RETURNING FROM THE IMMORTAL WORLD

Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

Chapter 41: Deviants Have Always Come From Barren Mountains And Wild Rivers

Zhang Yongjin truly wanted to tell Zhang Deqin that he was bullied. But after his face changed a few times for quite a while, he didn't say it.

It was because he felt that this matter was too shameful, and he really couldn't speak about it. Zhang Yongjin didn't want to rely on his Big Sister's strength to solve the problem, as he wanted to wash the shame and have his revenge by himself.

"Big Sis, it's nothing really. The thing is, I was speeding and almost hit someone. I hit the brake pedal and hit the glass." Zhang Yongjin spoke with a thoroughly reddened expression.

"You are lying, how could your hands be bruised huh? How come your knees are covered with dust? How come you're afraid to say that you have lost against somebody in a fight?" Seeing as how Zhang Yongjin's vision tried to avoid hers, Zhang Deqin's expression turned cold as she scolded him with a stern voice.

"I-I-I... I-I-I..." Zhang Yongjin might be tall, strong and brawny, but he had exceptional fear toward his Big Sister. The fear was deeply imprinted in his bones. He had tried to give his all to get rid of it, and was still unable to break himself from this cage.

When Zhang Yongjin was about to tell the truth, the door was pushed open as the Long brothers and Tang Xiu entered.

Upon seeing Long Zhengyu and his people arrived, Zhang Deqin walked back to her seat, as her elegant appearance was also restored. Thus, Zhang Yongjin also fortunately escaped the tribulation.

"Chief Long, you bring us here and then you neglect us. Is this your Long's Dining Hall's hospitality to entertain guests?" Zhang Deqin didn't wait for Long Zhengyu to speak as she took the first stance to seize the momentum and showed her imposing manner.

"Chief Zhang has always spoken frankly. However, aside from your esteemed self, the Long's Dining Hall also has more important guests. This Long is naturally unable to always stay in the room to accompany you." Long Zhengyu smile as he replied in a casual manner. He then continued," Besides, the Long's Dining Hall's service has and will always be first class. Regardless of any needs Chief Zhang wants, you only need to press the call bell on the table, and our attendants will quickly come over to satisfy all of them."

Compared to Zhang Deqin's overbearing style, Long Zhengyu's words and style was just like a paragon demeanor, as he could make people like feeling a spring breeze, making people ashamed of their own conduct.

"You..." Zhang Deqin obviously did not expect that Long Zhengyu would take the tit for tat approach. She subconsciously wanted to curse loudly, but then recalled Long Zhengyu's peerless eloquence in debate. She didn't dare to continue talking with Long Zhengyu and instead shifted her sight to Tang Xiu.

However, Zhang Deqin only swept a glance at Tang Xiu, and was too lazy to gaze at him a second time.

It was because Tang Xiu's appearance was really too ordinary and shabby. His colored plaid shirt, that could be found on a street stall everywhere, a washed-out pair of blanched jeans, and a canvas shoe that was about to be pierced open with his toe. All in all, from top to bottom, his whole body was not even worth more than 100 yuan.

Zhang Deqin had always been pampered and spoiled since birth. She had been used to be the daughter of heaven with an extravagant lifestyle. She believed that outstanding people would never come from the poor and humble families, this was her truth. Thus, a superiority complex against people with poor background had become her nature, as well as having disdain from the depths of her bones toward them.

"Chief Long, I don't know which honored guest you have said, can you recommend that person to me?" With a doubting expression, Zhang Deqin looked behind the Long Zhengyu and Long Zhenglin brothers and asked while smiling.

"Ah, Chief Zhang has become humorous from the time I haven't seen you. Honorable people are naturally far away in the vast horizon. You have invited Jia Ruidao to help you out, while we invited Brother Tang to help us. If Chief Zhang doesn't mind, we can begin this gamble." Seeing clearly the contempt-filled look on Zhang Deqin's face, Long Zhengyu couldn't help but sneer at her in his heart.

When Long Zhengyu first saw Tang Xiu, he indeed felt slightly disappointed. However, for his younger brother, Long Zhenglin's sake, Long Zhengyu didn't judge Tang Xiu solely on his appearance, but carefully observed Tang Xiu, and not even the little details were missed from his observation. The following scenes before also had shown that Tang Xiu must be intelligent, far beyond their imagination.

Although Long Zhengyu did not know what had happened between Tang Xiu and Zhang Yongjin, but Long Zhengyu was absolutely sure that it was not because Zhang Yongjin had mistaken Tang Xiu with someone else, as he was losing his manner out of fear.

Long Zhengyu also personally saw Hu Wanjun and Xue Renfei's expressions when they saw Tang Xiu. Fearful expressions flashed from their eyes. Although it quickly fleeted, but as keen as Long Zhengyu's senses had always been, he was able to see it.

One person might say that he was mistaken someone for another person. But could it be even possible if 3 people were mistaken at the same time?

"What, he's the one you asked for help?" Upon hearing Long Zhengyu's words, Zhang Deqin's beautiful eyes instantly turned wide as she let out in a sharp voice.

"If this old man's memory doesn't fail me, never once such a person has been seen in the Shuangqing province's gambling society." Jia Ruidao scrutinized Tang Xiu as he then spoke in a deep tone, "Chief Long, are you joking with this old man?"

"Chief Zhang, Grandmaster Jia, I'm not joking with you. Brother Tang is indeed not someone from our society. To tell you the truth, after Grandmaster Jia had announced that he would help the Zhangs, nobody from our society dared to come forward and become the champion for the Longs. The Long Family has been forced into this situation, and could only ask for help from people outside our circle." Long Zhengyu seemed to be very satisfied with the effect brought and created by Tang Xiu to the stage as he patiently explained it to them.

Upon listening to Long Zhengyu's slightly helpless and distressed words, a proud expression flashed on Zhang Deqin's and Jia Ruidao's face. They finally believed Long Zhengyu's statement.

"Chief Long really has always been very powerful and was even able to find a hidden master amongst ordinary folks. I am so ashamed of my own inferiority." Zhang Deqin and Jia Ruidao had yet to speak but Zhang Yongjin's voice had reverberated in the suite as he burst into loud laughter.

Previously, when Zhang Yongjin saw Tang Xiu being together with Long Zhengyu and Long Zhenglin at the same place, he panicked and didn't think thoroughly. But now, since he knew that Tang Xiu was someone who was invited by Long Zhengyu and Long Zhenglin to deal with Jia Ruidao, he thought that it was ridiculous and absurd as he looked at Long Zhengyu with a touch of ridiculing in his eyes.

Although he didn't know about Tang Xiu's true identity, but Zhang Yongjin was almost certain that Tang Xiu was a farmer's disciple, and even most likely a villager from the Walled Hill Village.

How such a bumpkin could be compared to Jia Ruidao, the Grandmaster of gambling techniques. Wasn't this same as a great joke for the world?

"Interesting, this is way too interesting! We thought that after the Grandmaster Jia had acted, no gambling master would dare to show up in this Shuangqing Province. Never once have I ever thought that the Long Family would take a tortuous and winding path, and even invited a Grandmaster from out of nowhere!"

"Chief Long, if you wanted to give Walled Hill Village to us, just straightly give it to us. Why must you deliberately insult Grandmaster Jia?"

Along with Zhang Yongjin's loud laughter, Xue Renfei and Hu Wanjun also couldn't help but follow the wind.

If they had to compare their combined fighting strength against Tang Xiu, Zhang Yongjin, Xue Renfei and Hu Wanjun were really a bit afraid of Tang Xiu. But as for gambling techniques, Tang Xiu was not even worth a dime to compare himself with them. Much less the one who will be pitted against Tang Xiu was not them, but the King of Gamble of the Shuangqing Province —Jia Ruidao.

Whey they recalled their miserable defeats under Tang Xiu again and again, the Zhang Yongjin trio gnashed their teeth in anger. And now, since they finally caught the hard-to-come-by opportunity, they naturally couldn't help but mock and ridicule Tang Xiu.

"How the lot of you know Master Tang?" Looking at the unusual reaction of the trio, Zhang Deqin asked with a puzzled expression.

Only at this moment did the Zhang Yongjin trio realize that their reaction was really losing their own composure.

"Big Sister Chief, I, Yongjin, and Wanjun took a trip to Walled Hill Village yesterday. We ran into this guy on the hilltop. We wanted to buy the games from this guy's hands, but he refused, so we had a fierce discord. Therefore, we were so angry when we saw this punk again!" Xue Renfei knew that he had to deceive Zhang Deqin, and simply confessed some of the facts.

"Big Sister Chief, how could this punk be worthy to be called Master? As the saying goes, 'Savages have always been coming out from barren mountains and wild rivers'. This punk has neither a worthy culture or personal quality. The only thing he has is brute force." Recalling his car's front cover that had been smashed, Hu Wanjun added the fuel to the fire with clenching teeth.

At first, Zhang Yongjin also had the thought to follow ridiculing Tang Xiu. However, when he saw from the corner of his eyes Tang Xiu's faint teasing smile, a sudden chill struck him as his body unknowingly shivered, and he didn't dare to speak anything.

"Fine, since people from both sides have come, let's start the gamble. This old man still has to fly to Macau." Jia Ruidao stared at Long Zhengyu and spoke with a discontented expression.

It was very obvious that after having heard the words from the Zhang Yongjin trio, Jia Ruidao felt that today's gambling was a complete farce. Long Zhengyu asking Tang Xiu to come was completely to humiliate him, and not to win the gamble. Therefore, Jia Ruidao had borne a grudge towards Long Zhengyu.

Clearly perceiving the expression in Jia Ruidao's eyes, Long Zhengyu's heart slightly thumped. He was aware that Jia Ruidao had misunderstood him, and he also knew that he had offended this King of Gamble and its consequences.

But when he recalled that Jia Ruidao had long chosen to stand as his opponent, Long Zhengyu quickly turned calm and took it lightly.

"If Brother Tang has no objection, then let's start the gamble." Long Zhengyu didn't explain more, but his eyes looked at Tang Xiu with an inquiring expression.

At first, Tang Xiu wanted to ask about the gambling type and rules, but he took the words that were about to speak out and swallowed them back.

Tang Xiu was well aware that if he asked, he would be laughed at, and this would also implicate Long Zhengyu and Long Zhenglin as they would be looked down by those people. So, he decided not to ask.

"It's fine with me, we can start at any time." Tang Xiu swept a glance at Zhang Yongjin and the others with a calm and tranquil expression. Not even the slightest bit of shame or anger could be seen on his face, but rather apathy in his tone.

Upon seeing Tang Xiu's profound and unpredictable demeanor, Jia Ruidao snorted coldly, as he then rang the bell on the table.

"Little Bastard, do you want to have to compare the numbers, or do you want odd or even rules? Or do you want to play other games?" While waiting for the attendant, Jia Ruidao spoke to Tang Xiu with a condescending tone.

When he heard this "Little Bastard" words, a trace of anger flashed from Tang Xiu's eyes. This remark was too harsh and rude.

"Old Bastard, choose one that you think you're good at. So you won't find any excuses when you have lost!" Tang Xiu found that he would be constantly bullied if he continued giving them any concessions. This time, he no longer flinched and stepped back, but began his fierce counterattack instead.

"YOU...!! Since you've readied yourself to your own disgrace. then let's play Dice[1]. It's simple, and won't take too much time." Jia Ruidao spoke in anger.

"I'm fine with it, I won't ask more." After hearing Jia Ruidao's answer, Tang Xiu was overjoyed as he blurted out his agreement.

Tang Xiu was afraid that Jia Ruidao would propose a complex gambling play because it meant that he must spend more time to figure out the game's rules and adapt to them. He was afraid that if it takes too much time in learning and adapting to the rules, he would lose the gamble.

