Chapter 58: Human Essence Fruit

"What is going on? Why did you sell it?" Yu Shang asked via voice transmission, a hint of urgency in his tone.

He had also found that primal stone quite extraordinary. If not for his high regard for Li Yao's maturity and composure, he probably would have stepped forward to object on the spot.

"There's something wrong with that primal stone!" Li Yao replied.

Under the Source-Heaven Divine Eye, he had seen through the secrets of that primal stone. It had indeed been extraordinary in the past, but for reasons unknown, the sacred object sealed inside had long since decayed.

"Then why did you act so convincingly!" Yu Shang looked at Li Yao with a completely altered gaze. I always thought you were a good, honest kid, but who would have known you were actually full of tricks.

Li Yao's acting earlier had indeed been flawless; otherwise, those people wouldn't have taken the bait. The reason Yu Shang had held his tongue was simply because he understood Li Yao well enough to know he would never engage in a losing trade.

After the Primordial Dao Chart Stone was retrieved, Li Yao stepped forward, approaching the Bamboo Grove Beauty Stone, and began scanning it once more with the Source-Heaven Divine Eye.

This primal stone was massive, over two meters in height, with the silhouette of a beauty in a bamboo forest naturally imprinted upon its surface.

After a long while, Li Yao was left somewhat speechless. Inside this primal stone was genuinely a statue of a beauty, and remarkably, it had been carved from Green-Leaf Source.

What kind of Mount Wuyi-level obsession was this?!

As a rare and mutated variety of source, Green-Leaf Source was far more valuable than ordinary source. A human-sized block of Green-Leaf Source was worth at least thirty to forty thousand catties of pure source.

Moreover, the person who carved the statue was undoubtedly a peerless powerhouse, having infused his own dao principles into the material. This made its value even greater than the Green-Leaf Source itself.

Buying it wouldn't mean taking a loss, but it was limited to merely breaking even.

Li Yao shook his head in disappointment and walked over to the final stone, the Phoenix-Blood Stone. This was the one he had been anticipating the most.

Although his celestial perception had detected signs of hollowness and a potential deficit within, the aura of a true divine phoenix emanating from within could not be faked.

He activated the Source-Heaven Divine Eye once more. The primal stone instantly seemed to become transparent, allowing Li Yao to peer into everything contained within.

"Scree-!"

The energy sealed inside the primal stone was stimulated by the Source-Heaven Divine Eye. Suddenly, a piercing phoenix cry echoed across the firmament, and the entire primal stone grew scorching hot.

"A phoenix! That's actually the aura of a phoenix!"

"I once heard that phoenixes are born directly from the essence of heaven and earth. Could there really be a young phoenix inside the Phoenix-Blood Stone?"

"Regardless, this Phoenix-Blood Stone definitely contains a peerless and rare treasure related to a phoenix."

The expressions of the Jiang family members turned thoroughly green. At this moment, they felt that these source masters were simply annoying to the extreme.

"Cut the stone! Hurry up and cut open the material!"

Many people shouted, all eager to immediately find out what peerless and rare treasure was about to be brought into the world.

Jiang Xiong was filled with incomparable regret at this moment. His ominous premonition from earlier had actually come true—two peerless exotic stones had genuinely fallen into the hands of outsiders.

"What rare treasure could ever compare to an immortal? Even if a peerless divine object is cut out, it is inevitable that they will lose, ending up just handing it over to my uncle." Tuoba Hong was extremely confident in his uncle, convinced they had already won before the cutting had even begun.

"Indeed. If a true trace of an immortality-related wonder is cut from the Flying Immortal Stone, victory is practically secured, and there will be no surprises." Someone agreed with Tuoba Hong's statement.

"It's not that simple. The phoenix is a celestial spirit of heaven and earth; its status is no lower than that of an immortal. If something related to a phoenix is cut from the Phoenix-Blood Stone, it will be just as formidable as an immortal trace." Another person disagreed with Tuoba Hong.

At this very moment, everyone was tense, paying close attention and waiting for the precious treasures harbored within the Flying Immortal Stone and the Phoenix-Blood Stone to be unveiled.

After a brief clamor, the heavenly-grade stone garden quickly grew dead silent. Not a sound was heard, and even the rustle of falling leaves was clearly audible.

"You go first," Li Yao said, making a gesture for Tuoba Lie to proceed.

Tuoba Lie remained silent. He took a deep breath, then produced a five-colored beast-skin pouch from which he drew more than a dozen sharp, exquisitely crafted small knives of varying shapes.

The ancient lineages of source masters were extremely meticulous; cutting different primal stones required different blades. Tuoba Lie selected a bright silver knife, engraved with the imagery of immortals wandering the cosmos, gleaming with faint divine radiance as he held it in his hand.

"Clang!"

With the first stroke, he sheared off an edge, gently slicing the material into a fine powder. Inside, there was nothing.

"Crack, crack!"

The continuous sound of cutting echoed endlessly. Tuoba Lie delivered stroke after stroke with fluid, graceful movements. It didn't look like he was wielding a knife at all, but rather dancing with his fingertips—his technique was so refined it verged on the Dao, radiating a unique aesthetic beauty.

From these minute details, it was clear that Tuoba Lie possessed an exceptionally deep mastery in the field of source techniques, giving off an aura of closeness to the Dao.

The stone skin peeled away like the petals of a carved flower, fluttering down to the ground and making a rustling sound. A third of the massive Flying Immortal Stone had already been shaved away, leaving a thick layer of stone shavings piled on the ground.

