Chapter 484: Gambling With Stones

Although Chen Jin was somewhat embarrassed, he was in a situation where he could not use his top-grade spirit stones so he had no choice but to borrow them from Fang Bin. After all, he did have top grade spirit stones. The nuclear fission converter in Haierfa only produced top grade spirit stones. He would give more of the treasures won from gambling to Fang Bin.

“Yes, of course, I have spirit stones. Because I brought you to join the sect and you’ve also been successfully inducted, I received two lower grade spirit stones as a bonus. Hehe, I’ll give them to you,” Fang Bin said and threw the spirit stones to Chen Jin. Anyway, just two lower grade spirit stones wouldn’t have much of an impact even if he used it for his cultivation, he might as well give them to Brother Chen to try his luck.

Chen Jin caught the spirit stones. Although the spirit stones were not a big deal for Chen Jin, he was still moved. After all, the uses that Fang Bin could get out of them were still rather significant. Therefore, he was emotional and raised his hand and said, “Let’s go.”

Where there were people, there was a scene that existed independently of official laws and customs (Jianghu). Although they were in the sect, there were still various categories of entertainment. After all, this was a big sect with hundreds of thousands of people cultivating. If everyone cultivated in seclusion, then this sect would not have a normal existence. It was like how Mu Yunhua had originally led the surviving population of Haierfa. She only allowed them to learn mathematics and the sciences. There was not one activity that belonged to culture, recreation, etc. Maladies soon appeared within society. If not for Chen Jin’s guidance, the survivors of Haierfa would be in big trouble sooner or later.

Soon, the two arrived at the Memorial Market. Although it was only one of the many squares built by the sect in the districts of foreign disciples, its scale could be considered as very large. They saw two stone lions about one to two zhang (three to six meters) in height on the left and right of the entrance to the market. The lions were exquisitely carved. It made one unconsciously feel a sense of magnificence and awe. But for Chen Jin, even if a real lion came back to life from death in front of his eyes, he would not find it scary. To say nothing of these stone lions. The great leader had said this before–All reactionaries were paper tigers. Maybe referring to them as stone lions wouldn’t be too far off the mark too.

Looking at the plaque above the stone lions, there were two large gold-rimmed characters written on it “Memorial Market.” The characters appeared dazzling under the reflection of the sun.

When they walked into the market, they saw many booths on both sides of the market, leaving only a narrow passage in the middle. The bustle in the passage made it very crowded.

“Come take a look, this three-year-old 100-leaf flower is only selling for one spirit stone.”

“Boss, look, all your rare books have some damaged portions, can’t you sell them cheaper? After all, I can’t use them to cultivate any way, I’ll only be using them as a reference.”

“A grade one Yellow Dragon Elixir that can be used to improve your cultivation; it costs 10 spirit stones, anybody interested?”

The two have not even come upon the sellers, but their voices could already be heard. All kinds of voices filled Chen Jin’s ears; some were hawking their wares and some were bargaining. “Although they’re cultivators, the flavor of their life’s activities are just like mortals.”

Chen Jin and Yang Bin walked through the market and saw a dizzying host of things that they had never seen before. Even though Chen Jin had been in the big shopping malls on earth, the dazzling lineup of items was too much for his eyes to process. His vision was pulled left and right, it was as if he was a country bumpkin who had never seen the world.

The two continued further into the market, and gradually the number of booths lessened. Surrounding passers-by also lessened. However, the number of shops increased and the cultivation level of the passers-by were also higher. They were the only two with their Qi cultivation at the fourth level or thereabouts. Soon enough, under Fang Bin’s lead, they had arrived at the front of a shop.

The shop was very tall and large. In such a place like the Memorial Market where every inch of space was worth its weight in gold, the rental costs of such a huge store must be astronomical. Chen Jin had opened a gold and jewelry store before, so he, of course, knew that the higher the rent, the higher the profits. It seemed that those who were able to purchase at this store would not be your average Joe.

