Desolate Devouring Art

Chapter 532 - Ancient Fragment

Liu Wuxie and Cheng Chen were done picking ten items an hour later.

Liu Wuxie spent less than a hundred thousand spirit stones, while Cheng Chen had spent more than three million. There was a drastic difference in the amount they had spent.

“This kid has practically bought all the useless ones. There’s no way those items contain any spirituality!” Each item was priced after being appraised by countless experts. The higher the price, the higher the odds of containing spiritual essence.

The lower-priced items were deemed unworthy by appraisers, so they were cheaply sold.

After collecting the spirit stones from the two, the old man cleared a space in the middle for them to cut open.

"You think you can compete with me using that trash?" Cheng Chen sneered, eyeing the piece Liu Wuxie had chosen with undisguised amusement. He burst into laughter, his confidence apparent. While he might not have been a grandmaster in stone betting, Cheng Chen considered himself a rising star with far more experience than the average gambler.

Liu Wuxie glanced at the stones picked by Cheng Chen, and he even bought the most expensive stone. It was no wonder why he was so confident.

“The stone betting hasn’t even started, and you’re already so confident in yourself!” Liu Wuxie sneered. He pulled out a dagger from his interspatial ring and was ready to cut his stones.

“Hmph, I’ll make sure you lose and admit defeat willingly!” Cheng Chen snorted and also retrieved a dagger. He picked up a stone that cost a hundred thousand spirit stones.

The discussion surrounding the topic vanished, with everyone’s attention focused on Liu Wuxie and Cheng Chen.

Cheng Chen raised the dagger to cut his stone, removing a layer of stone fragments. His technique was smooth, and this drew exclamations from the surroundings.

"Impressive skill!" Praises echoed from the crowd. Cutting stones required a delicate balance—too fast, and the spiritual essence inside could shatter, turning into worthless fragments. Too slow, and the excitement would fizzle out.

It didn’t take long before Cheng Chen reduced the stone from the size of a basin to the size of a fist in less than a minute.

“Look! There’s spirituality leaking out!” As Cheng Chen cut deeper into the stone, faint spirituality began leaking out, and it could be sensed even from ten-odd meters away.

A trace of joy appeared on Cheng Chen’s face to have excavated spiritual essence from the first stone. Moreover, this stone was the cheapest, meaning it had the lowest chance of containing spiritual essence.

Liu Wuxie wasn’t in a hurry to cut the stone. He continued to observe Cheng Chen with a faint smile on his lips. When the fist-sized stone was cracked open, a spiritual essence the size of a fingernail appeared.

“Hahaha!” Cheng Chen laughed as he held onto the spiritual essence in his hand.

The stone was only worth a hundred thousand spirit stones, but the excavated spiritual essence was valued at around one million. He made a profit of nine hundred thousand spirit stones from this one stone.

No wonder people often said the stone betting business was a gamble between heaven and hell. If Cheng Chen's gamble had failed, a hundred thousand spirit stones would’ve vanished into thin air.

"Congratulations, Young Master Cheng! A great start!" The old man from the Xiang Clan Manor stepped forward, offering his compliments. Though there was a trace of regret in his eyes—if they hadn't sold the stone, the profit would have been theirs—there was nothing they could do. No one could predict what lay inside the stone until it was cut. Even experts at the True Profound Realm couldn't see through the stone's desolate aura, which blocked out all divine sense.

A round of applause broke out, celebrating Cheng Chen’s great start.

“It’s your turn now!” Cheng Chen said with his face full of pride. He gave Liu Wuxie a provocative glare, signaling that it was the latter’s turn now. They would each take turns cutting the stone until the victor was determined.

Liu Wuxie picked up a stone covered in moss. It had probably been fished out from a water pit.

Jian Xing’er and Chen Ruoyan looked worried. They held hands and cheered for Liu Wuxie silently.

Everyone’s eyes were fixed on Liu Wuxie’s hand, waiting for him to cut the stone. Unlike Cheng Chen’s flashy performance, Liu Wuxie’s technique was simple. When the dagger fell, a chunk was removed from the stone. His technique was crude compared to Cheng Chen's.

Breaking the stone so crudely was taboo in the stone betting community. After all, the spiritual essence would be damaged if it was in that area.

“This must be his first time stone betting!” Mocking voices sounded in the surroundings.

Liu Wuxie remained unfazed and adjusted the stone's position before swinging the dagger down once more. Many people covered their eyes, unwilling to watch any further because everyone slowly peeled the stone layer by layer when cutting stones.

If nothing were found on the first layer, they would continue moving to the second layer. This was like peeling an eggshell. However, Liu Wuxie simply swung the dagger down to remove chunk by chunk.

After several cuts, the stone was reduced to the size of an infant’s fist. Many lost interest in watching after seeing that it had no spiritual essence, even after being reduced to this size.

“He’s lucky there’s no spiritual essence inside. Otherwise, his cutting method would’ve destroyed it.” Everyone knew there was no spiritual essence in Liu Wuxie’s first stone. The spirituality would’ve already started leaking out if there were spiritual essence.