At this moment, the silence was absolute. No one dared to disturb him; everyone held their breath and watched.

Tuoba Lie was completely focused, his silver blade held straight. The heavens and earth were still, save for his dance with the silver knife, which looked as though he were playing a magnificent musical movement.

Time slowly passed. His movements grew progressively slower and gentler, as if he feared disrupting the peace and damaging the divine object concealed within the Flying Immortal Stone.

Everyone's nerves were taut, almost to the point of suffocation. Their gazes were unblinking as they stared fixedly at the center of the arena, where Tuoba Lie had become the absolute focal point.

Even Li Yao was watching intently. When it came to the physical act of stone-cutting, he truly fell short of Tuoba Lie, as this craft required years of rigorous, prolonged practice.

"Clang!"

Suddenly, Tuoba Lie delivered another gentle stroke. The stone split open naturally, and a blinding radiance burst forth, dazzling the eyes. A beam of light surged upward, shooting straight into the heavens.

"Immortal energy! Such dense immortal energy! This is definitely connected to immortals."

"Heavens! Today, the traces of immortals have truly manifested in the world. The five domains are going to shake, and the Eastern Wasteland is about to become lively."

Outside the heavenly-grade stone garden, the crowd of onlookers instantly erupted into an uproar.

A dazzling divine brilliance illuminated the midair, making it crystal-clear and as translucent as fine jade.

Beneath the ancient tree, the old man—whose skin was as fair as an infant's—swept his hand across the void. A light barrier instantly rose, enveloping the heavenly-grade stone garden and sealing off the space to prevent any divine object from escaping.

Everyone was dumbfounded. They all knew that a peerless and rare treasure had undoubtedly been cut out, one that would likely prove to be priceless beyond measure.

"An auspicious omen! This is absolute an auspicious omen!" A group of veteran monsters stepped forward. Such a precious stone was enough to tempt anyone.

Even the elderly man from the Jiang family stood up, moving silently to the side to observe quietly. It had been many years since such a miraculous phenomenon had occurred.

"Cut it open! Hurry up and cut it open!" The onlookers outside the stone garden felt as if their hearts were being scratched by a hundred claws, desperate to see what lay inside.

Without needing their urging, Tuoba Lie was equally thrilled. This primal stone had already demonstrated extraordinary properties; even in all his long years, this was the first time he had ever witnessed such a terrifying manifestation.

"Crack!"

Tuoba Lie carefully applied his blade, peeling away the stone layer by layer. Before long, a rich, intoxicating medicinal fragrance wafted into the air.

Those who caught a whiff of this fragrance instantly felt their entire bodies go numb with comfort. The veteran monsters, in particular, felt a sudden jolt through their frames, sharp lights flashing in their eyes.

"It's a spiritual medicine! A spiritual medicine that can extend one's lifespan!" At this moment, the old monsters inside the heavenly-grade stone garden completely lost their composure.

For individuals like them, this was the thing they desired above all else. Only those who had personally experienced the relentless approach of death could truly understand just how precious an extension of life was.

Tuoba Lie remained unaffected, the silver knife in his hand continuing to dance gently. Soon, all the stone skin fell away, revealing a single fruit.

"It's a Human-Origin Fruit! Not an immortal trace!"

"Although it's not an immortal trace, this is a Human-Origin Fruit that has nearly transformed into an Earth-Destiny Fruit! It is an absolute, peerless divine medicine of immeasurable value!"

The onlookers gasped in astonishment. While there was a tinge of disappointment at not seeing an immortal trace, cutting out such a peerless divine medicine was more than sensational enough.

"Fellow Daoist Tuoba, sell it to me! This old man is willing to offer twenty-five thousand catties of source," an old monster eagerly blurted out.

He was exceedingly aged, the wrinkles on his face deep enough to trap a fly. Although his cultivation was astonishing, without a life-extending divine medicine, he likely only had another dozen years left at most.

"Thirty thousand catties of source! I am Wu Feiyun of the Earth-Net Palace. If Fellow Daoist Tuoba sells it to me, the Earth-Net Palace will owe you a personal favor," the supreme elder of the Earth-Net Palace urged urgently.

His condition was still relatively fair; although aged, he lacked that decaying odor, and his remaining lifespan was still somewhat adequate.

However, as a supreme holy land, the Earth-Net Palace harbored many veteran monsters whose lifespans were nearing their end. Since such a divine medicine had crossed his path, he was certainly not going to let it slip away.

"This old man is willing to offer thirty-five thousand catties of source! No one is to compete with me for this." Another old monster stepped forward, shouting a high price with an attitude of absolute determination.

"That's the supreme elder of the Five Elements Palace. He has been renowned for over eight years—no, over eight hundred years, and has yet to break through to the realm of a Great Power. His lifespan is running out soon as well," someone whispered, revealing the old monster's identity.

...

Li Yao looked at the people frantically engaged in a bidding war, pressing a hand to his forehead in speechlessness. Without saying much, he simply picked up a silver knife and began cutting into his own stone.

It wasn't until then that some people finally snapped back to reality. "Wait a minute! What are you all arguing about? The gambling duel hasn't even ended yet!"

The group of old monsters who had been shouting bids suddenly froze as realization hit them.

That's right! The duel was not yet over. According to the prior agreement, if Li Yao won, this Human-Origin Fruit would become his spoils of war!