Chapter 565: Far Ahead!

The large board was visible from all four directions.

The eighty in the fifth row, fourth column was extremely eye-catching.

Except for the total score column, no double-digit numbers appeared in anyone else's rows!

Riding alone, far ahead!

What the hell.

The young master scanned up and down, clutching the silver in his hands tightly.

"Strange, a fierce dragon wouldn't cross the river if it weren't fierce! No wonder he's called the Crossing-River Dragon, he's got the knack."

"The kid from out of town is fierce!"

"Surname Liang, from out of town, not from the Xu, Chi, or Huo families?"

"I heard he's the disciple of the Xu family's good son-in-law, so he's got a bit of a connection."

"Damn it, in less than an hour, he grabbed ten percent of the beasts just like that?"

The clamor outside Chishan Ridge didn't stop, but after the brief praise, it immediately turned into one-sided indignation.

Countless people holding tickets rushed into the gambling dens.

"Black curtain! There's a black curtain!"

"In less than an hour, grabbed eighty spirit fish? Is he the reincarnation of the Water Dragon King? Does all the water in Chishan Ridge belong to Liang?"

"Give us an explanation!"

"Right! Give us an explanation! Otherwise, I'll smash your gambling den!"

As soon as these words were spoken.

A brawny man with knotted muscles opened his shirt and stepped out of the gambling den, his gaze like an eagle's.

The clamoring people retreated, hunching their backs and hiding in the crowd.

The gambling den steward saw the situation wasn't good, rushed out of the tent, stood on a stool, and explained.

People causing trouble was a small matter, but making others truly believe there was a black curtain and not betting was the big matter.

He pointed to the board.

"Everyone here is a smart person; ask yourselves, if there really were a black curtain, would they choose such an unwise method? Eighty spirit fish in less than an hour, an unprecedented event. Are the people running the black curtain treating everyone in the world as fools? This old man is fifty-six this year, and I don't think I've ever been stupid enough to do that."

"If it's not a black curtain, how could there be eighty fish?"

"Everyone has their own skills. Master Liang is highly regarded by the Holy Emperor, not yet twenty, holding a position of From Sixth Rank, pacifying water disasters in the blink of an eye, turning hands for clouds and covering hands for rain; naturally, he has extraordinary abilities. It's just that we don't know about them. Eh, speaking of which, it's quite frustrating. Everyone, Master Liang's ability is displayed, and he's stolen the show, making the young ladies jump for joy, but it's caused us honest businessmen to be blamed for a black curtain. It's truly unjust, and there's nowhere to complain!"

A clerk disguised and mixed into the crowd cooperated and shouted.

"The shopkeeper is right. If there were a black curtain, they wouldn't black it at the start. If it were me, I'd definitely do it at midnight the day after tomorrow. The money that should be bet has all been bet, and it's a foregone conclusion! That's when a black curtain would make money! Doing it now, what's that supposed to mean?"

"Doing this at the start only invites suspicion. The three families have never done such a thing before. It's a business that makes money either way, so why ruin their own reputation for nothing?"

"Everyone, don't be anxious. This year's Great Hunt has three Hunting Tiger martial artists. Even if he catches more treasure fish, it's just wolf smoke, making wedding clothes for others! Don't you see the odds for fourth and fifth are still normal? If he gets into the top three, the odds are ten, twenty, thirty times! Snatching is allowed, so strength is what ultimately counts!"

"I heard the Crossing-River Dragon was a fisherman originally. It's reasonable for a fisherman to know how to catch fish, right?"

"There's some truth to that."

"Let's wait and see."

The surging crowd was easily incited to indignation, but fortunately, there was no one deliberately guiding them, and they came and went quickly.

Planting a few servants to echo, it was relatively easy to calm down.

The dense crowd dispersed in twos and threes, the congested air recirculated, and the slight heat was taken away by the cool breeze of early autumn.

The steward wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Fortunately, he had anticipated this before receiving the news and had prepared a draft, so he didn't suffer a big loss.

It was a pity.

One wave was explained, and another wave followed behind.

Over and over again.

"Everyone, ask yourselves..."

The clamor outside Chishan Ridge didn't stop.

There was also surprise on Yulan Peak.

Anyone who could ascend the mountain was either family or someone of status, knowing what the gambling dens relied on to make money, so there was no need to disgust people with a black curtain.

Not to mention, betting a few hundred or a thousand for fun, it wasn't enough to go and argue for an explanation.

Long Yao and Long Li clutched their tickets, seeing the elder's situation was good, and were already calculating how much they could earn to buy some good cloth to make clothes.

Once the bet was placed, the odds at the time of purchase, regardless of whether they rose or fell later, had no influence.

