Chapter 42: A Gamble

Chen Ci stubbornly stayed in the inn for two more days, practicing the Qi-consuming method and using up all five Spirit Pearls he had worked so hard to warm up, before finally sauntering out, ready to go to the central area of Xishan Market to see the world.

Mere gambling dens and brothels, and they want to corrupt my Dao Heart?

Ridiculous.

Only the likes of Little Zuo, Little You, and the Second Brother could be led astray by external things.

As for Chen Ci himself, his Dao Heart is extremely firm.

"I, Master Chen, am truly witty as hell."

Chen Ci was calm and composed; although he felt like something was not quite right, it probably wasn't anything major.

Within Xishan Market, although most places were wooden buildings and stalls, no different from the mundane world, there were still several luxuriously built structures where Qi surged between the pavilions, clouds and mist swirled, and rays of light faintly appeared.

Chen Ci headed toward those few buildings.

"Open, open, open!"

"Damn it, another mundane pearl! Boss, are you out of clams? Are you out of clams?"

Passing by a gambling stall, Chen Ci curiously stood on tiptoe to take a few looks; a group of excited Daoists were shouting loudly beside a water pool, the atmosphere exceptionally heated.

A burly, muscular cultivator who looked like a mundane butcher, possessing quite high cultivation, was directing his assistants to dump a large crate of spirit clams into the pool. Once the clam pool was nearly full, the burly man crossed his arms and shouted coldly: "You all know the rules. The Scaled Gold Mine is always short of hands. Play if you want, but don't break the rules or ruin the mood, or it won't be pretty."

This shout lowered the exceptionally lively atmosphere a little, but it was no big deal.

After watching for a while, Chen Ci roughly understood the way this spirit clam pearl gambling worked.

It was somewhat similar to opening blind boxes.

These spirit clams were not the fixed-spirit jade clams of spirit beasts, but rather miscellaneous clams that grew alongside them in the clam fields of spirit-marsh caves. They could also gestate Spirit Pearls, but the output was very unstable; even if a spirit clam reached the right age, there was no telling what quality of Spirit Pearl it might produce.

But instability had its own benefits.

One must know that the Spirit Pearls produced by fixed-spirit jade clams were water-aligned and neutral, with pure spirit energy. Conversely, those miscellaneous clams with unstable output had a slight chance of fixing the other five elemental spirit energies, and the Spirit Pearls they produced had other mysteries, serving as excellent medicine for harmonizing the five elements in various pill formulas.

Their value also multiplied.

Therefore, spirit clam pearl gambling was about using one's eye to select spirit clams of various qualities.

For those of slightly poorer quality, one gambled on whether the produced pearl was a common mundane pearl or a Spirit Pearl.

For those of slightly better quality, on top of mundane pearls and Spirit Pearls, one further gambled on whether it was a mutated Spirit Pearl.

Blind boxes were the kind of thing that those who didn't like them really didn't like, but those who did were truly prone to getting hooked.

In just the time it took to eat a meal, the pool of spirit clams had been picked clean; depending on the quality, the price ranged from one tael of gold, ten taels of gold, to a hundred taels of gold.

Chen Ci clicked his tongue; just take the spirit clams priced at a hundred taels of gold—one had to produce a Spirit Pearl to make a small profit, and a mutated Spirit Pearl was one in a thousand. If it only produced a common mundane pearl, it would be a total loss.

They were playing for high stakes.

And this gambling stall wasn't even considered large-scale in Xishan Market.

Chen Ci thought for a moment and quietly activated the Observation Qi Method; even though he knew it was basically impossible, what if?

Unfortunately, the Qi in this gambling den was too chaotic. Not to mention the numerous excited cultivators, with such a large pile of spirit clams buried together in the pool, he couldn't see a thing.

Chen Ci shook his head in regret, then painfully spent one tael of gold to pick a spirit clam of inferior quality and smaller size. When he got it in his hand, he was actually a little excited and nervous.

Still the same saying, what if?

"Buy the spirit clam in reverse, and your cave dwelling will rely on the sea."

