Once everyone had ascended, the gray-haired elder who had been guarding the entrance to the third floor followed them up as well.
"The black crystals on this third floor will be cut by me," the gray-haired elder announced.
No wonder not a single elder could be seen on this floor — it turned out this one man handled everything.
Then again, that made sense. The entrance fee alone for the third floor was so exorbitant that virtually no one ever came up here. There was no need to station anyone.
"Chu Feng, let's begin. This time you may choose freely — there's no price limit. But the rules are the same: whoever opens more Immortal Martial Stones wins," Song Yunfei said.
He was brimming with confidence, even more so than on the second floor, as though he had an absolute certainty that he could defeat Chu Feng.
"Fine," Chu Feng agreed readily, though inwardly he had already figured out what Song Yunfei was scheming.
The moment he had arrived on the third floor, Chu Feng understood why Song Yunfei had insisted on coming up here — and why the gray-haired elder had given him that warning.
The black crystals on this third floor were not only far larger than those on the second, but their textures and shapes had also undergone numerous variations.
In other words, the observation method he had used for the second-floor black crystals would not be sufficient to accurately assess the ones here.
Even so, Chu Feng accepted the challenge without hesitation.
Because he was confident that with a few more attempts, he could determine the right method of observation — and once that happened, he would be able to see through them at a glance.
Chu Feng and Song Yunfei each selected a black crystal. The two crystals were roughly similar in size and could be considered among the smaller ones on the third floor.
Yet even at this level, each crystal was priced at a hundred Immortal Martial Stones.
That alone proved just how unaffordable the third floor's black crystals were for ordinary people.
"Have you two gentlemen made your selections?"
After they had chosen, the gray-haired elder asked.
"We have."
Both Chu Feng and Song Yunfei nodded.
The moment they answered, the gray-haired elder's figure shot upward, rising into the air.
A black blade appeared in his hand — though it was different from the ones used by the other elders. This blade could extend and retract, growing larger or smaller at will.
And the gray-haired elder's technique was truly extraordinary. The long blade danced in his grasp, unleashing what could only be described as a rain of blades.
The dense shower of slashes, accompanied by howling winds, engulfed both Chu Feng's and Song Yunfei's black crystals simultaneously.
By the time the storm of blades had ceased, both crystals had been completely pared away, leaving nothing but gleaming Immortal Martial Stones.
Both crystals contained Immortal Martial Stones.
However… Chu Feng's haul was clearly less than Song Yunfei's — not even reaching half of what Song Yunfei had obtained.
"What?"
Many onlookers' eyes filled with confusion.
When they looked at Song Yunfei once more, a note of respect crept into their gazes.
Earlier, when Chu Feng had bested Song Yunfei twice in a row on the second floor, quite a few people had begun to believe that Chu Feng wasn't simply relying on luck — that he truly possessed some method of reading the black crystals.
But now, the moment he had reached the third floor, Chu Feng had lost immediately. That demolished the idea people had just formed. One by one, they concluded that Chu Feng probably had been relying on luck after all.
Otherwise, how could he have lost so quickly — and so badly?
After all, Chu Feng and Song Yunfei had gone head to head more than a dozen times now, and in the end Chu Feng had won only twice.
That enormous disparity in wins and losses spoke volumes about who was truly superior.
Even if Chu Feng did possess some observation technique, it was clearly inferior to Song Yunfei's.
"Brother Chu Feng, don't take this the wrong way — I actually did think you had some method of reading these black crystals. But now it looks like your skills simply aren't refined enough," Song Yunfei said with a smile.