209: Chapter 209 Why Admit Defeat?

There were even more people this time, seven or eight in total. Leading them was a middle-aged man in a black robe with a gloomy expression and lingering traces of anger between his brows. It was none other than the Zheng Clan Head, Zheng Tiande.

Behind him followed several Zheng Clan Elders, as well as a young man with his head lowered and an ugly expression—it was Zheng Lingfeng, who had just returned from Bafang Pavilion not long ago.

Zheng Tiande stopped in front of Bafang Pavilion. His gaze swept over Zhao Guangbi and Clan Head Sun Henian, and he let out a cold snort. Without greeting them, he led his people directly into the main entrance of Bafang Pavilion.

Clan Head Sun Henian watched Zheng Tiande's back and then glanced at the dejected Zheng Lingfeng following behind him. He roughly guessed what had happened.

The Zheng Clan's brat must have suffered a loss at Bafang Pavilion; otherwise, given Zheng Tiande's temperament, he wouldn't have made this trip in person.

Thinking of this, Clan Head Sun Henian felt inexplicably relieved. He gestured for Zhao Guangbi to proceed, and the two walked into Bafang Pavilion side by side.

The Cultivators in the first-floor lobby, who had originally been browsing for goods, had long since been frightened by this commotion and retreated into the corners.

Zheng Tiande led his people straight up the stairs, with Zhao Guangbi and Clan Head Sun Henian following closely behind.

When they stepped onto the third floor, this was the scene they saw: Pavilion Master Guo Peng stood before the stone-cutting table holding a stone-cutting knife. The blade hovered over a pitch-black stone, yet it hesitated to descend.

Beside the stone-cutting table, a piece of spirit marrow emitting silver-white moonlight lay quietly. The power of the moonlight, so dense it was almost tangible, made the air on the entire floor feel a bit chilly.

At the other end of the counter, the Grey-robed Elder stood with his hands behind his back, his expression calm.

Opposite the Grey-robed Elder, a young man in white leaned against a high chair, his posture relaxed.

Zheng Tiande's gaze lingered on the Grey-robed Elder for a moment before falling onto Jiang Changge.

He could not discern the depth of these two, but Pavilion Master Guo Peng's attitude explained everything. Anyone capable of making the Bafang Pavilion branch master personally wield the knife to cut stone could not possibly be an ordinary character.

He did not rush forward rashly but stood near the top of the stairs with the rest of the Zheng Clan, staring gloomily in the direction of the stone-cutting table.

Zhao Guangbi and Clan Head Sun Henian also went upstairs. Clan Head Sun Henian spotted his son standing in the corner at a glance, walked over quickly, and asked in a low voice, "Mingcheng, what's the situation?"

Sun Mingcheng hurriedly reported what had just happened, from the Grey-robed Elder choosing a stone for him to defeat Zheng Lingfeng, to the young man in white bringing out a life-substitution talisman to bet against the Grey-robed Elder, and finally to Pavilion Master Guo Peng personally cutting the stone.

After hearing this, Clan Head Sun Henian's expression changed several times. Finally, he cast his gaze toward the Grey-robed Elder and then toward the young man in white, remaining silent.

Zhao Guangbi walked to a spot not far from Pavilion Master Guo Peng and stood there. His gaze moved back and forth between the pitch-black stone on the stone-cutting table and the piece of moonlight spirit marrow beside it. After a moment, he asked, "Pavilion Master Guo, are you going to cut it or not?"

Pavilion Master Guo Peng did not answer but cast his gaze toward Jiang Changge.

Jiang Changge remained leaning against the high chair, turning a blind eye to the unfriendly gazes from the Zheng Clan at the stairwell, and simply lifted his chin slightly toward Pavilion Master Guo Peng: "Cut."

Pavilion Master Guo Peng hesitated no longer. A pale golden light suddenly illuminated the stone-cutting knife at his fingertips, and his Peak of Integration Stage spiritual power condensed into a sharp edge of Qi as thin as a hair on the blade.

He aimed the blade at the thickest vein in the center of the stone and pressed down steadily.

The moment the blade touched the stone skin, a sharp sound exploded from the stone-cutting table, as if something that had been slumbering for tens of thousands of years had suddenly been awakened by this cut.

