219: Chapter 219 Helping in Secret

Yet, the moment he raised the price to three million, the other party suddenly stopped. Not only did he stop, but he also looked at him with that meaningful smile.

This was by no means a sincere compliment; it was mockery—naked, blatant mockery.

He had fallen for the trap; Sun Mingcheng never intended to buy this stone from the very beginning.

That guy deliberately drove up the price just to make him, Zheng Lingfeng, spend three million Spirit Stones in front of everyone on a raw stone without even knowing what was inside.

Yet, blinded by rage just now, he hadn't even considered this possibility, thinking instead that he had overwhelmed the other party with his Aura.

Zheng Lingfeng's face turned livid in an instant. He whipped his head around, glaring viciously at Sun Mingcheng, his lips twitching as if he wanted to explode on the spot.

But as his gaze swept over the thirty or forty pairs of onlookers, he forcibly swallowed the angry curses that had risen to his lips.

He had already lost the fire phoenix pendant and had been ignominiously dragged back to the Zheng family by his father from the Bafang Pavilion. If he were to start a fight with Sun Mingcheng here at Liuli Plaza today, his reputation in Huaiyang City would be completely ruined.

He was the Third Young Master of the Zheng family; he could not afford to lose face like that.

"Sun Mingcheng, you are very good."

Zheng Lingfeng squeezed these words through his teeth, each one feeling like an iron nail forged in Samadhi True Fire—both scalding and hard.

He tossed out a lukewarm threat and, not even bothering to take the dark gold raw stone he had bought for three million Spirit Stones, turned and pushed his way out of the crowd with his two attendants.

The crowd automatically cleared a path, watching as he disappeared with heavy footsteps into the street at the east end of the plaza.

The stall owner looked at Zheng Lingfeng's retreating back, then at the dark gold raw stone still sitting on the stall. He carefully wrapped it up, deciding to deliver it to the Zheng residence in person later.

Three million Spirit Stones was no small sum; he dared not pocket it just like that.

Seeing one of the main protagonists leave, the Cultivators watching knew there was no more spectacle to be seen and began to disperse one after another.

A few of them gave Sun Mingcheng a thumbs-up before leaving, whispering, "Second Young Master Sun, what a clever ploy." Sun Mingcheng merely smiled and cupped his hands in return without saying much.

Once the crowd had dispersed, Sun Mingcheng did not rush to leave. He stood in place, closed his folding fan, and swept his gaze across the plaza, as if looking for someone.

Finally, he led his guards and retainers toward the depths of the plaza, soon disappearing into the bustling crowd.

Zhou Tianchen withdrew his gaze from Sun Mingcheng's retreating back and turned to look at Lu Jinghan, his tone tinged with curiosity: "Senior Brother, why did you help that Sun Mingcheng?"

Lu Jinghan leaned the Jinghan Sword against his shoulder, his tone as flat as if he were merely stating an insignificant fact: "That Zheng Lingfeng, as a descendant of a noble family, is arrogant and domineering, bullying the weak."

"Just now at the stall, he used his influence to force the price down, putting the stall owner in a difficult position. Giving him a lesson serves to let him know that not everyone is afraid of his Zheng family."

Having finished, he strode toward the depths of the plaza. Zhou Tianchen and Duan Xinghe exchanged a glance, then immediately followed.

The three of them wove through the bustling crowd, strolling aimlessly along the rows of stalls.

Zhou Tianchen stopped at a stall selling cinnabar, picked up a piece of vermilion cinnabar, and rubbed it between his fingertips for a moment. After haggling with the stall owner for a few sentences, he finally tucked the cinnabar into his storage ring with satisfaction.

Duan Xinghe paused for a long time at a stall selling sword tassels, eventually choosing a sword tassel woven from solid black silk thread and tying it to the end of his long sword's hilt.

While the three of them were strolling through Liuli Plaza, the natural Restriction outside the Nine-Orifice Stone Forest, after weakening for the last day and night, finally dissipated quietly before dawn arrived.

When the first ray of morning light pierced the thick clouds above the Gobi Desert and slanted onto the stone wall, the pale golden light barrier that had shrouded it for who knows how many tens of thousands of years faded away silently, like morning mist dispersed by the wind, revealing the world behind the stone wall that had been sealed by time for a full millennium.

The Nine-Orifice Stone Forest had finally opened once again.

When Jiang Changge opened his eyes from meditation, Venerable Hantian was already standing before the stone wall, his palm pressed against it, feeling the sensation that was finally unobstructed.

He glanced back at Jiang Changge, the wrinkles on his face smoothing out slightly, the eager interest in his eyes more intense than at any time before.

The two of them did not delay any longer, crossing the stone wall one after the other and stepping into the Secret Realm that Venerable Hantian had claimed for himself more times than he could count.

The scene inside the stone forest was completely different from the Gobi Desert outside. Stone pillars rose from the ground, the tall ones reaching twenty or thirty zhang, the short ones seven or eight zhang, arranged across an area of several dozen li, like a stone forest growing out of the earth.

Every stone pillar possessed nine natural orifices of varying sizes, each with a unique shape.

The wind passed between the stone pillars, blowing into those orifices and producing sounds of varying pitches.

These sounds intertwined, not appearing noisy at all, but instead forming a strange rhythm that made people involuntarily slow their pace, even causing their breathing to unconsciously synchronize with the sounds produced by the orifices.

The moment Jiang Changge stepped into the stone forest, the System's crisp notification sound rang in his mind. He didn't have time to carefully examine the reward items on the System panel and could only suppress that unexpected joy in his heart for the time being.

Once he regained his composure, he noticed a thick layer of crushed stone and gravel scattered across the floor of the stone forest—debris that had accumulated over millions of years as it peeled off the stone pillars due to the wind.

At the base of those stone pillars, one could occasionally see stones half-buried in the sand, varying in size and shape, some with textures on their surface similar to the main body of the stone pillars.

These stones were the true Treasure Trove of the Nine-Orifice Stone Forest.

The fragments that fell from the stone pillars often contained Stone Gall, Stone Crystal, or Stone Marrow, which were formed by the purest Origin energy in the depths of the stone forest, with varying levels of quality.

Those with good luck could uncover Heaven Rank spiritual materials, while those with bad luck might only find an ordinary rock.

Venerable Hantian was clearly extremely familiar with this stone forest; after entering, he headed straight in the southeast direction.

He bypassed several giant stone pillars that required several people to embrace, stopped before a low stalagmite, and crouched down to dig out a fist-sized, pale cyan stone from the sand. He weighed it in his hand, nodded with satisfaction, and casually tucked it into his sleeve.

Then, at the base of another stone pillar, he discovered a dark red stone buried in the sand. After taking it out, he gently scratched the surface of the stone skin with his finger, and a warm, reddish-gold light shone through the scratch.

The smile on Venerable Hantian's face deepened, and after wiping the stone clean, he put it away as well.