Li Beifei's actions provoked ridicule from countless people. The contestants from other groups also shook their heads when they saw him, knowing that in the second round, luck alone wouldn't be enough to reach the finals!
But the next moment, everyone was dumbfounded.
"I forfeit!" Xuan Mingzi said, raising his hand to the Purple Robed Elder.
"I also forfeit!"
"Same here, I forfeit!"
"Forfeit!"
Bai Yifei, Xia Wuji, and Li Ruoyu announced their forfeits one after another.
"Are you sure?" The Purple Robed Elder asked, looking astonished. He could tell from the beginning that Li Beifei and the others knew each other, but it shouldn't be enough reason to forfeit, right?
"Sure!"
The group nodded.
Seeing this scene, the others looked at Li Beifei with strange expressions.
Isn't this bribing people to give up their spots?
The wealthy but less skilled contestants' eyes lit up as they looked at their competitors in the same group.
"Brothers, I'll give each of you two million high-grade source crystals if you all forfeit, how about it?"
"Get lost! I'll give you five million each, you forfeit!"
"Ten million, that's my final offer!"
In an instant, other groups started engaging in shady deals right in front of everyone.
The Purple Robed Elder's face darkened, and he said in a deep voice, "If you continue to act recklessly, your qualifications to participate will be revoked!"
These words were quite effective, and everyone fell silent.
The Purple Robed Elder glanced at them, then turned his gaze to Li Beifei and his group, saying, "Given the situation, I cannot accept your decision to forfeit!"
The Purple Robed Elder's words made those who wanted to buy a spot's eyes light up. If he allowed Bai Yifei and the others to forfeit, they wouldn't dare say anything, but they would still be dissatisfied. And those who were dissatisfied also included the people in the audience, who spent ten thousand high-grade source crystals to watch the stone gambling. If everyone forfeited, what would they watch?
The Purple Robed Elder's actions won the support of countless people, and the audience loudly protested against voluntary forfeits and shady dealings!
Seeing this, the group shrugged.
"Since we can't forfeit, Boss, tell us which of those stones are duds!"
Xuan Mingzi said in front of everyone.
The Purple Robed Elder's face darkened even further, but he felt extremely helpless. Voluntary forfeits were a first in the history of the Stone Gambling Festival. There were no rules against voluntary forfeits, but to appease public sentiment, he couldn't allow it. However, he couldn't stop Xuan Mingzi and the others from deliberately choosing dud stones. He couldn't possibly guide them to choose stones that would yield great treasures, that would be a real scam.
"Hmph, he managed to advance again through luck."
Some contestants were disgruntled with Li Beifei, believing he was lucky that the groups he was assigned to happened to be full of acquaintances. As for the speculation that Li Beifei knew about the change in the second round grouping rules in advance, it wasn't entirely absent, but everyone shook their heads. Even if he knew in advance, getting his people into the same ranking range was even harder than winning first place in the finals. With such heaven-defying ability, he wouldn't bother using such a low-level method.
As for Li Beifei colluding with the Ziwei Holy Land? That was even more impossible. An immortal power wouldn't ruin its reputation for the sake of the Stone Gambling Festival.
It could only be said that he was too lucky, that's what countless people thought at this moment.
"Which family is this kid from? His luck is too good!"
On the judges' panel, the representative of the Yaochi Holy Land was a middle-aged beauty who looked over forty but still possessed a charming aura. Her figure was alluring, and she must have been a beauty who captivated thousands of cultivators in her youth. At this moment, she looked at Li Beifei with a smile, clearly believing that Li Beifei had made it this far through luck.
"Fellow Daoist Gu, what do you think?" she asked, looking at Gu Youxian beside her.
Everyone knew the relationship between the Gu family and the Yaochi Holy Land, so it was normal for their seats to be arranged next to each other.
She obviously didn't know Gu Youxian's identity, thinking that Gu Youxian was just a young manager of the Gu family, so she addressed him as Fellow Daoist.
Gu Youxian smiled and said, "Luck is also part of strength, isn't it?"
The beautiful woman was stunned, then nodded gently, saying, "Fellow Daoist is right."
"No matter how good his luck is, he's just a foil in the finals!"
At this moment, the representative of the Ziwei Holy Land spoke, his words weren't wrong, but everyone present could hear his disdain for Li Beifei entering the finals through luck.
"Hehe!"
Gu Youxian chuckled, not feeling angry because this person's tone was directed at his little uncle. Leaving aside that he wasn't familiar with Li Beifei, even if he was very familiar, he wouldn't be angry. He knew a lot about Li Beifei from his grandfather, and the thing his grandfather mentioned the most was "rebellious disciple". Although his grandfather wasn't really angry, Gu Youxian understood Li Beifei's character.