Immediately following that, the stone skin beneath the blade began to crack—not cut open, but shattering on its own.

The cracks spread wildly in all directions from the point of contact with the blade, moving so fast that Pavilion Master Guo Peng didn't even have time to withdraw his knife.

The next instant, the palm-sized, dark-grey raw stone exploded completely.

The power of the explosion was not great, but it was extremely eerie.

There was no flying debris, no clouds of dust; only a mass of extremely dense, dark-grey mist surged out from the shattered heart of the stone.

The mist did not disperse but condensed in the Void Realm about three feet above the stone-cutting table, slowly churning, contracting, and coagulating, gradually outlining some form.

Pavilion Master Guo Peng retreated two steps, holding the stone-cutting knife horizontally in front of him, his expression grave to the extreme.

He had been cutting stones for most of his life and had never encountered such a situation.

The dark-grey mist in the Void Realm churned more and more violently, as if something were struggling, condensing, and taking shape within that mass of Chaos.

Everyone on the third floor held their breath, their eyes fixed on the constantly shifting mist, yet no one could say clearly what it was.

It was not a spirit material, not spirit marrow, and not any kind of thing they knew could be unearthed from a raw stone.

Pavilion Master Guo Peng's palms were slick with sweat as he gripped the stone-cutting knife.

He had seen the phenomena when Heaven Rank spirit materials were unearthed, seen the pillars of light when spirit marrow gushed forth, and even witnessed the upheaval of heaven and earth once when an ancient relic was cut from a raw stone, but he had never seen a scene like the one before him.

The power contained within that mist made even him, at the Peak of Integration Stage, feel waves of palpitations. It was not a suppression of cultivation, but a deeper kind of trembling that originated from the depths of his instincts.

Zhao Guangbi and Clan Head Sun Henian were equally grave.

Behind them, Zheng Tiande's brows were furrowed tightly. For a moment, he even forgot the anger of having lost the fire phoenix pendant, his entire attention drawn to that eerie mist above the stone-cutting table.

The Zheng Clan Elders at the stairwell looked at each other, and someone asked in a low voice, "What is that thing?"

Just as everyone was at a loss, the Grey-robed Elder's murky eyes suddenly brightened.

The brightness was extremely brief, fleeting, as if it were just a flicker of candlelight stirred by the wind.

But Sun Mingcheng, standing in the corner, happened to catch that moment. He saw the corner of the Elder's mouth lift slightly, only for him to immediately return to that calm, unruffled appearance, as if nothing had happened.

The Grey-robed Elder moved. He did not explain to anyone, but simply raised his right hand and gave a gentle beckon toward the churning, dark-grey mist above the stone-cutting table.

The mist seemed to be grasped by an invisible hand; it contracted violently for a moment and then drifted obediently toward his palm.

The moment the mist touched the Elder's palm, it withdrew all its light, turning into a fist-sized, irregularly shaped grey-black object that lay quietly in his palm.

No one could clearly see what it was. The moment the mist dissipated, the Grey-robed Elder's fingers had already closed, gently grasping the object in his palm.

He lowered his head to look at the object in his palm. In those eyes, etched with the traces of time, flashed a complex emotion—there was nostalgia, there was relief, and there was also a hint of regret that only Jiang Changge could understand.

Then he shook his head, withdrew his hand into his sleeve, and turned to look at Jiang Changge.

"This time in the stone gambling, I have lost."

The Grey-robed Elder's voice was not loud, but it was like a giant boulder thrown into a calm lake, stirring up a thousand waves on the third floor.

Pavilion Master Guo Peng was stunned; the stone-cutting knife nearly slipped from his fingertips.

Zhao Guangbi and Clan Head Sun Henian looked at each other, their eyes full of disbelief.

Zheng Tiande's brows furrowed even tighter; he completely could not see why this Elder would concede.

The piece of moonlight spirit marrow on the stone-cutting table had clearly revealed a Heaven Rank High Grade quality, while the stone chosen by the young man in white had only left a mass of mist after exploding. Now, even that mist had been taken away by the Elder, leaving nothing behind.

According to the rules of stone gambling, if nothing is unearthed, it is considered waste stone. The Elder had clearly won, so why would he concede?