Ghost Catching System

The previous three contestants had all found jade, and now everyone wondered if Chu Hao would also cut jade from his stone. If he did, this stone-betting game would be terrifying. Some even suspected that the stones they had previously bet on were fake.

A middle-aged man complained, ”Damn! I must have bet on fake stones before. This is what real stone-betting is all about, hitting jade every time!”

”Exactly! It’s incredibly exciting.”

Su Huansheng actually knew the size of the jade inside; it seemed his Stone Manipulation Technique had reached an extremely high level. The highest level of this technique allowed one to observe how many minerals a mountain contained and whether it was worth excavating. His skill was almost at that point.

Clearly, Master Chen Lan also noticed this. He felt a pang of bitterness. Su Huansheng is indeed worthy of being called a senior, he thought. However, my focus is solely on Taoist Bei Sheng. Su Huansheng won’t be able to defeat him, but I absolutely must defeat Taoist Bei Sheng!

Chu Hao said, ”Cut it.”

However, Su Huansheng interjected, ”Young friend Chu, how about we raise the stakes?”

Chu Hao asked, ”How so?”

Su Huansheng explained, ”It’s about the proposal I mentioned yesterday. If I win, you help me. If you lose, I’ll help you obtain the Emperor’s Love.”

He really is confident, Chu Hao thought. Being straightforward, he replied, ”Okay.”

”It’s a deal!” Su Huansheng confirmed.

The Knife-handling Master began to cut Chu Hao’s stone. The first cut revealed nothing but the stone’s surface layer.

The second cut still yielded nothing.

At this, the crowd below tensed up.

”He couldn’t have gone bust, could he?” a jeweler ventured.

”Perhaps he was just lucky yesterday,” another muttered.

Mu Yuxun was nervous, clenching her small fists tightly. ”Why is there nothing?” she whispered. ”Could Chu Hao lose?”

Mu Chenglong said, ”Don’t jump to conclusions too soon. This stone’s surface area is quite large.”

The third cut also revealed nothing.

A jeweler laughed. ”He’s busted! Definitely busted!”

Three cuts with no jade indicated that there was nothing in the surface layer; the next step would be to peel deeper into the stone.

The Knife-handling Master made a cut one-fifth of the way in, then stopped. He changed positions, peeling away that top fifth of the stone. Still, nothing.

”He’s definitely busted,” declared the same jeweler who had been most enthusiastically flattering Master Chen Lan the previous day.

Chu Hao looked at him and asked, ”If there’s jade, will you eat the stone rind?”

The jeweler, clearly disliking Chu Hao, scoffed, ”Eat it? If it comes to that, I’ll eat it! And if there’s no jade, you’ll be the one eating stone rind!”

Chu Hao calmly said, ”I’ll remember you. Don’t run off later.”

”HUMPH!” The jeweler was clearly annoyed.

Finally, with a cut reaching two-fifths of the way through, even the Knife-handling Master felt there was no hope left. He shook his head and wiped the stone with a rag, only to see a layer of jade deep inside.

”Jade in the Stone!” the Knife-handling Master exclaimed in surprise.

”Jade in the Stone” was an insider term meaning the jade was hidden deep within the stone material and typically only seen after peeling away many layers of rind. This occurrence was extremely rare.

The jeweler who had made the bet was completely dumbfounded. ”How is that possible?”

”It’s Gold Thread Chime!” one of the judges recognized the jade inside and declared.

The seventy-year-old judge, astonished, added, ”Such fine ’water’! This is top-quality Gold Thread Chime!”

The other judge nodded. ”However, even if it’s top-quality Gold Thread Chime, it still can’t compare to what the others found.”

Indeed, having cut down three-fifths of the way through, the value of this piece of jade was only around five million. Chu Hao had purchased this stone for three million.

The betting jeweler, visibly pleased, jeered, ”Ha! So it’s cut! Even though there’s jade, its value hasn’t increased much. It can’t compete with Master Chen and the others.”

Chu Hao said dismissively, ”You sure talk a lot. Hurry up and eat the stone rind.”

