Chapter 1660

The yellow scaled merman is very confident, because for years he has gambled with the rocks in his own Golden Jade House and chosen some with great precision. Most hold Gu worms of little value, which serve as bait to keep customers gambling. He knows where every rock lies. In the first round, Xia Lin opens a rank three Gu worm that is superior to his. ^{ch. 1660}

She had asked to change the format from two wins out of three to five contests, and he now stakes the entire house against her gather oil Gu if she loses once. After this win she keeps the Gu and holds twenty percent of the house. He suspects a hidden expert, but decides she is a newbie, since her joy is genuine and she had the house’s rock dissecting Gu Master open her rock. He signals that dissector to ruin any Gu she gets, and the man nods. ^{ch. 1660}

In the second round, Xia Lin chooses first, picking a weird, sandy rock that would normally hold no Gu worm, and he picks a huge rock. More and more Gu Masters gather to watch a huge gamble, the entire house against a superb rank five Gu of almost equal worth. She orders the dissector to use the grey soil, flame smoking, dripping, blue mark and planting qi methods in turn. He warns that grey soil barely works on sandy rock and smoke will kill any Gu, and he and the spectators think she is toying around. Xia Lin keeps a firm expression that is somewhat relaxed. ^{ch. 1660}

She then takes the rock herself, spits blood on it, and applies suction with gather oil Gu. It cracks and exposes a rank three Gu worm that is asleep, complete and uninjured. The merman’s rock held only a rank two Gu, so her living rank three Gu wins, and she is overjoyed that Master Chu was not wrong. Fang Yuan smiles in the crowd: the sandy rock held no Gu, only Gu material. He had Xia Lin indirectly steer the dissector to refine the material, with her blood and gather oil Gu completing the final step. His unique refinement method made the worm hibernate, so nobody saw a flaw. ^{ch. 1660}

The yellow scaled merman shouts demanding who sent her, losing his composure. Having offended many people over the years, he fears that Xia Lin is bait and that he has fallen into a trap. He turns to a special batch of rocks he faked, packing rock fragments round Gu worms, living or dead, made to look hibernating. Still, he loses the third round and the fourth. Pale and ruthless, he resolves that he cannot afford to lose and will use his strongest trump card in the final round. ^{ch. 1660}

His trump card is the carcass of a rank five Gu hidden in a fake rock, which by the gambling rules only a living rank five Gu can beat. Both sides choose their rocks and dissect them. Fang Yuan snaps his fingers, using a time path immortal killer move, and Golden Jade House and the island become motionless. He walks out of the crowd, squeezes the merman’s rock, and sees the carcass of a rank five Gu. He places the carcass into Xia Lin’s rock and returns to the crowd. Time resumes. ^{ch. 1660}