Stone Gambling Pavilion
As the group of three walked to the Stone Gambling Pavilion, Li Huo took the time to explain the layout of the building to them.
The Stone Gambling Pavilion was built like a traditional Chinese pavilion with three floors.
However, only the bottom two floors were available for customers as the top floor was off-limits. The management stayed there. But the first and second floors were where the stones were sold.
The pavilion's interior was a vast hall separated down the middle by a long table that stretched through the entire first floor. On the tables were jade-colored stones of various shapes and sizes.
Some were only the size of a fist, while others were as tall as four meters in height.
And these stones were what people gambled on. The true names of the jade-colored stones were Spiritual Jade Stones. But that was a mouthful, so they were usually called stones by gamblers.
The way that Spiritual Jade Stones came into existence was a rather lucky and mystical procedure.
Originally they were normal jades. However, after they somehow absorbed a wisp of Spiritual Qi, they evolved into Spiritual Jade Stones.
Now evolved, the Spiritual Jade Stones gained three traits.
The first was their absurdly long lifespan. Spiritual Jade Stones could, if untouched, live up to hundreds of thousands of years.
Second, was that after gaining spirituality, it would instinctively attach itself to the largest thing closest to it and start to grow around it until it encased it completely. It had turned itself into a mystery box that could contain anything.
From an Immortal cultivation technique to another rock, a Spiritual Jade Stone was the biggest gamble in the cultivation world.
The final ability it gained was that after it encased the object, it would then stop any spiritual sense completely, which meant that the only way to know what was in a Spiritual Jade Stone was to break it open.
And with jade being a common mineral all over the Baishen Plane, Spiritual Jade Stones could contain virtually anything. So, after an intelligent man discovered their business potential, he created the first Stone Gambling Pavilion.
The premise was simple: various Spiritual Jade Stones were set on display and priced on their possibility of having something in them.
Even though you couldn't sense what was in it, cultivators made educated guesses according to size, age, and how much Spiritual Qi it radiated.
But while people could make guesses on what was inside, they were, at the core, guesses. So it was really just the house that decided on the prices of the Spiritual Jade Stones.
However, Xue Bai couldn't do any of that. So, with no spiritual sense or an ability to sense Spiritual Qi, Xue Bai planned just to pick one randomly.
If he had a great fortune that was a staple in almost every transmigrator, it didn't matter what he chose.
Entering the pavilion, they instantly gained the crowd's attention. However, Xue Bai ignored them and went to the displays.
"Uncle Li, have you ever been here before? I need some tips." Xue Bai asked
"While I have been here before, I wasn't fully in the correct mind." Li Huo awkwardly replied.
Of course, Uncle LI wouldn't say he was black-out drunk and gambled away almost one million Spirit Stones, so he only indirectly mentioned his blunder.
"It's fine. Any advice is good advice. You've been here a few times. Surely, you must know the rules of this place, at least." Xue Bai said casually. He obviously didn't know about Li Huo. embarrassing time here, and he thought that the man was just being humble.
Li Huo was caught in a deadlock. He could see Xue Bai's innocent eyes, which resembled a curious kid. But if Li Huo spoke about his time here, how could he continue being an Uncle figure in the boy's mind?
Conflicted, he eventually found a sentence to help him out.
"Nephew Bai, one must experience failure firsthand to learn. Following the footsteps of others will guide you in the beginning but will only trap you later on." Li Huo solemnly spoke as he grabbed the shoulders of Xue Bai.
Stunned at the philological words, Xue Bai was caught off guard.
"Uncle Li, we are talking about gambling stones right now. Why did you suddenly start speaking so philosophically?" Xue Bai awkwardly replied as he gently pushed away Li Huo's hands.
"Ahem, you are my nephew. I must take any chance I can get to teach you about the world. Better now than on the battlefield." Li Huo coughed as he moved his hands himself.
'It worked. He stopped asking!' Li Huo praised himself inwardly.
Since Xue Bai wasn't able to read the mind of Li Huo, he obviously didn't know what the man was thinking.