Chinese Dice was another case all in all. Although Tang Xiu had never played this dice gamble, but he has seen it on TV, while he also had played it to pass the time when he and his classmates were visiting KTV to sing[2], so he was no stranger to this kind of gambling. For fear that Jia Ruidao would take his words back, Tang Xiu hurriedly complied when Jia Ruidao had just finished speaking.

~~~~~~~~~~

[1] Dice of Daisiu or Daxiao or Sic Bo, Big or Small number dice, the raws wrote it, but i think its just only a simple dice game.

Chapter 42: Learning How to Apply What One Learned

In the next moment, The Long's Dining Hall's attendant came in with a few exquisite dices.

After Jia Ruidao carefully checked them, he selected a pair of die.

Tang Xiu saw that the dices were provided by the Long's Dining Hall. He was disinclined to check them, but took the remaining pair of dices randomly.

Dice gambling was very simple. Each person only needed a pair of dices with its cup. Put the dies into the dice cup as both sides shook the cup and threw them out. The one who got the biggest total number would become the winner.

As long as they had a little bit of time, anyone could learn how to play this game in a short time. This game was very popular in the bars, karaoke, KTV, and other entertainment places.

Ordinary people would depend on luck when they played this Big or Small dice game. The better your luck, you win and the worse your luck, you lose.

But for the Gambling Master, this was not relied on luck, but on techniques.

In the process of throwing the dices, Gambling Masters were able to precisely control the dices' number, which meant that the dice numbers were controlled by their skill and calculation, not on luck.

"Chief Long, are you sure to let this kid gamble with me and not you yourself take the shot? If luck were to be compared, yours perhaps might better than this brat, right?" When he shook the dices inside the dice cup, Jia Ruidao stared at Long Zhengyu and faintly smiled.

"Grandmaster Jia, you also know clearly that luck for this kind of thing is unclear. But recently, this Long's heart feels quite satisfied with life, the lady luck for my gambling chances definitely has been gone. So I'll have to ask Brother Tang to replace me." Facing Jia Ruidao's provocation, Long Zhengyu didn't take the bait on the hook.

"Since it has come to this, Chief Long could only wait to hand over Walled Hill Village." Having been refused by Long Zhengyu deliberately, Jia Ruidao also didn't want to speak anymore. He snorted coldly as he shook the dice cup in his hand and began to move.

Jia Ruidao had been immersing himself in gambling techniques for many years. His techniques naturally had reached the peak and mastered them.

Along with the shaking of Jia Ruidao's wrist, the dice cup was as if alive as it changed and reflected illusory images in the air, causing people to be unable to catch its traces completely.

For a time, the dice cup stood vertically, while at the other times, it was inverted. His movements were like a Coiling Dragon from the Ninth Heaven as it flew high and danced in the air with exquisite and beautiful grace.

The dies in the dice cup were as if they were stuck, and didn't exude any sounds. But had people not witnessed personally that Jia Ruidao had put the dices into the cup, they would have suspected that there were no dies in the cup.

"This old guy really has some skills." Tang Xiu's attention was not focused at the dice cup, but rather locked on Jia Ruidao's technique, silently observing it as he fully focused his senses on it.

Even though Tang Xiu had only an extremely low experience in gambling, but he also knew that gambles were nothing but "having keen ears and quick eyes and hands".

Jia Ruidao's techniques were truly very skilled and excellent. His arms were motionless as if it was fixedly supported, and only moved his wrist.

This allowed Jia Ruidao to reduce the movement range at the same time. Not only would it speed it up, it would also save a lot of physical strength.

Jia Ruidao's eyes did not even see the dice cup. He also didn't look at the tabletop, but slowly swept a glance at the crowd in the room. He especially stared for quite a while at Long Zhengyu and Tang Xiu.

But Jia Ruidao's ears slightly moved from time to time. But since everyone's attention in the room was focused on his hands, nobody noticed the slightest movement that Jia Ruidao's ears had.

This sharp and fluid movement technique Jia Ruidao had done with the dice cup in his hands was enough to shock and intimidate the majority of people, not to mention that Jia Ruidao truly had mastered that skill.

Unfortunately, Jia Ruidao's opponent right now was Tang Xiu. Not only did Tang Xiu have senses that were hundred times stronger than an ordinary person's, his brains' operating speed was also stronger by a hundredfold.

Others might not notice the slight vibration in Jia Ruidao's ears, but Tang Xiu noticed them.

When the game had started, Tang Xiu also thought that the slight movements Jia Ruidao's ears and were only an accidental behavior, and he didn't pay any attention to them. But when Tang Xiu found that the subtle jitters seemed to be a regular pattern, as well as continued to move unceasingly, he immediately focused on it.

"No, it's not that there are no dice sounds coming out from the dice cup, but it's because the sounds are very vague and subtle, and couldn't be heard by most people." Tang Xiu quickly figured out that Jia Ruidao also should be listening to the rolling dices' sounds in the dice cup, while also adjusting the dices' number with his wrist's shaking movements.

In a split moment, Tang Xiu's attention was fully focused on the rolling dices' sounds.

It was the first time that Tang Xiu played the dice with anyone after all. Not to mention that his opponent right now was the King of Gamblers. Thus, he did not dare to even have the slightest negligence, so he could live up to the Long Brothers' expectation and also obtain the place with the Spiritual Vein in the Walled Hill Village.

On the other side, upon seeing Jia Ruidao's dazzling performance, a frantic and excited expression was revealed on Zhang Deqin, Zhang Yongjin, Hu Wanjun, and Xue Renfei's complexion. They were becoming happier, especially when they were seeing the confused and almost 'drowned in daze' expression Tang Xiu had.

Zhang Deqin and her group were looking at Long Zhengyu and Long Zhenglin with eyes full of compassion and sympathy, just like the vision from the champion looking at the losers. It was as if Walled Hill Village had already fallen to their hands.

At this very moment, Long Zhengyu and Long Zhenglin were indeed having a look of anxiety and concern on their faces.

It was because Jia Ruidao's performance was truly attractive and beautiful. Jia Ruidao obviously didn't regard his current opponent as an outsider or ordinary person as he really chose to go all out.

After having watched Jia Ruidao's appearance that was fully immersed and concentrated, Long Zhengyu and Long Zhenglin turned apprehensive and trembled.

Could it be that because they had invited an outsider to gamble with him, it angered him?

"Hold on!" When Jia Ruidao's performance had engulfed the atmosphere in the room, a voice suddenly sounded in the room and shocked everyone, whilst Jia Ruidao's movements also slowed down, which made the originally attached dices to the dice cup's wall almost be thrown out and fall to the floor.

It turned out that it was Tang Xiu's voice that broke the show in that critical moment.

Tang Xiu could see that Jia Ruidao's performance was getting better and better. If Jia Ruidao was allowed to play in this kind of state, Tang Xiu would very likely lose to him today, so he had to forcefully break his rhythm.

"Since Grandmaster Jia is very confident in your gambling skills, we might as well change the game from 5 session games with 3 wins to 3 session games with 2 wins, how about it?" Under Jia Ruidao's burning glare, Tang Xiu calmly spoke in a moderate pace.

Upon hearing Tang Xiu's words, Jia Ruidao had the urge to take a knife and stab him in impulse, "Let alone 3 sessions 2 wins, how about one game to decide the winner?"

Facing Jia Ruidao's provocation, Tang Xiu decisively chose to avoid him for the moment.

To Tang Xiu, after having interrupted Jia Ruidao's rhythm, whether it was 5 or 3 sessions of games didn't really matter anymore. But certainly, deciding the victory with only one game was too much of a risk to take, so he naturally couldn't agree to it.

"Then, as Grandmaster has said, let's decide this gamble quickly. 3 session games with 2 wins are better." Tang Xiu smiled as he gave his words with a grateful expression on his face.

"Is he really afraid that his death is not fast enough? With 5 sessions 3 wins, he might be able to win the gamble, relying on luck. But he actually wants 3 session games?"

"My, my... I think I understand his thought. In any case, he will still lose and be doomed. Then, he might as well die happily as he wished, so he won't need to suffer much."

"It's fine in any case with me, so everyone's time wouldn't be wasted. I think that brat feels anxious, and his body feels unwell."

****

Almost nobody could figure out as to why Tang Xiu abruptly made noise. They just thought that Tang Xiu was fearful and afraid as he wanted to leave this suffocating situation as quickly as possible. Thus, he couldn't help but make noises and interrupted Jia Ruidao's dice shaking movements.

Jia Ruidao glared at Tang Xiu with a disdaining expression, as he shook up his dice cup again.

However, this time, Jia Ruidao could no longer immerse himself into that kind of subtle sensation like before again. His hands' movements became a lot slower, causing him to be in a kind of irritable mood.

A few seconds later, Jia Ruidao's hands buckled up the dice cup on the table as everyone's eyes in the room instantly shot toward the dice cup.

Under the intense gaze and everyone's attention, Jia Ruidao slowly opened the dice cup and revealed the dices' numbers.

"WOW, 6 points! Grandmaster Jia shook out six, we won the set."

"Grandmaster is really worthy to be called as Grandmaster. Wanting a certain big number, then that certain big number he will have."

"If I had the skill just like Grandmaster, it would be great. I would simply be picking up chicks and sharpen my weapon."

The Zhang Yongjin trio couldn't help but loudly shout in surprise upon seeing the dice's points. A satisfied smile was also revealed on Zhang Deqin's face.

On the other side, Long Zhengyu and Long Zhenglin's face had turned unusually ugly, while Tang Xiu's face also turned solemn.

Long Zhengyu and Long Zhenglin were frightened by Jia Ruidao's gambling technique while Tang Xiu was surprised since he never thought that Jia Ruidao would still be able to shake out a big dice number in that kind of state.

"Kid, do you want to directly throw in the towel or want to continue to try your luck?" Jia Ruidao glanced at Tang Xiu and provoked him.

"Old man, do you want to bend down soldiers not to fight? Nah, you don't have that ability." Tang Xiu stared back at Jia Ruidao, and then picked a dice cup. He threw a dice into the dice cup and slowly shook it up.

Upon seeing Tang Xiu's clumsy and sluggish movements, a ridiculing expression was revealed on Jia Ruidao's smile, as Zhang Deqin subconsciously felt relieved.

"Hahaha, I really could die laughing. He's pretty much unlikely to have learned how to shake the dice. But he actually dares to show off his own shitty technique before Grandmaster Jia. Man... he really wants to show off his pathetic abilities before an expert."

"This punk's technique is clearly lower than mine, but his thick-skinned face is truly way thicker than mine."

"It's really damn hard for Chief Long huh. But he's actually damn good at finding such an extraordinary prodigy like him. You won't lose face though, but we think you must have been terrified inside.

Although the others also felt that Tang Xiu's technique was bad, but they did not say anything. But the Zhang Yongjin trio was completely unable to control their excitement and made satires as they burst into laughter out of their impulse.

"If you continue to disturb the gambling house, I really don't mind kicking you out!" When the Zhang Yongjin trio burst into unscrupulous loud laughter and made noises, Long Zhengyu spoke in a cold tone.

Long Zhengyu's words were as if a pair of invisible giant hands that grabbed on Zhang Yongjin trio's necks. In an instant, they lost their voice.

Although Tang Xiu's shaking dice's technique was very poor, but since the gambling has already begun, then the house would prohibit any noises. Let alone such a loud, ridiculing behavior Zhang Yongjin and his friends were doing.

Had outsiders' influence impacted the players and it was deemed to be unfair, the gambling house could be judged as not valid. Therefore, Long Zhengyu's words carried along with it an absolute deterrent effect.

Upon seeing the Zhang Yongjin trio being suppressed with faces flushed red with anger, a satisfied smile was revealed on Tang Xiu's face, while at the same his hand's movements also gradually accelerated.

Chapter 43: Looks and Shapes Might Be Similar, But The Soul is Different

Although it was the first time Tang Xiu shook dice, but his memorizing and learning pace ability was marvelous.

Tang Xiu had just carefully observed and emulated Jia Ruidao's movements in shaking the dice cup, so he would imitate Jia Ruidao's techniques.

At the beginning, Tang Xiu's imitation movement from Jia Ruidao's movements and techniques were still sluggish and slow. But he gradually became more skilled, as if his movements and techniques almost became a genuine replica of Jia Ruidao's movements.

"Y-You..." Jia Ruidao at first didn't pay attention to Tang Xiu's movements and techniques in shaking the dices since it was different from his. But when he figured out that Tang Xiu's movements and techniques were becoming more and more familiar, he couldn't help but shout.

Jia Ruidao had been spending more than 30 years analyzing and perfecting his own set of unique skills. Only then was he able to gradually master this technique. But Tang Xiu only needed to observe his unique skills and was able to emulate it up to 70%, which made Jia Ruidao even suspect whether the three decades he spent pondering on this technique was really in vain or not.

Although Jia Ruidao also received a few apprentices and also taught them his unique skills, but he was very sure that even his apprentices would be unable to learn his unique skill so thoroughly. Let alone those several good-for-nothing young masters.

However, watching a stranger suddenly demonstrate his own unique skills in front him, an indescribable feeling filled Jia Ruidao's heart. Not even words could truly convey his feelings.

"This kid is only an outsider, and obviously just recently in contact with the society. But he has such a strong perception. If I were to accept him as an apprentice, wouldn't it mean that I'll have a successor to carry on my legacy?" Suddenly, a thought emerged inside Jia Ruidao's mind and started to fully fill his mind.

At this very moment, Jia Ruidao's attitude toward Tang Xiu changed as he saw that Tang Xiu was becoming more pleasing to his eyes.

Even though Tang Xiu only wore plain and simple clothes, but it was clean and orderly. His black hair particularly gave off a spirited feeling, with a pair of bright and lively eyes. His high nose, thin lips, tall and straight stature gave off a kind of graceful and compelling feeling.

When the others heard Jia Ruidao's shout, they were bewildered.

The others didn't know that each gambler always had their own particular unique skills. In the eyes of people, all the dice shaking movements were similar. They didn't truly memorize Jia Ruidao's movements previously. Therefore, they didn't know that Tang Xiu's movements and techniques in shaking the dice were shockingly similar with Jia Ruidao's.

A few minutes later, Tang Xiu's buckled the dice cup in his hands on the table as beads of sweat permeated from his forehead. At the same time, a tired expression was also revealed on his face, mixed with a bit of nervousness and anxiety.

Although Tang Xiu had tried his best and also had digested and absorbed almost 90% of Jia Ruidao's unique skill. But a lot of things could only be accumulated with time and experience, rather than looking and imitating could learn from.

The dice shaking movements Tang Xiu had done was completely the full copy of Jia Ruidao's techniques. But he didn't have the means to learn the ear distinguishing technique to figure out the dice number in the dice cup.

The reason as to why Tang Xiu shook the dice longer than Jia Ruidao, on one hand, was of course to probe the feeling of the dice shaking sensation, so he could be more skilled in executing the technique. While on the other hand, it was because he attempted to listen to the dice rolling sounds in the dice cup, as he tried to confirm the dice number through those subtle changes and sounds.

"Open it! You must open it! Once the cup dice has buckled down on the table, the result has already been decided. Even if you don't open, you cannot change the dice number." Upon seeing that Tang Xiu was pressing the dice cup and seemed unwilling to open it, Zhang Yongjin blurted out with an anxious expression.

Tang Xiu ignored Zhang Yongjin. He wiped the sweat that flowed down on the corner of his eyes, and then slowly opened the dice cup.

Anxiety and nervousness covered Tang Xiu's face when he was uncovering the dice cup. Even his right hand that held the dice cup was slightly trembling.

