SS CH101

In the martial world, there are three types of places that attract the most trouble: brothels, post houses and inns, and gambling dens. As a transit hub, Jialan City possessed numerous post houses, but very few red-light districts. Its gambling dens, however, had developed quite well.

It was currently late at night, but Jialan City’s night market had always been bustling. At a glance, one could see a sea of neon lights and wine, decadent silhouettes weaving through light and color, creating a dizzying, surreal illusion.

Ye Fusheng did not squeeze into this prosperous night market. Like a ghost drifting down a long street, he swept silently through the avenues and, in the blink of an eye, turned into a shadow that melted into a dark, remote alley.

This appeared to be a dead end.

If a layman came here, after seven twists and eight turns, they would only see a cold wall. Spitting out a curse of “bad luck,” they would leave. Very few knew there was a hidden mechanism upon that wall.

When Ye Fusheng arrived here, he pulled a black cloth from his robe to mask the lower half of his face, revealing only his eyes, which had lost all trace of a smile.

He walked up to the wall, tapped lightly on a few bricks with his fingers, then pinched one and pulled it out slightly. The ground beneath his feet shifted.

Ye Fusheng moved his feet and pulled the stone brick halfway out. The section of ground where he had just stood flipped upwards, revealing a three-foot-square entrance underneath. It was pitch black, with no lamps lit; only by the moonlight filtering down from the sky could one vaguely see a winding staircase descending into the depths.

Raising an eyebrow, Ye Fusheng shoved the stone brick back into place, then swiftly descended the passageway. The moment his silhouette vanished into the darkness, the flipped stone slab dropped back into place, leaving not even a crack visible.

After walking down the stone stairs for about a dozen steps, firelight appeared ahead, and the surroundings gradually opened up.

Beneath this quiet, secluded alley, a gambling den was actually hidden.

This gambling den wasn’t large; it was merely divided into several cramped private rooms, all sealed with heavy iron doors, leaving only a few hidden ventilation holes. Even voices could barely be heard. Rather than a place of gambling, it looked more like a dungeon.

Outside each room hung a lantern. Some burned with a candle flame the size of a bean, while others remained unlit.

This was the Mingzhu Gambling Den, claiming that “anything can be gambled.”

Wine, women, wealth, life-and-death contracts, intelligence trading, martial arts, and hidden weapons… these were all common chips at the Mingzhu Gambling Den. As long as you won, you could obtain whatever you wanted from the den. Otherwise, you had to pay double the value in treasures as the price for losing.

The Mingzhu Gambling Den had appeared in the martial world over forty years ago. It seemingly belonged to no faction, yet its strength was formidable. Its members were elusive, and their business was strictly gambling and trading. They never asked the name or background of those who came, letting wins and losses at the gambling table speak for everything.

If you won, your wish was fulfilled; if you lost, you accepted your loss gracefully. More than one person had tried to renege on a bet in the past, and their outcome was grass on their graves growing taller than a person.

How many Mingzhu Gambling Dens existed within Great Chu was known to very few. Even Ye Fusheng only knew the locations of three. Fortunately, one of them happened to be in Jialan City.

At the entrance to the gambling den were four guards and an old man sitting behind a small wooden desk keeping the ledger. When the old man looked up and noticed his arrival, Ye Fusheng fished out a gold leaf from his sleeve pocket and lowered his voice: “One hour.”

Besides betting funds, the Mingzhu Gambling Den also charged an entry fee. Staying for one hour cost one hundred taels of silver per person. It was undeniably expensive, but it also kept out the petty, stingy types.

After the battle at Jinghan Pass, Ye Fusheng had become a penniless nobody. Since his reunion with Chu Xiwei, the latter had managed everything for him. His meticulous care had nearly turned a highly capable veteran of the martial world into a domestic cripple, let alone allowing him to build up any savings.

Fortunately, before leaving Zuowang Peak this time, his Shiniang had given him a pouch of money for his discretionary use. When Ye Fusheng opened it, he found six gold leaves, ten gold and silver ingots, and a thumb-sized South Sea pearl—lustrous to the touch and of rare quality.

