Chapter 1338: Good Teeth

Heichigu chuckled. "The Serpent clan is truly declining. Do you really think you can strike it rich here by spending a mere 1,000 Yuan Stones? I'm not afraid to tell you, in all these years, even in these Yellow-level rooms, no one has ever found anything from these lowest-grade, cheapest unpolished stones. Only a naive newcomer would be so foolish."

Now that the bet was sealed, he wasn't afraid of them backing out midway. In such a situation, not adding a few taunts would almost diminish the joy of winning.

Yu Yanluo's brows furrowed slightly. Zu'an retorted on her behalf, "Aren't there still two unpolished stones to be opened? What's the rush?"

Heichigu sneered, "Oh, still living in a fantasy, are we?"

Zu'an calmly suggested, "Since you're so certain we won't find anything, why don't we make another bet?"

"Do you even have any Yuan Stones left? Who would bet with you?" Bancha, who was standing nearby, noticed the Lion Min and others watching the scene unfold. Confirming that they indeed wished to teach these Serpent clan members a lesson, he cast aside his reservations and directly jumped in to mock them, thinking this would earn him favor with the Lion clan.

Zu'an frowned slightly. "Alright, let's not bet Yuan Stones. Let's bet something else. If these stones don't reveal anything, I'll eat them right here. Otherwise, you'll eat them. What do you say?"

Yu Yanluo gasped in surprise, quickly tugging his sleeve and whispering, "A'Zu, I'm not certain every single one will yield something."

Although she was highly confident that these two unpolished stones would yield something, she wasn't certain about *every* piece. There was also a chance she had misjudged both, which would be disastrous for her beloved.

Bancha, who had been a little hesitant, saw her anxious expression and immediately became resolute. "Haha, it's a deal! I'll bet with you!"

Heichigu, standing nearby, also revealed a sinister grin. "Count me in."

"A double blessing!" Zu'an smiled, then reassured Yu Yanluo, "Don't worry, my luck has always been excellent."

Seeing his confidence, Yu Yanluo finally felt at ease.

Yan Xuehen, standing by, looked somewhat puzzled. "Even Yu Yanluo isn't completely confident; where does he get such courage? Isn't he afraid of losing and having to eat the stone material later?"

Yun Jianyue snorted. "Compared to him winning, I'd much rather see him lose and witness him eating the stone. What a sight that would be."

He had seen her naked earlier, and she couldn't hit or kill him. Her pent-up fury had nowhere to go, so seeing him humiliated would be a good substitute. Hmph, let this be a lesson from the heavens. Was her body something so easily seen by just anyone?

Yan Xuehen: "..."

"Cut it, cut it quickly!" Heichigu and Bancha incessantly urged.

Shi Rong and Shi Gong also wore excited expressions, waiting to see Zu'an make a fool of himself.

Only Lion Min's expression was somewhat peculiar; he raised his eyebrows as if to say something, but in the end, he swallowed his words.

At this moment, the Jade Garden steward wiped a fine bead of sweat from his forehead. Normally, his demeanor when cutting unpolished stones in the Heaven or Earth-level rooms was as placid as an ancient well. Yet, today, this Yellow-level room was making his blood boil.

He carefully cut open the unpolished stone, but inside, it was still a dull grayish-white. Heichigu and Bancha burst into laughter. "Kid, go on, eat those stones!"

After all, Yu Yanluo was a clan leader and exceptionally beautiful. Even if they were enemies, no one could bear to make such a peerless beauty eat stones. Thus, the task naturally fell to Zu'an.

Zu'an calmly replied, "It's not cut open completely yet. What's your hurry?"

"Still not giving up? It's been cut down to this little bit left..." Bancha's voice trailed off, as he stared at the table in disbelief.

A crystalline light suddenly flashed, and a dense aura of elemental energy dispersed throughout the room.

"This is..." Even the stone-cutting steward was visibly stunned.

The surrounding crowd quickly pressed closer, only to see a grape-sized, translucent Yuan Stone remaining in the very center of the unpolished stone.

"An Earth-grade Yuan Stone!" Someone in the crowd, with sharp eyesight, immediately recognized it.

"This one is of excellent quality; it's worth at least ten standard Earth-grade Yuan Stones."

The steward shook his head. "More than that. This piece, in terms of its color, purity, and the elemental energy it contains, is truly superior. The only pity is its small size, but it's still worth twenty standard Earth-grade Yuan Stones."

Zu'an had been in this world for a considerable time now and had managed to clarify some basic common sense about it.

In this world, one Earth-grade Yuan Stone was equivalent to one hundred ordinary Yuan Stones. Yuan Stones typically circulated among cultivators, while the majority of the world's population still used gold and silver.

Back at Brightmoon Academy, he had heard Wei Suo say that an ordinary Yuan Stone could fetch ten taels of gold on the black market, but that information wasn't entirely accurate.

Normally, one Yuan Stone was equivalent to one tael of gold. Of course, even with one tael of gold, you might not necessarily be able to buy a Yuan Stone, as few cultivators were willing to sell their cultivation resources unless they were truly strapped for cash.