"Hahaha, 1 point. Only 1 point. You could really kill me with a laugh. With this holy sh*t luck, I might go out to buy lottery tickets." Zhang Yongjin couldn't help but laugh when Tang Xiu had completely opened his dice cup.

When Xue Renfei and Hu Wanjun heard this, they couldn't help but also let out ridicules and mock him, as Zhang Deqin and Jia Ruidao subconsciously felt relieved.

Previously, Zhang Deqin and Jia Ruidao were also worried that Tang Xiu was a kind of hidden private gambling master, so the gambling house this time could be capsized to the pit.

But the anxiety in their hearts instantly disappeared the moment Tang Xiu opened the dice cup. Their heart was as if had been eased a lot.

"Did I lose?" When Tang Xiu saw that little red point, a touch of frustration flashed in his eyes.

"Brother Tang, it's alright. Don't be discouraged. We still have 2 other opportunities." Although Long Zhengyu was also discouraged deep inside, but he could see that Tang Xiu had really tried. There was neither a blaming or accusing tone in his words as he consoled Tang Xiu from the side with a soft voice.

"Eldest Brother, don't be discouraged, the one who will win in the end is you." Long Zhenglin also added with a face full of confidence.

Upon seeing that Long Zhengyu and Long Zhenglin were still trusting Tang Xiu at this time, a puzzled expression flashed in Zhang Deqin's eyes as she couldn't help but scrutinize Tang Xiu's face.

But the Zhang Yongjin trio, as always, couldn't help but continue to mock and ridicule him.

"Little brother, can we continue?" Jia Ruidao looked at Tang Xiu for a moment as he then smiled and asked.

"Grandmaster Jia, please!" When Tang Xiu heard the change in remark and tone from Jia Ruidao, he was surprised first and then immediately changed his addressing towards Jia Ruidao.

This time, Jia Ruidao's dice shaking movements were very slow as he simply reduced a lot of fancy and unneeded movements. The dice in the dice cup suddenly produced sounds.

When Tang Xiu heard it, his eyes lightened up as he subconsciously looked at Jia Ruidao and found that Jia Ruidao vaguely winked at him, and saw a look full of appreciation from his eyes. Tang Xu immediately understood Jia Ruidao's intention as he expressed his goodwill to him.

Although he didn't know as to why Jia Ruidao would have such a change in attitude, but Tang Xiu knew that this was definitely a good thing for him. So he began to carefully listen to the sounds produced by the dice in the dice cup.

The second gambling session was much more difficult than the first one.

In the first gambling, the dice put was only 1. But for the second session, the number of dices put into the dice cup was increased to 3.

Distinguishing the sounds produced by 1 dice was easy, but the difficulty was raised by 3 times more to distinguish the sounds produced by 3 dices.

Had it been other people, they were unlikely to be able to listen and discern the dice number through the rolling dice's sounds. It was even more unlikely to be able to see through the dice cup control technique to identify the dice's numbers. They could only shake the dice cup for a few times before buckling it down on the table and then submit to the will of heaven for their luck.

However, Jia Ruidao was not an average person. He was a professional gambler. His professional conduct and ethics didn't allow for him to be perfunctory and scuffle. Thus, he was very serious in listening and distinguishing the rolling dices and its collision sounds. While he simultaneously also controlled the dice numbers with his vibrating skill technique.

But Jia Ruidao didn't immediately put down the dice cup this time, and instead had been observing the changes on Tang Xiu's face.

When Jia Ruidao found that Tang Xiu's face looked tranquil and soothed, a relaxed expression was also revealed on his face as he put the dice cup down.

Jia Ruidao lifted up the dice cup as the 3 dices' final points were shown. It was impressively 5, 5, 6, with a total of 16 dice points.

Upon seeing that Jia Ruidao didn't score 18 points, a touch of worry and anxiety flashed on Zhang Deqin's expression, as the Zhang Yongjin trio also looked anxious.

But when they recalled that Tang Xiu was only just a green gambler, they immediately relaxed.

Although Grandmaster Jia didn't get full points, but it was not that far off. Tang Xiu could only rely on his luck to determine the numbers, while the probability to get full points was simply too low. Zhang Deqin and the others didn't believe that Tang Xiu would get full points by relying on luck.

Just like in the proverb that said, "Stepping backward for a step before advancing forward for 10,000 steps", could also mean that even if Grandmaster Jia lost to Tang Xiu, both sides would only be tied, and there was still a third game to decide the outcome of the gambling house. But still, Tang Xiu couldn't depend on his luck to win against Grandmaster Jia twice, could he?

After he nodded towards Jia Ruidao, Tang Xiu also picked up the dice cup with dices, and then began his second game.

Through the first session of adaptation and training, Tang Xiu's dice shaking movement clearly had become more skilled and a lot faster. So he was now focusing on listening and distinguishing the sounds produced by the dices' changes inside the dice cup.

Everyone was struck dumb with surprise for a moment when Tang Xiu put the dice cup down. It was because that Tang Xiu only shook it for only a minute.

"Hey brat, you couldn't be giving up, right?" Recalling as to how Jia Ruidao took a full 5 minutes to shake his dice cup and roll the dice, and Tang Xiu only took a minute, Zhang Yongjin naturally didn't think that Tang Xiu's gambling skill was more powerful than Jia Ruidao. But he thought that Tang Xiu already didn't want to continue putting an act and stopped.

"Grandmaster Jia's strength already made him intimidated. If he doesn't give up, he will be on the point of death, heh."

"Brat, you finally have self-knowledge eh. Your gambling skill is much inferior to a master. Even if you shake your dice cup longer, it's useless. You might as well rely on your luck."

"It's better to finish the game this quick, so we don't have to waste more time."

When Xue Renfei, Hu Wanjun, and Zhang Yongjin trio saw Tang Xiu's action, they were frozen for a moment, before they then subconsciously taunted him.

In the next moment, everyone's eyes turned round as Zhang Deqin, Zhang Yongjin's faces were flushed red while Xue Renfei, Hu Wanjun, and Jia Ruidao's eyes were full of a disbelieving expressions.

Because when Tang Xiu had opened the dice cup in a flash, the dices' numbers had already been shown in front of everyone.

5, 6, 6, for a total of 17 points. It was a point higher than Jia Ruidao with 16 points before.

"We won! Did we actually win?" Although Long Zhengyu comforted Tang Xiu before, in fact, he already didn't hope too much for Tang Xiu. But he comforted himself because of the long-established etiquette and self-controlling manner he had long been cultivated, as he chose to comfort him and not blame and accuse him.

"Eldest Brother, I knew you could do it. Big Brother, do you believe me now?" Long Zhenglin's sentence's first half was aimed at Tang Xiu, as the other half was pointed at Long Zhengyu. At this time, Long Zhenglin was dancing with a joyful expression, just like a child.

After having confirmed repeatedly, as well as making sure that his eyes didn't fail him when seeing the dice numbers in front of Tang Xiu, Long Zhengyu finally awakened from his huge shock as he clenched his fist and then grabbed his younger brother with excited tears in his eyes.

It was because the Walled Hill Village project was too important for Long Zhengyu. He had to firmly step on this first step since it directly related to Long Zhengyu's entire life plan. Therefore, he had been racking his brains for this project for almost 3 years to make it happen.

Had the project suddenly get cut off, Long Zhengyu really didn't know whether he could face the failure or not. This was why he literally begged for help everywhere, and also the reason he finally chose to believe his younger brother's words and invited an outsider to help with this problem.

"Your luck is truly good. But I don't believe you can win the next time." After the silence for a long time, Zhang Yongjin spoke with a sour expression.

But this time, Zhang Yongjin's tone was obviously different from his previous emboldened speech. Also, nobody echoed him again, since the others were also still immersed in their astonishment and had yet to awaken from the shock Tang Xiu had given them with the 17 dice points.

Chapter 44: Gambling Skill's Breakthrough

"Grandmaster Jia, please!" Tang Xiu smiled at Jia Ruidao and made a gesture to invite the fight again.

Tang Xiu was truly grateful of Jia Ruidao.

If it were not for Jia Ruidao deliberately slowing down his speed in shaking the dices a moment ago, as well as exposing a lot of key things, Tang Xiu certainly wouldn't be this fast in mastering the real technique in shaking the dices.

Jia Ruidao threw him a peach and Tang Xiu casted a plum.

The 2 people's eyes locked a brief flash of a moment. Outsiders simply couldn't see that the relationship between the two already had a subtle change.

Jia Ruidao was after all the expert that was invited by Zhang Deqin with a sky-high price to deal with the Long's Dining Hall. So it was natural that he couldn't exchange pleasant and affectionate words with Tang Xiu. Had Jia Ruidao won, everything would be alright. But if it was the reverse, this matter would be an absolute misunderstanding, and people could say that the gamble had been manipulated.

Jia Ruidao nodded his head to Tang Xiu and then picked up the dice cup again as he began the third gambling session between the two of them.

This time, Jia Ruidao put 5 dices into the dice cup.

As the dice cup shook, a trace of brilliant light flashed on Jia Ruidao's eyes as his wrist vibrated with an orderly rhythm.

A burst of clear brushing sounds could be heard as muffled and dull thumping sounds followed, along with a burst of sharp sounds.

5 dices were colliding with each other in the dice cup. One sound was the sound of the dice ramming inside the dice cup in rhythmic order, as the others scattered and flew around. The other 6 or 7 sounds blended together as the sounds unexpectedly composed a rhythmically cheerful and bright sonata.

"Ah! Originally, gambling also could be played like this?" Tang Xiu could feel an intense fighting spirit that was being exuded from Jia Ruidao. His eyes turned bright as he saw Jia Ruidao's eyes also turned burning hot.

Tang Xiu also could feel that Jia Ruidao acting like this was neither because he was not appreciative of his ability nor because he wanted to reverse the current, but it was his decision to go all out.

This was also the situation Tang Xiu was hoping to happen. It was true that Jia Ruidao's fighting spirit certainly sparked and became excited because he met his match in Tang Xiu, after being lonely at the peak for so long. Since Tang Xiu unexpectedly had challenged his own limits, he finally could feel the true pleasure of gambling, rather than becoming a winner in a gamble through others who modestly accepted defeat.

Jia Ruidao's wrist shook as the dice cup was like a butterfly dancing in the air. Naked eyes were unable to trace anything as everyone could only see a beautiful arc path, whilst a confident and calm smile emerged on Jia Ruidao's face.

Everyone in the room apparently had never thought that Jia Ruidao would be this unique. They were all stunned as the music from the dice cup suddenly reverberated in the room.

The music was giving off a very wonderful feeling. Never even once had anyone ever imagined that the full rhythmic melody sounds from shaking dices would be this wonderful and pleasant to hear.

Almost everyone stared at Jia Ruidao. Along with each and every jitter and movement his wrist made, they involuntarily nodded with an enthralled expression on their faces.

For fear of disturbing Jia Ruidao's rhythm and tempo, nobody even dared to breathe heavily in the room. They only watched with eyes opened wide and holding their breath, as they motionlessly immersed themselves in the wonderful journey brought by Jia Ruidao.

The time passed without anyone noticing, as everyone finally woke up from the dream by dull thumping sounds. They looked up and saw that Jia Ruidao had stopped his movements as he buckled up and put down the dice cup on the table.

"Grandmaster Jia is really great."

"Holy Lord! This is real gambling skills. The other Gambling Masters we have seen before were simply are too pale in comparison."

"The King of Gamble is the King of Gamble. Even shaking dices can give such a pleasant feeling to people."

****

The moment when Jia Ruidao's movement was about to stop, the room was fully filled with praises that came and left in succession. Even Long Zhengyu and Long Zhenglin gave extravagant appreciation.

At this moment, it was as if winning or losing was already worthless. Everyone had been fully conquered by Jia Ruidao's gambling technique.

Under praises thrown by everyone, Jia Ruidao slowly opened the dice cup and showed the dice numbers.

"Full points! It turned out to be full points. We have won this game!"

"Grandmaster Jia is truly amazing. Such an amazing technique and was he able to control it to get full points, I'm completely subdued."

"Unfortunately, Grandmaster Jia won't accept any apprentices again, else I really must become his disciple."

When the dices' numbers were revealed, Zhang Yongjin, Xue Renfei, and Hu Wanjun trio couldn't help but shout again. They were dancing like children with flushing red complexions due to the excitement.

A charming and enchanting smile was revealed on Zhang Deqin's face as she looked at Long Zhengyu and Long Zhengyu at the opposite side. A trace of compassion and sympathy flashed over her eyes.

Although Long Zhengyu and Long Zhenglin appreciated Jia Ruidao's gambling skills, but when the dices' points came out, an uncomfortably lost feeling couldn't help but burst out from their hearts.

It was especially true for Long Zhengyu. The moment the results had come out, his body shivered as he almost staggered and fell down to the floor.

"Brother Tang, you have tried your best. It's OK. We have lost." Upon seeing Tang Xiu's "apprehensive" expression, Long Zhengyu patted his shoulder and softly comforted him.

"Eh?! What's with your expression? I didn't even act yet. Do you think the gambling result has been decided?" Tang Xiu shouted loudly as he felt that the mood in the room was somehow a bit wrong.

Under everyone's doubts and contemptuous eyes, Tang Xiu picked up the dice cup, put five dices into the dice cup, and then begun shake it up.

Upon hearing Tang Xiu's words, Zhang Yongjin, Hu Wanjun, and Xue Renfei trio was just about to subconsciously ridicule him, but Tang Xiu's action was too fast and they basically didn't have time to mouth him since Tang Xiu already began to shake the dices.

Recalling the rules from the gambling house, they had no choice but to hold back their impulse to make noise and looked at Tang Xiu with disdain.

"Boom-thump"

"Boom-thump"

"Boom-thump"

****

If Jia Ruidao's dice shaking sounds was a cheerful symphony and a feast for people's ears, then Tang Xiu's dice shaking sounds was a heavy drum battle, almost suffocating people.

Upon hearing the sounds from Tang Xiu's dice cup, brilliant rays of lights flashed in Jia Ruidao's eyes.

Previously, a trace of regret sprouted inside Jia Ruidao's heart when he stopped shaking his dices. He was too excited, and then suddenly raised his skill by a level when he shook his dices as he played far better than his usual play. He was afraid that his extraordinary performance would hit Tang Xiu's mentality and make him depressed, causing him to be unable to recover.

But when he saw that Tang Xiu hadn't given up and even casted a completely different vibe from his dice shaking unique skills, apart from feeling happy, Jia Ruidao was even more shocked.

The others were completely dumbfounded, they felt like they were being mesmerized. One by one they stared at Tang Xiu and were clueless about what was going to happen.

It was as if 10,000 years had passed in the blink of an eye.

When Tang Xiu suddenly stopped his movements, everyone in the room shook their head at the same time as if they had agreed to do it together, awakening them from the trance.

Under the gazes of the crowd, Tang Xiu slowly lifted up the dice cup.

"WHAT!!! It's also full points, how could it be possible?!"

"This is not right. I definitely have been mistaken. He was just shaking it a few times. But how could it be possible to get the six numbers this easily?"

"This is only luck, luck ..."

After looking at the dice numbers, disbelief and astonishment covered everyone's faces, especially the Xue Renfei, Hu Wanjun, with Zhang Yongjin trio that were dumbfounded and shouted.

"Grandmaster Jia, shall we continue?" Tang Xiu looked at Jia Ruidao, who was also in a dazed state, as he spoke and sent an invitation to have a fight again.

"Good, let's continue!" Jia Ruidao looked at Tang Xiu for quite a long time before he answered with an intense fighting spirit.

The crowd had yet to fully recover and react from the shock Tang Xiu had given them, but Jia Ruidao and Tang Xiu had started the fourth game session.

This time, Jia Ruidao directly placed 6 dices in the dice cup.