“Stop wasting our time and prepare to cut the next one!” Cheng Chen grew impatient and picked up a stone by his feet, ready to cut it. There were ten rounds, and he was confident he had won the first round.

“How are you so certain there’s no spirituality inside?” Liu Wuxie sneered and swung the dagger down.

The stone cracked open down the middle, revealing an astonishing sight. Floating before Liu Wuxie was a peculiar object, resembling either the tip of a blade or a fragment, enveloped in a swirling, mysterious aura.

An outburst of blade aura swept out from this object, sending the surrounding people toppling around, and only those in the Astral River Realm could barely hold their ground.

"This... this is an ancient fragment!" someone in the crowd gasped, and immediately, the onlookers erupted into chaos. Ancient fragments were exceedingly rare, and their value far surpassed that of spiritual essence. While spiritual essence could be quantified, an ancient fragment was priceless.

After all, ancient fragments were scarce, and there were only a few in recent years because people mostly cut out spiritual essence.

Forming spiritual essence was relatively simple because it could form if the accumulation of a desolate aura was enough.

Cheng Chen stumbled at the sight of the ancient fragment and fell to the ground on his butt.

The three youths standing behind Cheng Chen were envious. The Xiang Clan Manor’s patriarch was even more shocked that Liu Wuxie could cut out an ancient fragment. If the news spread, their Xiang Clan Manor’s business would soar.

Liu Wuxie reached out to grab the fragment that was only the size of a fingernail, and it gave off a terrifying aura.

“I’m willing to pay two million spirit stones for this fragment. Please sell it to me!” a middle-aged man walked over and made an offer to Liu Wuxie.

“Shopkeeper Li, get lost! I’m willing to offer three million spirit stones!” the Xiang Clan Manor’s patriarch intervened.

The value of the ancient fragment was easily estimated to be around three million spirit stones. Though ancient fragments were rare, a few would surface each year. However, it was the first time such a valuable fragment had been cut open in the middle of a crowded street.

“Not for sale!” Liu Wuxie said coldly. He naturally saw how the old man had flattered Cheng Chen earlier.

The face of the Xiang Clan Manor’s patriarch became ugly to be refused in public. Then again, everyone had seen how he had tried to flatter Cheng Chen earlier, and no one would agree if they were in Liu Wuxie’s position.

Liu Wuxie had only spent a hundred spirit stones on the stone, but the value had flipped over thirty thousand times.

The Xiang Clan Manor’s patriarch felt like crying because he had only sold the stone to Liu Wuxie for one hundred spirit stones, and he had planned to buy back the ancient fragment for three million, only to be rejected. Anyone could imagine how he was feeling right now.

The patriarch looked as though he might weep. He had hoped to buy the fragment back from Liu Wuxie for three million spirit stones, using it as a prized advertisement for the Xiang Clan Manor. But Liu Wuxie had no plans to sell, and the patriarch's hopes were dashed.

"Young Master Cheng, please continue!" Liu Wuxie stored the ancient fragment, a mocking smile playing on his lips as he addressed Cheng Chen. His decision to keep the fragment wasn’t driven by greed. The moment it was revealed, he could feel the Heretic Blade and Sky Devouring Divine Cauldron within him react, craving the fragment’s energy. Selling it, even for thirty million spirit stones, wasn’t an option.

It didn’t take long before news of the ancient fragment began to spread. More people began to gather to witness the stone betting between Liu Wuxie and Cheng Chen. Any stone betting was exciting because it was like the thrill of walking on the edge of life and death, placing people in a constant state of excitement.

Cheng Chen took a deep breath and regained his posture. This was only the first round. There were nine more stones, and he could turn the tables around if he could also cut out an ancient fragment. He picked up the second stone and began showcasing his flashy skills again.

This time, the compliments decreased as everyone watched quietly.

It only took a few minutes for the stone to be reduced to the size of a fist, but there was still no spirituality seeping out from it. This wasn’t a good sign because spirituality would generally leak out when the stone was cut this small unless there was an ancient fragment inside.

Ancient fragments were different from spiritual essence because they didn’t have any spirituality, and they could only be identified after the stone was completely cut open.

Cheng Chen mimicked Liu Wuxie and swung the dagger down to split the stone into two. When the stone broke apart from the center, there was nothing inside.

“Nothing!” Cheng Chen’s face flashed with a hint of dejection. Stone betting was all about luck. It was already a win if someone could cut out a spiritual essence from ten stones.

However, Liu Wuxie’s heaven-defying luck of cutting out an ancient fragment had turned the stone betting suspenseful.

Cheng Chen was placed in a difficult position because he would lose if he failed to cut out an ancient fragment.

Someone sighed at the sight of this because the stone that Cheng Chen had cut was worth five hundred thousand spirit stones, which had gone down the drain.

All eyes turned to Liu Wuxie, waiting for him to cut the second stone.

Cheng Chen didn’t speak, but his face was terrifyingly grim, and murderous intent flashed in his eyes when he looked at Liu Wuxie.