Cheap!
That's right, Li Beifei's image in his mind was cheap! If he wasn't cheap, why would he be so enthusiastic about being a 'sixth man' when he clearly had great strength? Besides cheap, he couldn't think of any other reason.
But Gu Youxian's "hehe" made the Ziwei Holy Land representative mistakenly believe that Gu Youxian didn't agree with his words, so he looked at Gu Youxian and said, "Fellow Daoist Gu, do you think highly of him?"
Gu Youxian was stunned, before he could speak, the Ziwei Holy Land representative continued, "They're gambling on stones, why don't we play too, and guess who can take first place in the finals?"
"That's not bad, every time I see them gambling on stones at the Stone Gambling Festival, my heart itches. This way, we can be considered to be participating!"
The person speaking was the representative of the Dao Saint Sect, he was wearing a green Daoist robe, and had a somewhat immortal air. If Li Ruoyu noticed him, he would definitely be speechless. This person was called Dragon Daoist, that's right, he was a demon, his true form was a Jiaolong.
The Dao Saint Sect taught everyone without discrimination, as long as they were devoted to the Dao, whether they were human, demon, or ancient race, they could enter the Dao Saint Sect, of course, the prerequisite was that they were qualified.
And Dragon Daoist, was Li Ruoyu's uncle-master, um, a super gambling-loving uncle-master. Now, the Ziwei Holy Land representative's words were exactly what he wanted, how could he refuse.
"Alright, it's boring to be idle anyway, but it's not fun to just guess, why don't we add a little prize?" The representative of the Taishi Holy Land said.
The group nodded lightly, then discussed it, and all took out a 100,000-year-old medicine king as a bet.
"Now the final spots haven't been decided yet, after the final spots are born, we'll each choose someone!" The Ziwei Holy Land representative said.
The group nodded.
"I won't participate, you guys play." The middle-aged beauty said.
The Ziwei Holy Land representative nodded lightly, indicating understanding. The Yaochi Holy Land had always been detached from the world, living a secluded life, so it was normal not to participate.
"Fellow Daoist Gu, your Gu family is big and has a great business, won't you participate?" The Ziwei Holy Land representative said, squinting his eyes. He emphasized the words "big and has a great business", the Gu family was the richest family in the universe, their wealth exceeded half of all immortal powers combined, which made people envious and jealous.
Obviously, this representative of the Ziwei Holy Land was one of the jealous people.
Gu Youxian shrugged and said, "Since that's the case, then I'll play too, I'll just choose him."
Gu Youxian pointed to Li Beifei, who had transformed into someone else's appearance.
Seeing this, everyone smiled, but didn't speak.
The Ziwei Holy Land representative said, "Then I wish Fellow Daoist Gu good luck!"
These words obviously had other meanings, but Gu Youxian looked calm. How could he not understand the Ziwei Holy Land representative's thoughts? He had experienced them hundreds of thousands of years ago, now it seemed like just children playing house.
He didn't need to bother with a child, of course, if the child was too naughty, he wouldn't be stingy with his slaps.
And on the competition field, everyone had chosen their stones, this time the stone cutting was undoubtedly much faster than the preliminary round.
The stone-cutting masters moved their hands, and countless blade shadows appeared, countless stone chips flew around, the "swish swish" sound rang out, and soon, someone cut out a treasure.
It was a piece of divine source that was a little smaller than the one Li Beifei had cut out before, and the contestant's eyes dimmed when he saw that it was only such a small piece of divine source. Perhaps he could still advance through luck in the preliminary round, but in the second round, such a small piece of divine source was obviously not enough to advance, unless he had extremely good luck and the things cut out by his competitors in the same group were even worse than his.
But was that possible?
It was indeed possible!
The people in the same group as him all failed, the best one was actually a top-grade source crystal!
This made him very excited, even shouting.
"I didn't expect that good luck can really get you promoted!" He said to Li Beifei.
"See you in the finals, brother!" He waved his hand and said to Li Beifei. He had previously looked down on Li Beifei, who relied on luck, but now that he had become a beneficiary of luck, he immediately changed his face.
And his performance caused countless boos from the audience, obviously, they also looked down on him for relying on luck.
Li Beifei put his right hand on the ore he had chosen, the size was only like a big watermelon, but he didn't dare to underestimate this big watermelon. According to Old Sixth, the thing inside this big watermelon was the most precious in the second round source ore area.
Li Beifei wanted to ask what it was, but Old Sixth didn't answer.
Li Beifei was extremely curious about this, he carried the big watermelon to the old master who had helped him cut the stone before and said, "Master, I'm bothering you again!"
