Chapter 2424: Seven-Colored Coral Tree
A streak of blood-red blood fiend qi surged from Zhang Ruochen's palm, swirling around the gambling table once before striking the cracked warhammer. Immediately, the hammer emitted a rustling sound.
The warhammer turned into dust and sand, scattering across the floor.
At the very center of the hammer, however, an irregular black crystal flew out and landed in Zhang Ruochen's palm.
A surprised voice rang out: "The warhammer wasn't completely corroded."
"A monarch sacred artifact was corroded into dust, yet this remains intact? It must be a remarkable treasure."
...
All the cultivators' gazes converged on the black crystal.
It was about the size of a walnut, crystalline yet opaque, unremarkable, with no powerful aura emanating from it.
But when Zhang Ruochen infused a wisp of blood fiend qi into it, a formidable dark force surged from within the black crystal. The shockwave swept in all directions, forcing everyone to stagger backward.
Someone exclaimed in shock, "A dark divine crystal! It's a divine power crystal refined by a god who cultivates the path of darkness."
"The value of a divine crystal is generally ten times that of a divine stone. Darkness is an eternal path, so a dark divine crystal should be worth even more. In my opinion, this crystal can sell for at least fifteen divine stones."
Cang Jie had fully recovered, scrambling up from the ground, ecstatic. "What? Fifteen divine stones? That's fifteen billion sacred stones? Haha! I won! I won!"
"Mine, they're all mine—don't you move! I'm talking to you, don't move! Every chip on the table is mine."
Cang Jie spread his arms wide, sweeping the red crystal cards in front of him.
There were seventy-seven in total.
That was equivalent to seventy-seven billion sacred stones.
After deducting his own principal of three billion, the thirty billion paid to the Goddess Twelve Pavilions, and the seventy-seven million table fee, he had netted over sixteen billion sacred stones.
Winning that many sacred stones in a single round was comparable to most of the wealth he had accumulated over centuries.
Awesome!
Cang Jie felt as if his sacred soul was about to leave his body, laughing uncontrollably. With the wealth he now possessed, he could sustain his cultivation all the way to the Great Saint realm.
Remembering the senior was still nearby, Cang Jie immediately walked over, bowed respectfully, and said, "Thank you for your guidance, Senior."
"Take it, catch."
Zhang Ruochen tossed the dark divine crystal over.
Cang Jie caught it, stunned, and said frantically, "No, no, I can't accept this divine crystal. It was you who won it, Senior."
The wealth value of a dark divine crystal was enormous, comparable to the entire net worth of an Immortal Realm Great Saint. Cang Jie couldn't imagine owning it.
A gluttonous beast able to restrain its own greed—Zhang Ruochen saw him in a new light and thought to himself that perhaps some important tasks could be entrusted to him.
"You won it, so it's yours," Zhang Ruochen said.
Cang Jie's hands trembled. He thought to himself that even for a Thousand Questions Realm Great Saint, a dark divine crystal was no small fortune. The senior truly was a master—admirable, truly admirable.
But then he reconsidered: the senior had casually won a dark divine crystal with a single move. With the senior's insight, a stroll through this gambling city would probably fill his pockets with divine stones.
Incomparable, truly incomparable.
"Boom."
From above the gambling city came an explosive uproar.
A Stone Clan cultivator came clattering down the stairs, shaking the entire gambling city. He was brimming with excitement and shouted, "Everyone, go take a look! A high-stakes gamble, happening upstairs!"
"Qianchi Jun, what high-stakes gamble has you so worked up?"
The Stone Clan cultivator named Qianchi Jun said, "It's the Seven-Colored Coral Tree, one of the two great treasures of the Artifact Gambling City!"
"Boom!"
The cultivators on the third floor of the gambling city erupted.
Among saint realm cultivators, those fond of gambling were not many.
But those who were had mostly heard of the legend of the Goddess Twelve Pavilions' Seven-Colored Coral Tree.
It was said that the minimum bet was a thousand divine stones.
Without a net worth of ten thousand divine stones, one wouldn't dare to get involved lightly.
Even gods below the Thousand Questions Realm could hardly qualify to join, unless they had their own mines like Wujiang.
"Let's go, let's see."
"Those daring to join the gamble must be big shots."
"I'm more curious about the true value of the Seven-Colored Coral Tree. I've heard that under ideal conditions, its value is incalculable in divine stones."
...
Cultivators from the first, second, and third floors all surged toward the top of the castle, clogging the stairwell.
Zhang Ruochen remained calm, not caught up in the frenzy.
Cang Jie was very interested, as excited as the others, and asked, "Senior, don't you want to go see?"
