A sky blue color instantly occupied Ou Yangming's mind, and there was a split second when he even thought he had entered the unbelievable space.

Without any hesitation, he conveniently picked the raw gemstone.

Nonetheless, he did not draw anyone's attention because he had done similar moves earlier. Besides, was it not the most normal thing for a raw gemstone appraiser to study a gemstone in detail on his hand?

Ou Yangming would only attract attention if he could pick good raw gemstones that also contained a gem each without studying them carefully.

As Ou Yangming's Military Fire contacted the raw gemstone, he could sense the enormous energy that it held. He was certain that it was the most valuable gemstone among the others that he had seen, or touched.

Even the faint Military Fire was reminding him not to miss the treasure no matter what.

By browsing the surface of the raw gemstones, Ou Yangming actually had extremely limited knowledge of them. Nevertheless, after observing for a long time, especially when he kept paying attention to He Liangce's selection process, he had some understanding of the gemstones.

The so-called raw gemstones actually had some differences.

Most of them looked just like normal stones while some had some bumps due to various reasons. Through the corners of those bumps, one could actually notice more things.

It was how He Liangce chose the gemstones. He was not bothered about raw gemstones that had an extremely normal appearance, so much so that he would not spare a look at them at all; he focused on those with bumps.

Although it seemed like an opportunistic method, Ou Yangming knew it was unquestionably the most appropriate way.

People like He Liangce did not have the Military Fire as Ou Yangming did, hence they could not identify the truth of those raw gemstones. Even if they were truly skilled enough to make guesses through the different appearances, they could not arrive at a conclusion by just touching them.

It was undoubtedly impossible for a normal person to appraise with close attention all 10,000 raw gemstones in an hour.

Given the limited time, the best method was to invest it in gemstones that could be easily judged.

Ou Yangming was holding a flawless normal raw gemstone at the moment.

He put it down after some thought, then continued picking up the next stone.

Zheng Ziwen rubbed his hands. If he did not know appraisal art was ineffective toward raw gemstones, he would have gone over to appraise them.

Seeing as Ou Yangming checked every gemstone despite the outcome, Zheng Ziwen could not help but stomp his foot and remarked softly, "Ah, it's not good that Brother Ou's doing this…"

Ni Yunhong hesitated before he responded with a soft voice too, "Brother Ou learned smithing art in the military camp, and he hasn't come across raw gemstones before this, so he naturally doesn't know much."

"Elder Brother, have you forgotten that he previously brought a gem back from the Yi Pavilion?" Ni Yinghong pouted her red lips.

"Hehe…" Ni Yunhong chuckled. "Didn't he just succeed once? What can it mean? When luck comes, nobody can stop it."

None of them could refute what he said because if they were to ask themselves honestly, even Ni Yinghong did not think Ou Yangming could actually perceive the raw gemstones.

The integration of Heaven and man was the most mysterious gain in the comprehension of nature, but it was unheard of for someone who possessed the state to have the ability to see through raw gemstones too.

"Uhm… Should we remind him to focus on those with openings?" Zheng Ziwen asked carefully.

The difficulty of appraising raw gemstones without an opening was ten times harder than appraising those with an opening, and the probability of making a mistake was also higher.

In official challenges, those who had inside information would know how to choose.

However, Lin Yichen waved his hand after he pondered. "Master Zheng, since we've chosen Master Ou, we should trust him. Perhaps he'll surprise us."

Zheng Ziwen was startled, so he asked, 'Head Shopkeeper, do you really trust his ability?"

"I don't." Lin Yichen shook his head without any hesitation.

"If you don't, why…" Zheng Ziwen was red with anger.

"I don't trust Master Ou's skills, but…" Lin Yichen kept a straight face as he explained, "I trust his luck!"

The other people looked at each other because they finally understood why Lin Yichen decided to let Ou Yangming take up the challenge.

"A-aren't you trifling with the matter?" Ni Yunhong frowned as he was displeased.

Lin Yichen sighed and explained, "Old Tributary Shen's ability in this is the best in the prefecture, but he's bed-ridden now, and nobody else is his match. If that's the case, I can only choose to believe in luck…"

He sounded extremely helpless, thus Ni Yunhong was speechless after hearing what he had to say.