"It's you, kid!" The old master still had a good impression of Li Beifei, after all, the bet two hours ago and Li Beifei's amazing "tone" had given him a deep impression of Li Beifei.
"Hehe!" Li Beifei smiled, giving people a simple and honest appearance, causing several of his companions behind him to frantically suppress the urge to vomit.
"Don't you guys think that Boss is disgusting at this moment?" Xuan Mingzi complained through voice transmission.
"More than disgusting, it's simply disgusting to death!" Bai Yifei criticized unceremoniously.
They originally thought that Li Beifei's 'sixth man' appearance was cheap enough, but they didn't expect that pretending to be an honest person was so disgusting.
"Was Qingyi Fairy deceived by him like this?" Xia Wuji was slightly speechless.
Li Ruoyu nodded in agreement, saying, "Too disgusting."
Their voice transmission didn't block Li Beifei, Li Beifei turned back and glared at them fiercely, but they acted like nothing had happened.
Li Beifei turned his head to look at the old man, revealing an honest smile, and said, "Master, this time it will be a little more troublesome!"
The old master seemed to be really deceived by Li Beifei's disguise, and said readily, "Okay, you say it."
Li Beifei nodded and repeated his request in layman's terms. The old master, who was originally full of confidence, was speechless after hearing it.
"Young man, are you deliberately trying to make things difficult for me? I'm a stone-cutting master, not a carving master." The old master said.
Li Beifei awkwardly touched his nose, his request was indeed excessive. According to his cutting method, the final shape would look like a palm, which really had to be done by a carving master to complete.
"Master, although I don't know you, but when I see you, I feel that you are the leader in the stone-cutting world, this little thing will definitely not be difficult for you." Saying that, Li Beifei gave the old master a thumbs up.
The old master laughed when he heard this, and said, "You kid have good eyes, hahaha, you let me start."
The old master felt very comfortable after hearing Li Beifei's words, he was a stone-cutting master, and he liked others to praise his stone-cutting skills. Now that Li Beifei praised him as the leader in the stone-cutting world, how could he not be happy?
"Swish swish swish"
The blade shadows flew, the old master's hands were fast, but also very steady, every time the knife fell, the thickness of the stone chips cut down were compatible, this precision, Li Beifei was shocked, he could see that the old master's cultivation was only the Third Level of the Life and Death Realm, but his grip on the knife and precision were even stronger than his, who was at the Eighth Level of the Life and Death Realm.
"As expected of a master who specializes in this!" Li Beifei exclaimed sincerely, this time he was not flattering, but from the heart.
The corners of the old master's mouth rose slightly, he had been helping people cut stones for two or three hundred years, Li Beifei was one of the very few people who observed his knife skills, he was obviously in a good mood when he met someone who knew the goods, and his knife was faster and smoother.
After a cup of tea, the size of the big watermelon was only half of the original size, at this time, the old master's movements slowed down, and he changed to a smaller knife, and actually began to carve, this scene, naturally attracted countless people's attention.
"What is that guy doing?"
"Isn't it because he knows he's going to advance, so he asked the stone-cutting master to make a carving?"
"Is he too idle?"
The audience was confused, and Bai Yifei and the others were also confused.
They stepped forward and asked, "Brother Li, are you doing art?"
"..."
Li Beifei didn't know how to explain, he couldn't say that this was what his cheat Old Sixth said to cut.
"There's good stuff inside!" Li Beifei said.
"What good stuff?"
The group's eyes lit up and asked quickly.
Li Beifei pretended to be mysterious and said, "You guys look forward to it, it's the most awesome thing in the second round anyway!"
When the group heard this, they were even more curious and continued to pester Li Beifei to ask, but Li Beifei just didn't say, because he didn't know either, Old Sixth just wouldn't tell him.
"Boom!"
Suddenly, at this time, the space shook, and then a golden light rose into the sky, soaring into the clouds.
"Damn, super big rise!"
Countless people shifted their gazes and looked at the golden light, then looked down along the golden light and found that it was emitted from the stone in the hands of the first-place contestant in the preliminary round. He was now full of solemnity, his hands turned golden, stamping one seal after another on the stone, as if to seal the golden light.
The golden light is the essence of a treasure. If too much leaks out, the treasure will be affected. In severe cases, it will become a wisp of black ash, just like Shen Huan!
Countless people fixed their gazes on the person's hands.
"That is... the Golden Hand!"
The Golden Hand is a secret technique passed down through the Yuan family of the Source Arts world, a legendary Source Arts masterpiece.
Since this person used the Golden Hand, he obviously has a great connection with the Yuan family of Source Arts.
Gu Youxian also narrowed his eyes, watching the Golden Hand. The origin of Source Arts seems to be… Grandpa, right?
