Shrouded Sky

Chapter 196 - Source Art

Ye Fan crouched, ignoring the taunts, studying the shattered stone intently. Realization hit him, and he silently cursed Super Lucky Gambling House for their shameless deceit. The techniques from the Celestial Source Tome were flawless, but this house had tampered with the stones. Many had been cut open, their sources extracted, filled with stone material, and sealed with sophisticated magic.

“Despicable merchants!” he fumed inwardly. Super Lucky’s fraud was outrageous.

He considered causing a scene but held back. Even if he exposed them, few would believe him. In the Northern Region, gambling houses had powerful forces backing them. Publicly shaming them might earn a superficial apology, but retaliation would follow. He could walk away unscathed, but implicating the stone village would be disastrous.

“I need to master the Celestial Source Tome’s ‘Heaven-Swapping Earth-Changing’ technique soon. Then I’ll have no worries, free as a fish in the sea or a stone in the sky,” he resolved silently.

“No more gambling? Back where you came from, then,” Young Master Liu sneered, glancing at him.

“Why wouldn’t I gamble?” Ye Fan stood abruptly. Selecting stones now, he was cautious, inspecting each meticulously, uncovering over a dozen more tampered ones. The forgery was so skillful it was nearly undetectable, almost indistinguishable from genuine stones. Without the Celestial Source Tome’s near-natural method of analyzing stone textures, he’d have been deceived.

Finally, he picked an ugly, gourd-shaped stone, about the size of a man’s head, dull gray with crisscrossing cracks. Strangely, the cracks resembled human bite marks, as if gnawed by some ancient creature. When Ye Fan lifted it, laughter erupted.

“Kid, do you know anything about source stones? That’s obvious waste. Swap it out,” an kindly old man advised.

“That stone yielding source? I’d see ghosts first. It’s drained of essence, nothing left.”

“It’s a ‘Ghost-Split Stone,’ covered in cracks, supposedly chewed by an ancient ‘Source Ghost.’ No source remains.”

“Exactly, a famous ‘Ghost-Split Stone,’ tossed here as filler. No chance of anything.”

The crowd shook their heads, many mocking, convinced Ye Fan was clueless, fit only for digging in mines. Wang Shu tensed, and Er Lengzi whispered, “Brother Ye, let’s swap it.”

“No need. This is the one,” Ye Fan signaled the source master to cut it.

Despite being a “Ghost-Split Stone,” the master followed protocol, bowing to the “Source Stone” and muttering prayers before slicing. His knife was deft, flashing like a dragon, peeling away layers swiftly. Soon, the head-sized stone was reduced to fist-sized.

The onlookers were unanimous in their skepticism.

“No way it yields source. Waste of time. Just chop it open.”

“If a Ghost-Split Stone produces source, I’ll eat these stone skins.”

“Rewind a hundred thousand years, maybe it held good source. Now, it’s clearly been devoured by a Source Ghost.”

Young Master Liu’s lips curled in a mocking smirk, fanning himself, glancing disdainfully at Ye Fan without a word.

Then, gasps erupted.

As the Ghost-Split Stone’s skin fell away, now lychee-sized, a dazzling glow burst forth. Rich spiritforce washed over everyone, like a sweet spring breeze or soaking in a hot spring, pores opening, bodies relaxed.

Crimson light spilled out, wreathed in faint mist, swirling like burning clouds or blood-soaked immortal energy. Everyone was stunned, high-quality source, its aura far surpassing typical stones.

Within the lychee-sized stone lay a thumb-sized, radiant red source, shimmering brilliantly, its crimson hue intoxicating. “It’s too small… not enough to cover the stone’s cost,” Er Lengzi muttered, dazed.

Wang Shu frowned. Though they’d cut source, its high quality was offset by its tiny size, less than half a tael.

“Yeah, too small,” the crowd, recovering from their shock, sighed disappointedly.

Ye Fan, however, knew better. He sensed vibrant essence fluctuations. This tiny source, though thumb-sized, outshone ten kilo of pure source stacked together.

“Fire Red Source!” the source master, experienced and knowledgeable, exclaimed, quickly silencing himself.

Ye Fan understood instantly. Though small, this source matched ten kilo of pure source in value, a rare variant. Grinning, he said, “Fire Red Source. You’ve all heard of it. Not a legendary variant, but rare and precious. Its value? You tell me.”

