The mayor of this mountain city actually provides gems for entering the trial field for free. After the trial is over, all the magic cores and other rewards obtained by the trial-takers will belong to the trial-takers themselves, and they do not need to pay any fees.
No wonder so many trial-takers come here. The trial items and rules of the trial field are already relatively clear, and there are people who provide gems. Anyone who is determined to become a trial-taker will probably not miss such an opportunity.
"What exactly is the Lord of Chongshan City planning? Is he a philanthropist with too much money to spend and a problem with his brain?" Li Xiu found it unbelievable after hearing this.
But the fact is that the trial gate of Chongshan City will be opened for free every three days, and many people have received rewards from it.
If one person says that he got a reward, he may be lying. Ten people may also be lying. However, over the past few months, there have been hundreds of people who got rewards from the Trial Gate of Chongshan City. If they say that they are lying, it would be very difficult.
"Could it be that those who were chosen were all agents arranged in advance by the Lord of Chongshan City?" Sha Chu said thoughtfully.
"Just go to the City Lord's Mansion and you'll know." Li Xiu said with a smile.
Anyway, they have to go to the City Lord's Mansion. The person most likely to take Ximen Guanmo's suit is the City Lord of Chongshan City. They have to go and see what kind of person he is.
Today was the day for selecting trial participants, so Li Xiu and a few others went to the City Lord's Mansion where the trial participants were being selected.
The square in front of the City Lord's Mansion was crowded with people, all queuing up to sign up for the trial selection.
Li Xiu looked at it for a while and found that the selection rules were quite fair.
The Lord of Chongshan City set up a total of three test items, which respectively test people's speed, strength and reaction ability.
The top ten people in terms of overall physical fitness will be arranged to enter the trial field tomorrow.
Unfortunately, they did not see the Lord of Chongshan City himself, as there was someone in charge of selecting the trial-takers.
"It seems that my magic armor has fallen into the hands of someone who knows the business." Ximen Guan pondered for a moment and suddenly snorted coldly.
"You mean, the Lord of Chongshan City recruited so many people to the trial field, is it related to your magic armor?" Although Li Xiu understood what Ximen Guan meant, he didn't understand what the relationship was between the magic armor and the trial field.
Ximen Guan curled his lips and said, "The magic suit I studied is extraordinary. Although it is still missing some links and cannot be used now, people who are knowledgeable will know the value of my magic suit at a glance and will find a way to complete it even if they spend all their money. However, to complete the last few links, some special magic cores are needed. The Lord of Chongshan City did so much just to get the special S-level magic core from this trial field."
"Have you known that there is a trial gate here?" Li Xiu said.
"Why do you think I chose this place for the lab?" Ximen Guan sneered, "Now that I know where the magic suit is, I feel relieved. I'll just find a way to get it back later."
After a pause, Ximen Guan said to Li Xiu, "I know very well what the Lord of Chongshan City wants to do. He recruited people to enter the trial field just to make the S-level trial appear faster. It seems that he has put a lot of effort into this trial field and even thought of this method. If you want to get some enhancements and rewards, you can take this opportunity to go in a few times. Someone invites you to strengthen your body for free, so why not do it. If you can meet the Lord of Chongshan City, help me see what kind of person he is."
Ximen Guan told Li Xiu some details about the trial field. The information he provided was more detailed than that released by the Lord of Chongshan City.
The trial field in Chongshan City is called the Brave Trial Field. The trial is both simple and difficult.
There is only one trial item in the Brave Trial Field, the Dark Maze, which requires you to pass through a completely dark maze.
The maze itself is not very difficult. There are four doors in each room, and there are many such rooms connected together. You can pass the trial if you find a way out within the specified time.
The higher the level of the dark maze, the more such rooms there are and the shorter the time it takes to pass through them.
But for dark mazes below level A, as long as you are careful enough and can remember all the routes you have taken, you will have enough time to get through the maze even if you try each door one by one.
The most difficult part is that you have no vision inside and can only rely on your brain to remember the route you have taken. It is very easy to lose your sense of direction and repeat the same route, which makes it very difficult to get out.
The Lord of Chongshan City has explained these rules very clearly. As long as you don't encounter an A-level dark maze trial, the chances of coming out alive are very high.
But he forgot to mention one thing. The more people pass through the dark maze, the higher the chance of an advanced dark maze appearing the next time the dark maze is opened.
Of course, if more people die in there, the chance of an advanced dark maze appearing will be higher.
The more people who easily passed through the dark maze at the beginning, the more people could not withstand the temptation and wanted to take advantage.
The Lord of Chongshan City has also made it very clear that if they encounter an A-level dark maze, the chance of death is very high. This is their own choice, and even if they die in it, it is not the Lord of Chongshan City's fault.
People who have tasted the sweetness, even if they encounter an A-level dark maze, will only think that they are unlucky this time and encountered an A-level dark maze.
"In that case, let's sign up for the trial." said Ah Fei.
Li Xiu nodded, he had the same idea. The dark maze was not a problem for him. It was great to be able to get rewards and strengthen his body without paying any price.
