Zhou Yuan chuckled, and was just about to say there was no need.
However, Su Duan was already waving his hand, indicating there was no room for discussion. “That’s settled then.”
A playful smile adorned Su Duan’s face. He wanted to achieve an indisputable victory, and give Zhou Yuan no way to refute it. At the same time, Su Duan also wanted to taste the feeling of crushing a Cangxuan Sect disciple under his feet.
Though he was the junior sect master of the Flame Cauldron Sect, he was no spoiled pushover. He was a veteran of flame rock gambling with abundant experience that did not lose to any master of the art. As such, the thought of a loss never once appeared in his mind.
The numerous local geniuses of the Black Flame Province around Su Duan began to cheer due to the magnaminty he was showing.
They obviously wanted Zhou Yuan to be thoroughly humiliated in front of Zuoqiu Qingyu such that he would fall completely out of her favor.
Zhou Yuan chuckled helplessly as he gazed at the seemingly dashing Su Duan. In the end, he nodded and said, “Since brother Su is so generous, I naturally have no objections.”
Su Duan grinned slightly. Without further ado, he took the lead and stepped into the rock gambling area as he gazed began to sweep across the countless pitch-black rocks.
Zhou Yuan merely smiled as he gazed at his opponent’s confident figure.
No one knew that the Saint Rune in his pupils had already secretly activated, red light beginning to rise one after another within each flame rock in the gambling area.
Just as he had expected, the flame rocks may be able to block other senses, but they were powerless before the Decoder Saint Rune.
The flame rocks now clearly appeared in his eyes as burning flames of varying sizes...
In the face of such a situation, Zhou Yuan could only sigh softly.
Even if you’re an expert with as much experience as a grandmaster...
You'll never be able to match my cheating...
Chapter 407 Fireworks
Numerous figures crowded around the flame rock gambling area as if it was a parcel wrapped with extra layers, making the place appear exceptionally lively.
Gaze after gaze looked towards Zhou Yuan and Su Duan, who were walking about inside the arena, as whispers stealthily spread.
“Isn’t that Cangxuan Sect disciple a little too stupid. Can’t believe he dares to compete with Su Duan in flame rock gambling. Hasn’t he heard of the Flame Cauldron Sect’s biggest business?”
“Yeah, one can say that Su Duan has been exposed to all kinds of flame rock related affairs since he was little, and is extremely experienced. In fact, he is not the least bit inferior to any of the acclaimed masters of this field.”
“Hehe, does this Cangxuan Sect disciple really believe that everyone will give in to him because of his status?”
“He’s young and rash after all.”
“……”
As similar whispers continued to spread, they naturally landed in Su Duan’s ears. A confident smile arose on his face, a look of disdain appearing in his gaze as he swept at glance at Zhou Yuan’s figure from the corner of his eye.
A mere fourth layer Alpha-Origin stage country bumpkin. If he was not from the Cangxuan Sect, did he really think that he had the qualifications to gamble on flame rocks with the junior sect master of the Flame Cauldron Sect?
“I’ll ensure that you’re thoroughly humiliated this time, and let you know that even if a country bumpkin that manages to climb up on the branch that is the Cangxuan Sect, he is still only a country bumpkin!”
Su Duan icily chuckled, before his gaze began to carefully examine the numerous flame rocks that were on display. His hands also moved to feel the heat they gave off and the complicated patterns on their surface.
A serious expression soon rose on his face. The bystanders were right,. As someone who had dabbled in flame rocks for so many years, his experience did not lose to any of the masters in his sect.
What appeared to others as extremely complex and chaotic patterns were in his eyes hints that would clue him to the age of the essence flame within.
Of course, he was definitely also prone to mistakes, since the flame essence within the rocks may be damaged due to other reasons. However, Su Duan was confident that his experience would reduce such errors to the minimum.
Thus, under the numerous watching gazes, Su Duan earnestly scrutinized every rock before him, often taking several minutes before he moved to the next one.
