Chapter 399: The Dragon Dao Master's Wager

"Buddhist affinity?"

Looking at the old monk ahead, chatting happily with Nie Xianshan, Li Yuan froze for a moment.

Poaching disciples this brazenly?

"Or did he sense that I'm receiving incense offerings?"

Li Yuan felt a twinge of suspicion.

Ever since he'd become aware of the existence of incense offerings, every time he went out he would maintain the God-Worshipping Visualization Method to draw them in.

Though he was very careful, transferring every wisp of incense into the Soldier-Rearing Space, there was no telling whether some lingering aura still clung to him.

"I heard this young friend hails from the Divine Weapon Valley?"

Another transmission came.

Li Yuan didn't answer, and the old monk answered himself: "Divine Weapon Valley was originally a branch of my Thunder Sound Dao?"

It seemed that was really the case.

Li Yuan's heart stirred.

Divine Weapon Valley had migrated from Purple Cloud Province to Huizhou, and Purple Cloud Province was subordinate to Thunder Sound—though Thunder Sound Dao was a folk name; in fact, it belonged to a great province.

It sat at the junction of Yanshan and Mount Yunmeng Dao, half bordering mountain ranges and half bordering archipelagos; the terrain was complex, and its territory was no smaller than that of Mount Hengshan, Yanshan, and the other Dao.

The reason it had never been designated as a Dao was, first, because the Xinyi Sect didn't have the prestige back then that it does now, and second, because the Xinyi Sect was said to possess no Daoist Tianyun Daoist Tianyun Xuanbing.

Its being the unspoken sixth Dao was only unspoken—it was not recognized by the imperial court or the major sects.

Over the past thousand-plus years, similar sects had been many, but with the passage of time, only the Wudadao Sect remained standing.

"What a pity."

The old monk sounded a little regretful, and cut off the transmission.

'These old fellows are far too sharp…'

Li Yuan felt a chill in his heart, and helpless as well.

Land Immortals—whose spirit fused with heaven and earth—could see through the vast majority of concealment arts in this world.

These past few days, he had indeed learned several Wu Gong for restraining Qi and concealing form in the library, but the results had been minimal…

"To fool a Grandmaster, one would probably need a Yao Shen Gong–level Cang Xing Fa?"

Li Yuan grew wary.

Fortunately, the old monk sent no more transmissions; after a few words he was led off by Nie Xianshan to Tiger Peak, while Li Yuan was assigned to entertain the fat monk Liaokong.

Grand Master Master Dading always wore a smile, while Liaokong kept a solemn, unsmiling face, and the two barely exchanged a word the whole way.

Rather, plenty of onlookers recognized him and greeted him one after another, drawing curious glances from the monks of the Xinyi Sect.

In the end, Li Yuan led the monks to the foot of the Dragon Tiger Pagoda.

The foot of the Dragon Tiger Pagoda was quite lively; accents from all corners of the realm mingled together—some were challenging the pagoda, while others had unfurled a great banner and opened a big betting pool for the crowd to wager on.

"There's gambling?"

Monk Liaokong's eyes lit up at once; he cupped his fist to Li Yuan, then led his monks and squeezed in.

Good heavens…

Li Yuan's eyelid twitched. These were a bunch of gambling monks?

"Our pool is betting on the champion of the preliminaries, not the final champion of the martial display. Before you place your bets, please think it over carefully."

In front of a massive stone stele, several disciples of Dragon Tiger Temple had set up a table and erected a wooden sign. Li Yuan glanced over and recognized one of them—named Lin Kai, ranked one hundred and first on the Dragon List.

"Master Liaokong is interested too?"

Most of the people around had also seen, beneath the memorial archway, the scene of Monk Liaokong summoning the Bai Hu shadow; now seeing him arrive, they were all quite astonished.

"Uncle-Master Li is here too?"

Someone turned his head, and upon spotting Li Yuan immediately drew a wave of gazes; many began whispering among themselves and voluntarily stepped aside to clear a path.

