Chapter 198: Gamblers From All Sides
Four days later.
Eastern City, Lei Chi Zhai.
This ancient vegetarian hall, abandoned for a hundred years and occupying dozens of mu, was built on a low hill planted with pines and cypresses within the city. Although dilapidated, its view was expansive. Lu Cangsheng bought it with a heavy sum after arriving in Qiu Zhou Prefecture City.
The waters of the lightning sea were used to fill a three-mu pond in the vegetarian hall.
Then, with the lightning pool as the center, a nine-story formation tower was deployed as the foundation for Lei Xiao Sect’s young martial cultivators in Eastern City.
All factions handed over all matters of the Hidden Dragon Lantern Festival entirely to the leaders of the younger generation, refraining from interfering in how alliances were formed or with whom.
Du’e Temple was searching for hidden dragons to support the world.
Did the elder figures of various factions not also wish to see the quality of the young heavenly prodigies they had cultivated?
As a once-in-a-millennium prodigy of Lei Xiao Sect, Lu Cangsheng deeply understood a principle. When doing anything, one must first consider an escape route. Before advancing, one must have the ability to protect oneself and make thorough preparations before planning any endeavor to stand in an invincible position.
Lei Chi Zhai was the place of self-preservation he established to welcome the Hidden Dragon Lantern Festival.
“Let me in, do you dare to stop me…”
Lu Wensheng’s cold, deep voice came from outside, arguing with the Lei Xiao Sect disciples guarding Lei Chi.
Lu Cangsheng, who was meditating on the surface of the lightning pool, felt uneasy. He opened his eyes and sighed, “Let him in!”
Lu Wensheng arrived at the edge of the lightning pool and watched Lu Cangsheng step on the water towards the shore. After composing himself, he said as calmly as possible, “Cangsheng, lend me another two hundred thousand Spring Coins. This time, I will definitely win it all back!”
All of Lu Cangsheng’s patience had been exhausted in the past few days. “You still want to fight? You’ve already lost three matches and still haven’t seen clearly that their combat power is far above yours, and they’ve been toying with you all along.”
“No! In our three encounters, no one knows his combat power level better than I do. He is indeed very strong, and I am no match for him, but I no longer have the mentality of wanting to defeat him! I am very clear-headed, I have self-awareness…” Lu Wensheng said.
Before he could finish, Lu Cangsheng reprimanded him, “Brother, when you are in the mountains, you cannot see them. You’ve lost your magic tool battle robe and your Sky Thunder Saber in these three matches, mortgaged all your cultivation resources, and borrowed two hundred thousand Spring Coins from Thousand Mile Mountain, haven’t you? You cannot go to the arena anymore; you can’t win.”
In the past few days, Lu Wensheng had become very sensitive. He trembled with anger at Lu Cangsheng’s words and roared, “I never intended to win! Five moves, I only need to withstand his five moves to win back everything I lost. I am a Nine Springs Pure Immortal Body, with eighteen Thunder Strike Formations protecting me. In the same realm, can’t he even withstand five of my moves?”
“There are always more people skilled than you. You cannot win!”
Lu Cangsheng said with certainty, “I’ve watched a few matches. Although Li Weiyi’s realm is still low, his martial arts attainment is many times greater than yours. He has been concealing his strength and has not shown his true abilities at all. In the same realm, I may not even be his opponent. The two hundred and sixty thousand Spring Coins you borrowed from me, I’ll consider it spent on your cultivation and you don’t need to repay it. The ones you borrowed from Thousand Mile Mountain, I can help you repay, but you must promise me that you won’t go to the arena again…”
“You don’t need to pity me!”
Lu Wensheng was greatly stimulated. “I know, you look down on me, just like everyone else in the sect. You are a genius, and I am trash! But I am also a genius, I’m just not as good as you. That’s right, I can’t withstand ten moves, but I can definitely withstand five moves.”
“Cangsheng… Brother… Senior Disciple Brother, lend me Spring Coins, please, let me fight one last time. I promise, it will absolutely be the last time. I swear on the spirits of our parents.”
“If I don’t win back what I lost, I will die. How can I live in this world with any dignity? Everyone in the sect is laughing at me behind my back. I must prove myself, otherwise… I can only die!”
By the end, Lu Wensheng’s body gradually hunched over, about to kneel to Lu Cangsheng.
Lu Cangsheng could be ruthless to anyone, but he had the greatest tolerance for this brother. He took a deep breath, a cold glint flashed in his eyes, and then quickly turned into a smile. He supported Lu Wensheng with both hands. “One last time?”
Lu Wensheng broke into tears and smiled, touched. “Our parents died early, and we brothers depended on each other. Cangsheng, I knew you wouldn’t ignore my life or death! This is the last time, I will definitely win back five times the Spring Coins.”
Lu Cangsheng took a long, rectangular medicine box from his boundary bag and handed it over. “This Black Dragon Grass, aged sixteen hundred years, is something I picked up from the East Sea seabed. Its value is about two hundred thousand Spring Coins.”
“Cangsheng, you are too good to me. Don’t worry, I will definitely win this time!”
Lu Wensheng, holding the medicine box, left quickly with a beaming smile.
Qin Qian walked in from outside, watched Lu Wensheng leave, and then looked at Lu Cangsheng by the lightning pool, his grim expression and eyes full of killing intent.
She said, “Brother Lu was never in such a frantic and sensitive state before. He was an extremely calm and self-controlled person. It’s all that Li Weiyi’s fault. I’ll go kill him!”