The Taishang Palace rarely involved itself in mortal affairs, to the point that Ye Fusheng almost believed they were all ascetic cultivators who didn’t eat mortal food. He never expected them to be so exceptionally wealthy, just keeping a low profile and living austere lives.

Right now, however, these things came in quite handy.

The Mingzhu Gambling Den cared about money, not people. Since he had paid, the guards naturally let him pass. Ye Fusheng picked an unlit private room, grabbed a fire stick clipped beside the door to light the lantern, and then pushed the door open and walked in.

Inside the room, only one lantern was lit. A woman sat behind a desk.

A very beautiful woman.

The weather was already cold, yet she wore a flimsy snow-silk dress that exposed her fragrant shoulders and half her bosom. As she rested her chin on her hand, she revealed wrists as white as congealed frost. The scarce light in the room seemed to gather upon her skin.

No incense burned in the room, but the moment she spoke, a faint fragrance seemed to drift over—lighter than flowers, yet more intoxicating than wine.

The woman said, “This servant is Yingxiu. What does the gentleman desire?”

“Information.” After a pause, he added, “Three questions—the current status of the Prince of Li, Chu Yuan; the movements of the Burial Soul Palace; and the situation at Wuxiang Temple.”

“The chips?”

Ye Fusheng smiled. He pulled out three gold leaves and asked, “Is this enough?”

Yingxiu picked up the gold leaves, felt them, and placed them back on the desk. “The gentleman knows the rules, which this servant likes. So… how shall we gamble?”

“Martial arts,” Ye Fusheng replied. “You set three rounds. If I win a round, you answer one of my questions. If you win a round, you take a gold leaf, and I will add a top-tier South Sea pearl as compensation.”

“Straightforward.” Yingxiu began to laugh. She was already beautiful, but when she smiled, she captured the eye even more. “Then, according to the rules, this servant shall determine how these three rounds will be played.”

Ye Fusheng nodded. “As the lady pleases.”

Yingxiu’s gaze fell on the candlestick in the center of the wooden desk. The candle had less than an inch left, its red wax tears congealed into a pile on the copper stand. She said, “The first round: before the candle goes out, whoever grabs this bracelet first wins.”

She slipped a silver bracelet off her wrist and tossed it into the air. The bracelet struck the ceiling with a light clink and then began to fall.

The sound signaled the start of the round. The silk ribbon draped over Yingxiu’s arm shot toward the silver bracelet like a dragon bursting from water. As the firelight flickered, it cast long, dancing shadows that looked like writhing serpents. In the blink of an eye, the ribbon wrapped around the bracelet.

The next moment, the ribbon snapped back before her eyes, but Yingxiu’s smile vanished.

The ribbon had snapped in the middle. Just as she was reeling it in, it had been severed by a gold leaf. The silver bracelet, wrapped in the broken half of the ribbon, was flung out again by the momentum. Ye Fusheng braced a hand on the table and leaned over diagonally, easily grabbing it.

In that exact split second, Yingxiu kicked the wooden desk. One of the legs shattered under the force of her internal energy. The tabletop tilted downward, causing Ye Fusheng to lose his balance. Although he stabilized himself quickly, he narrowly missed grabbing the severed ribbon.

Having secured the item, Yingxiu smiled like a blooming flower. As she peeled away the ribbon, she said softly, “I yield.”

Before she finished speaking, her fingers touched the bracelet, and her smile froze.

There was indeed a bracelet inside the ribbon.

But it was a delicate jade bracelet, not her silver one. Because the room was dimly lit and the bracelet had been wrapped in the ribbon, she hadn’t noticed during that lightning-fast exchange.

Ye Fusheng sat back down in his chair and kicked the broken table leg up to prop up the leaning desk. Although wobbly, it was better than nothing.

He opened his hand. Resting on his palm was unmistakably Yingxiu’s silver bracelet.

