Chapter 261: [261] Your level of cultivation is shallow, you can't hold on to _1

Ma Qizhi glanced back at Tang Feng, a cold smirk appearing at the corner of his mouth.

He had originally been quite wary of Tang Feng since the man had accurately judged the weight of the jade in that piece of raw material, a skill virtually unheard of.

Since the beginning of the competition, he had felt immense pressure.

But he hadn’t expected this upstart to become so cocky.

Without even looking, he had casually picked two pieces of material, practically begging for failure.

This allowed him to relax completely and continue picking raw stones at a leisurely pace.

At this time, quite a few people had gathered around, asking him to teach them the tricks of selecting raw stones.

In a good mood now, Ma Qizhi was more than willing to share some of his experience and expertise with everyone.

“When choosing raw stones, you must pick those from the old pits, even if they’re a bit more expensive, it doesn’t matter. Don’t go for those from the new pits. You novices can’t handle them…”

“Also, when selecting rough stones, first look at the pine flower, second look at the skin blemish, third look at the python bands…”

“What is called a pine flower is like dry moss on the surface of the raw stone…”n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

The crowd listened to his explanations, fearfully taking notes.

This was the skill of a jade gambling expert, something you couldn’t typically learn even if you had the money.

“Just a few words of guidance from Mr. Ma can save us a lot of detours.”

“That’s right, we’re really lucky today to be able to hear Mr. Ma’s advice in person.”

“How did I not encounter a master like Mr. Ma sooner? I could have saved a lot of wasted money.”

“Not only is Mr. Ma skilled, but he also has a good temper. That’s so much better than those young people who get cocky over a little bit of skill.”

“Now that’s a true master!”

While absorbing the lessons, the crowd lavished various flatteries upon him.

Ma Qizhi, buoyed by the praises, continued to teach the audience while he picked more raw stones.

He spent well over an hour before he finished making his selections.

Seeing that he had finally finished, Tang Feng yawned, “You sure took your sweet time picking. It’s practically getting dark now.”

A sneer tinged Ma Qizhi’s lips, “This is called taking the competition seriously, not like some people who casually pick two pieces just to get it done.”

“Even immortals can’t guarantee the quality of a small piece of jade. Are you sure that spending so much time will ensure you’ve picked good material?”

“Only an amateur would say that. Those who are experienced know how to judge the quality of the material by its appearance and color.”

“Is that so? Then I wonder, how did you decide that there were ten kilograms of Imperial Green in that piece of material just now?”

“You…”

The two engaged in a fierce war of words, neither willing to give an inch.

Xu Tianhua could no longer bear to watch and hurriedly stepped in to smooth things over, “Alright, since you’ve both finished picking, let’s not waste words, and go straight to the verification.”

“Which of you two shall we start with?”

“He finished picking first, so let’s start with his,” Ma Qizhi said, pointing at Tang Feng’s two pieces of material, his face carrying a hint of mockery as if waiting to enjoy a show.

“He’s older; time is more precious for him. Let’s start with his,” Tang Feng retorted, his words laced with a barbed implication that Ma Qizhi’s days were numbered.

Ma Qizhi was so infuriated he almost wished he could smash the raw stone in his hand against Tang Feng’s face.

Xu Tianhua could see that if these two continued their verbal sparring, it might escalate into an actual fight.

“Enough, no more pushing it off on each other. We’ll verify one after the other. First, we’ll verify Tang Feng’s semi-gamble material, then Mr. Ma’s semi-gamble material. After that, we’ll do Tang Feng’s full-gamble material and Mr. Ma’s full-gamble material. That’s settled,” he decided, then gave the stone cutter a meaningful look.

The stone cutter hurried over, lifted Tang Feng’s semi-gamble material, and headed towards the Stone Dissolving Machine.

Just a few onlookers surrounded the machine to watch the process, while the others continued to ask Ma Qizhi for advice on jade gambling.

They had all seen how Tang Feng selected his stones, totally nonchalant, so how could he have possibly picked good material?

They were thus uninterested in the results.

They thought it better to take advantage of the time to absorb more of Ma Qizhi’s experience.

And Ma Qizhi did his best to appear approachable, answering all the questions asked of him by the eager crowd.

“CRR-CRR-CRR…”

The Stone Dissolving Machine emitted a grating sound of cutting, and soon the first cut was completed.

The stone cutter opened the machine’s cover and took out the cut raw stone.

“It’s gone up!”

One bystander who had been watching the stone cutting process suddenly shouted, drawing everyone’s attention.

“It’s gone up, it really has, it’s a piece of ice-type material!” another person exclaimed.

The scene erupted instantly.

Those who had been asking Ma Qizhi questions all rushed over to see what was happening.

Then they saw the stone cutter holding a half-cut piece of material that revealed a dazzling light green color.

And the jade was substantial, covered by only a thin layer of skin.

“Wow, that piece must be at least several kilograms, right?”

“If they can really get out a few kilograms of material, that’s got to be worth at least five to six million, right?”

“How much did this young man pay for this piece of material?”

“I seem to remember it was about a hundred and fifty thousand or so?”

“My gosh, does that mean this piece of material just increased fifty or sixty times in value?”

“This luck is too good, huh? Just randomly picked a piece and it increased twenty or thirty times?”

Everyone was stunned by Tang Feng’s incredible luck.

They clearly saw him casually pick a piece earlier, yet it had shot up dramatically in value.

Ma Qizhi pushed through the crowd to the front to check, and his face went through shades of green and purple after seeing the result.

“This kid’s luck is out of this world.”

He couldn’t help but mutter to himself.

Now he could only attribute it all to luck.

After all, everyone there had plainly seen how carelessly Tang Feng had chosen his stones.

If this could shoot up in value, you couldn’t find another reason other than dumb luck.

Xu Tianhua and his daughter Xu Xinling had been worried for Tang Feng.

But seeing this scene, they finally breathed a sigh of relief.

It looked like he still had a chance to win.

This guy’s luck was just too bizarre.