She was a Pure Immortal Body cultivating the Sixth Sea, so she naturally had the confidence to kill Li Weiyi.
Lu Cangsheng gazed at the lightning pool. “He’s just a chess piece! What we should truly consider is why Zuo Qiu Ting pushed this chess piece out.”
Qin Qian said, “There is news that Li Weiyi is Cang Li’s brother-in-law.”
“Cang Li’s brother-in-law? Didn’t they say he was Zuo Qiu’s son-in-law?” Lu Cangsheng frowned.
Qin Qian said, “There are even reports that he has the strength to defeat Yang Zhiyong of Sui Sect. All sorts of news are flying around, some true, some false, extremely deceptive.”
Lu Cangsheng pondered for a moment. “Zuo Qiu Gatehouse and the Jiu Li tribe have avoided war for ten years, conserving their strength, and watching the heroes of the world and the Imperial Court fight in turmoil, exhausting each other. They, with their deep foundations, have hoarded who knows how much provisions, pills, magic tools, battle formations, and exotic beasts. Now, using the momentum of Du’e Temple and the Hidden Dragon Lantern Festival, they intend to officially enter the fray to reap the benefits of the fisherman.
“The Imperial Court will certainly view them as the primary targets for attack, and give Du’e Temple and Zuo Qiu Gatehouse a harsh lesson.”
“The clashes between the younger generation at the Hidden Dragon Lantern Festival will inevitably follow this pattern.”
“Therefore, for a mere martial cultivator in the Fourth Stage of Five Seas Realm, Lei Xiao Sect has no need to act at this time and restrain themselves by charging into battle.”
“How about this: you go tell Long Dian. If the Dragon Gate can kill Li Weiyi, our cooperation can continue.”
“Is Long Gate willing to charge into battle?” Qin Qian asked.
Lu Cangsheng said, “During the turmoil in Li Zhou, Long Gate already offended the Jiu Li tribe. There will inevitably be a contest at the Hidden Dragon Lantern Festival. Moreover, Long Gate must have suffered considerable losses in this treacherous arena gambling game.”
“So many extremely shrewd martial cultivators were led into the game step by step, all becoming gamblers with lost minds.”
“Fortunately, Li Weiyi is only at the cultivation level of the Fourth Stage of Five Seas Realm. If he were three realms higher, he could have ruined the Hidden Dragon Lantern Festival by himself and it would have been directly renamed the Hidden Dragon Gambling Festival. This person must not be kept.”
…
The challenge fee on the first day was five hundred Spring Coins.
On the second day, it increased to one thousand.
On the third day, the rules were changed; there was no upper limit for the challenge fee, and a loss paid ten times.
On the fourth day, the arena was sparsely populated, with many spectators but very few daring to step onto the stage.
However, as the second cloth banner proclaiming “Defeat all under heaven with five moves” was hung, the top martial cultivators of the Fourth Stage of Five Seas Realm, who had been scared by their losses in the first four days, immediately rallied and scurried about to raise Spring Coins.
Enthusiasm was ignited once more, and everyone was confident they could withstand five moves.
“This time, it’s not paying the challenge fee; the rules state it’s an opportunity for us to recoup our losses, and all the money we lost to you will be returned.”
“One to five. As long as you can block his five moves, he will pay five times the amount, no matter how many Spring Coins we wager.”
“But he said to restrain ourselves and act within our means, and absolutely not to take out too huge a sum of funds.”
“Restraint? He’s afraid he won’t be able to afford the loss if he loses.”
57 “Within five moves, defeating all martial cultivators in the same realm is something no one can be certain of, so naturally, he has to be more cautious.”
“I can’t withstand ten moves! If I can’t even withstand five moves in the same realm, what’s the point of martial way cultivation?”
At the top floor of the vermilion tower at the center of the Qiu Prefecture Attendant Hall Government Office, Jiang Ning, wearing a Governor’s Official Robe from a thousand years ago, sat at the center of a circular formation diagram, cultivating the Dragon Awakening Art.
The Dragon Awakening Art is the only way to obtain the Dragon Soul Power within the official robe.
Half of the three hundred Governor’s Official Robes from a thousand years ago were stored in the Imperial Palace. The other half were lost to the common people and the Nether Realm.
Hearing the clamor and discussion below the tower, she stopped cultivating and asked Zhuang Yue, “What happened again?”
Zhuang Yue put on a pair of crimson demonic eyes. Her pupils were like jade, and her usually cold expression now carried a hint of seductive charm. She wore a strange expression. “It’s Qin Changfeng, Lin Yi, Fifth Young Master, and them again. They’re preparing to go to the arena and are scrambling for money, claiming they’re going to make a big score.”
Jiang Ning’s eyes were covered by a white dragon-patterned gauze, three misty dragon souls already swirling around her. Her voice was tranquil as she asked, “Fifth Brother was also taken in by them?”
“The Fifth Young Master has already lost three matches in a row, lost all his magic tools, and was injured. That guy didn’t hold back at all,” Zhuang Yue scoffed.
66 Jiang Ning said, “We’ve lost so much, and you still want to fight?”
“Zuo Qiu Ting also wrote another piece of calligraphy for him, which read ‘Defeat all under heaven in five moves.’ If it’s just about taking five moves, how could Qin Changfeng and the Fifth Young Master not take the bait?”
Zhuang Yue said again, “Zuo Qiu Ting is clearly using him. If he continues winning like this, he will surely incur the wrath of the masses, which will be very dangerous.”