Chen Ci rubbed his hands together and was hesitating about what posture would look cooler to open the clam, when someone behind him asked in a low voice: "Brother, is this some new clam-reading technique?"

Chen Ci turned his head. Behind him was a somewhat thin, slovenly-looking middle-aged cultivator with deep-set, bloodshot eyes and a listless expression, yet he displayed an abnormal excitement. Although he was talking to him, his eyes were fixed on the spirit clams in the pool, as if wanting to see which one could produce a mutated Spirit Pearl.

A veteran gambling addict.

Chen Ci took one look and didn't want to bother, shaking his head: "I was just saying it for fun."

Having said that, he walked to the side. Fortunately, the man didn't pester him, clutching some gold tightly and still watching.

Chen Ci simply used his True Qi to pry open the spirit clam and looked inside.

This spirit clam didn't even produce a common mundane pearl; it was a dud.

Chen Ci: "..." A scam, it must be a scam!

His luck should at least be two hits out of five.

"Pah!"

Chen Ci turned to leave, but before he had taken two steps, a clamor and commotion broke out in the crowd.

"I hit it, oh, I hit it!"

"It's a Clam Maiden! I didn't expect this medium-grade spirit clam to be able to raise a Clam Maiden. This is a fortune!"

When these words came, Chen Ci, who had just lifted his foot, couldn't help but put it back down. Really, just one look!

In the crowd, a man was holding a palm-sized spirit clam. The shell was slightly open, and inside lived a naked, tender-white young girl, only the size of a thumb. Her limbs and features were no different from a human's, and she was looking at the surrounding crowd in terror through the gap, making squeaking sounds.

This was also the first time Chen Ci had encountered such a strange creature. He listened with his ears pricked for a long time before he learned that this Clam Maiden was barely considered a spirit clam that had gained sentience, but she had no real intelligence and no cultivation. If raised in a water area rich in spirit energy and fed a grain of spirit sand, she could produce a Spirit Pearl in three to five years, or eight to nine years at the longest.

And it was said that if well cared for, a Clam Maiden could live for a thousand years. Many profound families or immortal sects liked to keep such playthings; they could fix spirit energy, increase their foundation, and were also very pleasing to the eye.

Depending on the Clam Maiden's essence, spirituality, and appearance, the price ranged from ten to a hundred Spirit Pearls.

This medium-grade spirit clam only cost ten taels of gold.

A hundred to a thousand times the return.

"One more round, just one more."

"No child cries every day, and no clam gambler loses every time."

"Open!"

After throwing another ten taels of gold down the drain, Chen Ci threw the clam shell in his hand onto the ground in hatred. Within two breaths, someone rushed over and picked up the shell.

"You didn't want it yourself, huh."

The man happily put the shell away before explaining to Chen Ci: "New here? This clam shell can be ground into powder and used for construction. The gambling den buys it back for one tael of gold per ten jin."

Chen Ci: "..."

"It's gone to my head, it's gone to my head, it's poisonous!"

Chen Ci pinched himself hard; in just a short while, he had painfully lost eleven taels of gold without even hearing a sound.

"Why is my Three Yin True Qi boiling slightly? I haven't even been cultivating."

Chen Ci turned his head to look and only then discovered that some exotic incense was burning in the four corners of the gambling den; it was non-toxic and even had slight benefits for True Qi cultivation, giving one the illusion that their Daoist practice had improved just by taking a slight whiff.

Truly terrifying.

Chen Ci was struck by the cold wind outside and shuddered, his entire person sobering up as cold sweat poured down his back.

"Impossible to guard against."

He wiped the sweat from his forehead, fortunate that he lived far away.

Sometimes it really isn't a matter of being able to control oneself; there are some methods one truly doesn't expect.

"Bastards."

Chen Ci spat, making up his mind that if he gambled again he was a dog; he said he would freeload, so he would definitely freeload.

Dodging the enticements of the gambling dens and brothels along the way, Chen Ci arrived near those few buildings, found a friendly-looking cultivator, bowed, and asked, "Pardon me, Daoist, might I ask where one goes for sword gambling?"

(End of chapter)