Cultivating immortality begins with discerning the secrets of heaven.

The day before the Ascension Ceremony, the entire Taiyuan Immortal City became even more bustling and lively, with countless cultivators coming to join in the excitement of the Ascension Ceremony.

On this day, Lin Yun was free to move around.

Lin Hairong originally wanted to take him to the shops in the city that sell magical artifacts to broaden his horizons, but Lin Yun claimed that he planned to wander around on his own.

"The Book of Insight!"

The earth's vein fire in the Cangxuan Domain is flourishing, and metal and wood elements are sprouting, making it ideal for alchemy and weapon crafting.

[In the Eastern Spirit Mining Area of ​​the Taiyuan Sect, a cultivator from a family has unearthed a large Earth Element Crystal, an event that has alarmed the Foundation Establishment elders.]

The Liu family of Baihe Mountain plans to recruit rogue cultivators who failed to ascend to immortality, hoping to increase the family's population.

[In order to participate in the auction held by the Gathering Immortals Pavilion tomorrow, the rogue cultivator Luo Fengjiao is prepared to sell her family's heirloom spirit wine recipe at a low price.]

To ensure the smooth running of the Ascension Ceremony, each peak of the Taiyuan Sect has been assigned an additional Foundation Establishment Elder to guard the area.

[Xu Kuanye, a rogue cultivator, consumed a Breakthrough Pill, forcibly breaking through to the late stage of Qi Refining in hopes of achieving immortality and joining the Taiyuan Sect.]

[At the Taiyuan Sect's jade gambling workshop, a certain piece of stone contained a black flame dragon scale. This stone had remained unsold for too long and has now been moved to the Bing section.]

After reviewing this information, Lin Yun took a deep breath.

"A scale from a Black Flame Dragon. I wonder what rank the Black Flame Dragon is. If it's rank three or higher, then I'm set." Lin Yun's eyes lit up, and his heart began to race.

With this in mind, he decided to rush to the jade gambling market immediately to see what was going on.

Before long, after entering the inner city, an elegant yet grand jade gambling market came into view.

This is a stone gambling shop opened by the Taiyuan Sect itself. The stones inside are special stones transported from some spiritual mineral veins.

All special stones cannot be detected with divine sense; only by cutting them open can one know what is hidden inside.

  

Of course, nine out of ten bets end in failure.

The chances of finding spiritual objects or treasures from these stones are extremely slim.

Often, when you cut it open, it turns out to be nothing more than a large white stone with some special aura.

Upon arriving at the stone gambling market, Lin Yun used the Book of Insight to pinpoint the location of the stone containing a black flame dragon scale.

"How much do you sell the stones here?" Lin Yun asked, looking around with great interest.

Seeing that Lin Yun was only at the fourth level of Qi Refining, the cultivator didn't even raise his head, lazily replying, "Thirty spirit stones per piece from the C-grade area, and they must be cut open on-site at the stone gambling market!"

"If the goods are shipped, you can choose to take them with you or sell them to Shifang."

It has to be cut open on the spot?!

Upon hearing this, Lin Yun felt a sense of hesitation.

Wouldn't that be too risky?

However, he soon understood the purpose of the jade gambling shop: it simply wanted to use some lucky gamblers to promote itself and attract more people to gamble on jade.

Although these stones are mostly hollow, there are actually some good things inside.

A single large shipment generates excellent publicity.

After thinking for a while, Lin Yun decided to buy two stones, including the one containing the Black Flame Dragon's scales.

"Okay, cut me two pieces to see. I want this piece and this piece too."

After saying that, he paid sixty spirit stones.

The moment the spirit stones were traded, his heart felt like it was bleeding.

It's really too expensive. Thirty spirit stones for a single stone. They're really treating people like fools.

After reluctantly buying two stones, Lin Yun began cutting them himself.

