Chapter 543: Another 'Challenge'?!
Chapter 543: Another 'Challenge'?!
This sudden voice startled the inhabitants of the room, each of them turning to the violet-robed young man seated to the right side of the table.
Likewise, Bai Yunfei blinked a few times before looking at the person, “You? What are you doing here?”
This person was the fourth prince of the empire, Wu Yang!
The very same person he met back in Tianhun Academy and knocked out in one blow….
Of all places, the two of them were meeting here in a casino? Did even the empire’s princes come here to gamble?
Infuriated, Wu Yang spoke, “Why can’t I be here?! If anything, I’m the one that should be surprised you could even get here.”
Wu Yang was still feeling extremely angry with Bai Yunfei. Their last ‘duel’ where he had been knocked out before doing anything by a strange soul armament had led to a great deal of humiliation for him. Back then, he wanted to chase after Bai Yunfei and take revenge, but his second brother had for some reason forbidden him to!! He couldn’t understand how his second brother would side with the one who hit him of all people, and neither was he willing to listen to the reasoning. Forbidden from doing anything to Bai Yunfei, Wu Yang swallowed his anger decided to first investigate who this person was before deciding on how to deal with him.
It was afterwards that he came to realize this person was Bai Yunfei, a person that came to the Capital with Zheng Kai and was….a student of the Crafting School! And a new instructor in Tianhun Academy no less!!
But even if Bai Yunfei was an instructor, that wasn’t enough for Wu Yang to give up on his revenge. He couldn’t shirk away from something like that, so he decided to go to Bai Yunfei’s first day of class and make a more in depth analysis of how strong he was.
But then he saw Bai Yunfei easily defeat the other instructor Zhou Yu in battle.
He was only there starting from the middle of the battle, but that was still enough to show him that even a peak late-stage Soul Exalt like Zhou Yu wasn’t a match for Bai Yunfei. He couldn’t believe it at first, but with time, he thought more about his own fight with Bai Yunfei.
Even if he didn’t want to accept it, the truth was there for him to see: he was no match for Bai Yunfei.
He left before Bai Yunfei finished crafting his soul armament, but news that it was a heaven-tier soul armament reached him shortly afterwards, leaving him in shock once again. Then when Bai Yunfei went into seclusion, he became the talk of the Capital again, leaving Wu Yang quite depressed. Revenge onto Bai Yunfei wouldn’t be easy anymore.
No matter how high Bai Yunfei was rising in the Capital, that didn’t change the fact that Wu Yang didn’t like him. And the fact that his crush, Mo Wanxia, was added into Bai Yunfei’s crafting class made him even more jealous. It was an act akin to Bai Yunfei stealing his wife, and Wu Yang was consequently so angry he made a straw figure of Bai Yunfei to use as a pincushion.
His inability to take revenge on Bai Yunfei made him twitchy with stress. So tonight, he decided to relieve his stress by going to the casino.
And yet, he came across the very source of his stress, Bai Yunfei.
The fact that Wu Yang was looking at Bai Yunfei as an enemy wasn’t lost on the people there. Some of them sighed at first, but then when they realized Wu Yang had called out the name of ‘Bai Yunfei’, they all looked to Bai Yunfei in bewilderment.
Zheng Kai’s eyes narrowed at the sight of Wu Yang. Clearing his throat, he said, “Ah, so the fourth prince is here too? I invited my friend brother Bai here today, does the fourth prince wish to chase him out?”
“Hmph!” Wu Yang glared at Zheng Kai angrily. He and Zheng Kai had their ‘problems’ before, and so he didn’t care at all to be polite to him.
Jin Manlou looked embarrassed slightly embarrassed. “ Everyone, everyone!” He clapped his hands, “Please allow me some face here, we are here to enjoy ourselves, not to be angry and hurt another. It’s best to resolve any misunderstandings before we start so we can gamble happily without spoiling the mood.”
He casted a glance over to Zheng Kai, as if trying to signal if they should switch rooms to avoid a confrontation.
There was a twinkle of light in Wu Yang’s eyes as he suddenly thought about something. “That’s fine, I can do at least that much for you, master Jin. Since we’re all here to gamble, the new may as well solve our problems through said gambling….Bai Yunfei, I challenge you! We’ll settle this through gambling!”