"In regards to our dice playing level, the Dice Gamble before seems to have lost its significance. We probably have to have a match to guess the results in darkness. Then, shall we add a little more difficulty to our game?" Before Jia Ruidao began to shake the dices, his eyes suddenly moved as a smile emerged on his face.

Upon hearing Jia Ruidao's words, everyone in the room couldn't help but feel surprised for a moment. With that remark, wasn't this saying that Jia Ruidao had admitted that Tang Xiu's shaking dice skills were at the same level as his?

"Then, how should we play according to Grandmaster Jia's plan?" Having heard that, Tang Xiu's curiosity was also sparked.

"We'll both shake the dices and put it down at the same time. And then we'll guess each other's dice points in the dice cup. The one who guesses right shall be the winner." Jia Ruidao pondered for a short while before he answered with a smiling face.

"I'll follow Grandmaster's arrangements." Tang Xiu complied at once while smiling, and didn't wait for Long Zhengyu and Long Zhenglin to refute him.

"You brat really don't know the immensity of the heaven and earth. You actually dare to play with Grandmaster Jia to guess the dices point game. Compared to the previous dice gamble before that could rely on luck, there's no way that you could rely on luck with this one." When Zhang Yongjin heard Jia Ruidao's words that seemed to acknowledge Tang Xiu's dice shaking skill, he was unable from feeling sour and envious. And now, as he saw that Tang Xiu accepted to play a new gambling game from Jia Ruidao, he couldn't bear to blurt out immediately.

Everyone knew that Zhang Yongjin was a diehard fan of gambling. He even had begged Jia Ruidao to receive him as a disciple.

But ever since Jia Ruidao received an apprentice 3 years ago, he was unwilling to accept any disciples again and refused to accept Zhang Yongjin with an excuse that he was too old. Jia Ruidao also didn't lack money, so Zhang Yongjin was unable to cast his 'throwing money' unique ability to solve problems again. Therefore, he could only feel powerless and look away.

Never once did he ever have the thought that Tang Xiu would actually get acknowledged by Jia Ruidao, which naturally made Zhang Yongjin drown in a bad mood.

"I have just realized that the magnificent of Grandmaster Jia's strength is not only limited to gambling, but it also excels in cutting short others. Ah, the Longs really have experienced today." The moment Zhang Yongjin's words just finished, Long Zhenglin harrumphed and coldly snorted.

Long Zhenglin was worried that Tang Xiu's gambling skills wouldn't be as good as Jia Ruidao. And now, since he finally saw that Tang Xiu had a hope of winning in the dice shaking game, he had never thought that Jia Ruidao would change the gambling type, which even Tang Xiu also agreed to.

Long Zhenglin had yet to realize the subtle changes in the relationship between Tang Xiu and Jia Ruidao. In his view, Jia Ruidao was just taunting and goading someone to rashly act. Tang Xiu was still too young, as Jia Ruidao sugar-coated words set traps for Tang Xiu to accept his gambling challenge under impulse. This naturally had made Long Zhenglin anxious.

In fact, Long Zhenglin was not the only one who felt anxious, but it was Long Zhengyu who was more worried instead. However, since Long Zhengyu was a lot calmer in nature and character, he was able to control his emotions better.

On the other side, a few people, led by Zhang Deqin, showed happy expressions.

Although the dice shaking technique Tang Xiu had just shown them made them shocked, they were still confident, since Jia Ruidao also had shown his gambling technique that was even able to suck their soul.

Zhang Deqin and the others were becoming more excited, especially because Jia Ruidao had proposed to change the gambling game.

Chapter 45: Admitting Defeat

"Are you afraid? If you're afraid, why don't you admit defeat directly?" Long Zhenglin's previous words suddenly attracted Zhang Yongjin's attention as he quickly aimed his muzzle toward Long Zhenglin, mocking and ridiculing him.

"Ha, it's simply the same with teasing. Only a few words from Grandmaster Jia and you're already smug and conceited. You really don't know about your own class!"

"Old ginger is spicier than young ones, Grandmaster Jia is really amazing."

Xue Renfei and Hu Wanjun stared at Tang Xiu with a face full with ridiculing expressions.

But Tang Xiu turned a deaf ear to Zhang Yongjin and the others' ridicules. He and Jia Ruidao looked at each other and then they took a dice cup and swayed it.

Although Tang Xiu had yet to speak, his actions conveyed countless words.

The moment Tang Xiu began to sway and shake the dice cup, Zhang Yongjin, Hu Wanjun and Xue Renfei seemed to have had their necks grabbed. They no longer said anything as their smile was frozen. Their awkward expressions turned more embarrassing.

With their identity, had they bumped into Tang Xiu in the street, they would have been disinclined to even glance at him.

But now, they were the ones who took the initiative to talk to Tang Xiu, while Tang Xiu simply disregarded them. This was basically a slap in their faces, and it made them clench their teeth in a bad mood.

However, they couldn't do anything, since the gambling rules prohibited them. They could only wallow and drown in a sour, bitter, and aggrieved feelings.

Jia Ruidao looked at Tang Xiu with appreciation as he also picked up the dice cup and began to shake it.

The room turned quiet and silent in an instant. Leaving only the sounds of the dices that fiercely collided with each other in the dice cup.

One time, it was just like the sun that brightened up the sky. Another time, it was like a hurricane during stormy weather.

One time, it was calm and tranquil. Another time, it turned chaotic.

****

Along with the swaying and vibrating wrists of Jia Ruidao and Tang Xiu, the room was filled with dice sounds. Sometimes the sounds burst in a rush, sometimes slow, and other times light. While some others turned heavy. Everyone's heart also fluctuated, reflected by the tense expression on their faces.

Jia Ruidao and Tang Xiu tightly locked their vision at each other's eyes. They didn't pay attention to the dice cups in their hands.

When everyone in the room was almost suffocated, muffled "bang" sounds sounded twice. Jia Ruidao and Tang Xiu had put down their dice cups on the table.

"You go first, or I go first?" Jia Ruidao looked at Tang Xiu as he smiled and asked.

"Grandmaster Jia first." Tang Xiu sent out a letting posture as he spoke in a respectful tone.

Although the two of them had just fought, but in fact, it was an exchange. The two of them, in the end, had even entered the mutual accompaniment realm.

After having these matches, not only had they deepened their understanding and became familiar with each other, but they also had forged a deep friendship. It was just like the proverbs said that talented people were able to acknowledge each other's talent.

Upon hearing Tang Xiu's words, a deep thoughtful expression emerged on Jia Ruidao's face.

"4 points... ah no, 6 points." Having been pondering for a long time, Jia Ruidao said a number. But he instantly changed the number when he said the number, while a strange expression emerged on his face.

Seeing clearly Jia Ruidao's reaction with their eyes, Zhang Deqin and the others couldn't help but become stunned and apprehensive.

Zhang Deqin and the others had a near-fanatical worship and trust for Jia Ruidao's gambling ability. They also had witnessed his legendary gambling skills. But never once did they ever expect that Jia Ruidao would really have difficult times like this when gambling.

But now, they could see that Jia Ruidao was hesitating. Moreover, the person Jia Ruidao was facing now, was only an outsider, a green-rookie gambler. This unexpected situation made them agape.

"Grandmaster Jia, are you really sure about it? You don't want to change again?" Tang Xiu did not immediately open the dice cup but asked with a ruminating expression.

"YOU... I won't change!" Jia Ruidao almost choked and fainted the moment he heard Tang Xiu's words. He thought that Tang Xiu was arrogant and rude, causing anger to surge deep inside his heart.

"Grandmaster Jia, I'm sorry, but your guess is wrong." Tang Xiu really wanted to give Jia Ruidao another chance. But he was afraid that doing so would hurt Jia Ruidao's ego. Therefore, he opened the dice cup in a natural and relaxed manner.

When Tang Xiu had opened the dice cup, Jia Ruidao's complexion instantly turned deathly pale as his body trembled for a while.

Because the 6 dices in Tang Xiu's dice cup were stacked into a pillar. Only the dice on top showed the points, as the rest were covered.

According to the dice game's rules, in the case that the dices stacked and overlapped, then you only needed to calculate the points on the topmost dice. Thus, in this case, the impressive stacked points for Tang Xiu's dices were 4, since it was the points of the topmost dice.

In other words, when Jia Ruidao guessed the points, his first guess was correct. But he was wrong on the second guess and insisted on picking the second, wrong guess.

"This old man has gone through ups and downs in every aspect of gambling for many years. Except losing games early in my studying career, never once have I encountered equally matched opponents within these 10 years in the Shuangqing Province. But today, this old man truly has understood the meaning of the saying that the younger generations will eventually surpass the old ones." After having looked at Tang Xiu for a very long time, Jia Ruidao then turned away and left.

Only until Jia Ruidao had reached the building's entrance did Zhang Deqin and the others react to what had happened.

"Ah, Grandmaster Jia, please don't go. We have yet to know the gambling's result."

"Grandmaster Jia, please wait! You've not necessarily lost yet."

****

Zhang Deqin and Zhang Yongjin were the first ones to catch up with him and hurriedly spoke to retain him. Hu Wanjun hesitated for a moment before he also chased up. Only Xue Renfei left and stared at Jia Ruidao's dice cup that had yet to be solved, for fear that Tang Xiu and his people would open and peep into it.

In the end, Zhang Deqin and the others still failed to keep Jia Ruidao to stay. In fact, the moment Jia Ruidao turned around and left, Zhang Deqin knew that she couldn't retain him because she was perfectly aware that Jia Ruidao's character was extremely stubborn. Once he decided on something, it's very unlikely that he would change his decision.

Returning back with a depressed feeling to the room, Zhang Deqin and 3 others saw that the dice cup had yet to be opened. They froze for a moment before their eyes turned bright in next moment.

The gambling was not over yet?

Didn't this mean that they hadn't lost yet?

For a moment, the depressed and frustrated expression on Zhang Deqin and the others' faces disappeared as they instantly turned excited.

"Chief Long, do you think the Gambling Master you've invited is able to guess the dice points in the dice cup?" Zhang Deqin eyes fell on Tang Xiu's face for a short moment as she then immediately sneered.

Although Zhang Deqin also had slightly acknowledged Tang Xiu's gambling skills, but she still believed that Tang Xiu's gambling skills were impossible to surpass Jia Ruidao's. Therefore, her words and attitude toward Tang Xiu still had no proper respect.

"3 points." When Zhang Deqin had just finished speaking, Tang Xiu answered instantly without even thinking.

Upon hearing Tang Xiu's answer, Zhang Deqin couldn't help but feel that some of her life force was sucked away.

With a nodding signal from Zhang Deqin, Xue Renfei slowly uncovered the dice cup, as the dices were then revealed.

It was different with Tang Xiu's dices that were overlapped into one stack. Jiang Ruidao's dices were divided into 3 stacks with each consisting of 2 dices overlapping the other. Only the topmost dices showed points, and all of them were 1 point each.

When everyone in the room saw Jia Ruidao's dice points, they were immediately shocked.

"W-Won! We have won! Big Brother, Do you see now? WE WON!" Long Zhenglin was the first that was unable to hold back his excitement as he cheered out loud, "I said that Eldest Brother can do it! Now, you will really believe me, right?"

Happiness also covered Long Zhengyu's face. But he didn't lose his manners due to excitement. He looked at Zhang Deqin with a calm and composed manner as he then spoke softly, "Chief Zhang, shall we conclude our gambling's results?"

"Chief Long, you can rest assured that since you have won the gambling, the exploitation and development rights for Walled Hilled Village are yours. In addition, as part of the stake, within 10 days, we will transfer 10% of our equity shares for Skylane Commercial District to you." Zhang Deqin pursed her lips and thought deeply for a moment, before she immediately smiled and acknowledged her defeat frankly.

Although the Zhang Family had strong power in the Shuangqing Province, the Long Family's power was also formidable. Moreover, the potential of the Long Family's younger generation was stronger than theirs. If her family truly insisted on dealing with the Long Family, this was absolutely just like killing 1000 enemies with 800 casualties. Thus, the gains wouldn't make up for the losses.

It was true that when family enterprises had developed to a certain stage, they would be intertwined and chained with each other in some interest and benefit relations. Thus, it was impossible to have bloody struggles and conflicts with all of their might. This was also the true reason as to why Zhang Deqin didn't fully go all out with every means possible to obtain the Walled Hill Village's development rights. She'd rather choose this frank and open approach to fighting for it through gambling with Long Zhengyu.

But, since it was gambling, she naturally had to put out her stake. The Long Family's stake was to recede and withdraw from the competition in obtaining the Walled Hill Village's development rights. As for the Zhang Family, they had to transfer 10% of their Skylane Commercial District's shares as the stake.

"On behalf of my father, this Long apologizes and thanks Chief Zhang." Long Zhengyu was subconsciously relieved after he heard Zhang Deqin's words.

Although the Zhang Family was the majority shareholder of Skylane Commercial District, however, the Zhang Family only accounted for 35% of the Skylane Commercial District's total shares. The other shares were in the hands of several other shareholders.

The Long Family's plan to build up the Skylane Commercial District was to construct a Culinary District. But since they had insufficient funds, they invited too many shareholders to the extent that their movements in handling matters were restrained, resulting in a slower completion for the overall layout of the Skylane Commercial District.

Since the Zhang Family now had transferred 10% of the shares, although the Long Family was still unable to fully control the Skylane Commercial District's holding, but the Long Family's power regarding the Skylane Commercial District undoubtedly had increased by a lot. As long as the Long Family released a press conference about this news, they would easily acquire the shares held by the small holders.

"You don't need to be polite. Chief Long should be thanking yourself in finding a good Gambling Master." Zhang Deqin replied in a perfunctory manner as her eyes then fell on Tang Xiu with a complex expression.

As for the Zhang Yongjin, Hu Wanjun, and Xue Renfei trio, they were still dumbfounded ever since the dice cup had been opened.

In the eyes of this trio, Tang Xiu was only a vulgar and barbaric country bumpkin. Apart from his brute strength, he was worth nothing.

But after having been folded again and again in Tang Xiu's hands, only now did they finally realize that this was not the root of the case.

Especially after having seen Tang Xiu demonstrate his formidable gambling skills, their minds flickered and were unable to sober up for a very long time.

Originally, this trio had also intended to find someone to investigate Tang Xiu's identity after today, and then slowly clean up Tang Xiu afterward. But when Tang Xiu had succeeded in helping the Long Family win the gamble, they perfectly knew that it would be almost impossible to retaliate against Tang Xiu easily.

Although Long Zhengyu looked amiable and calm on the surface and seemingly had no bad tempers, however, Zhang Yongjin, Hu Wanjun, and Xue Renfei were very well aware that Long Zhengyu previously was the famous first young master of the Shuangqing Province. Who were they to begin with? Not to mention that Long Zhengyu was the kind of person that had a heavy gratitude and valued friendship. Since Tang Xiu had helped Long Zhengyu, it was impossible for Long Zhengyu to only watch and let Tang Xiu get bullied, and become indifferent toward him.

Chapter 46: Building the Heavenly Palace

Zhang Deqin came with her people high-spirited, but they returned back disappointed.

They originally thought that Walled Hill Village was already in their grasps. In fact, after Jia Ruidao was invited to the gamble, nobody thought that Zhang Deqin would lose. While others believed that this was almost impossible to have happened, Zhang Deqin herself had absolute confidence.

With public opinion rallied and full support for her, the Union headed by the Zhang Family had the absolute advantage. As for the Long Family, they were covered by countless of dark clouds that would condense and create raindrops of tears.

But Zhang Deqin had never dreamt that she would lose this gamble, and to even lose in such inexplicable way.