Ye Fusheng smiled. “The lady is as beautiful as jade. Although the carving on this silver bracelet is fine, it ultimately doesn’t suit your flawless skin. Although the quality of this jade bracelet is average, the sentiment behind it is good. If you don’t mind, please accept it with a smile.”

A grown man carrying women’s jewelry around, aside from flirting and joking, was meant to grease the wheels of connections.

Wandering the martial world, there was nothing more deceptive than the soft whispers of a romantic beauty during a drunken revelry, and there was no easier way to extract clues than from the half-hidden hints of a clever woman.

There were many women in the Mingzhu Gambling Den. Ye Fusheng had purposely picked out a jade bracelet before coming, and it had indeed proven useful.

Having lost the first round, Yingxiu was startled but not annoyed. Smiling brightly, she slipped the jade bracelet onto her wrist, picked up the gold leaf that had fallen to the floor, and tossed it back to Ye Fusheng. “The gentleman’s qinggong is remarkable. Yingxiu falls far short. Therefore, for this first question… I fear the Prince of Li, Chu Yuan, is harboring rebellious intent.”

Ye Fusheng narrowed his eyes, listening as she continued: “Seven days ago, to consolidate the northern border defenses, the Emperor issued an edict sending Prince Duan, Chu Yu, to Weifeng City with troops, supposedly to assist the Prince of Li in military affairs and jointly resist the northern barbarians. But as the saying goes, ‘one mountain cannot hold two tigers.’ Anyone with eyes can see this is a power grab. Although the Prince of Li accepted the edict and relinquished half his power, he refuses to let go of several crucial checkpoints. Furthermore, he has been secretly deploying troops and generals with great frequency. I fear an armed rebellion will happen within these two months.”

A cold gleam flashed in Ye Fusheng’s eyes. “Thank you, Miss. What about the second round?”

“Listening to sound.” Yingxiu pulled out three dice and a bamboo cup. “I will shake them, and you will guess. If you guess the total points correctly, you win. If you guess wrong, you lose.”

The women in the gambling den didn’t have to be beautiful, but they absolutely had to be masters of gambling techniques.

Yingxiu was beautiful enough, but the way she shook the dice was even more captivating.

Her wrist flipped like butterfly wings, her movements as smooth as flowing water, utterly dazzling the eye. It was impossible to track her technique; only the sharp rattle of the dice echoed in the ear.

Ye Fusheng closed his eyes, listening intently to the movement. He only opened them after the dice cup slammed down.

Resting her palm on the cup, Yingxiu smiled and asked, “Did the gentleman hear clearly?”

“Nineteen.”

Yingxiu chuckled lightly. “The gentleman jests. The maximum for three dice is triple sixes, making eighteen. Where does nineteen come from?”

Ye Fusheng smiled. “Because there are more than three dice inside the cup.”

Yingxiu lifted the cup, revealing exactly four dice inside: three sixes and a one.

A fourth die had been hidden inside the cup from the very beginning, rolling alongside the other three as she shook it. However, because her technique was extraordinary and the sound of the four dice almost blended into a single note, very few people possessed the acute perception and sharp hearing required to detect the minute difference.

Yingxiu almost couldn’t help but admire this man.

A trace of genuine tenderness softened her smile, reducing the deliberately overt seduction and making her look three parts more beautiful: “The second question. The Palace Master of the Burial Soul Palace, Helian Yu, is in secluded cultivation. The Left Protector, Zhao Bing’e, left Mizong Ridge half a month ago, and her current whereabouts are unknown. Among the four Hall Masters, the Vermilion Bird guards the nest, while the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, and Black Tortoise have all gone their separate ways… Their movements this time are highly secretive, and our intelligence is incomplete. Please forgive me.”

Ye Fusheng’s expression remained impassive, and Yingxiu couldn’t glean any further clues.

She didn’t know that the hands hidden beneath the table had clenched tightly into fists before slowly relaxing.

After waiting a moment without receiving a reply, Yingxiu continued, “Then for the final round… we gamble on life and death.”