“Uh….” Bai Yunfei wasn’t sure how to respond. “Just how much do you like to ‘challenge’ me?! And here of all places?!”
He wanted to change rooms, actually. But before he could voice that request, Zheng Kai spoke up for him. With the problems between him and Wu Yang, Zheng Kai found himself getting angry on Bai Yunfei’s behalf. “Hmph! If that’s how the fourth prince wants to play, then that’s how we’ll play then.”
He glanced to Bai Yunfei next with a face that most likely wanted to say, “We’re counting on you, brother. Your luck is great. Teach that Wu Yang a lesson and beat him so badly he won’t even have his underwear left.”
Feeling helpless in his situation, Bai Yunfei knew it was too late to retreat. “Alright,” he nodded, “then let’s play.”
The two of them sat down by the spots of the table closest to the entrance while Jin Manlou took up a large bench behind them. He was just going to be a spectator.
Bai Yunfei watched as a worker placed a cup with three dices in front of him, “How do we play?”
“It’s very simple, largest number wins. Everyone will call their stake and then roll their dices. Tally up the numbers and that’s that.” A thirty-something year old young man explained with a friendly smile.
It really was very simple….Bai Yunfei nodded his head, “Thank you.”
The man cupped his hands in greeting, “No need. We’re both instructors here, so such politeness isn’t necessary.”
“Eh?” Bai Yunfei uttered, “Are you an instructor at Tianhun Academy too, brother?”
He stared to Zheng Kai who only shrugged his head with uncertainty. He only cared for the females of the academy, why would he bother paying attention to the instructors? Plus, there were far too many courses, sections, and divisions to bother paying attention to, and Zheng Kai clearly wouldn’t be able to pay attention to them all.
“I am the wind course instructor for the sixth years third class, Mu Youqian. I happened to watch you craft a heaven-tier soul armament the other day, it was an enlightening experience, instructor Bai.”
Bai Yunfei cupped his hands in return, “Ah, instructor Mu, is it? Pleased to meet you.”
Now that everyone in the room had confirmation that this person in front of them was the very same Bai Yunfei that was making waves through the Capital, they were stunned. None of them had thought that the person capable of crafting a heaven-tier soul armament would be so young.
Bai Yunfei took that moment to take a look around the room. Aside from the guards and workers there, there were a total of eight people seated at the table including him and Zheng Kai. To the right side was the fourth prince Wu Yang, and a person Bai Yunfei distinctly remembered as being the young man in green that was normally seen walking with the fourth prince. To their left was a twenty-six to twenty-seven year old man in black. Then there was Mu Youqian in front of them, a rather lazy-looking forty-something year old uncle to his left, and then a rather pudgy middle-aged man to the right.
……
The rules of the game was very simple. Everyone would first place how many mid-grade primal stones they were willing to bet before they rolled the dice. Winner takes all. But the winner could only win as many primal stones from the other gamblers as they themselves put out. In simpler words, if one gambler staked thirty mid-grade primal stones, and the second gambler staked fifty, the first gambler would only be able to win thirty of those primal stones from the second. Naturally, this meant if one gambler lost, they stood to lose either most if not all their primal stones. If there were two or more people with the same cumulative sum, they can roll again to decide the victor.
Aside from that, since it was a game where it pitted one gambler against another, the two gamblers can opt to make a private bet against one another as long as both parties were willing.
The gamblers in this casino were stringent to the rules usually and relied on luck just like their commoner counterparts. Even methods to shake the dice within their cups were generally frowned upon and gamblers choosing to just shake the cup several times.
Both Bai Yunfei and Zheng Kai placed twenty mid-grade primal stones as their opening bet and shook their cups twice. Setting the cup upside down onto the table, they waited for the others to make a move.
Just then, Wu Yang spoke out to Bai Yunfei, “Bai Yunfei, let’s make another bet!”
“Oh?” Having guessed something like this would happen, Bai Yunfei smiled, “What kind of bet?”
Wu Yang snorted, “I heard you craft a heaven tier soul armament the other day? I’ll bet you for that! If I win, I want you to hand it over to me!”
Was he that cruel that he wanted to steal over the work that had brought Bai Yunfei’s name to light?
Slightly surprised, Bai Yunfei’s lips curled upwards with interest. “Then….what will you bet for it?”