"Little Brother Tang, we're truly grateful. If it was not for having you this time, the Long Family could've fallen. Moreover, we would have really fallen into the abyss." When Zhang Deqin had left with her people, the calm and composed expression on Long Zhengyu's face disappeared, replaced by excitement and joy. He grabbed Tang Xiu's palm and shook powerfully.

After having watched such a thrilling and turbulent gambling, Long Zhengyu was suddenly unable to hold his feelings in as his facial muscles twitched and seemed slightly unwell.

.

"Big Brother Long, it's alright. However, I have to tell you the truth. The reason I came to help is but also for a request." After thinking for a while, Tang Xiu spoke softly.

"Ah, how much is it worth? Do you know how much value the Walled Hill Village's development rights are? Do you know how much value the 10% share of Skylane Commercial District is? They are worth billions of yuan. Besides, there are things that even money can't buy..." When Tang Xiu had just finished speaking, Long Zhengyu shook his head and refuted.

Upon hearing Long Zhengyu's answer, Tang Xiu was dumbfounded.

If it were not because Long Zhengyu had gone through an advance and retreat battle with Zhang Deqin and finally accomplished the task with ease, Tang Xiu suspected that even if he didn't open his mouth to state his demand, Long Zhengyu would have revealed everything about Walled Hill Village and the Skylane Commercial District's values. Wasn't this the same as inciting him to demand an outrageous price for his service?

Fortunately, Tang Xiu had once lived for 10,000 years in the Immortal World. He had long been trained his mind to stay calm and sober. Thus, even if Long Zhengyu boasted more convincingly about Walled Hill Village and the Skylane Commercial District's values, he didn't care about it and had no greedy thought.

"Little Brother Tang, I know I offered 1 million yuan before. It was because I didn't want to give up hope in recruiting a Gambling Master. Because I knew when Jia Ruidao had promised to help Zhang Deqin, even if I offered higher rewards, there would be none to dare to help me. And truthfully, 1 million is not enough for a gambling expert."

"Do you know how much Jia Ruidao asked for payment from Zhang Deqin? It was 5 million yuan! Regardless of winning or losing he would be paid 5 million yuan, and there was no room for bargaining. Zhang Deqin this time just suffered a double loss after losing to the enemy, truly miserable."

"Little Brother Tang, since you won against Jia Ruidao, then your payment certainly must not be lower than his. So, I will also give you a 5 million check. As for the other condition you mentioned, as long as we, the Long Family, are able to meet it, then I will fulfill it."

Tang Xiu didn't even speak, but Long Zhengyu proposed for the reward himself. And that he would fulfill them without even a flinch.

Upon seeing Long Zhengyu's heroic spirit, Tang Xiu's mind wandered as he recalled memories from the Immortal World.

"Big Brother Long, you don't need to be this much. I will accept the 1 million reward, but not more. I just want a piece of land on Walled Hill Village's hilltop." Tang Xiu looked at Long Zhengyu for a moment as he then spoke in a deep tone, "I don't need too much land, 1,000 m2 is enough."

"Why would Little Brother Tang want a piece of land on Walled Hill Village?" Long Zhengyu apparently didn't even dream that Tang Xiu would make such a request. He could not help but become shocked, because he was completely unable to figure out for what Tang Xiu would use that piece of land in Walled Hill Village for, "Little Brother Tang, do you mind telling me what you will use that land for?"

"On the other side of the Walled Hill Village was Yuzhou Ridge, my hometown. I can see it from the Walled Hill Village's hilltop. If I build a manor there, my Mom would be very happy." Tang Xiu hesitated for a moment. He didn't mention about the Spiritual Vein and casually made up the reason.

But Tang Xiu's words were not really a lie, since he knew that his mother only came to Star City to accompany him to study and in fact, was homesick. Although Yuzhou Ridge was quite far, but because of Walled Hill Village's high elevation, she could see the whole picture of Yuzhou Ridge on its hilltop. By using a telescope, it could even be seen more clearly.

"Ah, Little Brother Tang originally wanted to build a manor. Give this matter to Long's Dining Hall. We'll help you to construct a fine manor there, so you can fulfill your mom's wish." After listening to Tang Xiu's words, Long Zhengyu subconsciously felt relieved.

Because Walled Hill Village was really too important for Long Zhengyu. The issue with the Skylane Commercial District was too deep of a lesson for him. Therefore, for Walled Hill Village's development, he planned that it must be fully planned and handled by the Long Family. And with the present Long's Family's capital, they now had the capital to fully complete the overall planning.

If Tang Xiu opened another project in this place and intercrossed with the Long's Dining Hall's corporate planning, then Long Zhengyu definitely would be in an awkward and in dilemma situation. But since Tang Xiu's request didn't intercross, he would try to fulfill it, since he already obtained Walled Hill Village's development rights after all. Long Zhengyu felt eased since Tang Xiu's request didn't intercross with Long's Dining Hall's plan.

Upon hearing Long Zhengyu's words to fulfill his request, Tang Xiu also felt happy.

Long Zhengyu and Long Zhenglin brought Tang Xiu to visit the Long's Dining Hall. After having a meal, they went to Walled Hill Village.

The Long Brothers then took Tang Xiu along with an architect and headed directly to the Walled Hill Village.

After arriving at the hilltop, Tang Xiu headed straight to the location where he found the Spiritual Vein and told them that this was the place he wanted.

Long Zhengyu and Long Zhenglin stood on the hilltop as they looked at Yuzhou Ridge's direction. They also could see the Yuzhou Ridge's scenery at a glance and then completely believed Tang Xiu's reason.

Although the vegetation around the Spiritual Vein was particularly lush, the Long Brothers didn't find any specialness, since Walled Hill Village was originally a primeval forest to begin with. Even though the Spiritual Vein's location on the hilltop was filled with lush vegetation, they were unable to find any particularities.

"Little Brother Tang, I had surveyed this Walled Hill Village for more than 10 times and also passed by this hill for a few times. But I've never found this good place. Now since you've picked this up, why do I feel like this location is the most beautiful spot on this hill?" Long Zhengyu retracted back his sight and looked at Tang Xiu as he faintly joked at him.

When Tang Xiu heard his words, his pupil shrunk before he smiled and replied, "Hadn't people from ancient times said that we can't get each and every best thing in life?"

"Little Brother Tang's words are true. It's just my own pettiness." Long Zhengyu couldn't help but laugh after he heard Tang Xiu's words. He no longer pressed more and let the architect begin to measure the land and draw the design.

When Long Zhengyu asked what type of courtyard Tang Xiu wanted to build, the Immortal Mansion blessed land in the Immortal World crossed his mind.

Almost unconsciously, Tang Xiu snatched the pencil in the architect's hands and then painted on the A4 sized paper.

At first, the architect disagreed, since he thought that a high school student would be unable to understand about architectures and also could not draw any good things out.

But when the buildings' outlines were slowly highlighted on the paper, the architect's eyes turned wide. It was because the picture Tang Xiu had painted was even more exquisite than himself by several folds. The lines were gentle and beautiful and seemed not to be drawn out by a pencil, but drawn out with computer drawing tools.

In addition, Tang Xiu's design was even giving off some kind of indescribable feeling to the architect. It simply carried along such an atmosphere of luxury, a trace of elegance and indistinct mystical and spiritual sensation, as if the design was alive.

Long Zhengyu and Long Zhenglin originally thought that Tang Xiu was carefully drawing his own manor plan, so he snatched the design paper from the architect. They also didn't think that Tang Xiu would be able to draw so many decent things.

However, when the Long Brothers saw that several architects seemed to be shocked by Tang Xiu's design, they could not help but also take a look.

The Long Brothers' reaction was also just like the architects' as they were also astonished that even their eyes suddenly protruded.

"Eldest Brother, you're really my Eldest Brother. Not only is your gambling skills amazing, your painting skills is also this good. Man...do you really want to make others' lives feel sad?" Long Zhenglin let out a miserable roar as his eyes expressed his amazement and worship toward Tang Xiu.

"This place is really a place where people should live. But why do I feel like that it's like a Heavenly Palace? The atmosphere, elegance, ethereal sensation, spiritual facilities, as if it's integrated with Walled Hill Village, this is simply blended perfectly with the hill." After having carefully looked for a long time, Long Zhengyu couldn't help but exclaim in astonishment.

"Brother Tang, I have a presumptuous request. I don't know whether you can agree or not?" Having thought for a while, Long Zhengyu looked at Tang Xiu with some anticipation as he asked in an anxious tone.

"Brother Long, my College Entrance Test is drawing near, so I don't have extra time to do other things." Although Long Zhengyu had yet to speak his words, Tang Xiu could fully guess his intention as he answered with a smile and shook his head.

"Ah, I know that Brother Tang will refuse me." Long Zhengyu couldn't help but sigh when he heard it, although he then immediately relaxed and spoke, "Anyways, the whole development for Walled Hill Village will take at least 10 years. Drawing the design itself would take a year. However, with Brother Tang's ability, the time wasted would be lessened.

Long Zhengyu wasn't angry because of Tang Xiu's rejection, but rather understood Tang Xiu's choice.

Tang Xiu originally just wanted the land around the Spiritual Vein as the center. But the Blessed Land Immortal Mansion he designed was extremely beautiful. So it made Long Zhengyu excited, and he wanted the design to be completed for the entire Walled Hill's Village hilltop. Thus, the 1000 meters squared land Tang Xiu wanted, turned into 5000 meters squared.

Chapter 47: Luxurious Villa

Long Zhengyu eventually gave Tang Xiu a bank card with 1 million yuan in cash. He originally wanted to give 5 million to Tang Xiu, but Tang Xiu refused to accept more money from Long Zhengyu, since he wanted the spot with Spiritual Vein on Wanted Hill Village.

However, Long Zhengyu repeatedly guaranteed that he would build Tang Xiu's "Heavenly Palace". He also gave his words that the place would become the most beautiful scenery and landmark of Walled Hill Village.

Tang Xiu hesitated before he finally agreed to Long Zhengyu's offer.

On one hand, Tang Xiu really cherished the memory of the Immortal Mansion's blessed land in the Immortal World, as he wished and wanted to reconstruct it here. On the other hand, Long Zhengyu was really attracted to the whole "Heavenly Palace" Tang Xiu had drawn, so he blurted out to develop the entire Walled Hill Village according to its design and make the Heavenly Palace as its core.

Since it also benefitted the both of them, Tang Xiu naturally didn't refuse.

After leaving the hill, Tang Xiu went to a real estate agent.

Tang Xiu wanted to temper his body. This naturally neither could be done in his home nor the barren hill in the countryside. Although Walled Hill Village was a good choice, but it was very likely that another fierce beast was there. Tang Xiu didn't want to be sneak-attacked by fierce beasts during closed-door practice.

Therefore, he was looking for a single, quiet, and remote house with a perfect security system to practice and quench his body.

When Tang Xiu spoke about the requirements for the house, the real estate agent looked at him with a strange expression.

"Mr. Tang, a single, quiet, remote house is easy to find. But since you also want a house with a high-security system, this is a bit hard to find. Only in the kinds of a luxury high-end district or luxury villa area will you find the house that has a high-security system. You'll never find it in an ordinary residential district."

"Since you have mentioned these three conditions, there seems to have only one such district in the whole Star City. But the district's rental fee is particularly high and also very strict with identity checking..." The real estate agent looked at Tang Xiu's clothes and spoke with a hesitating expression.

"What's the meaning of this strict control of identity?" Upon seeing the real estate agent's awkward expression, Tang Xiu spoke in an amazed tone.

"Because the people who live in that district are a wealthy and respectable people. The district's owner seems to have formed a convention, that is, ordinary people can't live there. Outsiders could only live there if there is a guarantor from the house's owner." The intermediary agent hesitated first before softly explained.

Tang Xiu was completely silent after he heard the broker's explanation.

Tang Xiu did not continue to talk with the broker, and instead took his phone out and directly dialed Long Zhenglin's number.

"Eldest Brother, we've just separated for a short while, but you already want me. I knew that Eldest Brother really loves me, hahaha!" Long Zhenglin was still in buoyant mood after having obtained Walled Hill Village as he laughed and teased.

Hearing his answer sent chills through Tang Xiu as he snappily cursed at him. Then, he asked Long Zhenglin whether he knew about the South Gate Town's owner.

"Do you want to rent a house in the South Gate Town? Hey, why didn't you say so earlier? You don't know that the South Gate Town is developed by our family?" After listening to Tang Xiu's question, Long Zhenglin replied in a surprised tone.

The next moment, the person speaking on the phone changed, "Brother Tang, the houses at South Gate Town have long been sold out. It's basically not for renting purposes, but long ago my friend had bought a house in South Gate Town. But when he had finished decorating the house, he found that the house was close to a hill and had poor natural lighting, so he hasn't moved in yet. If you want, I could give it to you directly."

"Either you can sell it to me according to the market price, or I find another place, I can only choose between the two." Upon hearing that Long Zhengyu intended to give it to him, Tang Xiu got a headache and didn't hesitate to refuse.

"You... ah, Brother Tang. It's not that I... ah. You really have a serious nature. You will have no friends later. That house is big, but the natural lighting is too bad. It simply couldn't be sold at any price. Otherwise, my friend would have long sold it and wouldn't have been vacant for so many years. Well, if you really want to buy it, 1 million yuan is fine. I'll immediately give the key to you."

Long Zhengyu simply didn't give the opportunity for Tang Xiu to speak and directly finalized his decision on the phone.

When Tang Xiu hung up the phone and let out a wry smile, he found the broker looked at his face with a stagnated expression. Tang Xiu then understood the reason, because the broker also heard the content of his conversation Long Zhengyu.

"Mr. Tang, I'm really sorry. I didn't know you were Chief Long's friend. I was really rude a moment ago." The broker embarrassedly smiled toward Tang Xiao smiled and hurriedly apologized.

"Is Chief Long very famous in the Star City?" Tang Xiu was puzzled and asked.

"Mr. Tang, 90% of Star City's girls are estimated to have known about Chief Long. Could you even tell that he's not famous?" Tang Rong said with a face flushed red.

Upon hearing it, Tang Xiu was quite stunned. Although Long Zhengyu was a bit handsome, but it was not to a degree that it would shake the world. Besides, Long Zhengyu was a businessman, not a star. How could he possible have such fame in Star City?

But Tang Xiu did not ask further, but rather turned away from the real estate agency and headed to the appointed meeting place with Long Zhengyu.

A few minutes later, Long Zhenglin personally sent the key and ID card over. When Tang Xiu handed his bankcard, Long Zhenglin refused to accept it.

"Eldest Brother, without the key you cannot enter the house in the South Gate Town. And I suggest that you use this 1 million for yourself to dress up. If you wear this kind of dress to the South Gate Town, I'm absolutely sure the security guards will stop you outside." Long Zhenglin let out a ruminating smiling expression before he left.

Tang Xiu only smiled and didn't put Long Zhenglin's words in his heart

The instant Long Zhenglin was turning around, Tang Xiu slipped the 1 million bankcard into his clothes pocket in a flash.

Half an hour later, Tang Xiu arrived at the South Gate Town's entrance.

When Tang Xiu was just about to arrive at the complex's entrance, more than a dozen security guards swarmed and rushed over him. Upon seeing overbearing actions from those security guards, Tang Xiu was scared that he almost ran away, while an extreme awkward expression covered his face.

Tang Xiu was a little regretting his decision for not listening to Long Zhenglin's words to dress himself up.

