Mountain Looting: Targeted by a Leopard at the Start
Chapter 311 - 310: Universe within, The Secret of the Wooden Stake!

Chapter 311: Chapter 310: Universe within, The Secret of the Wooden Stake!

Xu Yang had bought a large wooden stake from the timber market.

This stake was truly substantial.

A middle-aged man standing nearby saw this and said, pointing at the stake,

"Look at the surface of this stake, it has cracks. If you make it into a tea table, it might not look very nice."

Another person chimed in,

"Just cut it flat, add a few support legs underneath, put on a layer of glaze, and it will still look pretty good."

The boss who sold the stake was actually happy. It had been lying around there for almost a year, and nobody had taken an interest in it.

After all, there were too many good woods available here.

Who would have thought that today a "fated person" would come, and it was Xu Yang who chose it?

Xu Yang really didn’t know the trade, but he had the Treasure Compass.

So, it wasn’t certain what the situation was.

Xu Yang carefully examined the large tree stump in front of him. Lifting it was quite heavy.

Xu Yang couldn’t discern any clues; it seemed no different from the other woods.

If you smelled it, you could still detect a slight aroma of the wood.

"Treasure Compass says this is a treasure, but I really can’t see what’s so good about it."

"It’s not even a particularly fine wood."

"But if nothing goes wrong, there must definitely be something inside."

Xu Yang had great confidence in the Treasure Compass.

So he was also confident about this wooden stake.

Xu Yang paid 10,000 yuan, and the boss immediately handed over the stake with joy.

Xu Yang asked with a smile,

"Boss, now that I have bought it, this piece of wood is mine, right?"

Hearing Xu Yang’s words, the boss smiled even more brilliantly,

"Of course! Once sold, there’s no reason to take it back. I’ve been doing this for over a decade; I’m known for my reputation."

Xu Yang just nodded.

There were plenty of onlookers around, so there was no need to worry about the boss reneging on the deal.

"Mr. Xu, we have a processing plant over here. If you’d like to make a tea table, we can do it for you right here."

"It’s easy to cut, too."

Someone at the side said.

Xu Yang thought briefly and replied,

"Alright, take it to the processing plant and cut it open. I feel like this wooden stake is a bit different; there might be some tricks inside."

Hearing Xu Yang say this, a young guy from the processing factory rode over in a tricycle, loaded Xu Yang’s wooden stake, and headed towards the factory.

Some people followed Xu Yang the whole way to film him.

After all, he was a big livestreamer.

As long as you captured Xu Yang, posted it on your own video account with the caption, "Today, big-time livestreamer Xu Yang came to the dock timber market to buy wood," you didn’t need to say much else to attract a substantial viewership.

With more viewers, there would always be some who took an interest in the wood.

Hence, these bosses all wanted to ride on this wave of traffic.

Xu Yang brought the tree stump all the way to the processing factory.

The owner of the factory was also a fan of Xu Yang, loved watching his livestreams, and was unspeakably happy to see Xu Yang.

Hearing that Xu Yang wanted to process the wood, he assured with a pat on his chest,

"No problem, you want this piece of wood made into a tea table, right? Sure thing."

Xu Yang then said,

"There’s no rush to do that; I think it wouldn’t look too good as a tea table anyway, especially with its peculiar shape at the bottom."

"How about this, just cut it in the middle for me, into two halves."

"Cut slowly; don’t rush it."

"I think there might be something inside this wooden stake."

Hearing this, the owner of the processing store was momentarily stunned.

"Cut it vertically?"

"Wouldn’t that waste the wood?"

"Does he want to make a small wooden box or something?"

The other owners in the vicinity also began discussing,

"He says there’s something inside this stump? What could be in there?"

"I have no clue, I mean we’ve been in the wood business for so many years and couldn’t see anything special about this stump; how could he?"

"If you ask me, this stake’s worth at most six thousand. He spent ten thousand. You look at Old Li, he’s so happy, it’s like he just made a killing for nothing."

"He’s got quite some ideas."

Hearing these people’s comments, Xu Yang was also unsure.

But he still believed there was something inside and said,

"Just cut it vertically, give it a try, but not from the very center—start cutting from one-quarter in."

Having heard Xu Yang’s decision, the owner of the processing plant no longer hesitated.

Next, he secured the tree stump, took an electric saw in hand, and began cutting the wood from the one-quarter mark.

The shrill sound of cutting rose.

Wood shavings flew everywhere.

As the saw cut downward, the wood was quickly split open, divided into two unequal halves.

At that moment, everyone looked towards the middle of the wood.

That look was casual, but the sight left everyone somewhat astounded.

On the side of the wood, there were wormholes and tunnels.

And there were quite a few of them.

"So many wormholes, this wood is ruined."