So, after freeing himself, Xue Bai ignored the possible reasons why Li Huo was acting weird and left the tree.
Li Huo didn't want to help him, so Xue Bai had to talk to someone else. And after scouting the room, he eventually found someone who worked at the Stone Gambling Pavilion.
The person Xue Bai chose was a shopkeeper who was operating a small question kiosk at the edge of the walls.
The shopkeeper was a middle-aged man with average looks and basic features. However, he had a scar covering almost the entire left side of his face, ruining any looks he had.
"Shopkeeper, what are the rules here? I haven't been here before and want to buy some Spiritual Jade Stones." Xue Bai asked the man at the counter.
As Xue Bai asked his question, he was once again prepared to be misgendered, but surprisingly, it didn't happen, and once the shopkeeper locked eyes with Xue Bai, he recognized him.
"Young Duke, why don't you ask Marquis Li? He has..." Before the shopkeeper could finish his words, he suddenly felt like he had fallen into an ice lake and froze.
A terrifying pressure suddenly engulfed him. He couldn't move, but thankfully, it only lasted until he heard a voice in his head.
'If you tell my nephew what I did that day, I'll cripple you. We are both men. Give me some face and save my reputation in front of the younger generation.'
It was, of course, Li Huo trying to cover up his dark history by intimidating the poor shopkeeper.
Which worked, and the shopkeeper quickly adjusted his train of thought before continuing his previous sentence.
"The rules are simple here, Young Duke. You can look at any display and do whatever you want to the Spiritual Jade Stone. However, you can't touch it under any circumstance. Touching it means you plan to purchase that stone. Also, after you purchase a Spiritual Jade Stone, you have the choice to either let us remove the jade skin covering the item inside. Or take it home and do it yourself. Also, finally, after you uncover your item, you can choose to sell it back to us at market price." The shopkeep kindly explained.
Mentally noting down the rules, Xue Bai nodded at the man.
"I see. Thank you, shopkeeper. I'll go choose which ones I want." And without any further words, Xue Bai turned around and went back to Li Huo.
"This servant is just doing his job. Young Duke, no need to thank me." The shopkeeper humbly replied.
He wasn't at all bothered by Xue Bai's attitude and instead saw off Xue Bai with a bow.
Returning to Li Huo, Xue Bai and his uncle started to look at the various stones. However, they all looked like green rocks.
And since Li Huo wouldn't help Xue Bai, he couldn't see any difference between them all besides their sizes.
Xue Bai spent the next 5 minutes looking around, but without a single clue, he eventually decided he had seen enough and chose three random ones of different sizes.
The one was the size of a fist. The second was a little bigger and was about the size of a grown man's torso, while the last was the largest one of them all and was almost 3 meters tall.
The first two were relatively cheap at only a few hundred Spirit Stones. However, the large one was extremely expensive, being almost 10,000 Spirit Stones.
"Shopkeeper! I chose these three. Also, can you remove the jade on the tall one? This will be the only one that I'll open here. As for the other two, I'll take them home." Xue Bai shouted, calling over the shopkeeper.
While he didn't want to expose his findings publicly, it was his first public showing in the dukedom, so he needed to show his good sides. And showing off the uncovering of an expensive and large stone would do the job well.
"Yes, Young Duke, I will call my best worker over right now." The shopkeeper then, after a bow, turned and ran over to the staircase leading upstairs.
Presumably, he went to call the worker over.
Thankfully, the shopkeeper didn't take long and was fast, And within 3 minutes, he returned with another man.
The man in question looked like the most stereotypical blacksmith with signature-tanned skin and a hairless face.
Seeing Xue Bai, the blacksmith ran over to Xue Bai and gave the Young Duke a quick bow.
"Young Duke, you can call this servant Blacksmith Guo. I was told you would like me to uncover a Spiritual Jade Stone. Which ones would you want me to start on." Blacksmith Guo wasn't a man for pleasantries, and after his greeting bow, he went straight to business.