"Do you want to go?" Zhang Ruochen asked.
Cang Jie said, "Of course, I want to see the spectacle."
"Then let's go together."
A formless spatial force surged from Zhang Ruochen's fingertip, enveloping him and Cang Jie. Instantly, their bodies shrank into two specks of light, passing through the congested stairwell and flying straight to the top of the castle.
As they passed through the light membrane at the entrance, a powerful divine might descended upon Zhang Ruochen and Cang Jie.
If Zhang Ruochen hadn't protected Cang Jie, the gluttonous beast would have been crushed to the ground.
No wonder all the cultivators wanting to watch were stuck in the stairwell. Those without sufficient strength couldn't withstand the divine might and couldn't enter the top floor's gate.
The divine might emanated from the Seven-Colored Coral Tree.
The space at the top of the castle was not large, about eight zhang long and six zhang wide. The walls on all four sides were made of specially crafted crystal, offering a view of most of the Yushan Palace.
In the gambling hall, besides Zhang Ruochen and Cang Jie, there were only twenty-five cultivators, all at least Hundred Shackles Realm Great Saints.
The host of this gamble was the city lord of the Artifact Gambling City, Ye Xiao, a middle-aged male Great Saint of the Hundred Shackles Realm. He didn't belong to any of the ten clans but came from a small clan on the edge of the Hell Realm, the Yaksha Clan.
All clans below the ten were small clans.
The Yaksha Clan had many members and was one of the strongest among thousands of small clans. In the distant past, they had once been one of the ten clans.
There were nine participants in the gamble.
Zhang Ruochen scanned them. Six were trying to take a chance, betting a thousand divine stones each.
Only three were truly gambling heavily.
Sitting on the north side of the gambling table was a Death Clan powerhouse, with an aged face and deep-set eyes, exuding an extremely thick death aura. Even though he deliberately restrained it, no onlooker dared approach him.
His bet had already reached 140,000 divine stones.
Seeing this old man, Cang Jie's expression changed, and he couldn't help exclaiming, "The Gambling God."
"A god?"
Zhang Ruochen looked puzzled. Although that Death Clan powerhouse was formidable, he could vaguely sense his cultivation level, which clearly hadn't reached the divine realm.
Not even a false god.
Cang Jie knew that with his spiritual power, transmitting sound in front of these big shots was useless, so he lowered his voice with reverence, "Legend has it that the Gambling God is probably the only being in the entire Hell Realm who can be called a god without being one. They say he once displayed great prowess at the main building of the Goddess Twelve Pavilions, dominated the gambling cities run by the Nether Hall and the Qiankun Yiqi Hall, and even won against a god, almost never losing. The wealth the Gambling God possesses might surpass even that of a god."
To all gamblers, the Gambling God was an object of worship, deeply revered.
"Won against a god—he must have real skill," Zhang Ruochen thought to himself.
Sitting on the east side of the table was a cultivator in a black robe, with a gaseous black veil covering their form and face, making it impossible to tell their gender or race.
Even their exposed hands were etched with illusion patterns.
With the slightest movement, their hands produced a dozen afterimages.
Zhang Ruochen noticed that the black veil on that person, though gaseous, was a real treasure that could block spiritual power detection and seemed to have other uses.
Gaseous treasures were extremely rare.
Using his Truth Heart, Zhang Ruochen vaguely sensed that this person's body was cold, not like a flesh-and-blood being, more like a Stone Clan, Ghost Clan, Corpse Clan, or Bone Clan member.
Sitting on the west side was Yan Zhexian.
She wore a talisman robe that could change her form and face, densely covered with talisman patterns, mysterious and eerie. If Zhang Ruochen hadn't recognized her and known her unique aura, he wouldn't have seen through her identity.
Behind Yan Zhexian stood two deeply cultivated Great Saints.
"As expected of the Yama Clan's genius talisman master, she even brought two Hundred Shackles Realm Great Saints as attendants when visiting the Goddess Twelve Pavilions," Zhang Ruochen said.
Attendants, not protectors.
Zhang Ruochen believed that given Yan Zhexian's favored status in the Yama Clan and her pregnancy, she must be carrying protective treasures like the War God Belt.
"Pregnant, she should be resting well in the clan instead of running around. Coming to the Goddess Twelve Pavilions is one thing, but when did this Miss Yan develop a taste for gambling? Gambling is bad!" Zhang Ruochen's brow furrowed involuntarily.
Cang Jie nudged Zhang Ruochen with his bucket-thick wrist and whispered, "Senior, do you feel that the time and space here have become a bit different?"
As a master of time and space, did Zhang Ruochen need him to point that out?
