Chapter 2480: Buy It, It's Not Expensive!

Chapter 2480: Not Expensive, Just Buy It!

After the small interlude, the two continued on their way to Chen Tang Guan.

On this journey, Taiyi Zhenren was much more well-behaved. As a high official of the Heavenly Court, he had become as meek as a lamb in the Scattered Immortal Realm, all because the person beside him was extraordinarily formidable.

"His background must be extraordinary," Taiyi muttered to himself, reaffirming this thought for what felt like the umpteenth time. That little stone spirit who had suddenly appeared was shrouded in mystery from head to toe.

"Let's ask you about someone."

"Flying in the sky, running on the ground, swimming in the water—nothing escapes my knowledge."

"Fuxi."

"The Human Emperor Fuxi?"

"More precisely, the Human King Fuxi."

"Human King?" Taiyi Zhenren raised an eyebrow, his previously straight posture relaxing a bit. From his bewildered expression, it was clear he had no idea who this Human King was.

Ye Chen fell silent, easily guessing that the Human King had not retained his memories when entering this calamity. If he had, he would have caused a stir in the Heavenly Realm, and Taiyi Zhenren would have known about it.

Confirming this, Ye Chen changed his approach and asked, "In the Heavenly Realm over the past few decades, has there been any unusual person, for example, another stone spirit?"

Now it was Taiyi's turn to stay quiet. He glanced sideways at Ye Chen, thinking, You're the one who's unusual. From your words, it sounds like you have stone spirit relatives up in the Heavenly Realm.

Ye Chen didn't press further—it would be pointless.

As they spoke, the two descended together into Chen Tang Guan.

"That one over there is Little Nezha's father," Taiyi said, pointing into the distance.

Ye Chen looked up and saw a middle-aged man in armor with a fluttering cloak, a sword at his waist, exuding the bearing of a great general with every move. He was undoubtedly a mortal, but within him lay the hidden divine repository of a cultivator.

"Descending to the mortal world for cultivation?" Ye Chen murmured.

"As you said." Taiyi stroked his beard. "I came down this time for the Hua Shan Dao Discussion, and second, to bring Nezha's family into the Heavenly Court. It's all been accomplished with merit."

At that, the old man Taiyi turned to Ye Chen with a smile. "If you're willing, I could recommend you too. A heavenly prodigy like you would surely attain the highest divine position."

Ye Chen ignored him and turned to enter a pavilion.

Taiyi Zhenren felt a bit awkward and followed closely, determined not to give up until he persuaded Ye Chen to join the Heavenly Court as an official. In his mind, he even pondered the idea of challenging Ye Chen.

Inside the pavilion, Ye Chen had already stopped.

From the outside, it looked like an ordinary pavilion, but in reality, it was a small spatial realm, more accurately a stone workshop filled with all sorts of oddly shaped stones, too many to count.

Ye Chen was quite familiar with places like this; he had seen them in Da Chu.

These stones were no ordinary ones; they contained strange powers that could block outsiders' scrutiny, and many hid treasures inside. Whether you could extract a treasure depended on luck.

The stone workshop was bustling with people, all immortals, gathered in groups of three or five. Some clustered around a stone, appraising it; others wandered about, stopping here and there, creating a lively scene.

"When I came last night, there weren't any new stones, but now there are fresh arrivals?" Taiyi muttered.

"Where do these stones come from?" Ye Chen asked curiously.

"From Buzhou Shan." Taiyi replied casually, hands clasped behind his back like a vegetable vendor strolling and inspecting. He continued, "Places like this stone workshop exist in the Upper Immortal Realm too, and they were the first to have them. The Heavenly Court has priority selection rights. As for the stones in the Scattered Immortal Realm, they're the leftovers from the Upper Immortal Realm. It's true you can find treasures, but they're mostly third-rate goods. The Heavenly Court does this out of self-interest, to show that the heavenly welfare is abundant, with the goal of attracting more scattered immortals to join under its banner."

Ye Chen said nothing, needing no further questions to realize that Buzhou Shan was no benign place. It was probably like the 100,000 Great Mountains, an ancient battlefield with many remnants fused into the stones over endless years, leading to the concept of stone gambling.

"Take a look—maybe you have relatives here," Taiyi teased. Ye Chen was a stone spirit, and this workshop was full of stones and people; who knows, there might really be kin.

"That remote mountain—fancy going back?" Ye Chen laughed.

"Don't talk like that." Taiyi Zhenren coughed dryly. Whenever that remote mountain was mentioned, he felt a physical pain; he'd been beaten twice in two days and even lost a great saint weapon.

Beside him, Ye Chen was like a shopper too, walking along and examining the stones.

The Tenth Emperor of Da Chu was skilled at treasure hunting. Though his cultivation wasn't the highest, his insight was sharp. He couldn't see through the stones completely, but he could vaguely sense which ones held treasures.

"Glowing with five-colored radiance—there must be a treasure inside."

"Damn it, empty again—my luck is terrible."

"I'll take this stone; cut it open."

The stone workshop was indeed lively, filled with all sorts of chatter—exclamations of surprise and curses of disappointment. It was just like a marketplace, with haggling and boasts of making a profit despite losses.

