204: Chapter 204 Top-Grade Wood-Attribute Spirit Essence

An old craftsman was the one cutting the stone. He circled the raw stone, tapped its surface lightly with his fingers, listened intently to the faint echoes, and then selected the position to make the cut.

As the blade descended, the stone skin was peeled away layer by layer.

Everyone on the third floor held their breath, their gazes fixed tightly on the raw stone being sliced open.

When the third cut was made, a gentle, emerald-green light shone through the gap in the stone skin.

Although the light was not very bright, it was extremely pure, making the air within a few feet feel a bit fresher.

"Emerald Spirit Jade!" someone in the crowd exclaimed in a low voice.

The smile on Zheng Lingfeng's face deepened. Emerald Spirit Jade was an excellent spiritual material for refining Earth Rank Magical Artifacts. A piece this large was worth at least two million Spirit Stones.

The old craftsman's technique was skillful as he continued to cut deeper.

Eventually, a piece of Emerald Spirit Jade the size of an infant's fist was fully revealed before everyone.

The jade was emerald green throughout, crystal clear, with faint golden spiritual light flowing inside. Its quality was quite good.

"Emerald Spirit Jade, Earth Rank High Grade spiritual material, valued at two million Spirit Stones." The attendant announced the result loudly, and a low murmur of amazement arose from the surroundings.

Zheng Lingfeng took the Emerald Spirit Jade, weighed it in his hand, and turned to look at Sun Mingcheng, his smile full of smug satisfaction: "It's your turn."

Sun Mingcheng didn't speak; he simply placed the pitch-black stone onto the stone-cutting table.

Jiang Changge stood at the other end of the counter, having not said a single word from beginning to end.

His gaze moved back and forth between Zheng Lingfeng and Sun Mingcheng for a moment before landing on the Grey-robed Elder.

This old man was quite interesting. Clearly a Red Dust Immortal, yet he hid his cultivation to appraise stones for people on the third floor of the Bafang Pavilion, and had been doing so for a whole month.

Jiang Changge pondered inwardly. With this elder's Realm, let alone seeing spiritual materials through stone skin, even observing the flow of earth veins across thousands of miles of mountains and rivers would be effortless.

The pitch-black stone he had just pointed out to Sun Mingcheng had already revealed its true form under the insight of the Starry Myriad Phenomena. What was hidden beneath the stone skin was no ordinary spiritual material, but a clump of extremely pure Spirit Essence.

That thing was at least a tier higher than the Emerald Spirit Jade; compared to it, the piece in Zheng Lingfeng's hand was practically just a roadside pebble.

Zheng Lingfeng's Body Integration Stage guard actually claimed that this elder was only at the Initial Stage of Void Refinement; Jiang Changge almost choked on his tea.

A Red Dust Immortal was standing right in front of him, yet he only managed to perceive an Initial Stage of Void Refinement. That level of discernment was truly something else.

However, this was also fine. Jiang Changge glanced at Zheng Lingfeng's smug, assured appearance, then looked at Sun Mingcheng's posture—nervous yet respectful—and roughly understood the situation.

This Red Dust Immortal was likely willing to choose stones for Sun Mingcheng simply because he found the young man agreeable.

And a young master from a noble family like Zheng Lingfeng, who looked down on everyone, was likely about to hit a snag.

He quietly moved half a step to the side, making room for the good show about to unfold.

The old craftsman took the pitch-black stone, rubbed his fingers lightly around the stone skin, and his brows furrowed imperceptibly.

He had been cutting raw stones for most of his life, having handled at least eighty to one hundred thousand stones, but the one in his hand was too ordinary—so ordinary that he couldn't even find a suitable angle to make the first cut.

He didn't rush to cut; instead, he examined the stone over and over again, pressed it to his ear, and tapped it with his knuckles. The echo was dull and short, lacking the crisp resonance that any spiritual material should have.

The old craftsman looked up at Sun Mingcheng, wanting to say something but hesitating. Finally, he sighed, chose the most conservative position, and gently pressed the blade down.

With the first cut, stone chips fell with a rustle; the cut surface was greyish-white, with nothing inside.

The second cut was still greyish-white; the third cut was also greyish-white.

Zheng Lingfeng leaned against the counter with his arms crossed, the smile on his lips stretching almost to his ears.

The attendants behind him began whispering to each other, and some even laughed out loud.

The few Cultivators nearby, while not daring to mock as blatantly as the Zheng family's attendants, shook their heads one after another, their gazes toward Sun Mingcheng filled with a bit more sympathy.

Losing to the Zheng family's Third Young Master was not shameful, but losing so miserably was a bit hard to justify.

Sun Mingcheng stood there, his expression still relatively calm. His gaze did not leave the stone being peeled away layer by layer, and his breathing had become a bit more rapid than before.

The Azure Origin Furnace was his grandfather's coming-of-age gift to him. If he lost here today, he would not be able to face his grandfather upon returning.

Just then, the old craftsman's hand suddenly stopped.

The sensation coming from beneath the blade changed. It was no longer the loose, sluggish feeling of cutting through rotten wood, but a sensation of extreme density and smoothness, as if cutting into high-quality jade.

The old craftsman's expression changed abruptly, and for the first time, an expression of disbelief appeared on his furrowed face.

He didn't continue cutting, but gently withdrew the blade and looked down at the cut surface.

A beam of light shone through the cut.

It was an emerald color even deeper and more condensed than the Emerald Spirit Jade Zheng Lingfeng had just produced. It was like pine resin accumulated over ten thousand years finally being illuminated by sunlight—gentle and not blinding, yet it bathed the entire third floor in a faint emerald halo.

The old craftsman took a deep breath. His hands moved several times faster than before, yet they were even steadier.

His blade fluttered across the palm-sized stone like a butterfly, every cut precise to the millimeter. As the stone skin peeled away, the emerald light grew brighter and more intense.

The moment the final layer of stone skin was stripped away, a pillar of emerald light shot up from the core of the stone, striking the ceiling of the third floor and transforming into rings of visible spiritual light ripples that spread in all directions.

Wherever those ripples passed, the surface of every raw stone on the shelves emitted a faint fluorescence, as if paying homage to what was contained within that stone.

The old craftsman held the spiritual material, which had been completely stripped of its stone skin, with both hands; his palms were trembling slightly.

He had been cutting stones for most of his life. It wasn't that he hadn't seen good things, but most of what he unearthed were Earth Rank spiritual materials. Occasionally cutting an Earth Rank Top Grade material was enough for him to brag about in front of his peers for years.

He held the spiritual material high, his voice trembling: "Wood Attribute Top Grade Spirit Essence, Heaven Rank Low Grade spiritual material!"

The third floor fell into dead silence.

Everyone stared blankly at the emerald Spirit Essence held in the old craftsman's hands. Inside the Spirit Essence, something seemed to be slowly flowing; at times, it condensed into the shape of a tree, and at other times, it transformed into flowing light. Every change emitted a dense Wood Attribute spiritual energy that was almost tangible.

Zheng Lingfeng's smile froze completely on his face. He stared fixedly at the emerald Spirit Essence, his lips moving a few times, but he couldn't utter a single word.