Yue mocked, pushing Liu Wuxie even further into accepting the challenge combined with the piercing stares from the surroundings.

“Let’s hope you won’t regret this,” Liu Wuxie squeezed out a drop of blood essence and wrote his name on the Life-and-Death Pledge. With the pledge signed, there was no backing out, and it could only end in the depth of one party.

“Young Master Teng, we have chosen the stones for you,” three middle-aged men said, emerging from the crowd, carrying the three stones that they had picked for Teng Yue.

“It’s the three elders of the Ling Clan!” someone exclaimed from the crowd. It was rumored that the three Ling Clan elders had a fifty percent success rate in identifying stones.

The surroundings exclaimed, “It’s a trap! It must be a trap!”

The Ling Clan had a mysterious technique for detecting the presence of spiritual essence within the stones, a skill unique to their clan and unrivaled in this field. This ability allowed them to become the wealthiest clan in Serene Sea City.

“Thank you, elders!” Teng Yue bowed respectfully to the three men.

Not long ago, the Ling Clan had sought out the Azure Crimson Gate with an offer to help him eliminate Liu Wuxie.

“Why would the Ling Clan, who charges an exorbitant fee for picking stones, help Teng Yue?” murmurs came from the surroundings, and everyone wondered what the Ling Clan’s true intentions were.

The three elders of the Ling Clan were renowned for their expertise, and any stone they confirmed as valuable would see its price skyrocket. The selected stones were marked as Teng Yue ordered them to be brought over.

“So expensive!” Another outburst of exclamations could be heard from the crowd. The cheapest stone chosen by the three elders was priced at a staggering sum of one million spirit stones. The total for three reached over three million—a price far beyond what most could afford.

“Liu Wuxie, it’s your turn!” Teng Yue sneered, urging Liu Wuxie to pick his stones.

“Senior Sister Jian, please go to the Sky Rift Valley’s area to pick three stones for me. They don’t need to be expensive; the cheapest ones will do,” Liu Wuxie said. To everyone’s surprise, he had no intention of picking stones himself.