“A variant source! Small, but worth ten kilo of source!”

“What luck! Gambling sometimes comes down to fate. One grain like this ensures generations of comfort.”

In stone gambling, rare sources with mysterious powers occasionally appeared, their value immeasurable, though such finds were uncommon.

“I heard Jade Pool’s Immortal Stone Workshop had someone cut a legendary variant source, far rarer than Fire Red Source, shocking Celestial City buyers,” someone whispered.

“I didn’t hear about that.”

“Such secrets don’t spread widely.”

Er Lengzi, finally catching on, dug out the Fire Red Source grain, grinning foolishly. To the crowd, he said, “Who said they’d eat the stone skins if source came out?” Silence fell; no one owned up.

Wang Shu, smiling, approached Young Master Liu, extending a hand. “Sorry, we won. Ten kilo of source, hand it over.”

Ten kilo was a massive sum for those present, painful to part with. Before so many witnesses, Young Master Liu couldn’t refuse, but his face darkened as he tossed a source pouch to the ground.

Er Lengzi picked it up, his grin splitting ear to ear.

“Wait, it’s half a kilo short,” Wang Shu frowned.

Young Master Liu had brought only so much source, now depleted, humiliated by losing to the miners he scorned. His face was grim, heart seething.

“Forget it, we’re all out here making a living. Let’s waive the half kilo,” Ye Fan said calmly, crouching to examine the Ghost-Split Stone’s skins. The cracks resembled bite marks, and, shockingly, he spotted a hair in the stone layer.

“Could there really be an Ancient Source Ghost?” he wondered. If so, might an Ancient Source God exist too?

“Keep going?” Er Lengzi, clutching the source, was content. Wang Shu, beaming, looked forward.

Young Master Liu’s face was ashen. He swung his sleeve, turning to borrow source from acquaintances.

“How about I bet with you?” Others, seeing him step back, eyed Ye Fan greedily, viewing him as easy prey whose luck wouldn’t hold.

They believed Ye Fan knew nothing of source stones, picking red-white and Ghost-Split Stones by blind luck.

“Go easy, this trade’s tricky. It’s all about fate and luck. These mud monkeys are on a hot streak. Best not to bet,” an elder warned, his status evident, deterring most.

Young Master Liu cobbled together a pouch of four or five kilo of source, challenging Ye Fan again. Others stepped back.

“Let’s hit the ninth courtyard, pick old-pit stones from the Primordial Mine’s Edge. Dare you?”

The Primordial Mine’s Edge referred to regions thousands of miles from that divine mine, not the forbidden zone itself. Even so, such stones were exorbitant, occasionally yielding rare sources.

“Sure. Why not?” Ye Fan was curious about these edge stones.

The ninth courtyard held only fifty or sixty stones, from goose-egg to millstone-sized, none over a thousand kilo. Here, one tael of source bought only one kilo of stone, outrageously expensive, deterring most.

“Trying to fleece us? These stones cost dozens or hundreds of kilo. Can they really yield good source? Ridiculous,” Wang Shu grumbled.

“Mud monkey, what do you know? Primordial Edge-Stones are ‘divine material.’ A rare source could be priceless,” a Sunset Clouds follower scoffed.

“Such bumpkins, no experience,” another mocked.

Ye Fan learned Young Master Liu’s name: Liu Cheng’en. Liu Cheng’en smirked mockingly at them.

Er Lengzi, blunt as ever, said, “You’ve lost everything, yet act superior. Bet till your face turns green!”

“You, ” Liu’s allies bristled.

As Ye Fan picked stones, he frowned. Super Lucky was vile, a third of these stones had been cut and resealed with skillful techniques. These stones felt peculiar, their skins odd, tinged with a demonic aura. He gasped. If stones from thousands of miles outside the Primordial Mine were like this, what about those from the divine mine itself?

While examining stones, the crowd discussed other matters, mentioning Jade Pool’s Immortal Stone Workshop, urging an afternoon visit.

“Why?”

“A Jade Pool fairy’s in Flatrock City. She’ll appear this afternoon.”

“Could it be the Jade Pool Saintess? I heard she’s touring regions. This fairy might be her.”