Yes. They could not compete in terms of ability with the He family's eldest young master, who had been victorious in challenging seventeen different cities in a row. Therefore, getting a lucky person to fill in the spot might actually yield an unexpected result.

Of course, it was only doable because it was a unique situation—stone gambling. If it was for a challenge that tested one's real skills, Lin Yichen would never have allowed Ou Yangming to do it even if he was not in the right mind.

An hour sounded like a long time, but the selection process passed in the blink of an eye.

In the beginning, Ou Yangming was still holding back as he did not want to be too obvious. He soon realized that even though his appraisal speed surpassed He Liangce, it was impossible for him to touch all 10,000 raw gemstones in the backyard.

Hence, after half an hour, he simply gave up pretending and began checking at the speed of light.

Ou Yangming weighed each raw gemstone in his hand, then he tossed them aside and picked up another one.

The crowd would have an unconventional misunderstanding of him by judging from his action alone.

They would think he was weighing the gemstones instead of inspecting them.

The raw gemstones that Ou Yangming examined were all-inclusive. Apart from the three huge ones, which were put aside on purpose, he had touched the other gemstones regardless of their size. In fact, he also looked at the ones that He Liangce had specially marked.

Needless to say, it was not against the rules because both of them could appraisal any raw gemstone before the time ended.

That said, the other people lamented when they saw what he was doing.

In particular, the high-level shopkeepers in the Yi Pavilion were fuming with anger, and they cast unfriendly looks at Lin Yichen.

Lin Yichen was not the prefecture's head shopkeeper before this; he was only a head shopkeeper in the Immense Forest Town. For some reason, he was suddenly promoted to be the prefecture's branch's head shopkeeper.

The sudden leap caused many other people to be jealous of him.

As such, those who deemed themselves qualified to replace Lin Yichen secretly drafted a complaint in their head at that moment.

Once the challenge ended, they would report the matter to the headquarter to accuse Lin Yichen of being ignorant and arbitrary.

It was not only humiliating that the Yi Pavilion found an obvious amateur to challenge the famous He family's young master, but their reputation would also be ruined if news spread. Even if it was just for the sake of their store, they must not let Lin Yichen stay.

Lin Yichen could naturally sense the unfriendly looks from the people behind him. Honestly, he was dismayed after seeing Ou Yangming's performance, but he had chosen the path and decided on the candidate himself, so he must persevere even if he had to suffer in silence.

At last, a loud sound was heard coming from the gong.

Lin Yichen inhaled deeply because the difficult moment was finally over.

No matter the outcome… Uhm, he was actually feeling hopeless already, but at least the unbearable moment was over.

"Gentlemen, the time is up, please come out."

He Liangce immediately stood up and smiled as he walked out.

On the other hand, Ou Yangming put down the last raw gemstone, and he clapped his hands to get rid of the stone powder before he walked out.

The only thing he lamented about at that instant was the lack of time…

Even though he could sense the truth in the raw gemstones through the Military Fire, he needed to appraise.

The better Ou Yangming felt about the gemstone, the more valuable it was. However, other than the unique raw gemstone that gave him a feeling of a blue ocean, while the other stones gave him notable and unremarkable feelings, he needed more time to identify them.

Ou Yangming had sped up the process, but he still failed to appraise everything.

Nonetheless, he believed that he would not lose the challenge.

He Liangce still had a warm smile on his face. He had noticed Ou Yangming's performance, but he neither looked nor treated the amateur with disdain.

Based on his morals alone, he could subdue most people.

"Master Ou, this is your home ground, so you may start choosing first," He Liangce said gently.

Before Ou Yangming could even let a word out, an elder, who was next to He Liangce, scoffed. "Young Master, he knows nothing about appraising raw gemstones, why should you treat him with such respect?"

"It's fine." He Liangce frowned and turned to smile at Ou Yangming. "Brother Ou, my clan's tributary has a prejudice against you, please forgive him."

The fact that he addressed the matter on the spot made it hard for anyone to be mad at him.

Ou Yangming could not help but laugh. "Since you're giving me the opportunity to choose first, I'll go ahead."

He walked into the pile of raw gemstones again and picked up one of the stones.

After seeing what Ou Yangming did, the eyes of Lin Yichen and the rest glowed, whereas people from He Liangce's side rebuked him.

"Despicable!"

"Shameless!"