Chapter 613: The Gambling
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
The sun was bright and the sky was clear.
When it was broad daylight again, the pole and rope disappeared, together with the banner. Yang Yuhe fell to the ground, like a drowned mouse, and was carried back by the people from Wuyi Sect. However, no one cared about his ending now, because all the attention was drawn to the Dragon Gate Rock outside the Dragon Gate.
Three kilometers away from the town of Dragon Gate, beside the Dragon River, where the terrain was steep, lay a big rock, called the Dragon Gate Rock. It was quite famous in the Dragon Gate area but had no reputation beyond. Even though the rock itself looked spectacular, there was nothing nearby for sight-seeing. Today, early in the morning, someone discovered a figure on the Dragon Gate Rock. He was dressed in white with a single sword, as if waiting for something.
The White Blademaster Lu Shaoyou!!!
It was only known that the duel would take place in the Dragon Gate; no specific site had been given. Therefore, even though the Dragon Gate was full of martial arts pract.i.tioners, no one had known the exact location. Now that Lu Shaoyou appeared on the Dragon Gate Rock, there was no doubt that this would be the venue. Under such circ.u.mstance, no one cared about the Young Master of Wuyi Sect. Everyone was heading to the Dragon Gate Rock.
In a very short time, the entire Dragon Gate Rock was mobbed by huge crowd.
However, all the onlookers were kept three hundred meters away from the Dragon Gate Rock.
There seemed to be an invisible screen, keeping everyone outside.
“This is the power of Level Nine experts!” People praised and sighed.
Under the invisible pressure from Lu Shaoyou’s Qi Power, no one could enter the three-hundred-meter wide fighting zone. The entire area became deathly quiet. Everyone was gazing at Lu Shaoyou with enthusiasm.
“Make a bet! No pulling back!”
A strange voice suddenly broke the solemn and peaceful atmosphere. Everyone turned in the direction of the sound and was stunned at what they saw. Among the crowd, behind a table, sat a young man. He was dressed in cyan clothes and looked smart with two bright eyes. He was shouting pa.s.sionately, starting a gambling business among the crowd.
It was strange that the tense and depressing atmosphere, due to Lu Shaoyou’s Qi Power, disappeared without a trace because of the young man. Although the onlookers were still kept outside the fighting zone, their discussion grew louder and some bold ones even made bets with the young man, who took the business happily.
The White Blademaster Lu Shaoyou felt the change in atmosphere. He looked in the direction of the youth, who seemed to have noticed his attention and looked up. When the two pairs of eyes met, the youth smiled and then turned back to his business. “No pulling back! No pulling back! The more you buy, the more you’ll win!” He shouted, paying no attention to Lu Shaoyou who was staring at him.
Recognizing the young man’s face, Lu Shaoyou thought for a second and then turned his eyes away, pretending not to have seen anything. This subtle movement didn’t escape the eyes of the onlookers. Even a fool could tell that the young man was not an ordinary being. Otherwise, Lu Shaoyou, who was always arrogant, would never allow such a thing under his nose. After this, the young man’s business grew very fast. Some people bet on w.a.n.g She while others on Lu Shaoyou, making the host busy but pleased.
“I bet ten thousand taels on w.a.n.g She!” A rough voice came from the crowd, followed by a huge guy, who walked through others and went to the young man, putting a small cloth bag on the table. The people around stared at the bag with wide-open eyes. Golden light shone at the opening. It was easy to see that the bag was full of gold.
The young man took the bag without even raising his head, repeating “Bet on w.a.n.g She. The odds are ten to one!”
The big guy was taken aback and shouted immediately, “Ten to one! Are you kidding me?”
The young man looked up at him for a second and lowered his eyes, saying “Twenty to one!”
“Eh!!” The big guy got sulky and gave him a stern look. “Okay, twenty to one!” After saying that, he pushed others aside and left, as if venting his anger toward the people around.
Those being pushed began to stagger. One of them, a hot-tempered man, was about to curse when someone behind stopped him. The hand covering his mouth didn’t come off until the big guy was far away.
“F*ck, w.a.n.g Mazi. Are you looking for trouble?”
“I was looking for trouble, but you were looking for death. Do you know who that guy is?”
“Who is it? Could he be w.a.n.g She?”
“He’s not w.a.n.g She, but there’s not much difference!” w.a.n.g Mazi looked at the husky figure fearfully. “He’s Lei Xu, one of the three Chiefs of Tian Long Taoism. I dare you to curse him!”