With a soft *whoosh*, Li Yuan felt a warmth between his brows—several wisps of incense had already appeared in his Spirit-Light ground.

"Oh?"

Li Yuan's spirit jolted. After exchanging greetings with disciples he knew, he looked up and saw that on the wooden sign, his own name was prominently displayed at the very top.

"Dragon Tiger's Li Yuan: one to one."

These odds…

At one glance, Li Yuan lost all desire to place a bet, but sensing the wisps of incense rising in his Spirit-Light ground, he still walked into the crowd.

Even a mosquito's leg is still meat, after all.

Ever since learning the secret of incense, he would occasionally descend the mountain for a stroll; he had never seen third-grade or higher incense, but first- and second-grade were plentiful—enough for his daily Listening to Sound.

"Who opened this pool?"

Monk Liaokong asked.

The moment he spoke, many people knew he was a veteran gambler, and that his wager would surely be huge—otherwise he wouldn't have asked who the bookmaker was first.

"To answer Master, this pool was opened by our Senior Brother Long."

"Long Long Xinglie?"

Monk Liaokong looked rather surprised: "He's fond of this too?"

"…Uh, to answer Master, Senior Brother opened this pool to provide entertainment for fellow cultivators…"

"I bet on myself."

Monk Liaokong raised a hand to cut him off, drew a bright-yellow gold ingot from his sleeve, and *smack*—slapped it down on the table:

"Fifty taels of refined gold, on myself!"

Before his words had even faded, the surroundings had abruptly fallen silent.

Even Li Yuan was taken aback—this monk's fortune was far too deep.

Refined gold is a rare material used only for forging divine weapons; normally, one tael costs around forty thousand taels of silver — where would he get fifty taels to gamble with?

"F-fifty taels of refined gold?!"

The few disciples running the stall were all stammering. Lin Jia was startled, then quickly calmed himself down:

"Master Liaokong, are you really betting this much?"

"What, I can't place a bet?"

Monk Liaokong said nothing. The dozen-plus monks behind him had already started pulling out red gold, refined gold, and the like — some as little as ten taels of red gold, others as much as three taels of refined gold.

In no time, a pile had stacked up on the table, glinting dazzlingly in the sunlight.

"These monks are this rich?"

Li Yuan's heart stirred at the sight — he even felt like opening his own book. In his eyes, this was pure profit.

Monk Liaokong looked at the wooden board. He had only just arrived today, so naturally his name wasn't on it.

"I wonder what my odds are?"

"This…"

Lin Jia didn't dare decide on his own. Just as he hesitated, a voice came from outside the crowd:

"Since you've opened the book, how could there be any reason to refuse a bet?"

The crowd parted with a whoosh, and Long Long Xinglie, clad in a black-jade Qianshan Qianshan Qilin armor, strode in.

"Senior Brother!"

"Brother Long!"

Seeing Long Long Xinglie, the disciples of Dragon Tiger Temple all around bowed in greeting, and Li Yuan cupped his hands in salute as well.

"No need for such ceremony, everyone."

Long Long Xinglie stepped up to Li Yuan, clapped him on the shoulder, then turned to look at Monk Liaokong:

"Master Liaokong's odds are one to three. Whatever you wager, this Long will take it all!"

"Brother Long Xinglie, how generous."

Monk Liaokong looked him up and down: "Brother Long Xinglie's Wu Gong has improved quite a bit."

"Just a little progress, that's all."

Long Long Xinglie seemed to have just come out of seclusion. He glanced at the board — there weren't actually that many names on it. The ones he recognized were Yan Jiugong, Pei Jiu, Chu Hun Tian Zhu, Shi Shi Yu Shu, Yan Yan Qingyuan, and others.

What surprised him was that Li Yuan was actually ranked first?

And those odds…

Doubt flashed through his heart, but this was hardly the moment to ask. With a flick of his finger, a wisp of true qi had already inscribed Monk Liaokong's name and his odds onto the board.

"How much are you wagering?"

He asked.

"Beyond the fifty taels of refined gold, another three hundred taels of red gold."

