Chapter 134: Stone Gambling

The jade and gemstone exhibition in Yunhai City was jointly organized by more than a dozen jewelry enterprises from the Yangtze River Delta region. Its primary aim was to source more supplies. Though it wasn’t the largest in the city’s history, its scale was still impressively grand.

As the exhibition neared its end, the crowd had thinned compared to earlier. Aside from the major suppliers of jewelry and jade, few customers remained to make purchases. Instead, more people had gathered just for the excitement, hoping to snag a bargain. Among them were some wealthy businessmen, eager to try their luck.

After stepping out of the car, Ling Tian stood at the entrance of the square, gazing at the still bustling exhibition area. His eyes gleamed with anticipation. Upon arriving, he immediately sensed a strong aura of spiritual energy permeating the place.

“When the jade exhibition first started, it was open only to the big jewelry merchants. After they had their fill, the event opened to the public. You see, there are still quite a few people here now, most like us, just trying their luck,” Anqi said naturally, linking her arm with his. Her rosy cheeks glowed with a captivating smile.

Ling Tian glanced around. Just as Anqi had said, although the exhibition drew many visitors, few actual transactions were happening. Most people wandered casually, peering here and there, as if shopping for groceries. “Let’s go take a look,” Ling Tian said, growing eager as he felt the dense spiritual energy—the concentration here was second only to the Dragon Vein.

The thought of the Dragon Vein tightened Ling Tian’s chest. Known as the King of Mercenaries, he had reached the peak of the early Qi Refining stage. With the old master’s guidance, he had daringly ventured into the Dragon Vein and, by chance, obtained the Chaos Technique. After a month of intense retraining, he had defied the odds to reach the peak of the mid Qi Refining stage. Yet, even with such formidable strength, he could only penetrate to the third layer of the central Dragon Vein before suffering a severe injury, losing all his cultivation and nearly becoming incapacitated.

Reflecting on this, Ling Tian exhaled deeply and silently vowed to grow stronger as soon as possible, to once again challenge the Dragon Vein and uncover its hidden secrets.

“Ling Tian, what are you daydreaming about?” Anqi, having waited a while for his opinion, noticed him lost in thought. She gently shook his arm and softly called his name twice.

Ling Tian snapped out of his reverie and smiled. “Nothing much, just thinking about a few things. You know this place best, so lead the way.”

The two walked ahead while Zhang Ding trailed behind excitedly. After nearly half an hour of wandering around, they hadn’t found any suitable jade stones. Ling Tian had originally planned to track the spiritual energy fluctuations to guide their search but refrained since Anqi was so enthusiastic. After all, they would find their way eventually.

Anqi stopped and said to Ling Tian, “We came too late. The good pieces have already been snapped up by the major jewelers. Even the leftovers aren’t of high quality. The only option left for a lucky find is gambling on jade stones. Are you interested?” Her eyes shone with hope, clearly expecting Ling Tian’s mysterious nature to work wonders yet again.

Ling Tian had been waiting to hear this. During their earlier rounds, he had sensed that the spiritual energy was richest in the gambling jade section.

Now that Anqi had brought it up, Ling Tian nodded at once. “Let’s go try our luck.” With his divine perception, gambling on jade stones would be a breeze.

The gambling area was the liveliest part of the exhibition, bustling with over a hundred people, all dressed elegantly. No wonder—it was an exhilarating game. In the blink of an eye, one could become a millionaire or lose millions. Hence, it was known as the game of the wealthy. Anyone here was at least a millionaire.

Gambling on jade meant buying raw stones that might contain jadeite, then cutting them open. A stone bought for a few thousand could yield a premium jade worth millions. But luck could just as easily run out, turning a hundred-thousand-yuan purchase into nothing but a worthless rock.

The gambling zone was divided into four levels. Area One had the most expensive stones, starting at a million yuan. Area Two was a bit cheaper, with stones starting at a hundred thousand. Area Three stones began at ten thousand. These three zones catered to the wealthy. The fourth area sold smaller, cheaper stones, a few thousand or even just a few hundred yuan, meant for ordinary folks.

Though the zones were clearly marked, the outcomes were unpredictable. Even in the high-price areas, some stones were empty, while in the low-price zones, premium jade could occasionally be found.

