He stepped into the Golden Jade House.
This stone gambling establishment could be considered high-end. Dozens of massive boulders were displayed in the main hall, anchoring the atmosphere. Behind the main hall were individual small compartments, each fully equipped with stone-uncovering Gu insects to satisfy guests who wished to uncover stones themselves. Of course, veteran stone-uncovering Gu Masters were also thoroughly on hand.
Whether these stones contained Gu insects was no challenge for Fang Yuan.
After all, he was already a Gu Immortal. Using immortal methods to detect mortal Gu was hardly difficult. Similarly, no matter how weak the dormant Gu insects sealed within the stones might be, immortal methods could usually restore them.
Even if they couldn't be restored, don't forget — Fang Yuan was also a Quasi-Grandmaster of Refinement. Sweeping aside all mortal stones and mortal Gu was, for him, as easy as reading the lines on his palm.
Of course, above mortal stones there were Immortal Stones — or more precisely, Immortal Materials. When Immortal Gu were sealed in dormancy, corresponding Dao marks would gradually coalesce on the Gu insect's surface into certain types of Immortal Materials. To gamble on these Immortal Materials, the vast majority of immortal methods would also fail.
Fang Yuan was just about to employ his methods to teach the swindling merchants in this Golden Jade House a lesson about behaving themselves, when he suddenly heard the sound of arguing from behind the main hall.
"You're cheating!" cried the Jiaoren girl Xia Lin, her voice sharp with shock and fury.
"Cheating? Heh heh, what cheating? The records in this Information Path Gu are perfectly clear. You've paid back some of it, yes, but there's still a huge amount outstanding." The one standing before the Jiaoren girl was also a Jiaoren, though he was built like a bear with a long scar across his face and an air of menace about him.
"You — you — you!" Xia Lin pointed a trembling finger at the scarred Jiaoren, her eyes reddening. "You're shameless! You actually falsified the contract — the loan agreement I signed with you specified only ten percent interest. Now you've secretly raised it to sixty percent!"
The scarred Jiaoren's expression instantly turned severe. He fixed Xia Lin with a vicious gaze. "Be careful with such accusations, little girl. You're trying to destroy our reputation, and any businessman cares deeply about his name. If our reputation is ruined, who would ever come to our shop? Could you even begin to bear the losses that would cause?"
"Pah! Even if it kills me, I'll expose your filthy shop for what it really is."
The scarred Jiaoren shifted his tone, speaking in a sinister murmur. "Die? How naive. Sometimes, the feeling of wishing you were dead is far more terrifying."
A fleeting flash of recognition crossed Fang Yuan's eyes. This familiar voice reminded him of the Jiaoren girl he had saved several months ago.
What was she doing here?
Tears slid down Xia Lin's cheeks.
Several months ago, her only family — her grandfather — had passed away.
Jiaoren sea burials required a tremendous cost. To give her grandfather a proper sea burial, she had no choice but to take out a loan in Yuan Stones. To repay the debt, she had risked harvesting Black Oil, nearly dying in the underground oil trenches. Fortunately, she had encountered Fang Yuan and his companions, and had been miraculously saved.
Xia Lin had even obtained the Oil-Harvesting Gu from Fang Yuan, and with it her oil-harvesting efficiency skyrocketed. She quickly earned a large number of Yuan Stones from selling oil.
She brought those Yuan Stones to the Golden Jade House to repay her debt, only to discover that the shop was utterly shameless — they had actually falsified the original loan document.
A death wish surged through Xia Lin's heart.
Her only family was gone. In this world, she was all alone — an isolated, pitiable person. She had been ostracized by her tribe since childhood. Her life had encountered a devastating upheaval, and her heart was filled with confusion and despair. The world seemed pale and colorless; she could find no joy in living.
"What's so frightening about death? Once you're dead, everything is over!"
With this thought, Xia Lin cried out sharply and struck without warning.
Whoosh!
A thunderous boom erupted as a torrent of water surged forth.
The scarred Jiaoren had never expected such a thing to happen — a mere Second Transformation Gu Master launching a preemptive attack against him, a Third Transformation cultivator, and right here in the Golden Jade House, on his own territory.
Caught completely off guard, the scarred Jiaoren was blasted away by the violent current, sent flying backward through two walls and smashing through a large number of decorative vases and jars.
The commotion was enormous. The Gu Masters who had been quietly selecting, uncovering, and gambling on stones all made their way to the main hall.
A multitude of eyes settled on Xia Lin and the scarred Jiaoren.
"What's going on?"
"Heh heh, what do you think? The Golden Jade House must have pulled some trick to swindle an innocent person again."
"Keep your voice down — the owner of the Golden Jade House is the local power around here."
"I heard the Golden Jade House frequently hands out predatory loans, exploiting low-level Gu Masters."
"The less trouble, the better. This is Jiaoren business — it has nothing to do with us humans."
At that moment, the scarred Jiaoren shot up from the rubble. "You've got some nerve! You actually dare to strike? I'll make you wish you were dead!"
He strode toward Xia Lin with menacing steps. Xia Lin's face was deathly pale, cowed by his imposing aura, yet her lips were pressed tight and she gritted her teeth, refusing to yield a single step.
The distance between them closed rapidly. Just as the scarred Jiaoren was about to strike, a voice suddenly rang out: "Stop!"
The scarred Jiaoren froze in his tracks, and the savage fury on his face quickly subsided. He lowered his head respectfully toward the one who had halted him. "Shopkeeper? What brings you here?"
The newcomer was none other than the owner of the Golden Jade House — a rotund, yellow-scaled Jiaoren.
The yellow-scaled Jiaoren furrowed his brow and barked at the scarred Jiaoren: "What do you think you're doing? Trying to tear down my shop?"
"Shopkeeper, she—"
Before the scarred Jiaoren could finish, he was cut off.
"How many times have I told you? Harmony brings prosperity. Harmony brings prosperity. Do you understand?"
"Understood, understood." The scarred Jiaoren didn't dare to argue, nodding hastily like a well-behaved three-year-old.
A chill spread through Xia Lin's body and soul.
She had endured a hard life. Having depended solely on her grandfather since childhood, she had long tasted both the warmth and the cruelty of the world.