The people surrounding gave off gasps of surprise, feeling lucky that they hadn’t said anything stupid just now.
Unlike w.a.n.g She, Lei Xu seldom appeared in the Jianghu. However, everyone knew that his reputation was above even that of w.a.n.g She. He was the only candidate for the next leader of Tian Long Taoism and he had an unfathomable cultivation. If this big guy was Lei Xu, then who was the young man that had just ignored him and made him speechless?
All of a sudden, the young man was viewed with different eyes, as if he was a rare treasure.
“What are you looking at! Make a bet or go away!” He felt uncomfortable being stared at by a group of people. Just as he finished these words, another white bag embroidered with luxurious patterns fell on his table. “Bet on w.a.n.g She. A hundred thousand taels. The odds are one to one!!”
After saying this, the graceful figure disappeared.
The young man looked at the white bag and complained, “Oh, no! There’s no profit for me at all!” He took the bag, mumbling things to himself.
“That was Nian Wushuang from Tian Long Taoism!”
“Right. Now, two of the three Chiefs of Tian Long Taoism are here. When w.a.n.g She comes, it’ll be a feast in the martial arts world!”
“Yes, that’s right!” everyone agreed.
Lei Xu and Nian Wushuang both had very deep cultivation. The three hundred meter boundary couldn’t hold them. They approached the Dragon Gate Rock one after another, found a good location for each of them and watched Lu Shaoyou with cold eyes. At this moment, someone remembered that Lei Xu also had a personal dispute with Lu Shaoyou, about his wife.
Back then, Lu Shaoyou had been engaged to the daughter of Ma Tianchang, the Governor of Yunzhou. But the bride had been robbed by w.a.n.g She on the wedding day. At first, everyone had thought that Ma Linglong, Ma Tianchang’s daughter, had had an affair with w.a.n.g She. However, to everyone’s surprise, it was another Chief of Tian Long Taoism, Lei Xu, that had had an affair with her. If such was the case, the dispute between Lu Shaoyou and Lei Xu was much deeper than that with w.a.n.g She. As the saying goes, the person who killed your father and took your wife were the biggest enemies. w.a.n.g She hadn’t kill Lu Shaoyou’s father, but Lei Xu had taken his wife!
In a short time, the atmosphere became strange. The onlookers grew excited, as though looking forward to seeing a fight between the two as a warm-up.
Just as everyone had guessed, the moment Lei Xu showed up, Lu Shaoyou’s poker face changed. His eyes grew sharp.
“Your enemy today is w.a.n.g She, not me. After today, you can end our dispute with me anytime you want!” Lei Xu noticed the change of expression on Lu Shaoyou’s face. He waved his hands carelessly and said generously, “I won’t take advantage of you today!”
“Hehehehe!” His words silenced everyone, but the young man in cyan burst into laughter. In the deathly silence, his laughter sounded rather harsh. Nevertheless, no one dared to stop him because no one knew who he really was. However, judging from Lu Shaoyou, Lei Xu and Nian Wushuang’s reaction, the young man was not an ordinary one. Since the party involved showed no discontent, others were not stupid enough to stand out for him.
“Bet on Lu Shaoyou, a hundred thousand taels!” Another voice came as everyone was still stunned. A gracious-looking middle-aged man appeared in front of the young man, putting a golden bag on the table.
The young man took the bag and said, “Good! Bet on Lu Shaoyou. The odds are one to thirty!”
Hearing this, the middle-aged man almost fell to the ground. “How can you change the odds so randomly?”
“You know too much inside information. I’ll lose too much if the odds remain unchanged!” The young man waved his hand toward the middle-aged man, and said without even raising his head, “Go away! Don’t get in the way of my business!”
The man looked helpless. He walked through the crowd into the fighting zone.
At this moment, everyone began to understand that ordinary pract.i.tioners didn’t have the ability to enter the fighting zone. Those who did were all experts with deep backgrounds. It was rather interesting that the first thing the great figures did here was to make a bet on the young man’s gambling table, with a stake of at least ten thousand taels. Some bet on w.a.n.g She, some on Lu Shaoyou. In a short time, the young man had collected more than a million taels, receiving much jealousy from the people around.
“Bet on w.a.n.g She, a million taels!” Just as everyone was envious of the young man’s money, another voice rose, catching all the attention.