Zongwu: Aspiring to be the mastermind behind the scenes

Chapter 147: Gambling Becomes a Trend, Wine Doesn’t Make You Intoxicated

"Huh?" Several people turned and glared at him. "Ximen Chuxue was just delayed by something. Who said he was cowardly and wouldn't fight?"

"What could be more important than this decisive battle? I think Ximen Chuxue knows he can't defeat Baiyun City Lord, so he's just looking for excuses to delay! I bet that in a month, Baiyun City Lord will definitely defeat Ximen Chuxue!"

"You dare to bet? What's your basis for making this bet?"

"Just relying on my reputation as the Yangcheng Fast Sword!"

"What's this Yangcheng Fast Sword? I've never even heard of it! I'm afraid he's just a nobody in the martial arts world."

"Then what kind of rotten fish and shrimp are you guys?"

"We? The Four Tigers of Yuncheng, they're talking about us!"

"What four tigers? I think they're just four kittens. If Ximen Chuxue wins, I'll retire from the martial arts world. But if the Lord of Baiyun City wins, you guys will be renamed the Four Cats of Yuncheng! Dare to bet?"

"Let's gamble! I'm not afraid of you!"

bet!
An 'entertainment' activity that seems to have existed throughout human history!
And once there is 'bet', there will be stakes.

The two parties in the bet make a bet with each other at the cost of part of their own interests.

At the very least, it can lead to verbal surrender, while at the worst, it can affect one's entire life. For example, in the duel between Zhu Wusi and Gu Santong decades ago, both men placed bets before the duel began. Ultimately, Gu Santong lost the bet by a fraction of a move, and ended up spending twenty years in the ninth floor of the Heavenly Prison!

This is just a bet between individuals.

Gambling between kings and princes, and between countries, is common in history. Some bet on gold and silver, while others directly bet on land and cities!

It seems that any kind of confrontation can become the cornerstone of a gamble.

The Fast Swords of Yangcheng and the Four Tigers of Yuncheng had never met each other before, but because one supported Ye Gucheng and the other supported Ximen Chuxue, they directly gambled their reputations.

It can only be considered a small gamble between the two parties.

But it's a start.

The swordsmen in the south all traveled the world listening to the legend of Ye Gucheng.

The name Ximen Chuxue is also well-known to the heroes in the north.

This becomes another basis for the bet.

People in the underworld care a lot about face, and often a bet can be settled in person with just a provocation.

what?
You don't gamble?
So you just don't have confidence in Ye Gucheng/Ximen Chuxue?

With such little courage, you still have the nerve to call yourself a hero from the south/north?
Go home and drink your milk!
Once these words are spoken, the other party will definitely be unable to back down and will have no choice but to agree to the bet.

All the gambling houses, big and small, in the capital city responded promptly and opened the gambling table in a blink of an eye.

However, it seems that because Ximen Chuxue did not show up, most people generally did not think highly of Ximen Chuxue, resulting in the odds between Ye Gucheng and Ximen Chuxue being three to one on the betting board.

Many officials, warriors, and even ordinary people in the city participated in this event.

The ones who placed the biggest bets were the two underground overlords in the capital.

Li Yanbei in the north.

Du Tongxuan from the south!

"I think he's really crazy. Not only did he give up all his territory, he even gave up another 600,000 taels of silver! That's 600,000 taels!"

In Pei's house, Lu Xiaofeng was madly complaining about his friend Li Yanbei in front of Zhou Ming.

"Six hundred thousand taels?" Zhou Ming sneered, "Just that little silver?"

Lu Xiaofeng glanced at him and said, "I know you are a real rich man who doesn't care about 600,000 taels, but Li Yanbei is not you."

Zhou Mingdao said, "I don't mean to show off my wealth. I've just heard too much about this these past few days. Li Yanbei has only been around in the capital for a few decades, yet he can come up with 600,000 taels to bet.

Do you know how much money those princes, ministers, aristocratic families, and even Jiming Temple, Da Baoen Temple, Chaotian Palace, and Baiyun Temple in the capital have put up for bet?"

Lu Xiaofeng was extremely surprised. "I'm not surprised that ministers and noble families are involved in the bet. But even Buddhist and Taoist temples like the Great Baoen Temple and the Chaotian Palace are involved? Why?"

"why?"

Zhou Ming couldn't help but sneer. "Where there are people, there are rivers and lakes. So what if he's a monk? You just said Li Yanbei put up 600,000 taels and his entire territory. So what did Du Tongxuan stake?"

"Of course it's also six hundred thousand taels, plus all my territory!"

Zhou Mingdao said: "As far as I know, Li Yanbei and Du Tongxuan have dominated the north and south of the capital's underground for more than ten years. Both sides want to expand their power and annex each other's territory, but for more than ten years, there has been a stalemate.

