Wuji Continent of the Five Countries - each country has its own characteristics.
Great Zhou is famous for its martial arts, but in recent years, martial artist talent has withered, and even Yun Bahe, the once Martial Saint General, has grown old, and the country’s strength has shown signs of decline.
On the contrary, Penglai Country, although small and merely a country amidst the seas, has risen swiftly among the Five Countries due to a few legendary summoners who have gained widespread fame in recent years.
The reason for the strength of Penglai’s summoners lies not just in their own abilities, but also in a unique aspect.
Once a summoner’s abilities are awakened, as stipulated by the country, they receive a loyal servant warrior from the national Wudou Hall.
This servant warrior is inseparable from the summoner, protecting their life and death until the summoner can truly stand on their own.
As a result, the life safety of summoners from Penglai is greatly secured, and their growth is especially rapid.
There are even rumors that the real power behind Penglai Country is today’s Summoning Court.
"This person died in Wanlong Gambling House, I will explain it to the Great Zhou Government myself. Continue bidding," the female summoner said arrogantly.
After this incident, no one dared to compete with that female summoner for bids. In the end, the Wall Shield Turtle was auctioned off to her for 10,000 whole gold coins.
Most of the guests didn’t leave; many who didn’t acquire suitable demon beasts weren’t disappointed.
After all, there were only twenty beasts compared to the several hundreds of guests present—it was a classic case of too many monks and not enough porridge.
For most people, one of the reasons they attended today’s Stone Cutting Banquet was to stay and witness the real climax of the event: stone cutting.
Yun Sheng and his companions were no exception.
Stone cutting, that is, dissecting demon beasts to extract the most valuable soul stones from within their bodies, is best done by Wanlong Gambling House, since few present were truly adept at it, and paying an extra thirty percent for stone cutting service was not considered expensive.
Where the soul stone is located within the demon beast’s body is unknown; only the most experienced hunter soldiers know how to extract it.
When it was Tang Yu’s turn, however, he clamored, "I, young master, will do it myself."
It seemed that he had been frightened by Qi earlier and felt embarrassed, wanting to personally stone cut to save face.
Yun Sheng secretly laughed to himself—this Tang Yu really was a blockhead, as if he hadn’t lost enough face already.
Seeing his young master insist on performing stone cutting himself, several guards from the General Mansion lifted the leopard onto a crystal platform designated for dissecting beasts.
With a sharp dagger in hand, and under others’ guidance, Tang Yu made an incision in the leopard’s skin.
A stench of blood surged, and Tang Yu almost vomited, but to prove he was a descendant of a martial family, he forcibly held his breath.
With one cut, apart from the viscera and blood, no soul stones were visible in the flesh-muddled chest cavity.
"Maybe it’s in the heart. I’ve heard that the soul stone of leopard species demon beasts often grows in vital areas," upon hearing this, Tang Yu didn’t think twice and plunged the dagger into the leopard’s heart.
There was a "pfff" sound.
The heart burst open, and a spray of blood splattered on Tang Yu’s face.
That Tang Yu got his mouth and face full, looking worse than if he were crying.
Yun Cangxue’s face couldn’t bear it any longer. A guard beside her couldn’t stand to watch it anymore and whispered a reminder, "Madam, that’s just an ordinary Earth Leopard, please tell the young master to stop losing face."
"Blind your dog eyes, you can’t even recognize an ordinary beast from a demon beast. What use is it to keep you in the General Mansion!" Yun Cangxue slapped him.
That rascal, Tang Yu, also took the ladder down, cursing, "You blind thing, making your young master spend a load of gold coins on an ordinary Earth Leopard."
The Earth Leopard paired with an earth mound, truly a match made in heaven.
Seeing the mother and child of the Martial Saint General Mansion’s such top-grade pettiness, they clearly mistook the demon beast for a wild animal themselves, yet they pushed all the blame onto the guard, causing the onlookers to shake their heads endlessly.
Everyone secretly thought, what a misfortune for the family, considering Old General Yun Bahe’s lifetime of renown, yet there’s no one to follow in his footsteps.
Tang Yu sheepishly stood aside, his own failed stone cutting naturally made him wish bad luck on others as well.
However, the next few people who took their turns, the demon beasts they bought were all up to standard, at Wanlong Gambling House’s stone cutting, they each obtained soul stones of varying Third-tier and Fourth Rank.
Finally, it was the turn for the Female Summoner’s Wall Shield Turtle.
Among demon beasts, turtle creatures have the strongest defensive power, their shells hard and tough, what kind of weapon would it take to break through it?
That’s what everyone present was thinking.
Actually, turtle-like demon beasts have another feature; not only are their defenses strong, but especially after the beast dies, its shell body cools down, becoming extremely hard. Only a Martial Artist with superior strength, or a Mage skilled in Thunder Element Magic, could split it open.
Generally speaking, the Magic Attribute of the Summoned Beast and the Summoner are the same; the female Summoner previously summoned a Water Element, Ice Attribute demon beast, indicating she herself is a Water Mage.
"Lady Summoner, I regret to inform you. This Wall Shield Turtle, we cannot guarantee a successful dissection," Long Huo seemed to have already known the difficulty of this turtle, and without waiting for the Female Summoner to speak, he directly declined.
"It’s fine, I’ll handle it myself," the Female Summoner seemed to have been prepared, she killed someone in the arena of Wanlong Gambling House, they naturally wouldn’t show them a good face.
She lifted her hand, and a blue-purple round bead appeared in it.
The bead was not large, but on its body flickered a blue-purple Thunder Rune.
The thunderbolt seemed alive, constantly jumping within the body of the bead.
"Thunder Pearl, an Intermediate Magic Artifact called Thunderbolt Pearl, it is said that as long as one possesses the Thunder Pearl, even if they are not a Thunder Magic Mage, they can invoke the force of thunder and lightning to aid them," as soon as the Female Summoner took out the bead, there was an uproar around her.
An Intermediate Magic Artifact?
When Yun Sheng was in Huoyan Village, he was ambushed by Ding Lei with a Low-level Magic Artifact.
Low-level Magic Artifacts are much less powerful than Intermediate Magic Artifacts, which often contain power not inferior to Intermediate Level Magic.
Correspondingly, the price of Intermediate Magic Artifacts is also much higher.
This bead called Thunderbolt Pearl is an Intermediate Magic Artifact.
But it’s unknown what the Female Summoner intends to do with the Thunderbolt Pearl at this time.
The Female Summoner held the Thunderbolt Pearl in her hand, her Magic Wand held up high.
She chanted in a low voice.
The bead floated in the air, Thunder Magic Elements spilled around, and an arm-thick bolt of lightning burst from the bead.
The lightning, like a purple centipede, struck precisely on the back of the Wall Shield Turtle.
On the extremely hard turtle shell, under the seat of thunder, a crack appeared.
Three consecutive Thunderbolts, each one striking accurately on the crack, the hard shell finally broke open, and a soul stone tumbled out.
The Female Summoner ecstatically rushed forward to pick up the soul stone.