Chapter 583 - A Maze of Silver Hair
Chapter 583 A Maze of Silver Hair
Bang!
Li Mu hacked hard at the divine-level Primordial Stone with the knife. Yet, not only did he fail to leave any mark on the stone, but the knife directly bounced off as if there was a mysterious counterforce.
“What?”
Li Mu’s arm went numb. He was indeed very shocked.
“How could it be so hard?”
When Li Mu watched the black-cloaked vendor cut the stones before, it seemed so easy as if he were cut a piece of tofu. Every time the knife landed on the surface of the stones, the stone crust simply fell off. But now he had tried it himself, he felt like he was cutting some unbreakable iron.
He swiveled his eyes to the black-cloaked vendor.
The black-cloaked vendor explained, “The reason why the Primordial Stones can foster fairy crystals inside is that they are not ordinary stones. The crust of the stone, in particular, is naturally hard, which can be comparable to divine iron. For that reason, we need a special knife to cut those stones. The crust of many top-grade Primordial Stone is the best material to make armors and shields. Ordinary knives can’t cut it through at all. If you break it by force, you would damage the fairy crystal inside and cause the energy to run off.”
That was not news to many stone gamblers and Primordial Stones masters.
But Li Mu, a layman, didn’t know that.
By making that remark, the black-cloaked vendor was actually trying to explain it all out just for Li Mu.
Li Mu remained silent.
He knew that he was a rookie in the Primordial Stone business. If he didn’t have the Third Eye and the primitive natural qi cultivated by the Xiantian Skill which allowed him to cheat by seeing the inside of the Primordial Stones before he made his choice, he would definitely lose in the stone gambling ten out of ten cases.
When he saw Li Mu’s slowness, a look of disappointment emerged in the eyes of the black-cloaked vendor.
There was certainly something extraordinary about this divine-level Primordial Stone. He had tried many times to cut it open and unravel the mystery inside. However, he had used all sorts of methods but was still unable to crack it open.
Therefore, over the past hundreds of years, he had traveled in Jianghu and set up stalls wherever he went, hoping to meet true heroes hidden in the grass roots. Maybe when the time was right, someone would be able to open this Primordial Stone.
Today, Li Mu’s performance was very amazing.
In particular, the black-cloaked vendor had never seen or heard of Li Mu’s method of selecting Primordial Stones. But his success rate turned out to be 100 percent, which was astoundingly high.
Therefore, the vendor was willing to present this divine-level stone and let Li Mu cut it.
But now it seemed that Li Mu might have some means to select the stone, but when it came to the stone-cutting, he did not know the first thing about it.
“I’ve picked the wrong person.”
The black-cloaked vendor decided to take back his knife and the Primordial Stone.
Just at this moment, Li Mu raised his head and asked, “Please enlighten me, what is the most basic thing about cutting stones?”
“Huh?”
There was a flash of excitement in the eyes of the black-cloaked vendor.
He was surprised that what Li Mu inquired about was “the most basic thing” rather than “the most important thing”.
The two phrases had similar meanings. They sounded almost the same to the laymen.
But in the vendor’s opinion, there was a huge difference between the phrases.
In an instant, time seemed to have gone back.
He vaguely remembered on that sunny afternoon when he tried to cut a Primordial Stone for the first time, what he asked his father was the exact same question.
“Every stone has its own unique star pattern, which is the mark of a natural tactical deployment. Only by following the direction of the mark can we cut the stone properly and ensure that the fairy crystals inside won’t be destroyed… So, when cutting a stone, we are actually undoing a tactical deployment,” said the black-cloaked vendor.
That was the accurate quotation from what his father told him back then.
After hearing that, Li Mu pondered over its meaning.
He didn’t pose more questions. Instead, he opened his Third Eye and circulated his primitive natural qi to carefully observe the stone in front of him, searching for the so-called “star pattern”.
This time, he saw something that no one else could ever see.