"Mr. Tang, good afternoon. I'm Long Xueyao, the South Gate Town's real estate manager. I'm very pleased to serve you. Mr. Long asked me to take you to your villa. Please come with me." The leader was a tall girl. She bowed deeply toward Tang Xiu as she greeted him with a bright voice and sweet smile.

Upon hear Long Xueyao's words, Tang Xiu, who was ready to give an explanation, couldn't help but be stunned. But he quickly figured out that he was played by the Long Brothers.

The Long brothers clearly had figured out his character. And knowing that he was disinclined to spend time and money to dress himself up, they deliberately came up with such a play to scare him.

While secretly cursing in his heart, a charming smile emerged on Tang Xiu's face. He politely said a thank you and then went with Long Xueyao with the security guards behind them.

After he entered the South Gate Town complex, Tang Xiu felt like he was entering another world.

The complex had a still, deep water pond inside with hundreds of beautiful flowers. It was completely different from the noisy and bustling situation outside the complex.

For each 3 pavilions inside the complex, a five-step-wide security post was erected, with each of them occupied by an armed security guard that guarded nearby, as he saw that they greeted every pedestrian in the complex with a standard military salute.

If it for were not confirming himself that he was entering a luxurious villa complex, Tang Xiu almost suspected that he had entered an army compound.

After having passed through lawns with flowers and grasses one after another, Long Xueyao brought Tang Xiu to the deepest part of the complex as he saw a single built villa that was like "pasted" on the cliff.

The instant Tang Xiu saw the villa, he knew that he was deceived.

Although the villa's back was against the hill, but the front was faced toward the sun, and the natural lighting was obviously very good. Moreover, lines of trees could be seen surrounding the villa above, while the design and style were simply unmatched compared to the other villas in the complex.

"Mr. Tang, this is my business card. If you need anything, you can call me at any time. I hope that you enjoy living in this complex. For your logistic needs, it would be our responsibility." After clearly seeing the reaction from Tang Xiu, Long Xueyao promptly took out her business card, and then quietly led the group of security to leave.

At this time, Tang Xiu's mind had been completely locked on the villa above. After he bid farewell to Long Xueyao, he couldn't wait to hurriedly enter the villa.

After entering the villa, Tang Xiu knew that he had been deceived.

It was a 3-storied villa. Because they were built by the hill, therefore, each floor had different beautiful scenery to see. An alley paved with cobblestones directed the path to the door as a row of stone benches were on its both sides. Different shapes of flowers and bonsais were arranged on the stone benches for the feast of people's eyes.

The door to the villa's hall was high and stylish, with round arched windows and corners built from stone, looking completely elegant. The continually arched door and winding pathway gave off an elegant, exquisite, and cozy feeling.

The villa's decoration inherited the essence of the traditional Chinese architecture as it maintained the elegance of traditional architectural design and its simplicity as it blended into a splendid unique artistic style. Also, it was designed to be perfectly blended with nature according to Confucianism, incorporating and releasing the Daoism and Buddhism teaching, which hid the idea of gracefulness in an obscure and elegant style.

Classical and spacious natures were blended as natural building materials and vines above it set each other nicely side by side, giving off the feeling that the classics also didn't fall behind in fashion.

Almost at first glance, Tang Xiu deeply liked this villa.

"Apart from the villa value itself, it is estimated that this villa's decoration would cost 1 million. I owe them a big favor." When Tang Xiu took out his phone out and called Long Zhengyu to ask for the real price of the villa, he found that Long Zhengyu actually had shut it down. Tang Xiu knew that Long Zhengyu was avoiding him, making it impossible for him to give this villa back.

"It seems like that I could only slowly pay this favor back." Tang Xiu originally couldn't bear to return this villa back. But upon seeing Long Zhengyu shut his phone down, his heart was no longer tangled.

Had it been others that suddenly got this huge amount of wealth, they would certainly be clueless of what to do and be in awe. But Tang Xiu' past life was almost that of the richest man in the Immortal World. Moreover, he also had the confidence to repay this favor to the Long Family, so Tang Xiu quickly felt indifferent to accepting the fact that Long Zhengyu had gifted him the villa.

Chapter 48: Concocting Body Refining Liquid Succeeded

"Big Brother, take your bankcard back!" At Longwan Resort, when Long Zhenglin accidently found and pulled out a bankcard from his pocket, he was momentarily dumbfounded before he gave the bankcard back to Long Zhengyu with a bitter face.

"It's alright, since Brother Tang doesn't want to take us cheaply, we will accept this." Long Zhengyu looked at his bankcard that was sent to himself as he showed a funny smile.

Because the villa that had been given from Long Zhengyu to Tang Xiu, and wasn't bought by his friend, but rather he left it as his own spare. It was not because the villa couldn't be sold, but it was out of the South Gate Town's landscape blueprint and was the grandest type of all, even the richest couldn't buy it.

The reason for Long Zhengyu intentionally saying that it was just another elegant villa that way, was because he was afraid that Tang Xiu would know the villa's real value and then be unwilling to receive his gift.

"Zhengyu, Zhenglin, is Tang Xiu really that good?" A middle-aged man put down the newspaper in his hands as he asked with a doubting expression.

Long Hanwen had always felt that his two sons were geniuses. He was also extremely fond and favored his own 2 sons, and simply didn't believe that there would be other youngsters that were better than his children.

But after Long Hanwen came home today, the conversation between his two sons was bombed as the topic centered on an unfamiliar young man, which made Long Hanwen extremely puzzled.

Even if Long Hanwen knew that Tang Xiu was the one who won the gamble against Jia Ruidao, he also only thought that his two sons resorted to tricks and dishonest means and made Jia Ruidao deliberately lose to Tang Xiu, rather than that Tang Xiu really winning against Jia Ruidao through his own gambling skills.

In fact, if one did not directly witness the gambling scene between Tang Xiu and Jia Ruidao, there was basically none that dared to believe that someone in the Shuangqing Province was able to crush Jia Ruidao in gambling.

"Big Brother, in father's eyes, it seems that apart from us, the others are all idiots and morons. We really don't have to work had, huh." Upon hearing his father's words and seeing his expression, Long Zhenglin couldn't help but let out a sorrowful speech and then went upstairs directly.

"Dad, I admit that your two sons are very good. But you have to know that there will be people outside that are more talented than us. This time, if there was no help from Tang Xiu, your sons might have lost to Zhang Deqin and the others." Long Zhengyu spoke a few words before he also went to his bedroom.

Long Hanwen looked at the back of his two sons when they left, as a deep pondering expression was drawn on his face.

At South Gate Town, Tang Xiu had spent half an hour to observe his villa up and down again, and then circled around his villa. When he found that his villa was far away from the other villas' cluster and almost isolated, he was feeling more satisfied with this villa given by Long Zhengyu.

After having familiarized himself with the villa and its surroundings, Tang Xiu then went to the rented freezer compartment as he took out some of the python's blood's essence and part of the internal organs and meat from the python. He also took the medicinal herbs and minerals he picked up from Walled Hill Village.

The Heavenly Art of Cosmic Genesis consisted of 3 big stages, one of which was the Stars Tyrannical Body that was divided into—Vitality Tempering, Skin Strengthening, Flesh Strengthening, Bone Transformation, Meridian Transformation, Marrow Transformation, Viscera Transformation, Blood and Qi Circulation, and Nine Core Phase Forming.

Tang Xiu was now still at the Vitality Tempering phase. Since the Heavenly Art of Cosmic Genesis had to temper the body first, that meant he needed to concoct Body Refining medicament that was comprised of a 1st Rank Monster Beast's blood's essence, internal organs, and flesh. The medicament also needed Star Spirit Grass, Poisonous Demon Cane, Green Jade Stone Essence, and other materials.

In particular, the fresher the Monster Beast's blood's essence, internal organs, and flesh, the better the medication's efficacy. This was why Tang Xiu was impatient to seek for a place to close up and cultivate after he killed the python, rather than wait for 2 months after the College Entrance Test and slowly temper his body again.

In an orderly procedure, the Star Spirit Grass and the Poisonous Demon Cane also must be cleaned and grounded along with the Green Jade Stone Essence into powder. Then, Tang Xiu also had to wash the python's internal organs and flesh several times before carefully putting these ingredients into certain proportions.

While doing that, Tang Xiu also had to boil the already long frozen python's blood essence in the cauldron.

Tang Xiu tightly stared at the boiled python's blood essence as he put the Star Spirit Grass and Green Jade Stone Essence powder into it.

Along with the Star Spirit Grass and Green Jade Stone Essence powder being blended, the previously red-colored blood quickly changed, as the stench that filled the air gradually faded. The blood's color then quickly turned into a deep blue color as white specks could be faintly seen amongst the mixture, as if the vast blue sky was being painted with countless stars.

When the stench in the air had completely disappeared, Tang Xiu put in the python's internal organs and meat into the mixture as he also took out the Poisonous Demon Cane he had prepared.

Although the Poisonous Demon Cane was named as a cane, but the fact was that it was extremely hard, just like an iron stick.

The moment after he took the Poisonous Demon Cane out, Tang Xiu's face turned extremely solemn, because he knew that the stirring speed would directly affect the success or failure in concocting this Body Refining Liquid.

Concocting Body Refining Liquid also required an extremely high degree of control and concentration. The slightest carelessness would create an accident and/or explosion.

Although Tang Xiu had prepared several materials for the Body Refining Liquid, and the villa's location was also quite isolated, so he didn't have to worry that an explosion would attract onlookers... But Tang Xiu didn't want to experience the feeling of failure.

While Tang Xiu was still stirring the mixture, the hard internal organs and lumped meat gradually softened as it turned into juice and then blended into the liquid. The most bizarre sight was that the Poisonous Demon Cane in Tang Xiu's hand was as if it was being gnawed at since it became a little thinner than before.

"If there was an alchemist assistant, I wouldn't have to do such a trifling and boring thing like this." When Tang Xiu was still stirring, a wish crossed his mind.

Because this was his first time concocting Body Refining Liquid, Tang Xiu was quite nervous.

Slowly, after Tang Xi got used to it, his mind began to loosen as he became absent-minded.

In an almost unconscious state, all kinds of pictures when he was in the Immortal World emerged in Tang Xiu's mind. For a moment in this dreamland, he couldn't even tell whether he was in the present modern era or when he was living 10,000 years ago in the Immortal World.

While Tang Xiu was still drowned in his imagination, a yellow bubble suddenly gushed out from the boiler as an unbearable stench suddenly filled the air in the house.

"Holy crap, it's going to explode!" Tang Xiu shouted loudly when he saw that the boiler suddenly turned into a big bubble. He rushed outside the villa without hesitation.

The split moment when Tang Xiu had just left the villa's door, a loud explosion sounded. All the previous efforts Tang Xiu had made were destroyed.

After having spent less than half an hour to clean up the residues, Tang Xiu began to start the second concocting process again.

Having learned from the first lesson, Tang Xiu didn't dare to have any stray thoughts again as he completed every step in a meticulous manner.

Only when the Poisonous Demon Cane in Tang Xiu's hands became smaller did Tang Xiu's thought strayed again. The boiler then exploded without exception.

"No, the problem is not because of me. It should be because of this Poisonous Demon Cane!" In the first attempt, Tang Xiu felt that he wasn't careful. But for the second attempt, Tang Xiu's mind was only distracted for a moment as to figure out where the problem was.

Tang Xiu took out a knife and scraped a layer of powder on the tip of Poisonous Demon Cane.

At the next moment, mixed and various images from the Immortal World uncontrollably gushed out and filled Tang Xiu's mind.

"No wonder The Heavenly Art of Cosmic Genesis said that concocting the Body Refining Liquid is very difficult, and the success rate is very low. It turns out that it's not because it's difficult to control one's feelings in the concocting process, but rather that the hallucinatory effect caused by the Poisonous Demon Cane is really hard to guard against."

When Tang Xiu wanted to start the third concocting attempt, he saw the remaining materials on the floor, causing him to become cautious.

After he hypothesized the concocting process in his mind, Tang Xiu analyzed each stage that the boiler had the possibility to explode at.

In the next moment, Tang Xiu scraped a layer of powder down from the Poisonous Demon Cane again and directly applied it onto his own skin.

There was no accident at first. Then, Tang Xiu's mind got distracted again.

"Fortunately, I promptly thought about this possibility. Otherwise, it would have wasted more materials. This Poisonous Demon Cane is really too powerful. It can permeate into the human skin's pores and affect people's thoughts." A trace of fear was revealed from Tang Xiu's complexion as he looked at the iron stick in his hand.

Although Tang Xiu could be said to have reached the peak in alchemy and pills' concocting in his past incarnation, but he didn't dare to boast that he knew everything about the raw materials for medicines. This Poisonous Demon Cane was precisely one of the herbs he hadn't known of yet. He could only seek it out through the aid from looking at its picture that was recorded on the prescription above the Heavenly Art of Cosmic Genesis's record.

The respective materials and ingredients needed to concoct the Body Refining Liquid were written above the Breathing Practice line in the Heavenly Art of Cosmic Genesis's record. However, there was no information about each material's properties on it.

It was quite fortunate that Tang Xiu was very familiar with most of the materials. The one that he had yet to know was only the Poisonous Demon Cane.

Had it been others that were blindly concocting the Body Refining Liquid, it could be said that that person would possibly fail hundreds of times. It was because any slightest error would lead to failure in concocting the Body Refining Liquid.

Even if it were Tang Xiu, he was also unable to say that he would have a 100% rate of successfully concocting the Body Refining Liquid. He was only a bit familiar with the Poisonous Demon Cane's property. Tang Xiu believed that if he were to completely understand the Poisonous Demon Cane's properties, he could guarantee that he would be successful in concocting the Body Refining Liquid.

In the next few hours, Tang Xiu did not rush to concoct the Body Refining Liquid and instead repeatedly researched the Poisonous Demon Cane diligently. Only after another hour did Tang Xiu believe that he had completely grasped the Poisonous Demon Cane's nature and began to concoct the medicinal liquid again.

Boiling the bloods' essence...

Putting in Star Spirit Grass and Green Jade Ore Essence powder...

Putting in internal organs and flesh...

Stirring...

Holding one's breath...

Closing the pores...

Shielding off the five senses...

Doing all the steps in thorough and orderly procedures...

****

Time passed by unknowingly.

Tang Xiu's mind and heart completely hung in the air, undisturbed and fiercely thumping.

Suddenly, a crackling sound sounded from the Poisonous Demon Vine in his hand, causing his heart to slow down by half a beat. In an almost unsubconscious state, Tang Xiu opened his eyes.

The medicinal liquid in the boiler had turned into a golden color as it also exuded an exotic and refreshing fragrance.

"Have I succeeded?" While looking sluggishly at the medicine liquid for a moment, he found that the fear for it to explode didn't happen. The medicinal liquid color was exactly the same with the record, causing Tang Xiu's eyes to burn with a boiling and hot light.

Tang Xiu hadn't noticed that his clothes had been completely drenched in sweat at this moment, as beads of sweat had also permeated on his forehead. He was just like someone that had been drowned and just got fished out from the water.

