Covering the Sky: I, a mortal, ascended to the throne step by step.

Several days later, in Mineral City.

A major town located 30,000 li outside the ancient Taichu mine, covering an area of ​​3,000 li, with dark red city walls that looked as if they were soaked in blood.

As a giant transit point for source stones in the Northern Region, the atmosphere of gambling on stones is strong, with numerous stone workshops and branches of various holy lands and ancient families.

Li Xian did not go to the Jiang family or the stone archway of Yaochi.

If the water is too deep, complications can easily arise.

With his current mastery of Origin Arts, going to the stone workshops of mid-level sects to "purchase goods" is the most efficient way.

He entered a stone archway called "Falling Star".

This is one of the properties of the Five Elements Palace of the Northern Great Sect.

The first courtyard was extremely spacious, with thousands upon thousands of ordinary source stones piled up haphazardly, like small mountains.

"Young man, feel free to look around. This batch of jade was just transported from the edge of the ancient mine; it's very fresh."

A middle-aged man who managed the Originium approached, his face beaming with smiles.

Li Xian ignored him.

He squatted down and ran his palm over several stones.

"Where did this bumpkin come from, looking for scraps in this garbage dump on the first floor?" A few young men dressed in five-colored Taoist robes passed by, their faces full of mockery.

Disciples of the Five Elements Palace.

Li Xian didn't lift his eyelids.

He withdrew his divine sense and relied solely on Zhang Jiayuan's perception techniques.

In half an hour, he walked all over the compound, his fingertips brushing against tens of thousands of source stones.

The conclusion is clear:

Only a few pieces contained trace amounts of impurities, not even enough to cover the cost of cutting the stones.

There are no left to pick up.

Li Xian stood up and clapped his hands.

Walk straight through the archway and head towards the inner courtyard.

The inner courtyard was quiet and secluded, and the number of source stones had decreased sharply, but each one was priced very high.

As soon as Li Xian stepped inside, he ran into the same Five Elements Palace disciples he had encountered before.

"Hey, you bumpkin dares to trespass into the inner courtyard?" The leading youth, named Zhao Rui, sized Li Xian up. "Can you afford even a single piece of the stone skin here?"

Li Xian stopped in his tracks, his gaze sweeping over the stones filling the courtyard, and calmly spoke:

"Shall we take a gamble?"

Zhao Rui was taken aback, then burst into laughter:

"How do you want to bet?"

"A gamble within a gamble." Li Xian's tone was completely calm. "Each party selects a stone, and for every amount of source material extracted, the other party pays an equal amount of pure source material."

"You?"

Li Xian waved his hand casually.

Fifty pounds of crystal-clear pure essence landed on the stone table.

The bright white light illuminated the surroundings.

Zhao Rui's eyes narrowed sharply, his greed evident in his expression.

"Alright! This is a fat sheep delivered right to my door, I'll take it!"

The surrounding cultivators quickly gathered around, eager to witness the spectacle, and began to clamor and offer their testimony.

first round.

Zhao Rui carefully selected a "python-patterned stone" of excellent quality.

Master Yuan sliced ​​it off with one stroke, revealing a white, empty piece.

After searching carefully for a long time, Li Xian picked up a piece of "Azure White" covered in moss and considered waste by everyone.

"That's it."

Master Yuan shook his head and sighed, then took charge of the knife himself.

The stone skin peeled off in a rustling sound.

"Click."

A glimmer of crystalline light shone through.

A pure source block, the size of a fist and weighing two pounds, rolled out, overflowing with spiritual energy.

The entire room fell silent.

Master Yuan stared wide-eyed in disbelief.

Zhao Rui's face turned ashen as he gritted his teeth and threw out two jin of Pure Source.

"Again!"

He was unconvinced, and his eyes turned somewhat red.

Li Xianshou nodded, indicating that he had come up with the origin.

The second game begins.

Li Xian selected a source stone shaped like a crouching ox, cut it off with one stroke, and found nothing.

Zhao Rui selected a black stone and unexpectedly cut out a fist-sized piece of ordinary source material, weighing exactly four jin (approximately 2 catties), which made up for his previous losses with interest.

"Hahaha! A country bumpkin is a country bumpkin, he's used up all his luck!"

Zhao Rui looked down at Li Xian and pointed:

"Take my advice, go back to the mines and dig in the mud for the rest of your life. Gambling on jade is not something a lowly person like you can handle!"

Li Xian ignored the mockery.

He crouched down and picked up the piece of "Funiu Stone" that he had cut off.

Gently rub the fractured area of ​​the stone with your fingertips.

It has the feel of the earth's veins flowing, and the textures accumulated over time.

"wrong……"

Li Xian squinted.

Combining Zhang Jiayuan's techniques, he discerned the clues.

Deep within the fault, there is an extremely faint trace of source suture.

This stone was once split open, its inner source removed, and then sealed with a secret method to restore its original appearance.

The stone archway is faking the slaughter of pigs.

Li Xian stood up.

Brush the stone dust off your hands.

"My skills aren't up to par, so I'll accept the consequences of my bet..."