They had invested all their monthly allowance saved over several months.

Lu Gang asked: "Senior brother, every year at the Great Hunt, how many can the person who hunts the most catch?"

"Not many from Huangzhou, I'm not too sure. Ask the Xu steward." Yang Xu called the Xu family steward on the mountain.

"The most?" The Xu steward answered without hesitation. "Not counting the past, just in recent years, the champion would have three or four hundred. Nearly a thousand spirit beasts, about ten percent can't be caught, and of the remaining seven or eight hundred, the champion takes half, and the top three take eighty percent."

"That many?"

Long Yao and Long Li turned their heads in surprise.

"The Great Hunt allows snatching, so it's a winner-takes-all. Big fish eat small fish, small fish eat shrimp, shrimp eat silt. Strength ranking is basically the ranking of names, unless one is too unlucky or too lucky, there are few accidents."

"Hunting Tiger martial artists under thirty-five are rare, so without being besieged, just snatching from others is enough. With shrimp and small fish added together, the big fish takes one bite, and the number of prey can increase by dozens and dozens. But that mostly happens on the last night. Master Liang's harvest is abundant at the start, which is unprecedented. If he takes good care of it and hides, I think it won't be difficult to hold onto second or third place."

Long Long Eying breathed a sigh of relief.

Yu Dun and Lu Gang were thoughtful.

Hide?

Not using even thirty percent of his strength, he easily overturned the Wolf Smoke Heavenly Bridge. Dealing with the initial Hunting Tiger realm, maybe he didn't have no chance of winning?

The Xu steward had little experience, after all.

He hadn't seen a freak of nature.

"It's convenient, why didn't you say there was such a good place before."

The cloth bags on both sides of Chishan were empty, leaving only two live fish.

A total of eighty-three treasure fish, weighing over a thousand jin, wasn't much for Chishan, but the volume was truly bulging, making it quite inconvenient.

Handing the spirit fish to the water beasts.

Liang Qu held the Abyss Wood, rode his horse and wandered, shaking out half a mile.

In the forest.

A two-zhang-high wooden house was hidden in the treetops, shadowy, with figures flashing through the windows.

A wooden house?

Liang Qu approached curiously.

"What is that wooden house for?"

On top of Yulan Peak, Huangzhou Prefect Xu Xu Wanxing pointed to the wooden house down the mountain.

"Replying to the Prefect," the steward bowed and answered, "It is a forest outpost. This year's Great Hunt uses Yulan Peak as the center, with an outpost built every three miles, guarded by three to five Four-Pass martial artists. If any accident occurs, they can react and arrive in time, and it makes the hunt more exciting."

"More exciting? How so?"

"Hunters encounter a wooden house, voluntarily register the number of hunts, and for every five prey counted, one point is added."

"Secondly, by spending one live spirit beast, a wooden house can store prey once for five hours, during which others cannot snatch it."

"Lastly, for every spirit beast a hunter consumes, they can also exchange for the information of the person storing the spirit beast, knowing who it is. In other words, the storer must bear the risk of ambush after the storage time."

"That's interesting."

"The Great Hunt is held every year, so there should always be some new tricks; it shouldn't be the same every time."

Xu Xu Wanxing laughed.

The Great Hunt.

A business that the Xu, Huo, and Chi families made a steady profit from every year; one could roughly guess the purpose of this move.

On one hand, the forest outposts were conducive to knowing the situation of each contestant, adjusting the odds in advance, and avoiding losses.

On the other hand, it seemed convenient, but it was actually deliberately inducing competition; the more variables, the higher the intensity, and the more it stimulated others to bet.

Sure enough.

Half an hour into the start.

On the mountain and under the mountain, two large boards were erected at the same time.

According to the ranking order on the Dragon-Tiger Ranking, it was divided into a hundred rows and six columns, with the first column writing the names of the contestants, the next three columns being the number of spirit beasts obtained, the fifth column being the wooden house registration points, and the sixth column being the total score.

As time passed, sparse prey records were added to the board, causing an uproar.

A few silver fragments were slapped down.

"Bet on number five for third!"

"Number five for third, odds one to one point two, are you sure you want to bet?"

"Wait, what the hell, I said bet on number five, Crossing-River Dragon for third!"

The young master pointed at the name of the Crossing-River Dragon.

"That's right, odds one to one point two."

"Betting on third isn't one to eight? I'm not betting on fifth!"

"You're a step late. Half a quarter of an hour ago, number five for second was one to twenty-six, third was one to eight; now third is one to one point two."

"Why?"

The young master was stunned.

The steward pointed to the board.

A moment later.