Alchemy Emperor of the Divine Dao

Ling Han naturally ignored them. Yue Chengwang could only seek the help of Fourth Tier Heavenly Venerates, but when it came to the Fourth Tiers, Ling Han indeed wasn't fearful.

He went about selecting and opening up the stones with peace of mind, and then used Great Herbs to improve his cultivation level.

In the eyes of everyone, he was both high-profile and low-key.

What was considered keeping a high profile?

Was it not high-profile of him to defeat two grandmasters of raw stone and kill a Heavenly Venerate subsequently? Moreover, every few days, he would scurry around various raw stone lanes in Culmination City, and purchase a large quantity of raw stones.

But what was low-key was that Ling Han had never publicly opened up stones again, and now some people were even wondering if Ling Han had indeed won against Niu Buqun and Bao Yufeng by virtue of his abilities, or he had just stumbled upon them by luck.

Ling Han paid no heed to what other people thought as he made a fortune secretly. In this Culmination City, he stayed for more than 900 years, and the good things that he got were really amazing.

However, some raw stone lanes had grown wary of him, and had put away certain raw stones that they believed to be their most valuable treasures, preventing him from having the chance to choose.

Over the years, Ling Han had obtained a total of 71 Heavenly Venerable Seals, which was extremely amazing.

Although most of the Heavenly Venerable Seals obtained were ninth-grade seals, it allowed him to obtain three combination seals of this level, which could increase the battle prowess by 44 times, 29 times, and 13 times, respectively.

At first glance, even the improvement by 44 times didn't exceed the Fourteenth Seal, but Ling Han wasn't far from completing the whole set of ninth-grade seals. Once completed, the 111 Heavenly Venerable Seals could all be combined in a series. At that time, it would be amazing indeed.

Ling Han estimated that this would probably increase his battle prowess by more than 100 times, and could even surpass a first-grade Heavenly Venerable Seal.

On the other hand, he was furiously consuming Great Herbs, and his cultivation level was also improving rapidly, gradually approaching the middle stage of the Second Tier.

Only the middle stage of the Second Tier?

Had all these Great Herbs been given to the Empress or Hu Niu, they would at least have been able to advance to another level, stepping into either the Third Tier or Fourth Tier, but when it came to Ling Han, it couldn't be helped.

The number of dimensions in his body was limitless, causing him to need an excessive amount of energy for every step forward in advancing to the next level.

This was the path he had chosen, and he had already foreseen this day before he started taking this route. Hence, although he was a little jealous of the advancement of the Empress and Hu Niu, he did not act too hastily.

His strength was steadily rising, and the solidity of his foundation caused people to exclaim it was inconceivable.

However, the peaceful days had finally been interrupted.

A letter of challenge was sent to Ling Han.

The challenger was… Grandmaster Xuanlai, an extremely famous grandmaster of raw stone.

The letter of challenge stated quite politely an intention to compete with Ling Han. There was no anger, appearing calm and serene instead.

However, this person was the master of Niu Buqun and Bao Fengyu. He intentionally came here to issue a challenge, so how could it just be a simple spar with Ling Han?

Naturally, Ling Han wasn't afraid of competing. When it came to stone gambling, he did not fear even an elite of Seventh Tier.

'Let's compete then.'

He responded and accepted the challenge from Grandmaster Xuanlai.

When the news came out, the entire Culmination City was shaken.

Grandmaster Xuanlai was one of the first grandmasters of raw stones. He seemed to have a natural sensitivity to raw stones, and the success rate of stone gambling was astonishingly high. It was precisely due to this that it was impossible for a character like him to stone gamble in Culmination City. Wouldn't that cause everything to be chaotic?

This kind of grandmaster of raw stone would be working with various major forces, and his main task was to help these forces control the raw stones that they mined. Those truly valuable items would be retained by them. It was impossible for them to be allowed to flow into the market.