From his serious appearance, no one would that he had the skills. At the same time, it also made everyone feel that there was no way he would lose.
In contrast, Zhou Yuan somewhat resembled a country bumpkin walking into a city for the first time. He curiously gazed at the rocks, reaching his hand out to touch them.
His movements appeared amatuer in comparison to Su Duan, even using his finger to tap the rocks.
Several of the onlookers with some experience in flame rock gambling frowned at this sight. Zhou Yuan’s actions were completely unlike those of someone with proficiency in this field.
Zhou Yuan naturally ignored these gazes, his hand sweeping past numerous flame rocks in a pile, before randomly picking one up and dusting it off a little, before throwing it into a basket by the side.
“He chose one just like that?”
Several people could not help but laugh. Su Duan was still carefully inspecting and feeling the patterns on the rocks, while Zhou Yuan had already made his choice. From his casual attitude, it was as if he were buying vegetables in the market.
“He’s going to lose for sure.”
Most of the crowd were already shaking their heads, certain that this young disciple from the Cangxuan Sect was going to end up humiliating himself today.
Even Zuoqiu Qingyu red lips twitched slightly at this sight, as her hands clenched tightly.
“Don’t tell me he’s really just messing around? I don’t want to go on a date with that scoundrel!”
Although the surroundings were noisy, Su Duan had blocked off all distractions, completely immersed in the world of flame rock patterns. As time flowed, he slowly began to choose rock after rock, placing them into the basket at his side.
Su Duan blinked his eyes a few times after awakening from his state of full concentration, five carefully selected flame rocks already present in the basket beside him.
The corners of his mouth lifted into a confident smile.
He raised his head, only to find Zhou Yuan yawning boredly nearby. Ten flame rocks had already been neatly placed on the stone table beside him.
“I’ve been waiting all day.” Zhou Yuan was indeed quite bored. He did not find any fun in this rock gambling, and yet this Su Duan just had to be so serious about it.
“You do not understand the art of rock gambling.” Su Duan looked disdainfully at Zhou Yuan. It was likely the first time this country bumpkin from some remote continent had come into contact with flame rock gambling. But that made sense, a precious Genesis resource like flame essence was not something a remote continent like his could possibly possess.
“Let’s prepare to open the rocks.”
Under the watching eyes of the crowd, Su Duan walked to the other stone table and placed his five pitch-black flame rocks onto it.
He then retrieved a specialized tool from the table; a small sharp knife. Its blade gently sliced along the veins of a flame rock as a faint sound was heard.
Crack!
With a quick turn of the little knife, the flame rock slowly split open.
Every gaze looked over with rapt attention. Even those from the second floor contained a little interest, evident curious about the outcome.
Red light spread from the opened flame rock.
Everyone saw a red flame rise up, red liquid flowing within it. A surge of heat spread, filled with pure fire-type Genesis Qi.
“From its lustre, it should be a fifty year essence flame.” There was no lack of experts in
the crowd, as gasps of surprise quickly followed.
Although a fifty year essence flame was not that high, its value had already far surpassed a single flame rock. Anyone who managed to obtain one would have made a nice little sum for oneself.
Su Duan’s expression exuded calm and confidence, because this was only the appetizer.
His gaze turned towards the second flame rock as his sharp little knife began its work.
As such, Su Duan began to open the remaining four rocks in the next few minutes.
The outcome he achieved were waves of cheers, each louder and more excited than the one before.
The second flame rock contained a hundred year essence flame.
The third rock, a two hundred year essence flame.
The fourth, was a dud.
However, no one ridiculed him, because everyone knew that even the experienced master would make mistakes sometimes. After all, there were times when the signs on the outside could not accurate detect the situation on the inside.
Despite the slip-up, the confidence on Su Duan’s face remained unshaken. When he opened the final flame stone, the entire place exploded into a thunderous uproar.
A red flame abruptly rose from the stone, reaching a height of half a foot!
