Chapter 57: Bets Are FinalIn Bright Moon Capital.

Lin Yuchu, dressed in a blue robe that only made him look more upright, refined, and elegant, his figure tall and slender, walked side by side with Gu Chun, who was dressed in black, his expression cold and solemn, his build tall and handsome, an ancient pitch-black sword strapped to his back. The two of them proceeded in silence along the capital’s broad, clean streets.

Neither of them said a word the whole way.

No one made a sound.

Until—

“We’re here.”

The two of them had arrived at their destination: Immortal Guest Inn.

Gu Chun was the first to speak, breaking the long silence between them.

At the sound.

Lin Yuchu lifted his head and glanced at the inn before him.

It was a three-story, elegantly and grandly decorated, five-star cultivation-world inn that combined dining, tea, and lodging all in one.

It was the star inn designated by the Sword Alliance to receive fellow Daoists from all across the cultivation world.

This time, all the sword cultivators participating in the Sword Path Grand Competition were staying in this inn, arranged uniformly by the Sword Alliance.

That was rather interesting.

Lin Yuchu thought to himself, with an arrangement like this, were the people of the Sword Alliance simply too careless, or were they not afraid of trouble? Before the Sword Path Grand Competition had even begun, they had gathered all these human killing weapons into one inn. Needlepoint against wheat awn. Were they not afraid these people would fight one round in advance before the competition began?

There were not many sword cultivators with good tempers. Those with good tempers could not cultivate the Sword Path.

But Lin Yuchu merely thought about this question. If the Sword Alliance was not afraid, why should he worry for them?

“Are you hungry?”

Gu Chun struck up a conversation with Lin Yuchu. He turned his head, looking at Lin Yuchu beside him with an utterly casual expression, as if nothing at all had happened between them. His expression and tone were as normal as ever as he continued, “I’m a little hungry.”

He reached out and rubbed his stomach, his tone full of complaint. “After eating dry rations the whole way here, I feel like my entire body has dried out. I urgently need nutrition!”

Hearing this, Lin Yuchu glanced at him.

His eyes, dark and glossy like black grapes, stared fixedly at Gu Chun for a long while. Under Lin Yuchu’s gaze, Gu Chun’s expression remained calm and unchanged, not shifting in the slightest.

“I am a little hungry.”

Lin Yuchu said, then continued, “I want spiritual crab roe tofu, matsutake-stewed five-colored divine chicken, stir-fried crystal shrimp with scallions, agate-gathered river heart…”

Without pausing for breath, he rattled off a whole string of dish names.

“…” Gu Chun, broke as dirt.

Gu Chun, who in this lifetime had never eaten even a single one of the expensive, luxurious dishes Young Master Lin had just named, immediately felt dizzy. He nearly knelt to Young Master Lin.

In his heart, he silently converted the dishes Lin Yuchu had named into spiritual stones…

My mother, so many spiritual stones!

This one meal would be enough for him to eat for three months.

Poverty limited his imagination. Before the inhumanly wealthy Young Master Lin, the broke-as-dirt Gu Chun trembled, deeply aware of his own insignificance.

He lifted his head, looked at Lin Yuchu before him, and said with a smile that was awkward yet still polite, “I think… shouldn’t we eat something a little more vegetarian?”

“Eating vegetarian is good for the body.”

Gu Chun spoke with righteous conviction and awe-inspiring morality.

Hearing this, Lin Yuchu immediately slanted him a look and thought, I still haven’t listed the vegetarian dishes like lingzhi divine fungus soup, Moon Palace fairy cakes, jade-scroll pearl curtains, Guanyin’s pure-water floating spirit sprouts…

But looking at Gu Chun’s darkened expression, Lin Yuchu considered how difficult things were for him—his poverty—and said, understandingly, “Then one bowl of plain noodles, with half a jin of beef, will be fine.”

After hearing this, Gu Chun lifted his head and glanced at him, a trace of surprise flashing through his eyes.

It was not entirely because of Young Master Lin’s unexpectedly plain and down-to-earth order, but because he remembered that back at the tea stall, Lin Yuchu had ordered these same two things.