Chen Jin had just arrived at the entrance when a maid came to greet him, “Hello, I am the shopping guide here, let me show you around.” Although she could tell that the two men’s cultivation was not high, she still very politely welcomed them into the shop. But that was all. Seeing how the two men were looking left and right, they appeared to be a pair of country bumpkins, hence she casually showed them around before dismissing herself.

“Heh heh,” Chen Jin secretly laughed. It was the first time that he treated as a poor man. He was so rich that he could buy a country. Her judgment was terrible.

The shops were large. There was a hall for every category of items. There was a medicinal hall that sold elixirs. There was a weapons hall that sold weapons. Chen Jin strolled around through the twists and turns and finally arrived at the gambling hall.

Surveying the hall, all he saw were stones. There were more to these stones than the eye could see. They were gemstones that had been panned from rivers or ruins. The local storage technology was to employ an array of spell formation to seal all items in the stone and then stick a label on it. However, as time went on, the items that had been preserved might be lost due to various reasons or the labels might have either rotted away or fallen off. The gemstones had also been mixed with countless stones and without any indication as to whether the gemstones were real storage stones or fake. After many years, these stones were found and put into the market for sale. So their appearances looked just like ordinary stones. Only when it had been ground and cut apart would they know what was inside.

Chen Jin viewed the items broadly, all kinds of large and small stones filled his vision. Some stones were messily piled together, regardless of size, while some were placed on the counter with clear price tags.

“‘One piece of spirit stone for one item’, let’s go to that side,” said Chen Jin as he pointed to a messy pile of stones.

The two walked over. Fang Bin looked at the chaotic pile of stones and couldn’t help but twitch his lips. This was motherfucking expensive. A gemstone cost one spirit stone. The pile of stones with varying sizes was made up of at least tens of thousands of stones. If this entire pile was sold, it would mean earnings of about tens of thousands of spirit stones. The owner of this shop owner must be making a windfall.

While Fang Bin was still thinking nonsense in his brain, Chen Jin had already started up his super-strong x-ray vision through the chip in his brain. In his eyes, these stones held no more secrets. Most of them were ordinary stones without any value. Only a minority could be seen clearly but he could tell that most were worthless. There were only a dozen or so that were obscured by spiritual energy, hence he could not “see” them very clearly, but he estimated that those were the valuable ones. Only one or two of the dozen had an intense spiritual energy. Whatever was sealed in the stone could not be seen by Chen Jin even with his super x-ray vision. This was a good thing with great value.

Chen Jin smiled slightly, he found one of the stones and lifted it. It seemed that this would be his first “bucket of gold” since his arrival in the immortal world.

He went to the front desk and paid the money. Chen Jin handed the stone over to the professional stone-cutting master. The people next to them got curious when they saw two youths coming to try their luck with the stones. They saw the raw stone in their hands and couldn’t help but shake their heads. The condition of the stone looked terrible. A much older disciple even gave them a dressing down, “You’re so young, you should be cultivating properly, not learn from others to come to the gambling hall and try your luck with the stones. What kind of shitty stone did you even choose.”

Chen Jin had witnessed much mockery and ridicule so he was just going to ignore it. Seeing how Chen Jin had ignored him, this person felt that he had lost face, he said “Hmph, you’re young but your attitude is big. Don’t you hear that I’m talking to you?”

“Stupid cunt,” Chen Jin cursed lightly and wanted to continue to ignore him. Who knew that this person’s ear was so sensitive, “What did you say? You’ve got guts. I’m Jia Xinlin and you dare to curse even me? Are you looking to die?” As he spoke, his Qi cultivation which was at a consummate level surged forward.

Seeing that something was going on, the surrounding people raised their heads and looked towards Jia Xinlin. All of a sudden whispers abounded.

“Who offended him? His Qi cultivation is at a consummate level.”

“I heard that Jia Xinlin’s cultivation has stagnated precisely because he is addicted to gambling with stones. He has never been able to break through the consummate level and successfully built his foundation. But he still has a pretty good feel for the stones. After all, he has been gambling with the stones for many years”

The old man’s repeated provocations for no rhyme or reason pissed Chen Jin off, “I called you a stupid cunt, you’re so old, are you deaf too?”