Meanwhile, Ye Chen kept looking around, his face expressionless.

As Taiyi Zhenren had said, these were the leftovers from above, truly third-rate goods. Along the way, he'd seen plenty of stones with treasures, but those treasures weren't worth the price of the stones. Buying them would be a real heartbreaker.

"This one, this one has a treasure."

"I'm a Quasi-Emperor, after all—my eyesight is sharp. Listen to me, and you won't go wrong."

"Not expensive, just buy it!"

Taiyi, the old chatterbox, kept talking as they went, commenting on every stone regardless of its appearance, enthusiastically urging Ye Chen to buy.

Ye Chen's ears were buzzing from it all; he was tempted to take off a sock and stuff it in the guy's mouth. A high official of the Heavenly Court—how idle are you? Don't you get thirsty?

But that wasn't the worst part; it was the stares from people around them.

Everyone here was a cultivator and could see Ye Chen's true form—a little stone spirit. A stone spirit coming to look at stones felt less like gambling and more like visiting relatives.

After passing the bustling area, Ye Chen headed to a quieter spot.

The so-called quiet spot was the corner of the stone workshop, where there were plenty of stones, but they all looked terribly unappealing, tossed about haphazardly. Clearly, no one had taken interest in them.

Because of that, the person managing this area wasn't very attentive. It was a skinny old man, sitting on a stone with his hands tucked in, dozing off.

"This one is good; it's so massive, there must be a secret treasure inside."

Taiyi patted a stone and pointed it out to Ye Chen. It was indeed large, bigger than a wine vat by three circles, but its appearance was rough—spotted and irregularly shaped.

Surprisingly, Ye Chen actually stopped and looked at the massive stone, narrowing his eyes slightly for a moment before returning to normal. People aren't always what they seem, and neither are stones. Inside this one, there really was a treasure, and quite an extraordinary one at that—priceless and hard to find.

"Senior, I'll take this stone." Ye Chen waved his hand and produced a storage bag.

The skinny old man casually took the bag, yawned, and said lazily, "No taking it away; you have to cut it here on the spot. Will you do it, or should I?"

"No need to trouble you, senior." As Ye Chen spoke, he pulled out an iron staff.

This sight made the old man, who had been thinking of dozing off again, raise his eyebrows. From Ye Chen's stance, it didn't look like he was planning to cut the stone carefully—he seemed ready to smash it open with one swing.

The old man found it amusing. This little stone spirit was quite the character.

Immortals who came to gamble on stones always handled their purchases with care, afraid of damaging the treasure inside. But this one? It was as if he was eager to smash it to bits.

"Are you some kind of spendthrift?" Taiyi was also amused, seriously doubting whether Ye Chen knew anything about stone gambling. One swing like that, and any treasure inside would be shattered.

Ye Chen just smiled and swung the staff down.

Bang!

A loud boom erupted, making the already lively gambling workshop even more chaotic. That sudden explosion startled nine out of ten cultivators in the place.

Everyone turned to look, then collectively tilted their heads up.

Amid the flying stone fragments, a brilliant light shot straight into the sky, its force tremendous enough to punch a hole in the clear sky.

"Really a treasure?" The skinny old man was stunned, his eyes dazzled.

"This..." Taiyi Zhenren twitched his mouth, his expression the most entertaining of all.

The surrounding people lowered their heads in unison and stared at Ye Chen. The brilliant light was just an phenomenon; the real treasure was among the fragments.

It was a divine knife—or more precisely, a broken divine knife.

The knife was quite remarkable, glowing with golden light and radiating brilliance, etched with ancient divine patterns. It hummed and vibrated, making hearts tremble. The faint golden blade aura dominated the heavens and earth, causing the surrounding space to crack inch by inch under its pressure.

"Xuanxuan Heavenly Divine Iron?" Taiyi opened his mouth and swallowed hard. As a Quasi-Emperor, he had the insight to recognize it. The broken golden knife was fiercely powerful, and its extraordinariness was largely due to the material it was forged from—a type of immortal iron, rare and invaluable.

"Divine iron—it really is divine iron." The skinny old man was no longer dozing; he hiked up his robes and hurried over, nearly tripping in his haste.

"My goodness, a supreme treasure!"

"No fairness in the world—how did he cut out divine iron? Such heaven-defying luck."

"Why don't I have luck like that?"

Crowds of immortals swarmed over, packing around Ye Chen and the broken knife, their eyes gleaming. Many licked their lips greedily, and some even harbored thoughts of murder and robbery. Divine iron was something you could encounter but not seek.

The skinny old man felt the most regretful. Who would have thought a stone in the corner held such a divine object? He'd been guarding this spot for over ten years and never noticed—utter nonsense.

The most entertaining expression was still on Taiyi Zhenren's face; his mouth had twitched countless times. He was the one who had egged Ye Chen on to buy the stone, and it had actually yielded a divine treasure.

Ye Chen had already picked up the broken knife, feeling a surge of fierce divine power. Those who wielded such a knife were often domineering figures, and this one proved it, still retaining traces of its master's dao realm.

"Good thing."

Ye Chen laughed, blew on the knife, and even wiped it with his sleeve to make it shine brighter. With this in hand, swinging it in battle could sweep away hordes in a single stroke.