Chapter Seventy: A Single Peach

Listening to the words of the stone shop owner, the desire burning within Du Jin’s heart intensified.

With wide eyes and a look of eager anticipation, he urged, "Cut it open quickly! I can’t wait to see what kind of treasure is hidden inside!"

However, right at that moment, the previously confident shop owner suddenly grew hesitant.

Stammering slightly, he spoke up, "Esteemed cultivator... are you truly certain you wish to cut open this stone? This is no ordinary piece of stone; its price is by no means low. It requires a full five hundred medium-grade spiritual stones to claim it!"

Hearing this, Du Jin showed not the slightest intention of backing down. At this moment, his mind was entirely consumed by thoughts of the immense wealth and rare treasures that might lie hidden behind this mysterious stone; everything else had ceased to matter.

Without a moment’s hesitation, he reached into his storage pouch, grabbed a large handful of medium-grade spiritual stones, and dumped them onto the ground with a rattling clatter.

"Stop babbling and cut it for me right now!" A trace of impatience laced Du Jin’s voice, as if delaying for even another second would cause him to lose his temper.

Seeing how resolute Du Jin was, a flicker of imperceptible cunning flashed across the shop owner’s eyes.

He rejoiced inwardly: The fish has finally taken the bait! Since the atmosphere has been built up to this point, there is no need to drag it out any further.

With that thought, the shop owner gave a grand wave of his hand and decisively ordered his subordinate cultivators to immediately begin cutting the stone.

Accompanied by a harsh, grating sound of cutting, everyone’s gaze instantly converged upon the stone about to be unveiled.

Time ticked away second by second, and everyone’s heart leaped into their throats, waiting in tense excitement for the final result to be revealed.

At last, the moment the stone was completely split open, everyone was dumbfounded—lying within was nothing more than an utterly ordinary peach! Yes, precisely that kind of completely unremarkable peach that could be found everywhere in the marketplace!

Du Jin stared in disbelief at the unremarkable peach in his hand, his mouth wide open, unable to close it for a long time. After a good while, he finally snapped back to his senses and angrily demanded, "What? This is actually a peach? And such an ordinary peach at that! How could this possibly be worth five hundred medium-grade spiritual stones?!"

"Shop owner, are you intentionally playing games with me?" Du Jin glared at the shop owner with ferocious eyes. At this moment, he felt as though he had been turned into a pitiful monkey being toyed with at will, and the rage in his heart erupted like a volcano, mixed with an indescribable sense of grievance.

Upon hearing this, a trace of imperceptible panic flashed across the shop owner's face, but he quickly regained his composure.

With a fierce expression, he waved his hand to signal the cultivators standing on either side of him. Those two cultivators immediately understood, stepping forward swiftly to surround Du Jin tightly in the center.

"Kid, don't fail to appreciate what's good for you! There are rules for cutting stones here; the sign states it clearly—whatever comes out has nothing to do with us as the merchants, and once goods are sold, all transactions are final!" the shop owner said viciously, attempting to suppress Du Jin's anger with these words.

Yet Du Jin was completely consumed by rage at this moment, incapable of listening to any of this. Trembling all over with fury, his fists clenched tightly, he wished he could charge forward immediately and give the hateful shop owner a thorough beating.

"Very well, you death-seeking wretch! Today I'll let you see what your young master is capable of!" Du Jin roared through clenched teeth. "Didn't you say I have no money? Open your dog eyes and take a good look!" As he spoke, he violently unfastened the storage pouch from his waist and unhesitatingly began pouring out the spiritual stones within onto the ground.

In an instant, uniform spiritual stones of the exact same size fell like a torrential rain, scattering all over the ground and producing crisp, pleasing collision sounds.

The onlookers who had been watching the commotion were instantly drawn in, their eyes widening like copper bells, their mouths agape in astonishment.

"Is this enough? If not, I have more!" Du Jin declared with an arrogant expression, continuously pulling out glowing spiritual stones from his storage pouch without pause.

Piled together, these spiritual stones emitted a dense wave of spiritual energy that left everyone dumbfounded.

Staring defiantly straight at the shop owner, the corners of Du Jin's mouth curled up slightly into a disdainful smile. "Let me tell you, this young master is the eldest young master of the Myriad Nations Chamber of Commerce. Who throughout the entire continent does not know that our Myriad Nations Chamber of Commerce possesses boundless wealth?

"This mere handful of spiritual stones is nothing more than a drop in the ocean to this young master! Quickly bring out all your stones whose contents cannot even be detected, and stop wasting my time!"

His words exploded among the crowd like a thunderclap, instantly sending the cultivators who had been whispering amongst themselves into an uproar.

The Myriad Nations Chamber of Commerce was a colossal entity capable of making the entire realm of immortal cultivation tremble with a single stamp of its foot, let alone the fact that the person before them was the eldest legitimate son of its head!

In a flash, the gazes of numerous cultivators locked onto Du Jin like a pack of starving wolves, as though he were a tender, juicy little lamb openly sauntering in front of the wolf pack.

Among them, however, were both rogue cultivators attempting to take desperate risks with greed and madness flashing in their eyes, as well as clear-headed cultivators who silently weighed the pros and cons.

A cultivator whose mind was not blinded by temporary gain quietly transmitted his voice to a restless companion standing beside him: "Do not act foolishly! Setting aside the fact that Du Jin’s own cultivation base is unfathomable, just consider the powerful family background behind him—how could they not leave behind some formidable trump cards on him to save his life?

"Moreover, as far as I know, as long as thirty years ago, this young master Du was fortunate enough to be favored by the deeply respected Master and accepted as a personal disciple.

"With Master's prestige and methods, who would dare casually provoke his beloved disciple? Think carefully—do people of our status truly possess the qualifications to plot against him?"

These words fell like a basin of icy, bone-chilling water, instantly extinguishing the sparks of impulse that had just ignited within those cultivators. They looked at each other in dismay, their faces filled with terror, secretly rejoicing that they had not acted rashly and committed a grave mistake.

The stone shop owner had initially thought Du Jin was merely a wealthy fool, but good heavens, the young man's background proved far too formidable.

This forced the shop owner to take him seriously.

"Young Master Du, please do not be angry. I can guarantee you that the previous stone was absolutely genuine, but considering that you made your choice in an irrational state, I will return all the spiritual stones you used to cut that stone."

"Shop owner, bring out all your bottom-of-the-barrel stones. Today I am determined to see whether I can unearth a fine treasure!"

Seeing that Du Jin was stubbornly insistent on cutting stones, the shop owner hardened his heart and laid out the stones that he and his men had been unable to appraise onto the open ground before Du Jin.