Li Xiu didn’t lack money before, but now he has to support the demigod Shan Sha, so he is really short of money, and he can save as much as he can.
Moreover, physical strengthening is also very important for Li Xiu. The Fire Lotus Sword on his body is still too heavy, and his body needs to become stronger.
Li Xiu, Sha Chu and A Fei all signed up for the trial-taker selection. Compared with these mediocre people, Li Xiu is much stronger than most people, not to mention A Fei and Sha Chu.
Except for Li Xiu's speed test score which was very low, the other test scores were very high.
When the final comprehensive scoring was done, Li Xiu was unexpectedly eliminated, while A Fei and Sha Chu were easily selected.
"Fire Lotus Sword, oh Fire Lotus Sword, what on earth are you trying to do?" Li Xiu sighed lightly, but didn't take it to heart.
After A Fei and Sha Chu were taken to the City Lord's Mansion, Li Xiu and Ximen Guan stayed in a hotel in the city.
Next to the hotel is the Gem Street. After dinner, Li Zheng went out for a stroll on the Gem Street.
Li Xiu asked Ximen Guan to go with him, but he refused. He stayed in his room with the door closed, fiddling with something.
Chongshan City is located at the junction of Guyue City and Hongsha City. Although it does not produce gems itself, it has many gem merchants from other places in the Southern Cross Federation.
The Gem Street is quite lively. In addition to shops, you can see street vendors everywhere.
They would spread a cloth on the ground or get an old table and sell the gems there.
Generally, there are no gems on the table. Only when there are customers to see the goods will the stall owner take out small plastic bags filled with various gems, mainly rubies, sapphires and spinels.
There are also some cheaper ones like tourmaline, peridot, aquamarine, zircon, topaz, moonstone and so on.
However, most of the gemstones sold in those small stalls were of poor quality, especially rubies and sapphires, which had a lot of impurities and were not very large. Some people even sold the raw stones directly.
Li Xiu suspected that many of these stall owners were gem miners who dug gems from the black mines and brought them here to sell.
Of course, it is not ruled out that there are those who do business without any capital, and they rob gems outside and come here to sell the stolen goods.
Li Xiu looked as he walked. He didn't care whether the gems looked good, were well cut, or sparkled. He also didn't care whether the gems were big or small. What mattered most was whether the gems made him feel hungry.
As he walked and looked around, Li Xiu was more or less disappointed. The gems that gave birth to evil spirits were indeed very rare. He had seen at least a thousand gems along the way, but not a single one could make him feel hungry.
"What kind of gem is this?" Li Xiu finally found a gem that made him feel hungry at a street stall.
The stall was just a piece of rag with a bunch of colorful gems on it. The small ones were as big as a fingernail, and the largest ones were bigger than mahjong tiles.
"This is authentic natural topaz, and this is natural crystal stone." When the old man saw Li Xiu asking questions, he immediately greeted them enthusiastically.
Although Li Xiu didn't pay much attention to gems before, he still knew some common sense things.
The gemstone topaz was very common before the advent of the devil. Now topaz is not very expensive because there are very few trial gates opened with topaz and the output of topaz is very high, so the value is naturally not very high.
The hardness and refractive index of topaz are relatively high among gemstones, even close to diamond.
Not long after topaz was first discovered, some people mistook it for diamond.
A diamond once worn on a king's crown was later revealed to be a colorless topaz.
Most natural topaz is colorless, with a few having shades of orange, yellow, blue and red.
Most of the topaz sold on the market in the past have been processed by laser or coating to make them appear in colors such as blue and pink. The value of this kind of topaz itself is actually not high.
The colorful topazes on the old man’s stall were obviously the kind that had been color-treated. They were okay as ornaments, but they were probably not very good for feeding evil spirits.
Of course, if it is real natural topaz, especially the yellow topaz known as imperial topaz, its value is another matter.
"Is this also a topaz?" Li Xiu asked, pointing at a dark blue topaz.
"A genuine natural London blue topaz. Look at the color and the cut. It's so shiny, and weighs more than thirteen carats. You won't find a second topaz as perfect as this on the entire street. It only costs fifty kilograms of rice..." The old man saw that Li Xiu was a novice, so he started boasting again.
"I don't have rice, how about exchanging this rough stone with you?" Li Xiu took out a pink spinel rough stone and held it in the palm of his hand for the old man to see.
This is one of the pink spike crystals that Li Xiu found last time. When he fed it to the pink nightmare, the pink nightmare did not eat it, perhaps because it was too small and had too many impurities.
There were originally five such pink spinel crystals. The raw stone itself was a little over one carat. After polishing and cutting, the remaining part would be less than one carat.
When the old man saw the pink spinel rough stone, his eyes lit up immediately, but he showed a somewhat embarrassed expression on his face and said: "Such a small rough stone, what kind of gemstone is this rough stone?"
"Spike." Li Xiu replied.
Seeing that Li Xiu knew what kind of rough stone this was, the old man continued, "Spinel is a good thing, but this rough stone is too small. After cutting and polishing, it will probably only be 0.5 carats. It's not quite suitable to exchange it for my topaz. Come on, let me take a look first."