Through the Third Eye, Li Mu saw that in the crust of the divine-level Primordial Stone, which was about 20 centimeters thick, there were strange patterns that he had not noticed before. They were like strands of silver hair embedded in the crust, shining with a faint light invisible to human eyes.
From the bird’s eye view, these silver hairs looked just like a maze. The silver hairs were densely packed and zigzagged. One would feel dizzy at first glance at it.
All that the Third Eye could capture was the maze in the crust.
As to what was behind the crust, the Third Eye could not see.
However, Li Mu had already understood that the way to unlock the divine-level Primordial Stone was in the silver maze embedded in the crust. As soon as he cracked the maze, the thing inside the Primordial Stone would naturally reveal.
Thus, Li Mu tried hard to concentrate and continued to observe it with extra care.
Time flew.
Li Mu had stood rooted to the spot for quite a while.
Just when everyone thought that Li Mu might give up, he suddenly made another move. The fin-shaped stone knife in his hand slowly drew out and pierced into the crust of the divine-level Primordial Stone.
“Crack!”
There was a soft sound.
It was like the sound of a piece of thin paper being torn apart. This time, the fin-shaped stone knife was not bounced back. Instead, it penetrated into the stone skin and went in for about the width of five fingers put together.
Under the mask, the face of the black-cloaked vendor instantly took on a look of astonishment.
“What? You’ve cut through the crust?”
He jumped up at once. His eyes shining with scorching excitement were fixed on Li Mu unblinkingly.
He took a deep breath.
Then, he drew another deep breath.
The black-cloaked vendor who had stayed calm the whole time tried his best to suppress the shock and excitement in his heart. He then said, “How, how did you do it?”
However, Li Mu did not respond to his question.
At this time, Li Mu had already entered a meditative state.
He was completely gripped by a strange state. His face was like an old monk, which showed no joy or sadness. He seemed to have lost perception of the outside world. The fin-shaped stone knife in his hand was still in the crust of the divine-level Primordial Stone. With his wrist turning, he began to draw an absurd pattern on the crust with the blade.
As for everything in the outside world, Li Mu seemed to have completely lost his perception.
The black-cloaked vendor soon realized what was happening.
Although he didn’t know what kind of mystery Li Mu had found in this divine-level Primordial Stone, the vendor was sure that he must have found the way to unlock this stone and was completely immersed in it.
At moments like this, Li Mu could not afford to be disturbed.
Otherwise, all the efforts he had made would easily go in vain.
The vendor quickly bated his breath and did not stop any more questions. He just sat on the side and watched him carefully.
The people around who were forced to watch the fun gradually understood what was going on.
In particular, the stout merchant’s pupils began to twirl as he started to form another plan.
There was a hint of resentment on his face. He could tell that Li Mu, the Wild Broadsword, was ruthless and decisive. Now he had already offended such a man, he was afraid that he would not be able to live. Perhaps it was better to take advantage of Li Mu’s moment of distraction…
After a short observation, the stout merchant was sure that Li Mu had really entered a meditative state. He quickly made up his mind and crouched on the ground like a fat shrimp curling up. Suddenly, he bounced up and attempted to launch a sneak attack. He drew out a shining broadsword and stabbed it straight at Li Mu, who was still in a meditative state.
A sneak attack!
At this moment, the cowardly merchant revealed his extraordinary strength. It turned out that he was also a master in the Mortal Realm.
Ding Yi, who was on the side, was taken aback. He immediately made to stop him.
“You’re courting death.”
However, the black-cloaked vendor beat him to it.
He swung his long sleeve.
And no conspicuous energy fluctuation was produced.
But the stout merchant seemed to have been whipped by an invisible divine whip. Stained with blood, he flew backward and hit the ground. With a painful look on his face, the stout merchant started twitching wildly on the ground. His mouth was wide open, but he couldn’t make any sound. It was extremely strange.