Meanwhile, one Heaven-grade Yuan Stone was equivalent to one thousand Earth-grade Yuan Stones. The higher the grade, the more precious and beneficial it was to cultivators.

As for Yuan Stones of Immortal-grade and above, there was no standard exchange rate; they were usually bartered or sold at auctions to the highest bidder.

Converting it, this grape-sized item was worth two thousand Yuan Stones.

Zu'an, with a mischievous expression, extended his hand towards everyone. "My apologies, everyone, my luck is a bit too good today. As per our agreement, each of you owes me two thousand Yuan Stones."

The surrounding crowd wore expressions as if they had just seen a ghost. They never expected their opponents to actually find something, encountering such an incredibly low probability.

Seeing no one make a move, Zu'an chuckled, "What, are you all trying to welch on the bet?"

At this, Shi Rong snorted. "You're so unworldly. A mere two thousand Yuan Stones? Do you think a prince like me would renege on such a small amount?"

With that, he pulled a pouch from his robes and tossed it over.

Shi Gong also threw a pouch over, looking disgruntled.

Only Lion Min remained calm when handing over his Yuan Stones.

After receiving the pouch, Zu'an didn't put it away immediately. Instead, he opened it and began counting the Yuan Stones one by one.

Shi Rong and Shi Gong cried out in exasperation. "What do you mean by this? Do you think we would stoop to cheating you?"

Rage value from Shi Rong: 444,444,444...

Rage value from Shi Gong: 444,444,444...

"You never know," Zu'an replied, without lifting his head as he continued counting the Yuan Stones.

The surrounding crowd: "..."

How utterly shameless this guy is.

With the rage values rapidly increasing in the background, Zu'an's smile grew even wider.

Seeing his triumphant smile, the group felt a suffocating tightness in their chests.

After finishing counting, Zu'an handed the Yuan Stones to Xingnu, who stood beside him, then urged the others to make their payments.

The others were utterly depressed, but since even the Lion clan had led the way, they had no choice but to accept their loss.

Two thousand Yuan Stones was no small sum for those who frequented the Yellow-level rooms. Some even had to dig deep into most of their savings, regretting intensely why they had decided to join in on the fun.

After this round, Zu'an received tens of thousands of Yuan Stones in total, all of which he handed over to Xingnu.

Yu Yanluo's return to the Serpent clan this time had been too hasty, leaving her essentially a commander without troops. This income would serve perfectly to subsidize her household expenses.

Zu'an finally approached Bancha and Heichigu. "Thank you both for the Yuan Stones you just gave. Otherwise, how could we have afforded these unpolished stones to unearth such a treasure?"

The two were so furious they nearly vomited blood. It was as if they had paid money to slap themselves in the face, and then lost a huge amount on top of that. If they had known this would happen, they wouldn't have acted so boldly earlier.

Bancha glared at Heichigu resentfully. If it weren't for him, he wouldn't have agreed to this bet. Two thousand Yuan Stones was already a painful loss for him.

However, with so many eyes on him, he couldn't go back on his word. He reluctantly handed over the payment.

This time, Zu'an didn't count the Yuan Stones himself, entrusting Xingnu to do it. He had another important matter. "Have you two forgotten something else?"

As he spoke, he pointed to the stone material on the table.

The surrounding people's spirits lifted. Although paying two thousand Yuan Stones was painful, witnessing two important figures eating stone material on the spot felt like a small return on their investment.

Even Shi Gong, Shi Rong, and others who held grudges against Zu'an now looked on with keen interest. After all, they had never witnessed such an event before.

Bancha and Heichigu's faces immediately turned beet red. Just moments ago, they had hoped to see the other party make a fool of themselves, but now everyone was looking at *them* with amusement.

The two wanted to simply walk away, but the Jade Garden steward seemed to intentionally or unintentionally block the path to the exit. Coupled with the ambiguous attitudes of the Lion clan princes, Bancha finally hardened his resolve. "Fine, I'll eat it! Do you think I'm afraid of you?"

With that, he picked up the stone material from the table and shoved it directly into his mouth. A crunching sound resonated as the hard stone was instantly ground into powder.

Zu'an secretly clicked his tongue in amazement. From watching nature documentaries in his past life, he knew that most predators ate meat, but hyenas could chew bones into fragments. He never expected the teeth of the Hyena clan in this world to be so formidable.

Before long, he swallowed the stone powder in his mouth, then pointed to the remaining half and said to Heichigu, "Don't just stare at me; this is your half."

Heichigu: "..."

He snorted, then picked up the remaining half of the stone material and bit into it directly. The stone shattered piece by piece as if it were an ice pop.

The surrounding crowd murmured amongst themselves, "No wonder the Blacktooth clan takes 'Tooth' as their family name; their dental prowess is truly extraordinary."

"Are you satisfied now?" After finishing, Heichigu felt utterly humiliated and turned to leave.

Zu'an quickly called out to him. "Don't rush; there's still one stone that hasn't been opened yet."