~~~~~~~~~~

Notes:

I forgot to add that the Supreme Art of Quintessence Space in the previous term has been changed into the Heavenly Art of Cosmic Genesis.

Fierce Beast (Xiongshou) wrote by the author in previous chapters just changed into Monster Beast (Yaoshou). Please don't ask me whether it was intentional or not XD. Anyways, I think the author has just found his style after 40+ chaps. I have fully read RFTIW until the latest chaps in raws (Chapter 903), he got better in writing style, although I also found a lot of plot holes... well... what can I say...

I was trying to keep the consistencies with the terms transliterated by the previous translators, especially for the stages of the Heavenly Art of Cosmic Genesis. However, I was just pondering when I read the contents in the raws. I think that the first stage in the Stars Tyrannical Body Stage was not Breathing Practice, but Vitality Tempering. 练气 (Lian qi) usually transliterated into Breathing Practice. But for the cultivation stage in this novel, I have to change it into Vitality Tempering.

Chapter 49: Vitality Tempering Peak Stage

In the split moment after successfully concocting the Body Refining Liquid, Tang Xiu woke up. He took out the already prepared modulated plaster made from the Green Jade Stone Essence and applied it onto his body.

Tang Xiu carefully spread out the plaster on his body carefully as not to miss any part of his body. He especially painted layer after layer on some essential spots on his lower body.

10 minutes later, Tang Xiu was just like a warrior clad in "gypsum armor". His whole body, from top to bottom, was completely covered by plaster cast made from Green Jade Stone Essence and did not miss a spot.

At the same time, a cooling and cold sensation spread throughout his body. The comfortable feeling even almost made Tang Xiu release a moan.

However, when he looked at the boiling Body Refining Liquid, a trace of hesitation and fear flashed through Tang Xiu's eyes.

"My body is too feeble. I don't know whether I can withstand the fierce baptism of this Body Refining Liquid!"

"Fortunately, after my soul had been integrated, I was accidentally able to cultivate the Heavenly Art of Cosmic Genesis and enhance my body a lot. Otherwise, my life could have been finished directly."

"It seems that I drank too much python blood essence 2 nights ago. The more the medicine attracted, the stronger the efficacy..."

The moment before he entered the boiler, countless thoughts flashed inside Tang Xiu's mind.

But Tang Xiu realized that he couldn't avoid this tribulation. He closed his eyes, clenched his teeth and resolutely entered the boiler.

One foot...

The other foot...

Half of his body....

Whole body...

When Tang Xiu had submerged in the liquid medicine, he heard a loud bang. It was as if the python's blood essence inside his body suddenly ignited, as a raging fire sprayed out from his mouth.

Tang Xiu opened his mouth for a while and swallowed the gold-colored Body Refining Liquid into his stomach.

"I must not aaaaaah... uuuuh..."

A sharp and acute pain was transmitted from his mouth and cavity as Tang Xiu subconsciously wanted to jump out from the boiler.

In the next moment, Tang Xiu was stunned because the Green Jade Stone Essence plaster unexpectedly solidified. Just when he wanted to move, he was confined by the gypsum and was unable to even make any movements or jump out from the boiler.

After calming himself down, Tang Xiu was secretly glad that he did not jump out of the boiler.

Had Tang Xiu not been careful and jumped out from the boiler a moment ago, he would've needed to concoct the Body Refining Liquid again. And this was not an easy task.

The most essential thing was that the materials and ingredients to concoct the Body Refining Liquid had basically been exhausted. Tang Xiu didn't have any means to quickly find all the materials and ingredients for the Body Refining Liquid. Therefore, had he jumped out of the boiler, he didn't know how long he had to delay to completely pass the vitality and body tempering stage.

With the lesson from almost jumping out from the boiler, Tang Xiu began to increase his vigilance as he quietly breathed and didn't dare to have distracting thoughts again.

Even though the expression on Tang Xiu's complexion was tranquil at the moment, but his facial muscles began to twist as a painful roar was let out from his throat.

Pain...

Very painful...

Extremely painful...

Although his body was protected by the Green Jade Stone Essence gypsum, Tang Xiu still felt that his bones were being stabbed and scrapped by countless knives. The pain was extremely painful, to the point that he even wished that he could die. Words were unable to describe this extreme pain.

And the pain was not just from the surface of his body. Because the python's blood essence was inside Tang Xiu's body, he felt like there was a cluster of raging flames burning inside his body, scorching all of his internal organs and making his blood boil.

Tang Xiu also thought of shifting his attention, but the pain inside and outside his body was just like an unending continuous tidal wave, rendering him unable to even shift the slightest attention anywhere else, let alone practice the Heavenly Art of Cosmic Genesis in this kind of state.

Fortunately, Tang Xiu long had the Heavenly Art of Cosmic Genesis and had a kind of approach in practicing it. He had spent his time in reciting and studying almost crazily the Heavenly Art of Cosmic Genesis in the Immortal World for many years, to the extent that it became his body's instinct. He didn't even need to intentionally control his body to practice this cultivation method.

It was just like the God Race and Demon Race that were able to cultivate their perfect particular abilities at the same time. The Heavenly Art of Cosmic Genesis was not only a cultivation method to cultivate one's Divine Sense, but also an ancient and powerful body refining cultivation method.

The Heavenly Art of Cosmic Genesis, by means of limbs and body movements, would temper and stimulate the body.

These movements, including kneading, pinching, folding, bending, knocking, twisting, and other movements would temper and stimulate every large and small part of the body, ultimately forging a body like that of the Demon Race's body.

It was also imperative that apart from the limbs and body movements, practicing this cultivation method also needed respective corresponding medicaments.

Tang Xiu was now a little happy since he didn't neglect to temper his body. Therefore, he had been accustomed to the pain when he tempered his body beforehand. Otherwise, he could have drowned in this kind of unexpected painful suffering and fainted directly in the boiler.

After some time had passed, sweat streamed out from Tang Xiu's body as his spirit and mind also became muddled.

The Green Jade Stone Essence gypsum covering Tang Xiu's body began to melt bit by bit as it then fell off. His skin, under the baptism of the boiled medicine liquid, turned scarlet, causing him to look like a cooked shrimp.

A violent and overbearing energy was rampaging inside Tang Xiu's body as his internal organs and tendons were nearly exhausted and damaged. However, at the same time, a strange energy wrapped those damaged tendons and internal organs as it was quickly repairing, enlarging, and strengthening them.

In the middle of the wanton destruction, construction, and reinforcing, music composed from the hoarse and anguished howls were uncontrollably exuded from Tang Xiu's throat.

Suddenly, without even preparing his mental force, Tang Xiu had entered into a cultivation state as the extreme twisting muscles on his face gradually calmed down.

Tang Xiu hadn't even noticed that, when he entered cultivation state, the moon this night was at its brightest, as he was sitting in the courtyard bathing under the moonlight.

The moon shone, bright and dazzling, as the stars filled the vast sky like birdsongs and fragrant flowers accompanying the fluttering cheerful music.

Suddenly, from hundreds of millions of miles away at the end of the dome of the sky, the countless stars transformed into specks of starlight like blooming fireworks. It rained down from the sky above the South Gate Town as it completely enveloped it.

Since the South Gate Town's location was far away from the city, coupled with the scene occurring late in the night, many people hadn't realized this magnificent and bizarre phenomenon.

Tang Xiu's body was just like a huge magnet as it continued to attract the starlight from the sky to enter his body.

Tang Xiu's practice time today was particularly long as he absorbed an unprecedented large amount of starlight into his body. It was as if it was caused by the body refining medicinal liquid.

Along with the increase in starlight absorption, the star energy inside Tang Xiu's body also slowly increased.

