Chapter 471
"You're quite perceptive; I'll reward you, rabbit."
"?"
Li Mo looked up, a question mark hovering over his head.
Wait, who are you?
Just as he was about to use his Tianming Divine Eye to take a look, Xie Xuan beside him said, "This is the Eighth Prince. He runs the most prestigious gambling house in the capital, the Fengyue Xiaozhu. Last time, you lost one to eight; didn’t you go to collect, Li brother?"
Li Mo had been so busy these past few days that his mind was filled with investments, swordsmanship, and the jade legs of the ice beauty. He had originally placed the bet to boost Xiao Jiang's confidence and had completely forgotten about the small winnings.
"I forgot."
"Ah, Li brother, you treat money like dirt, just like me," Xie Xuan agreed wholeheartedly.
"How much?" Zhong Zhenyue asked curiously.
"Uh, sixteen gold mountains and four thousand Xuan crystals," Xie Xuan replied casually, as if he truly regarded money as worthless. Zhong Zhenyue looked as if he had been struck by lightning, his eyes glazing over as he stared at the Eighth Prince.
"Pay up, pay up, you deadbeat."
Eighth Prince: "?"
"Hey, you, pay me back. It may not be much, but I still want it."
Li Mo extended his hand, straightforward and to the point.
The suave Eighth Prince narrowed his eyes slightly. He had thought Li Mo was someone who understood the rules, but he didn’t expect him to actually ask for it.
Why hadn’t he mentioned it in the past two days? Could it be that he really didn’t care about the money? Impossible, absolutely impossible!
"You’re not broke, are you?"
Little Li looked at him with pity.
For the first time in his life, the Fourth Prince was scrutinized with such impolite eyes, and the veins on his forehead twitched.
"In the past two days, since you didn’t come, I’ve already paid my silver to other customers. Tsk, I don’t know what kind of gambler would dare to bet one to eight. Now, even this royal scion has no spare change."
With so many people watching, he couldn’t just default.
"If you don’t have money, then use something as collateral." Although it wasn’t his money, Zhong Zhenyue was already starting to feel the pinch.
"The Fengyue Xiaozhu would be a good option," Xie Xuan suggested after a moment of thought.
The Fourth Prince was furious and sneered, "Though I run the Fengyue Xiaozhu, I’ve also given a significant share to the Crown Prince’s elder brother. Why don’t you go ask him for it when you meet him in the arena? Otherwise, just wait."
"Oi, Jiang Yu, are you going to help him default?"
Little Li completely ignored the implied threat.
Jiang Yu: "?"
The chatter around them suddenly quieted. The Fourth Prince’s expression froze, his soul seemingly leaving his body. He hadn’t expected Li Mo to actually demand the money right there.
"Give it to him," Jiang Yu said calmly.
The Fourth Prince opened his mouth. The Fengyue Xiaozhu was not just a business; it was a place for mingling with high-ranking officials, a platform that connected and entangled many relationships.
Helping his elder brother run the Fengyue Xiaozhu and maintaining connections with the powerful was his greatest utility to Jiang Yu. If he became useless...
But he swallowed hard, suddenly understanding Jiang Yu’s meaning.
This was in the imperial capital.
The Fengyue Xiaozhu wasn’t something you could just take away; who could afford to wait until after the Qianlong Conference?
"Here, but don’t come begging me to return it later."
The Fourth Prince took out the deed from his storage item. Before he could toss it to the ground, Xie Xuan and Zhong Zhenyue swiftly grabbed it, one on each side.
"Damn, so the God Hammer Little Overlord is now the owner of the biggest brothel in the imperial capital?"
"Probably just for this period..."
"Isn’t that enough for today? Several beauties on the Hundred Flowers List are in the Fengyue Xiaozhu. I had a dream as a child to become the owner of the biggest brothel, to do whatever I wanted behind closed doors."
"No wonder the God Hammer Little Overlord would offend the royal family for the Fengyue Xiaozhu. He can’t be planning something like that, can he?"
"Damn, doesn’t he already have Han Xianzi? How can he do this? What a scumbag."
Li Mo twitched his mouth at their words. "Ice beauty, you know my interests. I plan to change that place."
"You plan to change it into..."
"That’s right, a foot-washing city!"
For the next incense stick’s worth of time, the royal youths kept glancing over here until the sound of the morning bell rang, casting various shadows on the map of the nation.
Everything was the same as yesterday, with names drawn from the golden beads projected onto it.
[Huang Donglai vs. Ning Que]
[Li Mo vs. Zhong Zhenyue]
"Looks like, Old Huang, whoever wins against Ning Que will have to face Li brother," Zhong Zhenyue said, still nursing his injuries.