"Turns out it was worm-eaten; you can’t get a good price for wood like this."

"There’s actually wormholes inside—the deal is a loss for him."

"This kind of insect-damaged wood is the least valuable."

Seeing this, the people around started voicing their opinions.

The owner of the processing shop also said to Xu Yang,

"This wooden stake isn’t very good, it’s damaged by worms over such a large area, so nothing can be made from it anymore."

"I think this should be Agarwood, we can make some beads from the parts not eaten by insects and sell them as bracelet strands."

"A little something to make back."

Everyone looked down on this wooden stump.

Xu Yang crouched down and took a look, feeling quite amazed.

How had it been eaten by insects?

What kind of treasure was this?

Xu Yang crouched down, carefully examining the insect holes on the stump.

He took a careful sniff and smelled a strange fragrance emanating from the holes.

Smelling this fragrance, Xu Yang immediately smiled.

He knew what was inside.

Agarwood.

Whenever this kind of "agarwood tree" encounters strong winds, insect damage, or the tree itself becomes diseased and rots, the tree secretes resin to heal itself, accumulating at the wound for self-protection.

But sometimes the wounds don’t heal completely, and the resin and fungi live together for long periods, mutating, and after decades or even hundreds of years, they can form agarwood.

The more severe the injury at the wound, the more precious the agarwood that forms.

This thing was truly a treasure.

Seeing the insect holes and smelling the fragrance, Xu Yang knew that the roots of the tree had been injured long ago.

Then, after a long period of change, agarwood had grown inside.

This natural agarwood was very expensive, costing much more per gram than gold.

The people around all thought that the tree stump Xu Yang bought for 10,000 was a waste, that even if he made some beads out of it, they wouldn’t sell for much.

Xu Yang then said to the processing shop owner:

"Boss, saw down here further, and open up this part too."

Hearing Xu Yang’s words, the owner asked:

"Sure, that’s no problem."

"But is there a need to saw it open like this?"

Xu Yang then said:

"Boss, you must have been working with timber for some years now, take a sniff at the insect hole, see if you can smell something."

The boss, hearing him say this, immediately crouched down and went over to the insect hole to take a careful sniff.

Instantly, the boss also realized.

The unique fragrance that was coming out was definitely from Agarwood inside the insect holes.

The boss’s eyes widened, looking at Xu Yang in amazement.

The people around, seeing their reaction, were all somewhat skeptical and unsure.

What was going on?

After all, they were experts, and someone immediately guessed:

"Damn, could there really be agarwood inside?"

Hearing this, other people immediately responded:

"It’s hard to get agarwood from insect-eaten wood, the probability is too low!"

"This really is Agarwood..."

"No way, is his luck really this good?"

"Ah? He found it?"

A wave of discussion rose among the crowd.

The processing shop owner adjusted the chainsaw, found a new position, and began to saw downward again.

The sound of sawing wood filled the air, with countless wood shavings flying about.

Very soon, the tree stump was sawn open again.

This time, everyone saw even more clearly.

They could see many dark powder scattered from the cut part of the wood.

Apart from the powder, there were also irregular wooden "knots" that had formed.

Along with the powder, a whiff of exotic fragrance spread.

The eyes of the processing shop owner widened instantly.

"Hey! It really is agarwood."

"Mr. Xu, wait for me to get you a wooden box; this agarwood powder is also valuable."

"This is Insect Buried Incense!"

The processing shop owner immediately ran back into his shop and hastily brought out an exquisite wooden box.

Then, Xu Yang and he together lifted the wooden stump and poured out all the agarwood powder inside.

Next, they had to polish the stump, no longer making it into a tea table, just polishing the agarwood.

The timber shop owners around were all stunned; their hearts surged with an indefinable emotion, a mix of envy and jealousy.

This wooden stump had been outside Old Li’s shop for a year.

So many good pieces of timber, yet no one cared about it.

Who would have thought that inside this wooden stump lay a world within a grain of sand!

Insect Buried Incense had been preserved all along!

It really was fate.

"No way, it’s really there, how did he find it?"

"His keen eye!"

"I didn’t notice the agarwood at all, a stump with no fragrance coming out, how did he discover it?"

"It’s just like they say online, this person has real skills!"

"Awesome!"

Everyone was very envious.

Xu Yang was mentally prepared, so he stayed fairly calm.

But he was quite happy to have made money.

It had to be the Treasure Compass, the things it found were different.

There was quite a lot of agarwood powder, filling half a box.

Then, they still had to polish the agarwood chunks.

The processing shop owner was a fan of Xu Yang, so he was very enthusiastic about his work.

Xu Yang stood by, joining in.

As the chainsaw started, the wooden stump was slowly cut and polished, until only the agarwood chunks remained.

This seemingly inconspicuous wooden stump had completely transformed.