Ling Tian stood in the fourth area, activating his divine perception to scan each stone, hoping to find something exceptional. This area had the cheapest stones but also the largest quantity, piled like small mountains. It would take considerable time to inspect each one.

The stones in the fourth area fell into three categories.

The first was pure gambling stones, where judgment relied solely on one’s experience to assess whether the raw stone contained jade. This was a game of skill and luck, the most risky but also the most thrilling. As the saying went, “One cut to ruin, one cut to fortune, one cut through the burlap.” It perfectly described the excitement of gambling on jade.

Few chose this category since most stones were imported from Myanmar, having already been carefully selected by experienced jewelers at the source. Now, at the exhibition, the sharply discerning jewelers had picked over them again, leaving little of true value.

The second category consisted of stones that had already been partially cut open. Whether jade appeared was immediately apparent from the cut surface, making it easy to judge the stone’s true worth. The risk here was minimal, though there remained some chance that a seemingly good window did not reveal the best parts inside.

The third category was semi-transparent stones, where only a small window was cut to reveal a tiny portion. One had to judge the whole from this limited view. For experienced eyes, it was still relatively straightforward and the risk quite low.

The latter two categories were generally pricier due to better quality. Even if premium jade was cut, the profit margin was not huge, but the reduced risk attracted many buyers.

Each area had dedicated cutters with specialized tools. Every time a stone was cut, a crowd gathered, with the stone’s owner watching intently. When the jade was revealed, some would jump for joy, others would be heartbroken. Ling Tian observed for a while and saw that winners were few; most lost.

Ling Tian had little interest in the easy or semi-transparent stones. His focus was solely on the high-risk gambling stones.

“Zhang Ding, go get some cash,” Ling Tian said after selecting a few stones, realizing he hadn’t brought much money.

Anqi laughed, “What era are you living in? They have POS machines here to swipe cards. Today, I’m treating you—if you win, it’s yours; if you lose, it’s on me.”

Ling Tian smiled faintly. “You have that much confidence in me?”

“Of course,” Anqi winked playfully. She did trust Ling Tian but knew jade gambling was inherently uncertain. Even seasoned experts with centuries of tradition often failed. If someone claimed a fifty percent winning rate, they could be called a master.

Anqi’s mindset was calm today. They were here purely to test their luck. Winning would be a pleasant surprise; losing, expected. She believed such a composed attitude was key to good fortune.

Zhang Ding pushed a small cart behind Ling Tian, waiting for him to pick stones.

“How much do you know about jade gambling?” Anqi crouched beside the stone piles, curiously watching Ling Tian select stones.

“Nothing at all,” Ling Tian answered decisively.

This nearly stunned Anqi. She had assumed Ling Tian knew at least a little, like how to read patterns, shapes, or colors in stones. Yet he was completely ignorant. Still, Ling Tian picked up stones eagerly and quickly.

Others took at least half an hour per stone, judging by texture, color, and other details, pondering carefully. Ling Tian, however, moved swiftly, casually glancing at a stone before tossing it aside or handing it to Zhang Ding.

Anqi couldn’t bear to watch anymore, worried Ling Tian would lose everything.

She came over, face serious, and said, “Jade gambling can be summed up in four words: texture, clarity, color, and cracks. Texture refers to the fineness of the stone’s material—finer grains are better. Clarity means transparency; higher transparency increases the odds. Color relates to the stone’s hues—yellow, red, green—and pure colors mean a higher chance of jade inside. Cracks are flaws; stones without cracks are best…”

Anqi, from a family of jewelers, spoke with authority. People around nodded, many stopping to listen carefully, comparing her words with the stones they’d chosen.

To save face for Anqi, Ling Tian pretended to listen attentively as he sat down with a stone, but in truth, his mind was elsewhere. His divine perception alone sufficed to determine whether jade lay within and gauge its quality by the intensity of the surrounding spiritual energy.

As for jade pricing, Ling Tian lacked professional knowledge and couldn’t make that judgment yet. But that didn’t matter—he didn’t need to know prices. If a stone yielded jade, someone would appraise it. With Anqi by his side, he wouldn’t be cheated.

Thus, with calm confidence, he continued his search amidst the piles of stones, ready to test his luck in this thrilling game of chance and fortune.