Why did he say that? Because the matches were conducted in groups, and these four were in one group, needing to determine the strongest among them.
"I can’t win against Ning Que; he counters me perfectly. His martial arts are based on sound, so he can hit me without even needing to catch up."
Huang Donglai shook his head.
"I only use the sword, and it will take some effort to deal with him."
Li Mo had seen Ning Que’s performance.
Huang Donglai, hearing this, touched one of the bottles inside his robe, falling into deep thought.
"Little Jiang is actually up against Brother Murong."
Li Mo was smiling when suddenly his smile vanished.
Because another pair of competitors from the same group emerged.
[Jiang Yu vs. Qu Songyun]
This meant that if Jiang Chulong won against Murong Xiao, her opponent would be Jiang Yu.
---
Chapter 527: The Master Has Grown Horns!
Jiang Chulong held the little rabbit with demon blood in her arms, fiddling with the two small leaves on its head. When she looked up, she saw Big Brother Li and the others, even Ice Sister, looking at her with serious expressions.
"What’s wrong?"
"Chulong, if you win against Brother Murong, you’ll have to face Jiang Yu."
A flicker of obscure light passed through Li Mo’s eyes as he activated his Tianming Divine Eye.
Upon hearing this, Jiang Chulong’s little face visibly paled, her head drooping. Her timid appearance reminded Li Mo of the first time he met her, when she was still the beggar Xiao Jiang...
In the Tianming Divine Eye, Xiao Jiang’s golden fate suddenly darkened with a layer of shadow.
Recently, her situation had transformed into: "Because she feared facing Jiang Yu, she was too scared to draw her sword on stage. Compared to Jiang Yu, she feared even more the sword bone that had been passed down from her mother and then taken away. From then on, the gap between her and Jiang Yu grew wider..."
"How did this draw happen? What a coincidence!"
"Chulong has only just entered the Qianlong List; how could she face Jiang Yu?"
"I just prepared a particularly vicious poison that happens to meet the tournament’s regulations, but I hope it won’t come into play," Huang Donglai said with a solemn expression.
Xiao Qin shook her head and said, "Little Jiang, just forfeit directly. Let Brother Murong face Jiang Yu. My teacher says you have no chance of winning."
"Me?"
Murong Xiao pointed at himself, his eyes wide.
Is a monk’s life not worth anything?
Everyone felt that Little Jiang should just give up.
But Jiang Chulong looked helplessly at Li Mo and Ying Bing.
Ying Bing’s calm eyes flickered with thought. After a sigh, her red lips parted...
But Li Mo spoke first, "I think it’s worth a try."
Everyone looked at him in confusion.
Jiang Yu had long been at the level of Observing the Nine Apertures, and since he had reached the top of the Qianlong List, he had never fallen from it.
Xie Xuan couldn’t help but say, "Actually, the gap between Jiang Yu and me has been increasing year by year."
"The first time, I only lost to him by half a move. The second time, I couldn’t last beyond fifty moves. This time, the gap might be even greater because I feel... there’s some extraordinary object within him that he is gradually mastering."
"Perhaps in the future, no swordsman will be able to defeat him."
In fact, setting that aside, the difference in realms alone was enough to instill despair.
They say swordsmen can be defeated but not knocked down.
But you can’t just throw yourself against a rock like an egg.
Jiang Chulong didn’t care about that; she steeled herself.
Li Mo subtly exchanged glances with Murong Xiao, and the Love Master understood, following him aside:
"Li brother, what are you thinking? Do you have some idea?"
Murong Xiao had become much steadier since entering the Buddhist path.
And it was well-known that Little Li was the idea king of Qingyuan Sect.
Li Mo raised an eyebrow at him, "Swordsmen emphasize drawing their swords against enemies, right? If Little Jiang is scared before the battle even begins, it will greatly affect her mindset."
Murong Xiao recalled that among the opponents he had encountered, swordsmen were the most prone to getting carried away.
"But if there’s no life left..."
"It doesn’t matter; this is when it’s time for you, the Love Master, to step in!"
"?"
"As long as Little Jiang’s sword can’t break through your defenses, she naturally won’t encounter Jiang Yu. I’ve prepared a method for you..."
The two whispered for a while.
Before long, the matches on each stage began.
Li Mo’s ended the quickest.
When Zhong Zhenyue stepped onto the stage and saw Li Mo’s serious expression, he broke out in a cold sweat and said, "Li brother, don’t make a move; it’s me!"
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