But now, as long as they win this bet, one of them can directly fulfill their long-cherished wish of more than ten years and dominate the entire underground of Beijing. Tell me, with such a great temptation, who can resist it?

Those ministers, aristocratic families, Buddhist temples, and Taoist temples are all the same. As long as the stakes are high enough and tempting enough, becoming a monk or not is irrelevant!

"That's the truth..." Lu Xiaofeng took a sip of wine in frustration, "But if he loses the bet, he will lose everything."

Zhou Ming asked, "Who did Li Yanbei bet on?"

"Of course it's Ximen Chuxue."

Zhou Ming laughed and said, "You're so worried that Li Yanbei will lose. Don't tell me you don't have confidence in Ximen Chuxue?"

Lu Xiaofeng sat up straight with vigilance: "Why do you sound like you want to make a bet with me?"

"If I bet with you, will you agree?"

"of course not."

"I know you wouldn't, because you wouldn't gamble with your friend's life. That's just your character, Lu Xiaofeng. Similarly, when faced with a great enough temptation, some people will be blinded and won't listen to any advice."

Zhou Ming advised, "So, don't dwell on it too much. A person's choices are theirs to bear, and you must learn to respect the fate of others."

"Respect the fate of others?"

Lu Xiaofeng laughed dumbly: "I was actually taught a lesson by you."

Then he kept silent, and no one knew what he was thinking.

Zhou Ming added, "Don't even think about ruining this duel. Now that things have progressed to this point, no one can stop it. Otherwise, you'll be making enemies with the ministers and their families, the Buddhist and Taoist sects, and everyone from the upper and lower classes in the capital!"

"I know... I won't do such a stupid thing." Lu Xiaofeng took another sip of wine.

He has also realized this.

As gambling games continued to appear, all the characters, no matter whether they were from high society or low society, began to gamble against each other using this duel as a stake.

This is no longer just a duel between two swordsmen, but also a battle for the interests of countless people.

Just as Zhou Ming said, no one can stop it!
Even Ye Gucheng and Ximen Chuxue themselves!

But what he didn't know was that Zhou Ming meant that even the emperor couldn't stop it!
This is King Nanping’s plan!
According to the rules, one of the two duelists should set the time and the other should set the place.

But now Ximen Chuxue has already set the date as September 15th, but Ye Gucheng has not yet decided on the location.

It was because the place he wanted to choose was the imperial palace, on top of the Forbidden City!

Only in this way could he create chaos in the palace and thus give Prince Nanping an opportunity.

The reason why the location has not been determined now is that if the location is made public now, once the news reaches the ears of the emperor, the emperor will definitely speak up to stop it.

So Ye Gucheng and King Nanping were waiting.

As time goes by, as the situation expands, more and more people participate in the gambling and their status becomes higher and higher.

Until the end, when the entire capital city and even the entire Ming Dynasty people participated in the gambling, let alone a decisive battle on the top of the Forbidden City, even if the duel was in the sky, these participants in the gambling would find ways to build a tower to heaven as the venue for their duel!
By that time, not to mention that time was running out, the news would not have reached the emperor's ears that quickly. Even if the emperor really knew, under such a huge situation, he could only pretend to be ignorant.

This is the real core of King Nanping’s plan.

The duel between Ximen Chuxue and Ye Gucheng was just the prelude to this gambling game.

Even if this duel did not take place, King Nanping had plenty of ways to create various introductions to start this gambling game.

There is no way this can be stopped.

How could a plan prepared for several years by a powerful prince with fiefdoms be destroyed so easily?

However, this was destined to be a failed plan.

In the past few days, Zhou Ming has increased his attention to the emperor, Zhu Wusi, Cao Zhengchun, and Liu Xi.

The other three were still unaware of the coming of this conspiracy.

But Zhu Wusi has been constantly mobilizing the secret intelligence personnel of Huolong Villa to pay attention to this matter in the past few days.

Currently, more and more people in the capital are participating in gambling, and some of this is due to Zhu Wusi’s contribution.

Therefore, Zhu Wusi knew everything about King Nanping's plan.

Zhou Ming’s previous guess turned out to be correct.

Zhu Wusi really wanted to go with the flow.

So now, this matter is no longer just the plan of King Nanping, but also the plan of Zhu Wusi.

One holds great power in the imperial court, and the other is a king with real power over his fiefdom.

How can Lu Xiaofeng stop these two people from doing what they want?

If there was any sign of this, he would probably have been stabbed eight times in the back and committed suicide.

Fortunately, Lu Xiaofeng also has self-knowledge.

The most important thing is that he knew very well that this duel was initiated by Ye Gucheng, and Ximen Chuxue had already agreed to it.