"But we have to get our revenge; we can't afford to really lose!"

"I refuse to accept this." Li Xian's voice was slightly deep, and he pretended to be a little desperate. He strode to the stone table, and with a "whoosh," seven hundred catties of pure source material were piled up into a small mountain. This was all the source material he had obtained while mining during his journey.

The blinding light illuminated the entire inner courtyard, and everyone's breathing became heavy.

"Seven hundred catties! All bet!"

Li Xian stared at Zhao Rui.

Zhao Rui and his companions were so shocked by the huge sum of money that their eyes turned bloodshot, but they dared not directly rob it because of the presence of others.

"Okay! We'll take it!"

Zhao Rui called over several fellow disciples, pooled together their entire fortune of 500 jin of Yuan, and then borrowed another 200 jin from an acquaintance nearby, barely managing to gather 700 jin for the bet.

The third game, a do-or-die situation.

Zhao Rui and his companions were extremely cautious, circling the courtyard three times before finally selecting a large source stone shaped like a rooster's head.

Li Xian walked over to a pile of waste materials and kicked out a blue stone weighing over ten kilograms.

The surface of the stone is covered with light yellow veins.

"Watermelon stone?" A young man nearby scoffed. "This kind of material can only yield source grains the size of watermelon seeds at most. It's a guaranteed loss! If he can cut out anything good, I'll swallow all the stone on this ground!"

The stone cutting begins.

Master Yuan first cut Zhao Rui's "rooster stone".

As the blade fell, a streak of azure light shot into the sky, accompanied by a fragrant aroma.

"Alien Source! Ice Blue Source!"

The crowd gasped in surprise.

A piece of ice-blue source the size of a leaf was peeled off.

Although it is only the size of a leaf, the purity of the alien source essence is extremely high, and its value is equivalent to a thousand kilograms of ordinary source essence!

Zhao Rui laughed wildly:

"You bumpkin, what makes you think you can beat me? Your 700 jin of Yuan is mine!"

Li Xian remained expressionless as he watched Master Qieyuan walk toward his watermelon stone.

The stone skin peeled off layer by layer.

The head is big.

Big fist.

Pigeon eggs are large.

There was no harvest.

There wasn't even the worst source of impurities.

"Haha, not even a single sunflower seed!"

Master Qieyuan shook his head and casually tossed the last piece of scrap, about the size of a thumb, onto the ground: "It's ruined."

Li Xian stepped forward and raised her foot.

"Bang!"

The small stone was kicked and shattered.

In the instant it shattered, an extremely dazzling golden light, like a sharp sword, sliced ​​through the air and shot straight into the sky.

Accompanied by an ancient aura, the divine power of everyone present paused for a moment.

In the golden light, a pea-sized, crystal-clear insect-shaped amber floats quietly.

"Ancient...ancient insect origin!"

An old monk's voice trembled, and he almost knelt on the ground.

These ancient spirit insects, which were food sources, were filled with supreme primordial essence and have long since become extinct.

A single strip the size of a grain of rice can be worth tens or even hundreds of kilograms of pure source.

And this one, the size of a pea...

"At least three thousand catties of pure mineral water!"

Someone shouted in a trembling voice.

It far surpasses Zhao Rui's Ice Blue Source, which is worth thousands of pounds.

The entire room fell silent.

The young man who had boasted about swallowing the stone skin quietly shrank into the crowd.

Zhao Rui's maniacal laughter froze, and his face instantly contorted.

All his savings of 600 jin, plus 100 jin borrowed, were gone.

"You...you cheated!"

Zhao Rui's eyes turned bloodshot, and he suddenly drew his longsword.

Li Xian didn't even glance at him. With a wave of his sleeve, he took all seven hundred catties of Origin, Ice Blue Origin, and Ancient Insect Origin from the table into the Sea of ​​Bitterness.

The purpose of verifying the source technique has been achieved, so there's no need to waste time.

He turned and walked out of the stone archway.

"stop!"

Zhao Rui and his group were completely on the defensive.

His murderous intent was revealed, and he leaped towards Li Xian's back.

Li Xian turned around and kicked out:

"roll."

Its power is like thunder, containing immense divine strength.

"Bang bang bang!"

Zhao Rui was struck as if by lightning; his chest caved in, he coughed up blood, and flew backward more than ten meters, smashing a row of stone shelves.

"A Dao... Dao Palace Realm expert!"

The Five Elements Palace disciple clutched his chest, his eyes flashing with fear and resentment.

"You poor wretch, consider the bet as your medical expenses!"

Li Xian turned his head and strode out of the stone archway.

Immerse yourself in the bustling streets.

Behind them, many rogue cultivators with ulterior motives quietly followed.

Zhao Rui gritted his teeth, and with the help of his fellow disciples, he got up, staring intently at the direction where Li Xian had disappeared:

"Dare to devour the source of our Five Elements Palace... Go, ask a Dao Palace Realm elder to make a move! I'll make sure he dies a gruesome death!"

At the street corner, Li Xian glanced at the few tails behind him out of the corner of his eye, his eyes as cold as ice.