Of course, they were truly gambling with raw stones, unlike Ling Han, who could directly see through the raw stones, so it was inevitable that there would be things that might have slipped through the cracks. However, Ling Han had been cutting open raw stones in such a way, and almost all the Heavenly Venerable Seals obtained over the past 900 years were of the ninth grade, which was enough to clear some doubts.

…The oldest batch of grandmasters of raw stones really did have actual caliber and genuine knowledge.

Now, such a grandmaster of raw stone was about to stone-gamble with Ling Han, which naturally caused a big commotion. How many years had it been that people hadn't seen a real grandmaster make a move?

"The competition venue is Sever Void Lane."

"That's the largest raw stone lane in Culmination City, jointly operated by seven major forces."

"In the past, this was where the orange-colored Great Herb was unearthed."

"Unfortunately, the most valuable treasures aren't put up for sale at all, or I would have procured them a long time ago."

"You can just keep on boasting! The raw stones in the treasured area can only be purchased with a Heavenly Venerable Seal or at least a yellow-colored Great Herb. With your little wealth, you still want to procure those treasures?"

"Sigh, entry to the treasure area is strictly forbidden, so what's the use of having money?"

"Hehe, I've heard that in order to facilitate the competition between the two grandmasters, Sever Void Lane may open up the treasure area for the two grandmasters to select raw stones, and even the treasures of the store can also be selected."

"What?!"

"Then I must go take a look. I have always wanted to know what kind of good items can be obtained from those few treasures of the store."

Amidst all the discussions, Ling Han came to Sever Void Lane.

He stopped at the door, feeling quite rueful.

That was because he had wanted to come here before, but he hadn't expected to be rejected. He also didn't know if it had been because Sever Void Lane had been afraid of his "strength" and had gone so far as to especially close the shop.

If he had been the only one to be kicked out, then Ling Han would definitely have lost his temper. No one would do business like this. However, the other party was too much of a ruffian: they simply closed the shop to rest, and kicked everyone out, so Ling Han couldn't lose his temper even if he felt indignant.

'Oh, so we are not allowed to rest, is it?'

Now, the door here was finally open to him.

Even after the stone gambling ended today, he also wouldn't leave so he could wipe out their goods.

As soon as he entered the door, he saw an apprentice waiting inside. When he saw Ling Han, he immediately bowed and saluted. "Grandmaster Ling, please follow me."

That was still considered polite.

Ling Han nodded and followed the other party.

This time, the Empress and Hu Niu still didn't come—their personalities weren't suited for such an occasion at all. In the eyes of others, opening up a stone was a very exciting thing, but for the two women, it was merely a senseless waiting game, extremely boring.

Therefore, Ling Xi and Fu Tianxing accompanied him this time.

The three of them followed the apprentice, and soon came to a gazebo, where they saw an old man sitting upright and two people standing behind him. Who else could it be but Niu Buqun and Bao Fengyu?

Needless to say, this old man had to be Grandmaster Xuanlai.

"Grandmaster Ling agreed to compete with this old man, I am really flattered." Grandmaster Xuanlai was very polite, far from being as arrogant as Niu Buqun and Bao Fengyu.

Obviously, he wasn't dazzled by the current glory, and knew that this world belonged to the strong after all, and in front of the supreme Heavenly Venerates, whatever Celestial King or grandmaster of raw stones were nothing but trash.

Now that he had shown the right attitude, the Heavenly Venerates would also remember his virtues, and perhaps might even let him keep his outstanding status.

This was indeed what was called being seasoned and smooth.

Ling Han chuckled. "I've known about Grandmaster Xuanlai's reputation for a long time. Meeting with you today, you are indeed as extraordinary as your reputation."

It wasn't that he deliberately flattered the other party. The grandmasters of raw stones who had risen at the beginning were indeed very good. He had heard of many cases.

"Hehe, you're too kind, too kind with your words!" Grandmaster Xuanlai laughed. "This time, I invited Grandmaster Ling for stone gambling simply to compete in skills, there is no other meaning."