This was a five hundred year essence flame!
If sold, it would fetch a price of at least a million Genesis crystals, while the cost of every flame rock was only ten thousand...
Winning such a huge sum with such a comparatively small investment made the eyes of several people turn red with excitement.
“As expected of the junior sect master of the Flame Cauldron Sect. Such insight and experience is truly worthy of admiration.” Many people could not help but sigh in amazement, their eyes filled with admiration when they looked towards Su Duan.
Of the five rocks he had selected, only one had been a dud, while the other four were profit. The five hundred year essence flame in particular was a rare find indeed.
From this, one could see how accomplished Su Duan was in this field.
In response to the cheering crowd, Su Duan revealed a modest smile. He brushed off his hands, before turning towards Zuoqiu Qingyu with a confident smile. “I hope that I haven’t been too unsightly.”
Zuoqiu Qingyu had no choice but to admit that he had indeed been both skilled and entertaining.
Hence, she could not help but become a little worried when she looked towards Zhou Yuan.
At this moment, Su Duan’s gaze turned towards the seemingly stunned Zhou Yuan with a hint of playful mockery as he smiled and jokingly said, “Is brother Zhou planning on admitting defeat?”
It seemed to be a joke, but it was actually forcing Zhou Yuan to continue.
Zhou Yuan paid no heed to Su Duan’s little tricks. Instead, he glanced at the essence flames in front of the latter as a thoughtful look appeared in his eyes.
“Turns out that a five hundred year essence flame is actually quite small…”
He mumbled to himself, before turning to face the countless watching gazes. He did not use any tools, and instead clenched his fist under the numerous dumbstruck eyes of the onlookers, before sending out sharp punch after punch.
Papapa!
His fist swiftly descended as the ten flame rocks were barbarically smashed apart.
“How… crude!” His actions caused several onlookers to huff at their beards in anger.
Su Duan also shook his head as the disdainful smile on his lips grew even wider. From the looks of it, Zhou Yuan had never played flame rock gambling before. A country bumpkin was just a country bumpkin after all!
However, the jeers only lasted for a few breaths.
Because in the next instant, red flames ferociously spouted out from the shattered rocks like pillars of fire, instantly raising the temperature in the entire fair.
Red pillars of fire were reflected in countless eyes.
Silence.
Face after face gradually turned rigid at this moment, appearing extremely comical under the flickering fire light.
A mumbling like noise began to rise in the hearts of several individuals.
“My god… are you freaking… setting off fireworks?”
Chapter 408 Flawless Victory
Pillar after pillar of scorching hot fire blasted out from the shattered remains of the flame rocks on the stone table, sparks flying everywhere as if it was a fireworks show.
The originally noisy fair had abruptly turned deathly silent when the fire pillars rose into the air. The faces filled with gloating amusement just moments earlier were now completely frozen.
They stared as if in a daze at the rising fire pillars. This was a grand spectacle they had never seen before in a flame rock glambling...
Who has ever seen a fireworks display when opening flame rocks?!
The flame pillars rose into the sky, lasting for quite some time, before gradually falling back to the earth. One could only watch as a red blood like liquid slowly flowed out from the flame rocks, pulsing with an astonishing heat.
As the fire pillars fell, the countless stunned gazes also finally returned to their senses.
A split second later, their hearts began to beat like mad.
They had realized that amongst the ten flame rocks were three hundred year essence flames, four five-hundred year essence flames, and two seven-hundred year...
The most frightening was the final rock. The lustre of that viscous blood like liquid clearly belonged to a thousand year essence flame!
The entire fair was shaken, numerous individuals who either cultivated fire type Genesis Qi or practiced fire type Genesis techniques greedily staring at the flame essences. These flame essences would be amazing for them.
Next, these gazes turned towards Zhou Yuan in shock. They had never seen anyone open so many quality flame essences in one fell swoop.
Moreover, not a single one had been a dud!
This could not possibly be pure luck!
