But the yellow-scaled sharkman was quite confident in himself.
He had long been prepared.
Over the years, running the Gold Jade House, he had also gambled on stones himself many times. Through constant observation, speculation, and analysis, he had selected certain stones and had great certainty about what lay inside them.
The contents of these stones, of course, held no great value. If they were valuable, he would have opened them himself long ago without a second thought — he wouldn't have left them sitting in the shop until now.
He was thinking of his business.
These stones, nine times out of ten, would yield a Gu Insect. Though the value was low, for the customers it was a small thrill each time — like bait on a hook, luring them to keep gambling, keep pouring in money.
The yellow-scaled sharkman knew exactly where each of these stones was positioned. Sometimes he would even deliberately peddle his "stone gambling expertise" right in front of important customers, opening this kind of stone and often revealing a Gu Insect inside, building up his image as a profound and superb stone gambler.
Now, the yellow-scaled sharkman was using these stones to wager against Xia Lin. His confidence was sky-high.
Yet in the very first round, he tasted the flavor of defeat.
Xia Lin had actually uncovered a Third Transformation Gu Insect, beating him one step ahead.
What an auspicious start!
The surrounding Gu Masters exclaimed in surprise.
The yellow-scaled sharkman's eyes flickered with doubt. Could this sharkman girl before him be hiding her true depths?
He had originally proposed a best-of-three wager, but Xia Lin had proactively demanded it be changed to best-of-five, with larger stakes encompassing the entire Gold Jade House. At the same time, the terms had changed as well — if Xia Lin lost even once, she would have to hand over the Oil Gathering Gu.
But now, Xia Lin had won. Not only had she kept the Oil Gathering Gu, she had also won a twenty percent share of the Gold Jade House.
"You've got to be kidding me — I actually lost!?" The yellow-scaled sharkman found it hard to believe.
He stared intently at the sharkman girl before him, and the suspicion in his heart slowly dissipated.
The yellow-scaled sharkman was a seasoned veteran. One glance told him that Xia Lin was a complete novice. Especially her surprised reaction when the Gu Insect was revealed — that wasn't faked. It was genuine emotion.
There was even more proof: Xia Lin couldn't uncover stones on her own. The stones she had just picked were handed off to the Stone Uncovering Gu Master stationed in the Gold Jade House.
"Damn it — she just got damn lucky!"
"Thankfully the terms were changed. If it were the old best-of-three, I'd be in a terrible spot. But now with best-of-five, I still have plenty of room."
Thinking this, the yellow-scaled sharkman swept an extremely subtle glance toward the Stone Uncovering Gu Master behind Xia Lin.
The Stone Uncovering Gu Master gave a barely perceptible nod.
The yellow-scaled sharkman couldn't help but laugh triumphantly inside. With his own man on the job, whatever stone Xia Lin picked — even if a Gu Insect emerged, a living one could be made into a dead one, an intact one into a damaged one. Let's see how she'd compete with him then!
The second round began.
"My turn to pick first this time," Xia Lin said.
"Be my guest," the yellow-scaled sharkman replied with a smile.
Xia Lin strolled left and right for a couple of laps, her eyes going blurry.
"I'll pick this one." Suddenly, she stopped and pointed at a peculiar stone before her.
The stone was quite strange — its surface was riddled with countless pits, its shape was twisted, and its texture wasn't dense at all, as if it had been loosely piled up from random grains of sand.
In stone gambling jargon, this was a sand-hole stone, and it was extremely difficult to uncover a Gu Insect from one.
Seeing Xia Lin's choice, the yellow-scaled sharkman grinned.
He made a show of wandering about, stopping here and there, feeling this stone, tapping that one. After a moment, he patted a massive boulder and said, "Then I'll choose this one."
The stone uncovering began.
The yellow-scaled sharkman took action himself, while Xia Lin's side entrusted the task to the dedicated Stone Uncovering Gu Master.
This wager was public, so both parties worked directly in the main hall. The oncoming crowd grew larger and larger, and as newcomers learned of the enormous stakes through hushed conversations, they stopped with great interest to watch.
For Gu Masters, these were significant stakes.
On one side was the entire Gold Jade House, built up over many years with substantial capital.
On the other was a peak Fifth Transformation Oil Gathering Gu.
The two stakes were roughly comparable — all because the Oil Gathering Gu was far too exceptional. With it, harvesting the black oil would yield considerable profit.
The stone block the yellow-scaled sharkman had chosen was enormous, and uncovering it would take quite some time.
Xia Lin's stone was much quicker. After all, that was the nature of sand-hole stones — extremely crude in texture.
The Gu Master uncovering Xia Lin's stone worked with broad, sweeping strokes, completely without any psychological burden. Even if he accidentally damaged the Gu Insect during the process, that would only make the yellow-scaled sharkman happy.
But then, Xia Lin suddenly spoke: "Use the Grey Earth Method for the uncovering."
The Stone Uncovering Gu Master's movements slowed. He looked at Xia Lin. "Are you certain? This method has extremely limited effect on sand-hole stones."
"I'm certain," Xia Lin said.
The Stone Uncovering Gu Master slowly shook his head. "Young lady, I'm not trying to deceive you. Since I'm the one uncovering your stone, I won't resort to trickery. You might as well ask the people around us — they all know that using the Grey Earth Method on sand-hole stones is virtually useless."
"I don't need to ask. Just do as I say. The terms of the wager were made perfectly clear," Xia Lin insisted.
"Fine, fine, fine." The Stone Uncovering Gu Master had no choice but to nod.
The moment the Grey Earth Method was applied, the efficiency of uncovering the sand-hole stone plummeted to rock bottom.
The Stone Uncovering Gu Master was thoroughly frustrated inside. Before, it had been like a chef slicing through tofu with a knife. Now it was like trying to poke tofu with a needle — and it consumed even more True Essence.
"Use the Fire Smoking Method next," Xia Lin said after a moment.
Several of the surrounding Gu Masters cried out in alarm, trying to stop her.
The Stone Uncovering Gu Master also said, "The Fire Smoking Method will penetrate directly into the interior of the sand-hole stone. If there's a Gu Insect inside that hasn't been fully excavated yet, it will be killed."
"Just do as I'm told," Xia Lin said, her expression flat.
The surrounding Gu Masters let out a chorus of sighs. One of them said directly, "This girl is gambling against someone? She's not even a novice — she's just making a complete mess of things!"