Since the other party is willing, how can he stop it?
But the more this happened, the more bitter Lu Xiaofeng felt in his heart. He only cared about Kuku drinking and didn't even take a bite of food.

After a while, his face showed a hint of drunkenness.

"Drinking to drown your sorrows only makes you more sorrowful... Forget it, there's no point in talking."

Zhou Ming shook his head helplessly. "While you're still somewhat lucid, I have something to tell you. In ten days or so, my confinement will be over. It just so happens that the Wanjin Pavilion has been completed, so I'm planning to invite a few friends over on September 1st to hang out. Do you want to come?"

"That... that goes without saying! I'll definitely come!"

"That's good."

Zhou Ming stood up and said, "Come here, bring ten more jars of wine so that Hero Lu can drink as much as he wants. Don't use the best ones, just the worst ones in the mansion. It would be a waste to give him the good ones!"

Lu Xiaofeng was not completely drunk yet, and when he heard this, he angrily said, "What do you mean by wasting good wine on me? Why can't I drink good wine?"

"Haha, you're not paying, so it's good enough to have your wine. Why are you so picky?"

Zhou Ming waved and walked away.

Lu Xiaofeng didn't argue. To him, as long as it was wine, it didn't make much difference.

He can enjoy a cup of fine wine worth thousands of gold with a young man from a wealthy family, or he can drink a cup of the cheapest rice wine with a peddler.

However, when ten jars of wine were delivered, Lu Xiaofeng still smiled.

"This tastes... top-notch Autumn Dew White! In a restaurant, it would have to sell for at least a hundred taels of silver per jar! What a great wine! That guy Zhou Ming really has a sharp tongue but a soft heart!"

The maid next to her hesitated for a moment and said, "Master Lu, this wine is already the worst wine in our house."

"..."

Lu Xiaofeng had a mouthful of wine stuck in his throat, and for a moment he didn't know whether he should drink it or not.

After a moment, he swallowed the wine fiercely and shouted, "Go get some more wine! Ten jars aren't enough! I want twenty, thirty. I won't leave until I drink this idiot into bankruptcy!"

"Yes."

The maid agreed, but thought to herself: Even though you are a hero, you will never be able to drink the Pei family bankrupt even if you drink for your entire life.

What's more, what we are drinking is Qiulubai.

Even if one drinks this kind of wine for a lifetime, it would only be the Pei family's apparent income for half a month.

But the facts proved that Lu Xiaofeng was not that tolerant.

He only drank five jars of wine and was already drunk and unconscious.

"Lu Xiaofeng's alcohol tolerance has also decreased."

After Zhou Ming learned about this, he couldn't help but shook his head.

If he went there, with Lu Xiaofeng's cultivation level, it would take more than five jars of wine for him to get drunk.

But he also knew that being drunk in wine was worse than being intoxicated in heart. Wine was just an excuse. Lu Xiaofeng wanted to get drunk, and no one could stop him.

"Just give him a room to sleep in, and then you can leave him alone."

Zhou Ming gave an order and then started practicing again.

He has been practicing the art of longevity non-stop these days, and uses a perfect energy every day to bring himself into the same state as Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling before.

In this mysterious state, his cultivation progress was terrifyingly fast.

Even if it only lasts for an hour, the gains from the practice are enough to be comparable to a month of normal practice!

Please note that he has been practicing the Changsheng Jue for one month now, not the one month he practiced the Xiantian Gong before.

Such progress caused his Qi storage to soar rapidly. As early as two days ago, he had successfully broken through to the realm of innate Gangqi.

Spiritual growth is more difficult.

But now, it has already approached the realm of induction.

"Since I'm already close to a breakthrough, I might as well use another burst of perfect energy and break through today!"

Zhou Ming thought.

Then, a golden aura of perfection disappeared from the space, entered Zhou Ming's body, and took effect.

At this moment, Zhou Ming once again stepped into the state of having no desires, feeling a sense of connection in his heart, and vaguely merging with heaven and earth.

The vast power of heaven and earth surged madly, entering Zhou Ming's body, and transformed into incomparably pure true energy along with the movement and stillness of the five elements of the Changsheng Jue.

At the same time, Zhou Ming's spiritual power is also growing.

He was already on the verge of a breakthrough, and this time, it was like a rushing river, easily breaking through the fragile bottleneck, allowing Zhou Ming's spiritual power to directly step into a new realm.

Observe the world and feel the state of induction!
If one practices normally, it will take at least three to five days to break through to this level.

But with the help of the perfect energy, Zhou Ming entered that magical state, and in just ten minutes, he achieved the same effect.

And along with the breakthrough of spiritual power, a strange yet very familiar feeling came over me.

Zhou Ming knew that he had awakened a new ability!
(End of this chapter)