The jeweler was momentarily speechless.

Everyone looked at him with smirks as Chu Hao picked up a very large piece of stone rind, about the size of his palm, and said, ”Eat.”

My god! the jeweler thought. A piece of stone rind this big, and he wants me to eat it?

The jeweler’s face turned sour. ”I... I...!”

Someone in the crowd egged him on, ”Hurry up and eat it! He cut out jade, unlike someone who was just running their mouth.”

Su Huansheng also chuckled. ”You lost the bet, so eat up.”

Chen Lan looked at the loudmouthed jeweler, quite displeased. This is our stone-betting, what are you, fellow, interjecting for? he thought.

The crowd wondered: Is he really going to eat stone rind?

Chu Hao said indifferently, ”Hurry up and eat. You talk way too much. I’ve been fed up with you for a long time. Even a professional sycophant isn’t as shameless as you.”

The crowd roared with laughter.

However, the jeweler couldn’t maintain his composure; after all, he was a prominent boss, a figure worth over a hundred million.

Then, Chen Lan spoke up, ”If you lost the bet, you have to follow through. Otherwise, there’s no point in us betting at all.”

The jeweler wanted to cry. As a prominent boss, if I actually have to eat stone rind, how will I ever show my face again?

But Master Chen Lan had spoken, so he said reluctantly, ”I... I’ll eat it, alright?”

He took the stone rind aside and started gnawing on it, which made everyone burst into laughter. He tried to take a bite, but it cut his gums, drawing blood and sending a sharp pain that made him hiss.

Only then did Chu Hao nod in satisfaction. He turned and said, ”The stone isn’t fully cut yet. Cut out the jade inside and show it to me.”

The Knife-handling Master nodded.

Everyone was puzzled. Why is he so confident? they wondered. Or is he just making a desperate last stand?

After a while, the jade was finally extracted. It was a piece of Gold Thread Chime jade about half a palm in size, suitable only for making a single piece of jewelry. The judges shook their heads. ”No good. Although it’s of the finest quality, it’s too small.”

However, the seventy-year-old judge stepped forward to take a closer look. Suddenly, he shouted, nearly startling the judge beside him.

”What’s the matter, Teacher?” someone immediately asked him.

The seventy-year-old judge exclaimed excitedly, ”This... this piece of Gold Thread Chime... it’s Jade *within* Jade!”

”What’s Jade within Jade?” someone asked.

Those in the know, however, gasped at once, their faces filled with amazement.

”Jade within Jade?”

The elderly judge picked up the jade. ”Look closely,” he said. ”Do the green filaments inside resemble a character?”

Mu Yuxun exclaimed in surprise, ”Dad, can there be characters inside jade?”

Mu Chenglong said excitedly, ”I’m not sure about other types of jade, but it’s possible for Gold Thread Chime. The color in Gold Thread Chime jade is distributed in thread-like patterns, aligned parallel to each other, with green appearing intermittently along a certain direction. Of course, these green bands can be thick or thin.”

Mu Yufei mused, ”So, they are naturally formed lines that have created a character?”

Mu Chenglong nodded vigorously, his voice filled with excitement. ”Such jade is known as the finest of the fine, extremely rare in this world!”

A group of judges crowded around for a closer look, and someone cried out, ”It’s true! It really is Jade within Jade!”

”Oh my god! Inside this jade, nature has formed the ’Jade’ character!”

”Damn, it really has!”

Indeed, inside the jade was the ’Jade’ character, clearly formed by nature.

”A Treasure Jade! A priceless, peerless Treasure Jade! The rarity of this jade surpasses even that of Imperial Green!” the seventy-year-old man exclaimed excitedly.

Imperial Green was not entirely unheard of in the world, but Jade within Jade like this was far too rare; it was said that only one or two such pieces had appeared in millennia of ancient culture.

”Then... what is the value of this jade?” someone asked, baffled.

The seventy-year-old man, calming his excitement, declared, ”Five hundred million! No, no... its value cannot be measured in money. The price of this piece of jade is comparable to that of a national treasure!”