Gu Chun looked at Lin Yuchu, who stood before him with a calm expression, not feeling anything wrong at all. The thrifty, down-to-earth order did not match his status or bearing in the slightest, yet Lin Yuchu paid it no mind. Gu Chun muttered inwardly, This refined, cold little young master, who looks so precious at first glance, is someone with a story too.

“All right, I’ll treat you!”

Gu Chun waved his hand with particular generosity. “Forget half a jin of beef. I’ll even treat you to a full jin!”

Hearing this.

Lin Yuchu looked at him, and for the first time, a smile appeared on his face. His gaze was meaningful as he looked at Gu Chun and said, “Then I won’t stand on ceremony.”

Only, why did the smile on his face look so… ill-intentioned?

After they entered the inn.

Because he was poor, Gu Chun had always calculated carefully and had always asked the price before ordering. Once he finished asking the waiter how much a bowl of noodles and one jin of beef cost, he immediately wanted to cry.

The dishes at this inn were three times more expensive than outside!

This one meal was enough for him to eat three meals!

Lin Yuchu looked at the pained expression on his face and thought, Still too naive.

Did he not know that every inch of land in Bright Moon Capital was worth gold, that it was a money-burning den, and that the people of the Sword Alliance were best at amassing wealth? Only three times more expensive. This was already considered good. Some other shops were even ten times more expensive.

The two of them ate on the first floor. Gu Chun felt heartache for his purse, while Lin Yuchu enjoyed himself thoroughly. After finishing their meal, they walked up from the first floor. The inn’s third floor was for lodging.

Just as they reached the stairs leading to the second floor, they heard a burst of noise and commotion.

“Don’t miss it if you’re passing by! Today is the final day. Who wins, who loses, who will take first place in this Sword Path Grand Competition? Come, come, come! Place your bets, then take your hands off!”

From far away on the stairs, they could already hear the shouts coming from the second floor.

Lin Yuchu immediately stopped in his tracks and looked up ahead.

There, in the very center of the second floor, the gambling pool for this Sword Path Grand Competition had been set up in full view. Quite a few people had gathered around the betting table, placing their final wagers before the Sword Path Grand Competition began tomorrow.

Gu Chun, standing behind Lin Yuchu, swore that just now, the instant Young Master Lin saw the betting table, his entire pair of eyes lit up. The expression on his face came vividly to life—or rather, one should say he became radiant, both eyes shining.

Though he did not say much, his body acted with perfect sincerity. His movements expressed his heart.

The speed under his feet clearly increased. He had originally been supposed to head toward the rooms on the third floor, yet he abruptly detoured to the betting table on the second floor.

Seeing this, Gu Chun, who was following behind him, twitched at the corner of his mouth, his face full of helplessness, and followed along.

His eyes showed surprise. He really had not expected Young Master Lin to like this kind of thing.

The cold, upright, elegant Young Master Lin actually loved gambling?

He hid it well. Should he say that one truly could not judge a person by appearance?

Just as Gu Chun was inwardly astonished, Lin Yuchu had already squeezed to the front of the betting table. His gaze swept over the win-loss odds on the table.

He discovered that the most bets had been placed on Qin Chuan and Bai Luozhou to win. Next were Lu Qingyuan and Lou Qianxue.

Most people believed that first place in the Sword Path Grand Competition would emerge from between Qin Chuan and Bai Luozhou.

Lin Yuchu took in the betting board on the table, his heart itching unbearably. Then, without another word, he took out a bag of spiritual stones and set it on the table with a thud, saying, “One hundred thousand spiritual stones. I bet on Lu Qingyuan.”

The moment he said this, the originally noisy second floor of the inn immediately quieted.

Almost everyone looked at him.

Most of their gazes were startled, astonished, and curious as they sized him up.

Seeing that he was such a young, distinguished, and extraordinary youth, everyone immediately understood somewhat. He was probably some young master from some family, ignorant of the ways of the world, who had come out to play and casually bought someone’s victory or defeat.

With that, it made sense.

A naive young master. He did not understand anything yet.

Lin Yuchu had used one hundred thousand spiritual stones to bet on Lu Qingyuan taking first place. One hundred thousand spiritual stones was not too much, not enough to be called a vast fortune, but it was not little either.

It was not something an ordinary person could casually take out.

