26. A Big Spender on Stone Gambling?
Although she cultivated a demonic art, as long as she practiced it correctly, she wouldn’t become some evil cultivator who sought cauldrons, young boys, or innocent maidens.
Now, with proper cultivation, she could attempt to break through the Foundation Establishment bottleneck.
However, Gong Yiling soon discovered a problem.
The inn wasn’t a place where spiritual energy converged. Almost all the spiritual energy here was being absorbed by someone else’s cultivation.
That someone was Qiu Shui, in the next room.
As an EX-rank cultivation technique, the Cloud Rainbow Heavenly Sound Technique was absorbing all the spiritual energy in the room and drawing in more from the earth’s meridians.
If she stayed here, she wouldn’t even get a sip of the soup.
“This Qiu Shui…”
Realizing that Qiu Shui hadn’t followed her instructions to sleep and was secretly cultivating again, Miss Gong smiled wryly, though she felt helpless.
She jumped out of bed, patted her clothes, and prepared to go out again.
Since staying here would only bore her to sleep, Gong Yiling decided to improve her strength as a master.
The best way was to buy some spirit stones.
Spirit stones, the second form of currency besides silver, weren’t just for show.
A single low-grade spirit stone could be exchanged for three thousand taels of silver at a bank. Their value lay in providing natural spiritual energy, which cultivators could convert into true essence.
There were three ways to obtain spirit stones in a city: buying them directly from spirit stone merchants, exchanging silver for them at a bank, or trying your luck at a stone gambling shop.
The banks always had a shortage of spirit stones, only allowing certain partners to exchange currency. Spirit stone merchants often inflated their prices.
As for stone gambling, it was all about luck.
After being unsurprisingly rejected by the bank, Miss Gong stood at a crossroads.
Where to go?
She still had over three hundred thousand taels of silver, enough to exchange for over a hundred low-grade spirit stones. With her current strength, these stones would last her a while.
But…
She remembered the feather broom.
The Spirit Phoenix Broom was a money pit.
In the book, the man who found it had simply tossed it into his warehouse.
That warehouse originally contained thousands of low-grade spirit stones and a few high-grade ones he had obtained by chance.
One day, when he went to retrieve some spirit stones, he found they had all turned into depleted rocks.
The Spirit Phoenix Broom had devoured all their energy.
After that, he spent an unknown amount of money, finally feeding the broom until it couldn’t absorb any more spirit stones, summoning a Heavenly Venerable-level Spirit Phoenix.
Although no one knew the exact amount he spent…
By the time he summoned the Phoenix, he had gone from wealthy to penniless, having sold over eighty percent of his assets.
So, even if she obtained the broom, it wasn’t something she could easily afford. Her three hundred thousand taels…
Would be a drop in the bucket.
“Well… considering my luck with disciples, I shouldn’t be too unlucky with stone gambling.”
Gong Yiling muttered, crossing her arms, her eyes firming with resolve.
A gamble could turn a bicycle into a motorcycle. With three hundred thousand taels as a safety net, she wasn’t afraid of—
In the end, Miss Gong exchanged three hundred thousand taels for sixty low-grade spirit stones and entered the stone gambling shop with the remaining tens of thousands.
Ahem, getting carried away was easy, but she didn’t have enough money for that now.
As soon as she entered the shop, the attendant, seeing her elegant attire and demeanor, rushed forward with a flattering smile.
“Immortal Master, are you here to pick a few stones?”
It was like a scene from a television drama, with a gaudily dressed woman at the entrance of a brothel calling out, “Come in and play, Master!”
The attendant’s enthusiasm stemmed from the assumption that she was a wealthy young master who enjoyed spending money.
But unfortunately for him, she was here to earn spirit stones, not spend them.
“Yes.”
Nodding casually, Gong Yiling adopted an air of nonchalance. “Just give me a random one.”
“Right away!”
Based on her understanding of such shops, when they encountered a fat sheep, they would first give them a taste of success.
After the sheep was hooked, it was the shop’s turn to profit.
Therefore, Gong Yiling didn’t need to choose herself. She could simply sit back, sip her tea, and enjoy the thrill of gambling.
The attendant quickly brought a stone, skillfully cut it open with a specialized tool, revealing a faint purple glow.
“It’s a low-grade spirit stone! Immortal Master, your luck is amazing!”
The attendant’s insincere smile was impeccable. An ordinary young master would have been fooled.
But Gong Yiling wasn’t ordinary.
She even considered grabbing the stone and running.
The cost of the raw stone was less than a fifth of the value of a low-grade spirit stone.
Pure profit.
Suppressing the urge to flee, Miss Gong maintained a cold demeanor. “It’s just a low-grade spirit stone. What’s so special about that?”
Hearing this, the attendant was delighted.
This young master was clearly a big spender.
“Immortal Master, we recently received a new batch of raw stones. Would you like to…?”
“Sure.”
Usually, this next batch wouldn’t contain anything good.
But Gong Yiling was playing a psychological game with the shopkeeper, not wanting to reveal her intentions too early.
When the shopkeeper presented the new batch of stones, varying in size and shape, Gong Yiling stood up and picked up the largest one.
She had to play the part. This stone was what she would… huh?
Normally, these raw stones were covered in a layer of useless ore that blocked all spiritual energy perception, hence the existence of stone gambling.
But…
When Gong Yiling picked up the stone, she noticed something strange.
The spiritual energy within the stone was passing through the useless ore and being absorbed by her.
Could it be…?
System, can I check the details of the Blood Orchid Soul Devouring Art?
“Blood Orchid Soul Devouring Art: The bloodline inheritance technique of the Blood Orchid Palace. Can temporarily absorb a large amount of spiritual energy within a wide area, forcibly increasing cultivation. This effect can be used passively, absorbing usable spiritual energy from touched objects, but is ineffective against spiritual artifacts.”
…That worked too?
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