This scene immediately attracted the attention of some cultivators, since only a minority of cultivators were willing to spend spirit stones to gamble on these stones displayed in the gambling stone market.

"I've actually had my eye on this watermelon-crack-like stone for quite a while, but I've never really had a clear idea of ​​what it was like."

"Old Li, if you lack guts, you should say less. What if someone opens a top-grade spirit stone? Then you'll regret it."

"Young man, take my advice: the jade gambling business is a deep and dangerous place. Try it once or twice and then stop. Don't get carried away!"

"That's right. Young people these days are always thinking about getting rich quick, but they often end up losing everything..."

Ignoring the advice of the surrounding audience, Lin Yun carefully dissected the stone, scraping off layers of grayish-white stone chips with his carving knife.

He cut this stone very casually, because the stone containing the black flame dragon scales was a different one.

However, to his surprise, when the stone was half-cut open, a burst of pure spiritual energy leaked out from it.

This scene immediately drew gasps of amazement from many people, their eyes gleaming with excitement.

"This..." Lin Yun was also dumbfounded. He didn't expect that this randomly selected stone would actually be shipped out.

Someone squinted and exclaimed, "Such pure spiritual energy! It seems a spirit stone has been unearthed; it should be a mid-grade spirit stone!"

And so, under the astonished gazes of the crowd of cultivators, Lin Yun gritted his teeth and finished dissecting the stone.

Soon, the spiritual energy emanating from it became increasingly pure, and the last spirit stone, still covered in stone powder, appeared.

It is indeed a mid-grade spirit stone! Its value is equivalent to one hundred low-grade spirit stones!

"A mid-grade earth-attribute spirit stone... If exchanged for some cultivators who practice earth-based techniques, it wouldn't be a problem to get 105 spirit stones."

"This is really lucky; we've made our money back from just one piece of stone."

"Even if nothing is found on that stone, this kid still made a net profit of forty spirit stones!"

The bald old man who had spoken earlier turned slightly green, and said with obvious regret:

"Sigh, I knew this watermelon-cracked stone was valuable; I should have bought it myself!"

"I'm so angry! Yesterday I was still hesitating whether to gamble it all away!"

The other cultivators shook their heads and sneered, saying, "Old Li, do you believe that if you had bought it, you would have gotten nothing from the stone you cut open yourself?"

"Gambling on jade stones is still too much about luck..."

Lin Yun ignored these whispers and hesitated before looking at the cultivator at the gambling stone shop.

The man waved his hand casually and said, "Since you got spirit stones, you can take them with you."

"Of course, if you want to exchange them for low-grade spirit stones, the market is willing to make that convenient for you. One mid-grade spirit stone can be exchanged for one hundred low-grade spirit stones."

Mid-grade spirit stones with specific attributes are often more valuable.

After thinking it over, Lin Yun shook his head and decided to keep it for himself.

With his mid-stage Qi Refining cultivation, he could hold onto a mid-grade spirit stone without worrying about attracting envy.

Moreover, as long as he can pass the weapon-refining assessment of the Ascension Conference, he can directly join the Taiyuan Sect and become a disciple of the upper sect after the event.

The only thing that made him a little uneasy was the next piece of stone!

Because he knew for certain that it contained a scale of a Black Flame Dragon.

If this dragon's rank exceeds the third level, then things will get a bit troublesome.

Selecting two stones and shipping both directly is quite troublesome.

"I hope it's not a scale from a fourth-tier Black Flame Dragon, otherwise it might directly alarm a Core Formation stage cultivator..." Lin Yun prayed in his heart.

At this moment, the interest of the other cultivators in the stone gambling market was also aroused, and they all paid close attention to Lin Yun's next stone.

"Forget it, how could anyone possibly get a good product from cutting two stones in a row?"

"Yes, if we can really get two shipments in a row, I will buy all the stones in Zone C today."

"..."

Some people, eager for a good show, started making a fuss, while Lin Yun's heart sank to the bottom.

...