Several lumininous gazes looked towards Zhou Yuan. If it was not luck, there was only one possibility left. Zhou Yuan had reached unimaginable heights in the art of flame rock gambling.
Maybe even the apex.
“It can’t be!”
A howl suddenly ripped through the place. Su Duan was also stupefied as he gazed at the essence flames in front of Zhou Yuan. His face soon began to twist hideously as his eyes turned red with anger. “You must have cheated! How can every flame rock you selected contain such high quality essence flames?!”
His earlier confidence was now nowhere to be seen.
Because anyone who saw such a scene could not possibly maintain calm.
Zhou Yuan was rather composed in comparison. Under Su Duan’s scarlet red gaze, he said, “These flame rocks are from your sect’s flame rock gambling business. Are you trying to say no one should be able to get any good essence flames from your business?”
Su Duan froze. How could he possibly dare to say anything that would compromise the reputation of his sect.
The local geniuses that were originally cheering on Su Duan were silent as they cast fearful gazes at Zhou Yuan.
They had previously taken Zhou Yuan to be a country bumpkin that had never seen flame rock gambling before. Who could have imagined that he had actually concealed his abilities so deeply… such skill was something even the great masters of the Flame Cauldron Sect would not be able to match.
Zuoqiu Qingyu’s tightly clenched hands also relaxed at this moment, as a smile blossomed on her gorgeous face. As expected, he was indeed a capable person.
However, she knew Zhou Yuan quite well, and was pretty sure he had never dabbled in flame rocks before. It was almost certain that he had used some kind of technique no one knew about.
“So is the competition over?” Asked Zhou Yuan with a smile.
Su Duan’s complexion was ashen. He had originally planned on thoroughly humiliating Zhou Yuan, and never expected he would instead be given a slap across the face but the latter
. His face was all gone now.
“You!” Killing intent flashed in Su Duan’s eyes, but was ultimately suppressed by him. Zhou Yuan was a disciple of the Cangxuan Sect. If Zhou Yuan lost the game, Su Duan could humiliate the latter as he pleased, but if Su Duan acted against Zhou Yuan in anger, the Chosens from the Cangxuan Sect would not permit it.
Zhou Yuan noticed the murderous look in the depths of Su Duan's eyes, but merely smiled uncaringly. Zhou Yuan then walked over and reached out to pat Su Duan's arm in a consoling manner.
Next, Zhou Yuan gently removed the ancient wood bracelet from Su Duan's wrist under his fire spitting gaze.
"Hehe, thanks." Zhou Yuan displayed his most warm and friendly smile.
The corners of Su Duan's mouth twitched. He forcibly resisted the urge to attack as he smiled in an eerie manner and said, "Junior brother Zhou Yuan has concealed your abilities very well."
Zhou Yuan played with the wood bracelet, feeling rather happy as he sensed the surging Yimu Qi within it, before he offhandedly replied with a smile, "If junior sect master has any more treasures in the future, do remember to invite me for another rock gambling game."
Upon hearing these words, Su Duan nearly vomited a mouthful of blood.
Zhou Yuan ignored the former as he walked back to the flame rocks. He pointed to the essence flames under numerous greedy gazes, as he said with a wide grin, "Didn't you mention earlier that these essence flames will be gifted to me?"
"Since that is the case, I really have to thank you. You're such a generous person."
Zhou Yuan gave a thumbs up, before keeping all essence flames with a wave of his sleeve. These essence flames were going to be very useful for him, because the Heavenly Sun God Record he practiced was also a fire type Genesis technique.
His Heavenly Sun Flame was still at the initial stage, and absorbing these essence flames would definitely increase its firepower, making it a formidable weapon in his arsenal.
Su Duan felt as if his heart was bleeding when as he watched Zhou Yuan sweep up the essence flames. The combined value of these essence flames were likely over ten million Genesis crystals, not a small sum at all.
Dragon Prince Yuan c1-1251 Page 221