"Blacksmith Guo, just this large one. The other two stones I would like to uncover myself at home ." Xue Bai instructed.
Hearing Xue Bai, Blacksmith Guo nodded and prepared to get to work.
The process of uncovering a Spiritual Jade Stone was relatively simple.
All Blacksmith Guo needed to do was to get a chisel and hammer and slowly chip off the jade skin.
However, since there was a possibility of the Spiritual Jade Stone having an extremely thin jade covering, the process needed to be done slowly and by professionals. After all, if you smashed the item inside, not only would you waste your money, but also lose customers and lower the reputation of the store.
Blacksmith Guo knew this and was extremely slow and methodical in his work to avoid damaging or destroying the item inside.
On the side, as Xue Bai looked at Blacksmith Guo's work, he couldn't help but become impressed.
Blacksmith Guo put his entire focus into every hammer swing and was tense the whole time, ready to stop a swing at the sight of something other than jade.
But since Blacksmith Guo was so slow, it also meant that the process took some time. And the worker only managed to finish after an hour of tense working.
Once the man wiped away the layer of sweat that had appeared on his forehead and stepped away from the Spiritual Jade Stone, Xue Bai stepped forward and started to look at the finished product.
Looking at it, Xue Bai noticed that instead of finishing the job himself, Blacksmith Guo had only taken the entire top layer of jade and left a thin membrane of jade on the surface.
Since Xue Bai wasn't a regular here, he didn't know what Blacksmith Guo meant by this, but once he asked the man, he got his answer.
Blacksmith Guo had done it like that for extra effect. While he could've revealed it himself, he left it 90% done so Xue Bai could finish it himself.
So, without further ado, he respectfully handed a hammer to Xue Bai with both hands and asked the Young Duke to finish the job.
"Blacksmith Guo, while I know that Spiritual Jade Stones are innately fragile, at the end of the day, it's still a Spiritual Ore. I haven't begun to cultivate yet. Can I break it?" Xue Bai asked with a raised eyebrow.
No matter how weak a Spiritual Ore was, it was still a Spiritual Ore, something that had absorbed a wisp of Spiritual Qi. And since Xue Bai hadn't even awakened a set of Martial Veins, let alone absorb Spiritual Qi, he wasn't sure he could break the ore with his strength.
To this, Blacksmith Guo patted his chest in confidence as he reassured the Young Duke.
"Young Duke, don't worry. This hammer is specially designed to break Spiritual Jade Stones. Even if this one was still complete, it could shatter it, let alone now." Blacksmith Guo was confident in his answer.
"Then wouldn't I break whatever was inside instead?" Xue Bai couldn't understand what this Blacksmith was trying to accomplish.
If the hammer was so strong, wouldn't Xue Bai just break what was inside now?
"Oh, I forgot to explain. This hammer's power matches its user's strength, so when I meant it could shatter the complete version, I meant in the scenario that I swung it. If the Young Duke had taken a swing at the complete version, you'd hurt yourself more than the Spiritual Jade Stone. But now that the stone is only protected by this thin membrane, your strength should be enough." Blacksmith explained awkwardly.
"Then I will try. However, if I hurt myself, this is going to be free. Is that a deal?" Xue Bai proposed.
The money aspect meant nothing to Xue Bai, and he really only spoke those words for a comedic effect.
And his purpose was sensed as Blacksmith Guo laughed heartily at it before replying confidently.
"Young Duke, this old man has never been wrong about an ore before. If you hurt yourself, you can choose any Spiritual Jade Stone we have here to take home." Blacksmith Guo patted his chest confidently. He wasn't at all nervous that his calculations could be wrong.
"Then I'll take you up on that offer." Done speaking, Xue Bai turned around and took a swing at the stone.
Immediately after making contact with the thin jade membrane, the hammer shattered it and left the inside uncovered.
However, after the membrane fell, before anyone could see the contents inside, all the surrounding Spiritual Qi was immediately sucked towards the item inside, creating a thick mist that blocked their line of sight and also shocking everyone inside the Stone Gambling Pavilion.
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