The old man took the spinel rough stone from Li Xiu's hand, brought it close to his eyes and looked at it from left to right. The more he looked, the happier he felt.
Although this spinel rough stone is not big, its color and quality are quite good. If it is cut well, it can be around 0.70.8 carats. Although its value cannot be said to be very expensive, it is much more expensive than his topaz.
Spinel has more uses than topaz, but its output is much less than topaz.
"It looks good, but I'm losing too much to exchange such a small spinel for such a large natural London Blue Topaz. Do you have any such stones? Get me another one and I'll give it to you." The old man looked reluctant, but his hidden eyes were like hooks, glancing straight into Li Xiu's pocket.
Li Zhengxiu wanted to say something, but he heard someone next to him say, "If you don't change, I will."
Li Xiu turned his head and saw that the person who was speaking was a young man about twenty years old. He was quite handsome, but a little too handsome. His skin was fair and his facial features were very delicate. He was over 180 meters tall and had a very good body proportion. His long legs were very eye-catching.
Seeing Li Xiu looking at him, the young man nodded and smiled at Li Xiu, then said, "I also have London Blue Topaz. If you are interested, you can come over to have a look. You can pick any of the dozens of carats of Teardrop Blue Topaz. I only want this spinel rough stone."
The old man was not angry after hearing what the young man said. He ignored the young man and said to Li Xiu in a sarcastic tone: "Little brother, there are all kinds of people these days. Be careful not to be greedy for small gains or you will suffer big losses. If something happens, don't blame me for not warning you."
The young man was obviously still too young. When he heard what the old man said, his expression changed immediately and he wanted to say something to the old man.
Li Xiu stopped the young man and said to the old man with a smile: "Old sir, I talked to you first. Of course, I will trade with you first. I will exchange one rough stone for your topaz. If you don't want to exchange, I will consider others."
"Forget it. You seem like a nice person. I'll just consider it as a good deed, so that no one else gets cheated by bad guys and doesn't know what's going on." As the old man spoke, he deliberately glanced at the young man.
This couldn't even be called a hint, he was clearly saying that the young man was a liar who wanted to trick Li Xiu.
"Who do you say is a liar?" The young man was angry and anxious, but he did not fight with the old man, and he was at a loss for words for a moment.
"Thank you very much, old sir." Li Xiu smiled and took the blue toppa handed to him by the old man.
"If you switch with him, you will regret it." The young man stomped his feet in anger. Seeing that Li Xiu had already switched, he turned around and left in frustration.
Li Xiu held his arm, put away the blue topa, and said to the young man with a smile: "Brother, don't be in a hurry to leave. Can you please do me a favor and have a cup of tea with me?"
"You've already changed, why are you still drinking tea?" Although the young man was very unhappy, he did not shake off Li Xiu's hand.
"Let's drink and talk." Li Xiu saw a tea shop not far to the left, so he pulled the young man over, ordered a pot of tea and sat down.
"Thank you for your patronage. Take care. Next time you have raw stones, come to me and I will give you a discount." The old man put away the spinel raw stone and shouted to Li Xiu with a smile.
"Thank you." Li Xiu's words made the young man angry again.
"Two little rookies, the old man has taught you a lesson. It's not a big tuition fee." After the two of them walked away, the old man proudly took out the pink spinel rough stone, looked at it again and again, touched it again and again, and simply couldn't let it go.
"If you don't trust me, why did you drag me here?" The young man was still indignant after sitting down.
"I believe you." Li Xiu smiled.
"If you believe in me, why do you want to exchange with him?" The young man thought Li Xiu was just trying to fool him.
"Don't be anxious, have some tea and I will tell you slowly." Li Xiu picked up the teapot and teacup, poured a cup of tea and placed it in front of the young man.
"What do you mean?" Although the young man was a little impatient, he was not stupid and he could hear the hidden meaning behind Li Xiu's words.
Li Xiu took a sip of tea, put down the teacup, took out the topaz from his pocket and placed it on the table in front of the young man.
"Take another closer look at this gem." Li Xiu said with a smile.
"What's so good about it? Isn't it just a topaz?" The young man was a little puzzled, but he still picked up the gem and looked at it carefully again and again.
The teardrop-shaped blue gem has a very good luster and is cut very finely. You can see its good fire when you look at it from different angles.
"This gem... seems..." As the young man looked at it, he seemed to realize something and his eyes gradually changed.
"Like what?" Li Xiu asked with a smile, taking a sip from the teacup.
"Isn't this topaz?" the young man looked at Li Xiu uncertainly and asked.
"What do you think this is?" Li Xiu continued to ask.
The young man picked it up and looked at it carefully. After a while, he looked at Li Xiu unconfidently and said, "Could this be an aquamarine... This color... If it is an aquamarine... I'm afraid it must be Santa Maria color... But this color is slightly different from Santa Maria color aquamarine."
Li Xiu smiled without saying anything. He knew that this was definitely not a dyed topaz, but he didn't know what kind of gem it was. He could only let the young man see it for himself.