Free Web NovelChapter 1230: Chapter 948: Are You Here to Restock?
"Ferry crossing, eight Spirit Stones." The old boatman worked the oar, bringing the boat steadily alongside at one corner of the stone steps.
Jiang Yuan handed over the Spirit Stones and looked up to see that the Evil Cultivator in front of him had already climbed the tall steps and gone into the brightly lit entrance hall. He hurried after him, going up fifty or sixty steps to reach the main gate of Yongle Square, where a wave of bustling noise instantly washed over him.
The place was packed with people, many of them wearing masks or swathed in cloaks.
The hall was bright, yet a faint mist drifted in the air, slightly obscuring vision and creating an air of mystery and unpredictability.
There was none of the filthy, stifling atmosphere he’d imagined; instead, a fresh, reassuring fragrance lingered. Jiang Yuan often did Incense Making and knew his way around aromatics, but he had never smelled anything like this. After a few deep breaths, he felt his mind clear significantly.
He couldn’t help feeling puzzled. He’d heard that in the modern world’s legal casinos, everything was designed so that people inside lost track of time, keeping them unknowingly trapped inside to gamble and gamble.
He hadn’t expected that the largest gambling den on Qihan Mountain would go the opposite route—the fragrance here made one’s head clear. How was anyone supposed to get immersed in gambling until they forgot heaven and earth? Isn’t gambling mostly about going all in when your brain overheats?
"Honored guest, the minimum to exchange for chips is five hundred thousand Spirit Stones." On both sides of the main gate stood two rows of guards in Black Cloaks, each with an empty little wooden box on their left and a covered little wooden box on their right.
Jiang Yuan glanced over and saw that the Evil Cultivator he’d been targeting had already exchanged for chips and gone inside. At a glance, among the bustling crowd, those marked with the red "Evil Cultivator" label were not few.
It was like a hungry wolf spotting a flock of fat sheep; if not for the bronze mask covering his face, his eyes would definitely be glowing red with excitement!
He withdrew five hundred thousand Spirit Stones straight from his account and poured them from his Storage Bag into the empty box—no more, no less, exactly level. A large "500,000" appeared on the box, and the Black Cloak guard opened the covered wooden box on his right and deftly took out a stack of chips.
"If you need, honored guest, you may break these into smaller chips inside the gambling hall." The guard pushed over a stack of chips with a face value of one hundred thousand each, his tone professionally enthusiastic. "Wish you a pleasant time."
Grabbing the chips in one handful, Jiang Yuan passed through the main gate and officially stepped into the Yongle gambling house.
[Evil Cultivator: ...]
[Evil Cultivator: ...]
......
He had no mood to go one by one checking the Evil Cultivators bundled up from head to toe, each with a system "details" box floating above their heads, to see what their surnames were, what evil deeds they’d done, or what Realm they were in.
To him, these people were all blood bags plus free manual labor. Jiang Yuan strode forward, sidling up to the Evil Cultivator who’d just finished exchanging chips and was hesitating over which game to play, waiting for the right moment to make his move and grab him!
"Mm, doesn’t look like there’s anything special here." Another Cultivator looked around, clearly disappointed, and quietly asked, "Brother Zhang praised the Qihan Mountain gambling house as the best under heaven. How come I don’t see it? There isn’t even a single pretty Female Cultivator at the tables. Compared to the underground casinos in the Market, this is way worse."
The Evil Cultivator replied with a grin, "Female Cultivators only spoil everyone’s gambling mood. You don’t understand the magic here. Go exchange some small chips and pick any table to play a few rounds. I guarantee you’ll never look at another gambling house again!"
The other clearly didn’t believe him, but still obediently took a hundred-thousand chip to the counter to break it.
As the two of them split up, Jiang Yuan stepped up, patted the Evil Cultivator on the shoulder, and lowered his voice. "Fellow Daoist, may I borrow you for a word?"
"What is it?" Zhang Shaolong turned with a puzzled look, suspicious but not particularly on guard.
After all, this was Qihan Mountain, and this was Yongle Square, the most popular place on the mountain. Forget about anyone daring to start trouble or fight—they’d be instantly locked and restrained by the Array. Even any bewitching techniques that might threaten others’ safety would be detected and directly isolated.
The only thing worth watching out for was not being fooled by ordinary words, especially swindlers who claimed they had methods to help you win every bet. Qihan Mountain was crawling with those.
As for the art of cheating, Zhang Shaolong, who’d fallen into the Evil Cultivator path, did this for a living. He had a thousand ways to trick others—how could anyone possibly trick him!
"I wanted to ask, Fellow Daoist, how you plan to sell the goods you brought?" From the detailed analysis, Jiang Yuan had already understood that the Demon Cultivator he’d sent to exchange chips, a total newcomer, had been sweet-talked here by the Evil Cultivator Zhang Shaolong.
Qihan Mountain was teeming with filth and shadows, with shameful trades as numerous as cows’ hairs.
A Demon Cultivator with a robust physical body and not-too-high Realm could sell for anywhere from a hundred thousand to a million Spirit Stones, the exact price depending on whether the buyer took a liking to them and how well both sides bargained.
Previously, Zhang Shaolong had been trafficking people in the Market—mortal women, Little Demon Cultivators, and the like. The risk was high, but the payouts really weren’t small.
Later, he learned that Qihan Mountain in the Land of the Extreme North was comparable to a Ghost Market. As long as you didn’t brawl or make trouble on purpose, even wholesale kidnapping and trafficking of people fell under no one’s jurisdiction. This place had become his main hunting ground.
Of course, after being in this line for a long time and handling a lot of bodies, Zhang Shaolong had grown very clear on what kind of Demon Cultivators were the easiest and most profitable to abduct.
First, they had to be greedy. Only the greedy would dream of pies falling from the sky, making them the easiest to lure in.
Second, they needed to be lecherous, or addicted to gambling, or thrill-seekers. Cultivators like that had obvious flaws; Righteous Cultivators disdained befriending them, and no matter how many scoundrel buddies they had, they couldn’t be counted on in a pinch. Once abducted, they vanished without a trace, and no one in their circle would purposely look for them.
If you were stupid enough to abduct an honest Righteous Cultivator devoted to Cultivation, there would always be a few loyal and righteous ones among their masters or friends who’d try every way to track them down. The Cultivation Realm had no shortage of methods for searching and tracking people. Once someone set their sights on you, the trouble would be immense!
