Ding Xingfeng was silent for a while, then suddenly burst into laughter.
"Ha ha ha... hahahahahahahaha!"
His laughter grew louder and louder until it became uncontrollable, turning into a roaring, full-bellied laugh.
He laughed for quite some time before finally stopping, gasping between chuckles.
After a moment, the Martial Saint of Great Wei stretched out his hand, patted Gu Fangchen's shoulder heavily, took a deep breath to calm himself, and expressionlessly gave a thumbs-up.
"Just for making me laugh, I'll make sure to give you a quick death later."
This boy who played against all conventions had finally made the mighty and lonely Martial Saint realize,
When a man is pushed to the limits of speechlessness, he really can laugh out loud.
Gu Fangchen staggered from the blow.
"Hiss-"
He grimaced and rubbed his shoulder; it was likely swollen and not far from being dislocated.
He thought to himself, you'd better make that "quick" death really quick later...
The countdown above his head had already ticked away another half hour.
Ding Xingfeng didn't take the stone from him but instead picked one up himself, tossing it lightly in his palm as he squinted his eyes.
"How many skips?"
In his two hundred years of life, he had never seen something this absurd.
Betting with a Martial Saint on how many times a stone would skip?
How refreshingly ridiculous.
Did this kid think the title of Martial Saint was something one could just pick up off the roadside?
Even if this boy claimed he could make the stone skip ten thousand times, Ding Xingfeng would still let him see what a true Martial Saint was capable of.
When the martial path reaches its limit, it becomes the Way; and when the Way reaches its limit, it is called Saint.
It was the pinnacle of all martial skill, the ultimate realm that every martial cultivator dreamed of.
If he couldn't even handle something this trivial, then he didn't deserve the title of Martial Saint,he might as well hand it over to this brat!
Gu Fangchen secretly smiled. He knew this old man's foul temper all too well.
Though supposedly retired in seclusion, his arrogance ran bone-deep; he couldn't put down even a shred of pride.
A small provocation was enough to make him explode in fury.
Of course, it couldn't be too obvious,it had to subtly plant the thought in his mind: How could I possibly fail at something like this?
Otherwise, this old man wasn't stupid; he'd see through it immediately.
All of this had been discovered through countless player deaths!
Gu Fangchen glanced at the lake and said casually, "Three skips."
Ding Xingfeng tilted his head. "You're sure?"
Gu Fangchen smiled and nodded. "Exactly three. Not one more, not one less."
Ding Xingfeng exhaled slowly.
Fine. So this brat really was ready to die.
He twisted his arm, flicked his wrist, and flung the stone forward, not even bothering to watch.
"Alright, you,"
Just as he opened his mouth, an ominous feeling suddenly struck him, and he turned sharply.
Pa! Pa! ...Splash!
The stone skipped twice across the water. Anyone could tell from its momentum that it wouldn't last another bounce,it would sink on the third.
But at the very instant before it fell, a fish suddenly leaped from the lake, snapping its jaws at the stone mid-air.
Ding Xingfeng's face changed. He immediately spat a mouthful of saliva toward it.
That spit shot forth like an arrow, piercing through the fish's head in a flash.
The fish stiffened midair, dead, and fell back into the water.
But the burst of force from that single spit didn't stop,it struck a small branch wedged between two rocks nearby.
Crack!
The branch snapped, and the two large rocks it supported tumbled downward.
The waves those rocks would raise were enough to topple the little skipping stone!
Ding Xingfeng's pupils contracted sharply, a subtle change flickering across his expression.
This kid... was truly strange!
Even if he shattered those two stones right now, something else would probably happen to stir the water again.
His face darkened, and he let out a cold snort.
So what?
A mere ripple or wave,such things could be crushed by force alone!
He stepped forward with his right foot and stomped lightly.
In an instant,Boom!,the sound echoed through the forested mountains, even faintly shaking White Horse Temple.
If any grandmaster of fourth rank or higher had been there, they would have sensed it: the entire mountain beneath White Horse Temple had sunk downward by a full inch.
At the same time, the lake at the mountain's foot suddenly went utterly still.
A moment ago, it had rippled with countless waves; now, it was as if an invisible hand had smoothed it flat.
The surface gleamed like a mirror,
Not a single trace of a ripple remained.
The two falling boulders collided midair and dropped into the water silently, without even the faintest splash.
Gu Fangchen was dumbfounded.
As expected of a Martial Saint,absolutely, ridiculously powerful.
No matter how strange fate might act, sheer strength could shatter all tricks. What could he say?
Ding Xingfeng saw the small stone touch the lake's surface smoothly. Hands clasped behind his back, he said calmly,
"There. Three skips, just as you,"
Gudu.
The little stone touched the water and... didn't bounce at all. It sank straight down.
"?"
Ding Xingfeng froze, staring blankly.
Gu Fangchen sighed regretfully beside him.
"Oh, only two skips?"
Ding Xingfeng snapped his hand out, retrieving the two large stones that had fallen earlier.
When the two rocks collided before, they had cracked one open, revealing the truth beneath.
Its surface was black,dark and glossy like ink.
It was... a magnetic stone.
And the small stone he had thrown had been firmly drawn to it.
Ding Xingfeng's expression was indescribable.
He silently took the small stone he had personally chosen, pinched it lightly,inside, it was the same pitch-black color.
It too... was a magnetic stone!
Gu Fangchen seemed to realize what had happened, raising his brows and smashing the stone in his hand against the ground.
Crack! It split cleanly in two,ordinary gray rock, nothing special.
In other words, if Ding Xingfeng had accepted the stone Gu Fangchen had originally handed him, it wouldn't have been pulled away.
But he had insisted on choosing one himself.
His own choice had determined the outcome.
All of this,so swift, so natural,had occurred within a single breath.
Even the mighty Martial Saint, using all his strength, could not prevent the stone's trajectory from being altered.
Ding Xingfeng: "..."
His face blackened as he turned slowly to look at Gu Fangchen, as if staring at something supernatural.
Gu Fangchen spread his hands and blinked innocently.
You laugh at me for not understanding martial might; I laugh at you for not understanding national destiny.
What a joke,can you really withstand the weight of a nation's fortune, old man?
Ding Xingfeng's expression shifted between light and dark, his eyes deepening. Then, with one hand, he crushed the magnetic stone into powder.
He could still go back on his word.
Even if he turned hostile and killed Gu Fangchen right now, no one would dare say a word.
After all, he was already known to the world as a butcher who had killed tens of thousands.
But still,he couldn't help feeling curious now.
Why... would the national fortune rest upon the Northern Garrison Prince's Heir?