Five spheres...

Six spheres...

Seven spheres...

****

When Tang Xiu suddenly opened his eyes, he found that the first light thread of the dawn from the horizon had already fallen into his courtyard. At the same time, an extremely invigorating feeling spread throughout his body as he was unable to control his voice and moaned.

Tang Xiu looked down and saw that the body refining medicinal liquid in the boiler had long turned transparent. It was as if it was just like a pot of boiled water with some black residues at the bottom of the pot.

Tang Xiu stretched out his arm a bit as he heard a burst of crackling sounds. At the same time, he also felt that his body was extremely comfortable.

Tang Xiu then jumped out from the pot in the next moment.

Crackling and rattling sounds resounded as Tang Xiu jumped out from the pot. 2 big footprints had been carved in the large iron pot that had been especially bought by Tang Xiu from the food market last night. At the same time, Tang Xiu also saw that the blue stone under his feet also had 2 cracks.

"Could it be that my height grew?" Tang Xiu suddenly felt for the first time that his angle and field of vision seemed to be unusually different from before. He walked toward the door for a bit and realized that his height really had increased by quite a bit.

Tang Xiu's height previously was only 1,67 meters. But after he had soaked himself in the Body Refining Liquid, his height grew by nearly 10 cm overnight.

In fact, the biggest change Tang Xiu had was not his height, but his strength.

Tang Xiu was quite astonished when he found that his strength had an explosive growth. It was nearly 10 folds stronger than previously.

Tang Xiu looked around as he saw a giant stone teapot decoration in the courtyard. There was a line carved on the stone teapot "worthless things will become extremely valuable in time of need" [1]. Tang Xiu smiled as he stretched out his hands to hold the teapot's body and easily lifted it up.

This giant stone teapot was 500 kg in weight. Tang Xiu estimated that his strength had at least reached 1500 kg, and that was only the strength of his arms.

Apart from the increase in his height and arm's strength, Tang Xiu's Spiritual Sense also had been enhanced sharply.

Tang Xiu's Spiritual Sense could only cover a few meters scope around him before. He also had to completely concentrate to be able to achieve it. But now, his Spiritual Sense was able to completely envelop nearly 100m in radius, and Tang Xiu also didn't need to concentrate beforehand.

"9 stars. I actually have 9-star spheres inside my body right now. 9 in the Heavenly Art of Cosmic Genesis is the peak. That means that I have reached the peak of the Vitality Tempering stage. So the next stage would be Skin Strengthening stage?" When Tang Xiu observed his body with his Spiritual Sense, he found that the Star Spheres inside his body had increased to 9 spheres from the previous 4 spheres. Therefore, he couldn't help but exclaim out loud.

Although he had long known that cultivating the Heavenly Art of Cosmic Genesis, which was a peerless secret cultivation method from the God Race and Demon Race, would enhance strength very fast, but when Tang Xiu really felt the effect of this cultivation method, he was quite scared.

"At present, I only have brute force. I don't know for how much my defensive power has been enhanced by. Only when I complete the Skin Strengthening will I have the invulnerability and will be barely able to fully protect myself." Tang Xiu quickly awakened from his surprised condition due to his strength promotion.

His state of mind had returned to normal. But Tang Xiu was stunned when he prepared to put on his clothes.

Because not only was Tang Xiu's height had increased, but his body was also bigger and became sturdier. He couldn't wear his previous clothes.

"Ah, I have no choice but to buy new clothes." When Tang Xiu looked at his short old clothes that didn't suit him anymore, he had no choice but to take out a phone from his old clothes to ask for help.

Just when Tang Xiu saw a list of dense missed calls from his phone's screen, a look of puzzlement expression emerged on his face.

~~~~~~~~~~

[1] The raws for this line only had 4 characters 一壶千金 (Yī hú qiānjīn) literally a pot of a daughter or a thousand jin (500kg) pot. However, the line is also a metaphor that means worthless things usually become extremely valuable in time of need. Usually used as a reminder in decorative carvings. I used the metaphor here since the villa was designed in Chinese architectural design.

[2] Cultivation level in the novel in advance:

Cultivation level for normal cultivation method could be found later. It's just like in other novels...

Qi Refining à Foundation Establishment à Gold Core à Nascent Soul à bla bla bla 😛

For the Heavenly Art of Cosmic Genesis... well, it's quite different and confusing even though I've read the latest raws. Firstly, the author had stressed out that it was a different cultivation method, thus the cultivation level's power was also unknown. Secondly, the author will (only shortly) explain later (takes hundreds of chapters) that a certain stage in Heavenly Art of Cosmic Genesis is comparable with a certain stage in normal cultivation method. Thirdly, it seems that the author will prolong the story... even the previous gambling scene spends too many chapters.

Chapter 50: Jia Ruidao Asks for Help

Tang Xiu had only just bought this phone with the money he won after he played slot machines at the Health and Prosper Club. Thus, only an extremely few amount of people knew Tang Xiu's phone number.

Apart from Yuan Chuling, Banshou, Dingzi and his gang, and Long Zhenglin only knew Tang Xiu's number from Yuan Chuling. These people's number also had been stored in his phonebook.

But besides the call from Yuan Chuling, there were also 2 other unfamiliar phone numbers. These 2 phone numbers unexpectedly also had called Tang Xiu 17 times.

One number called Tang Xiu 3 times while the other one had called for 14 times. Tang Xiu also thought that these 2 people were unlikely to have made a wrong call.

"It's only been a day, how could there be 60 phone calls to find me? What happened?" Tang Xiu's heart sank, as he prepared to dial Yuan Chuling's number.

Seeing the missed calls, Yuan Chuling was the one who called him the most times. He had called Tang Xiu 50 times.

But when Tang Xiu had yet to dial Yuan Chuling's number, his cell phone already rang and the caller ID was Yuan Chuling. He couldn't help but smile and quickly press the answer button.

"Eldest Brother, you finally are willing to answer the phone. Teacher Han almost drove me crazy. When you left school that day, she also went out to chase you..."

After the phone was connected, Yuan Chuling impatiently spoke and didn't wait for Tang Xiu to speak.

But Tang Xiu felt that something was a bit wrong. He obviously only left school for a day. But from Yuan Chuling's words, why would it seem that he had left school for a long time?

With a puzzled expression, Tang Xiu glanced at the time on the phone. His eyes instantly turned wide. Because the date shown was 10 days since he entered the villa.

"It turned out that I accidentally entered a state of epiphany. No wonder my strength was enhanced this fast." Recalling the degree of the strength promotion he got, Tang Xiu finally understood.

"Fatty, apart from Teacher Han, is there anything else that happened?" Since Yuan Chuling chattered for a long time without telling any important things, Tang Xiu could not help but frown, as he interrupted Yuan Chuling's babbling.

"Teacher Han originally wanted to talk with your Mom that you skipped classes. But I prevented her. I said that it would be bad to tell her. Since Auntie is very fond of you, once she learned that you ditched school, Auntie would get sick and must be treated in the hospital."

"There's one other important thing, I have repeatedly guaranteed to Teacher Han that you went out to study. There would neither be any danger nor would it affect your academic performance."

"..."

10 days ago, although Tang Xiu handed the leave slip to Han Qingwu, he had said that he would leave for half a month or so. But Han Qingwu clearly didn't want to approve it. But Tang Xiu slipped away since she didn't respond for a moment.

Han Qingwu was unable to catch up with Tang Xiu in the classroom and she could not help but to chase him until the school gate. But she still did not see Tang Xiu and could only reluctantly return to the Grade Section Main Office. She was also thinking of to how to deal with this.

But when she attended afternoon class, Han Qingwu heard that there was a car accident at the car-free zone area nearby. As if she recalled that it was Tang Xiu, and although she had yet to hear about victims, Han Qingwu's heart was as if it were being hanged. She called Yuan Chuling without hesitation to ask him to contact Tang Xiu.

But after Tang Xiu bought the phone, he directly set the phone into silent mode as to avoid being disturbed. So unless Tang Xiu was holding the phone and saw the screen, he basically won't receive the call. Even though Han Qingwu and Yuan Chuling called him for tens of times, nobody picked it up.

Although nobody picked up Tang Xiu's phone, however, his phone was on. This also made Han Qingwu and Yuan Chuling feel relieved. Since the phone was not shut down, at least it proved that Tang Xiu was safe.

Since she couldn't get to him through the phone, Han Qingwu was still not at ease. She then tracked Tang Xiu's family address to find Su Lingyun.

But due to Yuan Chuling's preventive actions beforehand, Han Qingwu was particularly cautious when she chatted with Su Lingyun. She did not disclose the ditching classes issue that Tang Xiu had done, but rather asked about Tang Xiu's family situation. She also, at the same time, approached Su Lingyun and reported about Tang Xiu's good performance's promotion.

"Fatty, thanks." After listening to Yuan Chuling, Tang Xiu was really grateful. He knew that he had caused much trouble for Yuan Chuling and Han Qingwu because he disappeared for 10 days.

"Eldest Brother, we are brothers. You don't need to act like a stranger. But if you don't come back, I guess I also can't stand it." Yuan Chuling smiled as he then added, "Eldest Brother, if it's convenient, you'd better call Teacher Han. Because of you, she was not herself all this time. Drinking, eating, teaching, she always looks dazed. She has turned pale and thin."

"I know, I'll call her." Tang Xiu was still hesitant to call Han Qingwu that he was safe. But hearing Yuan Chuling's reminder, he instantly made up his mind.

After hanging up Yuan Chuling's call, Tang Xiu immediately dialed the number that had called him 14 times. Although Tang Xiu also didn't know whose number was it, but he had a faint feeling that this must be Han Qingwu's.

"Hello, Hello." After the phone is connected, a unique, clear, and sweet woman's voice answered.

After hearing Han Qingwu's voice, Tang Xiu didn't even know what to say.

"Tang Xiu, are you Tang Xiu? You quietly left the school. You didn't go home. Where have you been exactly? If you don't care about yourself, at least think of your mother..."

The phone paused for a moment and then Han Qingwu's roars full of grievances were transmitted.

After Han Qingwu unconsciously greeted the call, she realized that something wasn't right. She immediately looked at the phone number, and then found out the owner's identity.

The poor Tang Xiu was so shocked that even his ear turned numb. It was because he was tense and attached the phone very close to his ears and listened attentively.

Upon hearing the very familiar complaining voice, Tang Xiu didn't get angry and instead showed a happy smile.

Although Han Qingwu was angry and scolded him, but hidden concern and love were carried along with her words. Having this kind of feeling really was enjoyable for Tang Xiu.

Tang Xiu originally wanted to explain, but when he found no opportunity to interrupt her, he shut his mouth and concentrated on listening to Han Qingwu.

"Hey, you are Tang Xiu, aren't you? Speak something will you?" Han Qingwu had spoken for a long time. Only after the other had not even responded did she come into realization that she was just talking to herself, while the other side didn't even reply. She realized that she was losing her manner while also worrying that it was a wrong number.

Upon hearing Han Qingwu's words, Tang Xiu almost burst into laughter. He could almost imagine what kind of tense expression Han Qingwu had on at this time.

"Teacher Han, it's me. I'm really sorry. I've been busy studying all these time, so I put my phone on silent mode and put it somewhere. I didn't hear the phone ring." Tang Xiu didn't joke with her and patiently explained.

"You ... how come you turned into a delinquent and have no manners? You also dared to threaten a teacher and said that you'll transfer school if your leave is refused. Where the hell have you learned such sh*ty behavior huh?" Hearing Tang Xiu's light and casual explanation, Han Qingwu almost choked. She wanted to curse at first. But she recalled Su Lingyun's words when she visited her, causing her heart to turn soft.

Feeling the softness and weak voice from Han Qingwu, the deepest part of Tang Xiu's heart was deeply touched.

"Teacher Han, don't be angry. You'll be sick because of anger. Please don't mind it." After the silence for a moment, Tang Xi intentionally teased her.

"Why don't you die for me?!" Tang Xiu had just spoken, as Han Qingwu's roar broke out from the phone and bang. The phone was hung up.

"She's fine." Han Qingwu seemed to have returned to her usual self. Tang Xiu also felt relieved and then dialed the last phone number.

"Excuse me, may I ask whether you're Master Tang? My master is currently handling the table. He is temporarily unable to receive the phone. However, my Master has encountered trouble on Jingmen Island and wants to ask for Master Tang's assistance. If Master Tang complies and is willing to take the trip, I will immediately arrange to book the plane ticket."

After the phone was connected, the receiver respectfully greeted Tang Xiu and told his intention excitedly. He didn't even give the time for Tang Xiu to ask the others' identities.

It was very obvious that he had long been trying to contact Tang Xiu and seemed to have encountered big trouble. Otherwise, he would have given the opportunity for Tang Xiu to speak.

"Who is your master?" Tang Xiu was suspected that the man wrongly mistakened him. But he didn't immediately hang up the phone and asked instead.

"Uh... my Master is Jia Ruidao. 10 days ago, my Master had a gambling game with you at the Long's Dining Hall. When Master came back, he told us about you. So we also know about you. Master fell into a difficult situation 3 days ago. He might not only lose everything but also could lose his life. We really ask for Master Tang's assistance to help Master." The man anxiously replied.

"I'm sorry. I think you found the wrong person. Although I have had a gambling bout with Grandmaster Jia, but my gambling skill is not at his level. If Grandmaster Jia is unable to solve the problem, I certainly am unable to help." After he figured out the whole story, Tang Xiu hung up the phone without hesitation.

Although he won and also admired Jia Ruidao's abilities at the Long's Dining Hall, but Tang Xiu didn't feel that his friendship with him had reached such a deep degree.

Besides, Tang Xiu didn't like gambling. He hated it instead. If it were not because he was in need of money, he would have neither entered the Health and Prosper Club nor promised to help Long Zhenglin to gamble against Jia Ruidao.