Immortal of the Nine Realms

Fang Chen had been a cultivator for a little over a year now, and he had never even heard anyone talk about mid-grade spirit stones, let alone see one.

The spirit stones that were widespread were the low-grade ones, and they were the ones used to settle transactions in markets.

And even when it came to dial cultivation, Golden Core cultivators only used low-grade spirit stones.

Initially, Fang Chen hadn’t known much about mid-grade spirit stones, but he had been flipping through Mirror of the Universe a few days ago when he came across an introduction to them. That was when he learned that the difference between mid-grade and low-grade spirit stones wasn’t merely about the amount of spiritual energy they contained. It could be said that they were entirely different cultivation resources!

Mid-grade spirit stones contained denser and purer spiritual energy, providing a much stronger effect on cultivation level advancement than low-grade spirit stones. Sometimes, when Golden Core cultivators encountered a bottleneck in their cultivation, low-grade spirit stones would prove to be of no help at all, but when a mid-grade spirit stone was used instead, it could help them break past that bottleneck. Thus, mid-grade spirit stones were a very precious cultivation resource. There was almost no one who would exchange mid-grade spirit stones for low-grade ones. A single standard-sized mid-grade spirit stone could be worth hundreds or even thousands of low-grade spirit stones, depending on the circumstances.

Seeing that Fang Chen had gone motionless, Fang Hao and the others immediately showed a look of schadenfreude.

Fang Hao laughed and said, "What’s the use of a blind person coming to the Immortal Origin District? What can he do? Listen to the sound of spirit stones tapping against one another?"

Several juniors laughed along with him.

The shop attendant was perplexed; clearly, Fang Chen and Fang Hao had come together, but they didn’t seem to be on good terms.

When Fang Jue, who had been talking to his acquaintance, heard that, he frowned and turned to Fang Hao. "Fang Hao, what are you saying?”

"Big Brother, I think it’s better for him if he leaves. He's just wasting his time here at Immortal Origin District," said Fang Hao.

Fang Jue's expression darkened. Just as he was about to speak, he noticed that Fang Chen had begun walking toward a piece of Immortal Origin Stone placed at the corner of the counter.

This piece of Immortal Origin Stone seemed to have been left there for many years, as it was covered in a layer of dust.

Fang Chen picked up the Immortal Origin Stone and gently tapped it a few times against his ear. Soon after, he asked, "How much for this piece of Immortal Origin Stone?"

Everyone was stunned. Was he really identifying stones by sound? Did he think he was picking melons?

"Heh, trying to act all mysterious…" muttered Fang Yun disdainfully.

Fang Hao and the others exchanged looks before breaking into laughter.

The shop attendant hurriedly stepped forward to help Fang Chen. "Young master, this piece of Immortal Origin Stone is priced at one low-grade spirit stone.”

"I'll take it," said Fang Chen, nodding lightly. He took out a spirit stone and handed it to the attendant.

"Buying this piece of Immortal Origin Stone is purely a waste of spirit stones."

"Its surface lacks any luster, and the spiritual energy it emits is intermittent. And look at those green veins; they're not even pure, with black mixed in the green."

"He must be a newbie. He’s spending a little money for fun."

The other customers in the shop started to talk among themselves.

Fang Jue walked to Fang Chen’s side and looked at the Immortal Origin Stone in his hand, then smiled and said, "This piece of Immortal Origin Stone has been here for many years. Since it isn’t very appealing, no one has been willing to buy it. But it’s not expensive, just a single spirit stone, so it isn’t a bad buy if it’s just for fun.”

The next moment, the attendant brought in new merchandise, and Fang Jue excused himself to study the new items with the other customers.

"Senior Sister, I've already asked someone to help us investigate Senior Brother Liu’s whereabouts, so don't worry too much. It's been a few months since we last visited the Immortal Origin District, so let’s have a little fun today."

"I've told you several times that we should come to the Immortal Origin District less often; this place is dangerous."

"I'm just looking around. I won't buy anything."

When Fang Chen heard that familiar voice outside, he smiled lightly. Tucking away the Immortal Origin Stone, he walked out of the store.

Fang Yun and Fang Hao had no good feelings toward Fang Chen to begin with, so when they noticed him leaving the store, they didn’t bother telling him to stay. They didn’t even inform Fang Jue, who was busy inspecting the new Immortal Origin stones, that Fang Chen was leaving.