The important point was that spending one hundred thousand stones to bet on Lu Qingyuan taking first place was very shocking and unexpected.

If he had bought Qin Chuan or Bai Luozhou, it would not have been so surprising. But Lu Qingyuan…

A contestant people thought had good luck and could perhaps take third place, contending for third while securing fourth. There were few people who bought him to take first place. There were not even as many as those who bet on Lou Qianxue.

He was an especially unpopular long shot.

As a result, someone had bet one hundred thousand spiritual stones in one breath that he would win. That could not help but draw attention.

Nearly more than half the people on the entire second floor turned their eyes toward Lin Yuchu, this very foolish, very naive, worldly-ignorant, generous-spending young master suspected of being young and wealthy.

Someone even kindly reminded Lin Yuchu, saying, “Lu Qingyuan is indeed formidable, but his sword is too much like an upright gentleman, too proper and dignified. It lacks sharpness and is short on domineering force. Young lord, you should still be cautious. Gambling carries risks. With one moment of carelessness, you could lose your entire fortune.”

This was a tactful, implicit reminder for him to switch his bet to Qin Chuan or Bai Luozhou. Almost no one favored Lu Qingyuan to take first place.

But Lin Yuchu’s expression was firm and unwavering. In a low voice, he said, “At the gambling table, the greatest taboo is hesitation and indecision. Once the bet is placed, hands off!”

“Since I have bought Lu Qingyuan, then it can only be him!”

“I won’t choose anyone else.”

This remark was rather interesting.

The moment he said it, everyone in the building looked surprised, and their gazes toward him rose a little higher. Their impression of him changed. They believed that he was not simply someone foolish with too much money, but rather someone with ideas who was very naive, very foolish, and still had too much money…

In the end, he was still young and had too much money!

After all, buying Lu Qingyuan, the one least likely to take first place, to take first place—if that was not being foolish with too much money, then what was it?

Especially the few tables by the window on the second floor.

At one table sat a tall man in black, heroic and extraordinary, handsome in face and striking in brow, together with a swordsman in flowing white robes.

At the remaining two tables sat, respectively, a young gentleman in blue robes with a faint smile and a face dignified like jade, and a cold, handsome man in a moon-white long robe, his brows and eyes icy as frost and snow.

All of them had heard Lin Yuchu’s words just now.

They only heard the young lord who had just spent one hundred thousand spiritual stones to bet on Lu Qingyuan taking first place continue, his voice clear and bright, “Besides, I think Lu Qingyuan has a very good chance of taking first place.”

The moment these words came out, a wave of snickers rose and fell.

Someone said, “Young lord, it is one thing for you not to listen to advice and insist on buying Lu Qingyuan. But why say such laughable words? With Qin Chuan and Bai Luozhou present, where does Lu Qingyuan’s hope of taking first place come from?”

“Buying him is not as good as buying Lou Qianxue. Lou Qianxue’s momentum has been very fierce these last few years. Maybe he can pull off an upset. As for Lu Qingyuan, forget it. He has always been lacking that final bit of fire.”

These words…

They were truly impolite enough.

High-level slander.

In one breath, he had slandered both Lu Qingyuan and Lou Qianxue.

The dignified, jade-like gentleman in blue by the window and the cold, frostlike youth in the moon-white long robe listened. One raised a brow, while the other furrowed his brows, as if frost and snow had gathered there.

And what made people even more surprised was…

“I, on the other hand, feel that every single one of you is either buying Qin Chuan to take first place or betting on Bai Luozhou.” They only heard that foolish young master with too much money say, his tone carrying a bit of teasing. “Perhaps the two of them will be milked to death by all of you.”

“Lu Qingyuan, the one I bought, is steadier by comparison.”

Lin Yuchu said, the corner of his lips curving up, his tone seemingly meaningful. “Being able to remain as steady as an old dog is also a skill ordinary people can hardly reach.”

The moment he said this.

At the table by the window, the handsome man in black and the swordsman in flowing white both lifted their brows as well. Their gazes shot out with a swish, sharp as swords—

Piercing toward Lin Yuchu up ahead.

In that instant.

Lin Yuchu suddenly felt it with striking clarity: he had been targeted.

There was killing intent!

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