No one was allowed to disturb Li Mu so that Li Mu could successfully cut the stone open.
That was the only thing the black-cloaked vendor wanted to do right now.
When the crowd saw this scene, they were all flabbergasted.
Although some people had already guessed that the black-cloaked vendor was a master that couldn’t be underestimated, what they didn’t expect was that he turned out to be powerful as such. To say the very least, the move he made just now had already proved that he had the strength of the Soldier Realm.
Time flew.
Li Mu, on the other hand, had been completely immersed in a state of meditation.
His eyes had no focus. It seemed that he was staring at the divine-level Primordial Stone in the cylindrical shape, or at the void behind it. He was holding a fin-shaped stone knife in his right hand as if it were a painting brush and kept moving it on the surface of the stone.
The marks the knife left were clear.
The fin-shaped knife created many winding patterns on the crust. In the blink of an eye, most parts of the crust of the divine-level Primordial Stone was covered in messy marks difficult to distinguish.
As more and more marks appeared on the crust, the changes began to take place.
A wave of strange spiritual energy flowed out of it, which grew more and more discernible.
The eyes of the black-cloaked vendor glinted more and more brightly as well.
Time passed slowly in the subtle sound of the fin-shaped stone knife cutting the crust.
Two hours passed.
The surface of the cylindrical divine-level Primordial Stone was already densely engraved with all kinds of zigzagging patterns. There was a golden light pouring out from the cracks of the crust. It seemed that there was a sun sealed inside it, and the sunlight was shining through the cracks on the crust, which was pure dazzling.
The extremely rich fluctuation of Spiritual Qi also flowed out through the slits.
Li Mu was sweating all over, and there was even a thin layer of blood beads on his temples.
It was the consequence of excessive function and consumption of the Divine Consciousness when he was thinking.
Li Mu had almost reached his limit.
At the same time, the fin-shaped stone knife in his hand began to move slower and slower. It started trembling and shaking. Finally, the last stroke of the mark was carved feebly.
The knife was pulled out of the crust.
Li Mu felt that there was a burst of light in front of him and then his Divine Consciousness returned to his body.
His body could move again.
No one knew what Li Mu had gone through.
In fact, the moment he pierced the stone knife into the crust, his Divine Consciousness turned into a stream of energy and involuntarily flowed down the fin-shaped stone knife into the crust. Then, as if his soul had come out of his body, his Divine Consciousness turned into the little version of Li Mu, and plunged into the silver maze, who then kept running, looking for the only route out of the maze.
This process consumed a great deal of energy.
Li Mu’s body had quietly turned on the Xiantian Skill. Coupled with the years of accumulation of energy, he managed to hold on until the last moment. Then, he waved the fin-shaped stone knife for the last time and completely broke down the crust of the divine-level Primordial Stone.
At the same time, the little figure his Divine Consciousness had transformed into finally walked out of the maze and returned to his body.
In a moment, overwhelming fatigue engulfed Li Mu.
Having no time to think about other things, Li Mu immediately sat down on the ground, mobilized his Qi-circulation, and began to restore his energy.
At this time, everyone, including the black-cloaked vendor, all fixed their eyes on the divine-level Primordial Stone instead.
Everyone was dying to know what was inside this Primordial Stone.
Golden light poured out from the cracks on the crust. A rich stream of Spiritual Qi gushed out along with the golden light, as if it was going to blow the crust away.
“Crack, crack!”
As if a chick were pecking its way out of the shell, the cracks on the crust became larger and larger.
Then, a look of disbelief appeared on everyone’s faces.
Because they had heard something which sounded like heartbeats from the inside of this divine-level Primordial Stone. The sound grew steadily louder, stronger, and clearer, which gave people the impression that an ancient god was waking up from his long slumber.
The black-cloaked vendor couldn’t find any words to describe his feelings at this time.
It turned out that there was a living creature inside this divine-level Primordial Stone, wasn’t there?