Xia Ji was squatting in front of a roadside stall outside, playing with a fist-sized Immortal Origin Stone in his hands.

Wu Ruochou was standing by his side, looking somewhat helpless.

“Are you done yet? Are you going to buy it or not?! Stop touching it all around if you aren’t going to buy it" yelled the stall owner harshly to Xia Ji.

Xia Ji’s brow furrowed slightly. "Is this how you do business?”

The stall owner sneered. "I don't want your business. Get lost."

It suddenly crossed Xia Ji’s mind that this stall owner was probably affiliated with the Jue Family.

"Senior Sister, it seems Jue Wudi's lackeys are everywhere. Let's look elsewhere," said Xia Ji with a smile, standing up.

Wu Ruochou frowned, and she said to the stall owner, "Your mouth is quite dirty. Apologize to my junior brother right this instant."

The stall owner was taken aback when he saw her all worked up. A little intimidated, he said, "This has nothing to do with you, Young Lady Wu. You'd best not step into this mire.”

A cultivator at the 12th stage of the Qi Refining Realm like Wu Ruochou was not someone a small merchant could afford to offend.

"Let's just go, Senior Sister," said Xia Ji.

Wu Ruochou's voice was calm and steady as she stared the merchant in the eye. “Apologize."

Xia Ji sighed internally and turned to the stall owner. "Apologize already. Stop wasting my time.”

The stall owner's face turned ashen, and after a long silence, he reluctantly muttered, "Sorry."

Wu Ruochou's face eased.

Just as the two were about to leave, they happened to notice Fang Chen coming over.

"Fang Da, what brings you here?" asked Xia Ji in surprise.

"I came with a few members of the Fang family to join the festivities. I overheard you two’s voices so I came," said Fang Chen with a smile.

It had been several days since Fang Chen had last seen Xia Ji.

After Xia Ji had consumed the ten Spirit Essence Pills he had bought, he jumped straight from the fourth stage of Qi Refining to the fifth stageju, and he wasn’t even far from reaching the sixth stage too.

"What a coincidence,” said Xia Ji with a chuckle. “Well then. Let's walk around Immortal Origin District together and see how our luck fares today.

Wu Ruochu looked at Fang Chen. "You should give him some advice.… Immortal Origin District is a place where people get scammed. Many cultivators have gone mad here after losing everything they own.”

Fang Chen smiled. "Xia Ji doesn't gamble; he just likes to join in on the excitement and spend a little money for fun. He wouldn’t throw all his spirit stones away and go mad like those people."

Xia Ji couldn't help but cheer, "You’re still the one who knows me best, Fang Da!”

Wu Ruochou was momentarily taken aback, her expression turning somewhat peculiar.

The three of them began to stroll through the area. Along the way, whenever they stopped, Fang Chen would project his soul to inspect the surrounding Immortal Origin Stones.

Fang Chen discovered that whenever he concentrated fully, he could see through the Immortal Origin Stones and learn everything about them. The only downside was that it would cause him to exhaust a tenth of his soul energy, which meant that he could only inspect up to ten Immortal Origin Stones at maximum.

Fang Chen couldn’t recover his soul energy as fast as he could recover his spiritual energy, so he couldn’t use this ability without restraint.

Given that not every Immortal Origin Stone might be of sufficient value, he couldn't inspect them however he liked.

"Junior brother, you've already bought three Immortal Origin Stones and spent thirty low-grade spirit stones. Don't buy any more of them,” Wu Ruochou said to Xia Ji, reminding him.

Seeing thirty low-grade spirit stones go to waste was already a painful sight for her.

Xia Ji quickly nodded in agreement. “Alright, I won't buy any more today."

"Xia Ji, are you really so free that you can buy Immortal Origin Stones? Have you made up your mind to apologize to Brother Jue or not?" said a new voice.

A group of young men had appeared next to the stall the three were standing at. The speaker was Lin Yu.

"It's you guys again. What a bunch of annoying flies," sighed Xia Ji in resignation. "Why don't you just leave us alone?"

The expressions of Lin Yu and the others changed slightly, showing a hint of anger.

One of them glanced at Fang Chen and whispered something to Lin Yu.

Lin Yu's eyes flickered with a trace of disdain as he focused on Xia Ji. "Since you like gambling on stones so much, how about betting with me? If you lose, you'll have to kneel and kowtow all the way from here to the doorstep of the Jue family and apologize to Brother Jue."

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