This gambling hall, seemingly only eight zhang long and six zhang wide, actually required at least two li to walk from the wall to the foot of the gambling table.
The Seven-Colored Coral Tree had stretched the space.
The closer one got to it, the more the space was stretched.
The flow of time was also chaotic, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, with time imprints forming a small stream flowing through the hall.
"Is it a time-space treasure?"
Zhang Ruochen was puzzled and asked Cang Jie, "What's the origin of this Seven-Colored Coral Tree?"
Cang Jie shook his head. "How would a small fry like me know the origin of a treasure of this level? I've only heard it was dug up from an ancient god's tomb in Haishi Xingwu."
"It's said that the Nether Hall's hall master once wanted to break its seal to see if it was an intact rare treasure, but after learning the identity of the ancient god tomb's owner, he gave up."
"Who was the tomb owner?" Zhang Ruochen asked.
Cang Jie shook his head, indicating he didn't know.
Yan Zhexian turned her gaze over and said coldly, "What's all this chattering? Are you two annoying?"
Cang Jie was intimidated by the cold light in Yan Zhexian's eyes and quickly hid behind Zhang Ruochen.
After all, as a Saint King, being able to speak in a gathering of top-tier Great Saints was already impressive.
Zhang Ruochen crossed his arms, showing no fear, and walked over slowly. Ignoring her glare, he went behind her, glanced at the chips on the table, and said, "Truly wealthy, betting 150,000 divine stones."
"Stop right there."
"No one approaches within three zhang of our lady."
The two Yama Clan Hundred Shackles Realm Great Saints glared sharply, stepping forward to block Zhang Ruochen.
Zhang Ruochen raised both arms and pressed them down in the air toward the two.
Instantly, the two Great Saints froze in place, still reaching out, like statues.
This move stunned everyone in the hall, and no one dared underestimate him anymore.
Yan Zhexian's brows furrowed. "Space power? So you're a formidable space cultivator. Do you want to join the gamble?"
"A high-stakes gamble like this, I can't afford it. I'm just here to watch," Zhang Ruochen said with a smile.
Yan Zhexian said, "Perfect. Since you're a space cultivator, you should have a unique judgment about the Seven-Colored Coral Tree. If you can help me win this round, I'll give you ten thousand divine stones as a reward."
Hearing this, the old man known as the "Gambling God," Qishou Laoren, let out a disdainful snort.
His eyesight was sharp enough to have already seen through Yan Zhexian's true identity. This girl, with a mere Hundred Shackles Realm Great Perfection cultivation, was arrogantly gambling on the Seven-Colored Coral Tree.
Now that the bet had reached over a hundred thousand divine stones, she was clearly desperate, grasping at straws by asking for help from someone who didn't even dare to bet himself. Could there be anything more ridiculous?
Although the Seven-Colored Coral Tree was a time-space treasure, without the ability to use spiritual power to probe, even a space cultivator couldn't judge accurately.
In the end, it came down to personal insight and skill.
"Ten thousand divine stones!"
Zhang Ruochen was both shocked and impressed.
Truly a spendthrift.
"Is making money as a talisman earth master that easy? Or does she have such a thick family foundation that she can squander it freely?"
Even top-tier talents like Wujiang and Lanying would find it very difficult to come up with ten thousand divine stones. Yet Yan Zhexian dared to promise a gift of ten thousand divine stones.
As wealthy as Zhang Ruochen was, he was far from being as generous.
"If I win, will you really give me ten thousand divine stones?" Zhang Ruochen asked.
Yan Zhexian said, "With my status, do you think I'd renege? But you'd better show some real skill. If I find you useless, don't even think about getting a single divine stone, let alone ten thousand."
"Then let me give it a try."
Zhang Ruochen was quite interested in the Seven-Colored Coral Tree and began to observe it carefully.
He studied not only the tree itself but also the changes in space and time within the hall.
After a moment, he said solemnly, "This is not a natural time-space coral tree. It has been refined by someone."
Haishi Xingwu produced various natural time and space treasures, including time-space coral trees, but they were very rare. Seven-colored ones were even rarer.
If it were a natural seven-colored time-space coral tree, and alive, its price could even exceed that of a supreme sacred artifact.
Even a dead seven-colored time-space coral tree was worth over a hundred thousand divine stones.
But after being refined, its value became harder to judge.
It could be worth more than a living seven-colored time-space coral tree, or less than a dead one.
More importantly, if too much time had passed and it hadn't been properly preserved, the seven-colored time-space coral tree might have corroded. It might look gorgeous and crystalline on the outside, but once exposed to air, it could instantly turn into quicksand.