Monk Liaokong had actually raised his bet again.

At this, even Li Yuan was somewhat astonished. Was this old monk really this much of a gambler, or did he think he could win for certain?

"Fine."

Long Long Xinglie accepted it all as promised, then swept his gaze around and announced loudly that everyone could place bets — any amount, on anyone, even on themselves.

"We can bet on ourselves?"

Someone in the crowd cried out in surprise, and a burly big man pushed his way out — it was Ba Ba Wanli.

"Eighth Senior Brother…"

Li Yuan hadn't even had time to greet him before Ba Ba Wanli slapped down a hundred-tael gold note with a snap:

"I'm betting on myself too!"

"…"

Li Yuan nearly choked. But to his astonishment, where there was one, there were two — soon, over a dozen people had all bet on themselves, some as little as a hundred taels of gold, others as much as a thousand.

"Good."

Long Long Xinglie kept his word, and his true qi, sharp as a blade, carved the names of the crowd onto the wooden board.

Only then did some people realize — these were names carved by the Dragon Tiger Dao Child himself.

"I'm betting too!"

"I'm betting too…"

No one knew who shouted first, but in an instant the whole area was in an uproar.

Anyone who could come here for the preliminary selection was worth at least a fortune. Spending a thousand or so taels of gold to show one's face was truly a bargain.

Soon, under Li Yuan's somewhat wide-eyed gaze, the gold notes on the table piled up in thick stacks — each one worth a hundred taels. No refined gold was to be seen, but red gold had piled up in great heaps.

"What a windfall!"

Daoist Li's heart stirred — being the house was where the real profit lay.

'This book was opened by Master.'

Suddenly, a transmitted voice rang out, like a basin of cold water dousing Li Yuan's excitement. The one transmitting was Long Long Xinglie.

"Not just within the sect — every book in Mount Hengshan city was opened by him. Apart from him, who would dare open this kind of book at Dragon Tiger Temple?"

"…"

Li Yuan instantly felt weary at heart.

"Junior Brother Li, want a cut?"

Long Long Xinglie glanced at him.

"I do."

Li Yuan nodded; he had already prepared to borrow a large sum of money, but the Dragon Long Daozhu had not emerged from seclusion for over half a month, which was why it had been delayed.

"When the master opens the odds, he always shares the profits. If Brother Li can reach the top ten in the preliminary round, you'll get a share—the higher your rank, the better. If you take first place, half isn't out of the question."

Long Long Xinglie glanced at the name on the wooden tablet.

The handwriting was too familiar—Li Yuan's odds were even, clearly the master's own script, which left him deeply surprised.

The Dragon Long Daozhu conducts business by strict rules; by listing him this way, he clearly believes Li Yuan is the champion—consider that Yan Jiugong's odds below him are one to two…

"Half?"

Looking at the table piled high with gold notes, Li Yuan found it hard not to be tempted.

Half of the entire preliminary pool's stakes? Not only would it cover the cost of acquiring weapons, it would be enough for the materials needed to advance the Command of Arms to the ninth rank.

"Yes."

Seeing Li Yuan's interest, Long Long Xinglie nodded: "If the master won't give it, I'll make up the difference."

"Like that?"

Li Yuan's heart surged—but then he saw Monk Kongzhi, after placing his bet, walking straight toward the Dragon-Tiger Tower.

"The preliminary round emphasizes combat within the same realm. With your talent, first place isn't guaranteed, but at least a top-ten finish should be no problem."

Watching the Xinyi Sect's big monks head en masse toward the Dragon-Tiger Tower, Long Long Xinglie paid it no mind—he was far more curious why the master valued Li Yuan so highly.

"This…"

Li Yuan thought for a moment and asked: "Brother, will you be participating in the preliminary round?"

"The Dao heirs of the various sects don't need to enter. Monk Kongzhi is addicted to gambling and wealth—he must not be allowed to win first place."

Long Long Xinglie's meaning was clear.

"Then…"

Li Yuan thought for a moment and replied:

"Then I'll give it a try."