Chapter 268: Seriously Shameless
Chapter 268: Seriously Shameless
"No. I have always despised gambling," Elder Huang replied righteously.
Scholar Sun snickered.
He knew why Elder Huang said that. If Elder Huang bet ten times, he would lose nine. If he chose to bet on Big, the result would always be Small. Whatever he bet on, the result would always be the opposite. He was like a guiding light in the gambling scene. It was no wonder he despised it.
Scholar Sun added, "But Jiang Yuebai is competing too. Aren't you a fan of that young lady?"
"Placing small bets can make a person happy, but making large bets is bad for their health. How could such a mentally stimulating game like mahjong be considered gambling?" Elder Huang said as he stood up.
His plates were suddenly empty. At some point, he’d cleared off all the food on his plate, and he was now ready to leave.
Scholar Sun rolled his eyes.
When the two old men arrived at the venue of the Mahjong Tournament, they found an unusually large crowd gathered at one side of the venue.
This was the semifinals, so there weren’t many participants still playing in the tournament. That meant the people in this crowd were all spectators, and they had all gathered there to watch the same game.
With their keen eyesight, the two old men could see the state of the game without getting closer, so they stood in place to watch the game.
The most eye-catching person at the table was a delicate, fair-skinned girl, who had her hair up in a ponytail. Looking innocent and happy, she completed a hand and immediately pushed the tiles down.
The girl said, "Huh? It seems I’ve won again!"
It was the Heavenly Winning Hand.
"She got the Heavenly Winning Hand for the twelfth time? Heavens! Where exactly did this girl come from?"
"She’s a little demon from Silver Sword Peak. It seems her original form is a koi fish, so she’s overflowing with good luck."
"Even if she was born as a koi fish, she shouldn’t have such ridiculously good luck, right? Is it perhaps because she has other mystical abilities?"
"Whatever it may be, she hasn’t used any divine skills, so she hasn’t broken any rules."
"It’s unbelievable..."
"Senior Brother Xu is going to be eliminated in the semifinals!"
The onlookers whispered to each other, expressing their astonishment.
The person beside Liu Xiaoyu'er was Xu Ziyang, who was sitting perfectly upright. He kept a composed expression, but slight ripples were breaking out in the calm of his mind.
This little girl... is ridiculously amazing.
Is she really going to end the game by putting out sixteen consecutive Heavenly Winning Hands?
Xu Ziyang had great mental and physical prowess, but this was mahjong. Even if he remembered all the tiles’ positions, it would do nothing to affect Liu Xiaoyu’er’s winning streak.
Every time he arranged his tiles and predicted what tiles each person would draw, he realized Liu Xiaoyu'er would get a Heavenly Winning Hand.
That powerlessness he felt from knowing this unchangeable fate was sometimes worse than not knowing.
But why...?
Xu Ziyang had deliberately shuffled the positions of the tiles, but he only had control over a small portion of them. Ultimately, he had no way of stopping Liu Xiaoyu's terrifying streak of Heavenly Winning Hands.
This game had become a tile-laying game that Liu Xiaoyu’er was playing alone, and the other three at the table were like her tile-laying tools.
Liu Xiaoyu’er’s presence continued to draw more spectators over to her table. They all wanted to see the birth of a legend.
In contrast, the only spectators left at Chu Liang and Jiang Yuebai’s table were a few of Jiang Yuebai's die-hard fans, but they were getting rather sleepy. The game was extremely boring.
Ordinary people were unaware of the immortal-tier battle that Chu Liang and Jiang Yuebai were engaged in. All they saw was that it had been a long time since someone at the table had gotten a winning hand. Then just before the round ended, someone got a small winning hand.
They had been playing extremely slowly throughout the whole game, spending a long time pondering over each tile... However, their wins and losses were all small, which meant neither of them was clearly in the lead even after six rounds. Naturally, the spectators found their game boring.
Additionally, they were so focused on using their strategies against each other in their intense battle that they let Lackey A have two easy wins.
Hearing the exclamations from the next table, Chu Liang grinned. "Senior Sister Jiang, we're evenly matched now, but I will definitely win in the end."
"Hmph." Jiang Yuebai raised her eyebrows slightly. "How can you be sure of that?"
"Do you want to make a bet?" Chu Liang chuckled. "If I win, you’ll have to let me ask you a question, and you must answer me truthfully."
"Sure," Jiang Yuebai said with a smile. "Then if I win, you’ll have to answer a question from me, and you must not lie."
Seeing the sparks flying between Chu Liang and Jiang Yuebai, Xu Ziqing screamed inwardly, Aaaahhhh... Their interactions are so ambiguous! If I hadn't seen Senior Brother Chu buy that dual cultivation technique, I might not have realized the truth!
Listening to Chu Liang and Jiang Yuebai’s conversation, Lackey A blinked puzzledly. We’re in a four-player mahjong game. Why have two of us suddenly been stripped of the right to win? Moreover, aren't I the one with the most chips right now...
Nevertheless, Lackey A found out why soon after.
The neighboring table was in its final round. Xu Ziyang decided to close his eyes as he shuffled the tiles, giving up on memorizing their positions. After all, it was pointless knowing in advance that his opponent was going to get a Heavenly Winning Hand.
This time, however, Liu Xiaoyu'er didn't show her hand immediately after drawing her tiles. Instead, she hesitated for a moment and then slowly pushed out a tile.
Noticing something was different, Xu Ziyang opened his eyes. "Hmm?"
She doesn’t have a Heavenly Winning Hand?
Unfortunately, this was already the final round of the game. The chips in front of Liu Xiaoyu'er were piled up like a mountain. Even if Xu Ziyang managed to have a huge win this round, it wouldn’t overturn Liu Xiaoyu’er’s fifteen wins.
Nonetheless, winning one round was better than losing all of them.
So, Xu Ziyang regained his focus and observed the tiles in front of him. Then he carefully selected a tile to play.
"Hang on..." Liu Xiaoyu'er suddenly called out. "Look at the tile he played. That seems like the one I need...?"
She revealed her hand in disbelief.
Xu Ziyang gradually furrowed his handsome brows. Just after he had decided to focus on winning this round so that he could leave with dignity...
He gave Liu Xiaoyu’er the winning tile.
Everyone around them fell silent.
If it had been someone else, they might have already spat out a mouthful of blood earlier due to the absurdity of this situation. Fortunately, Xu Ziyang was able to remain calm.
He stood up slowly and exhaled deeply. Then he turned and left.
All the spectators were now looking at Liu Xiaoyu’er. Their gazes made the little girl extremely nervous, but she couldn't leave just yet because Chu Liang had given her a task to do.
Before leaving Silver Sword Peak, Chu Liang had told her that if she were to win her game very quickly like before, she should go to his table... to cheer him on.
...
That evening, the remaining participants of the fighting tournament were drawing lots on Heaven-Reaching Peak.
"He’s seriously shameless," Jiang Yuebai fumed.
She was thinking about Liu Xiaoyu'er’s presence at the mahjong game earlier in the day, and she still felt pretty angry.
Jiang Yuebai and Chu Liang had been evenly matched. Yet, the moment this little girl went over to their table, Chu Liang's luck suddenly increased. Jiang Yuebai and Chu Liang had similar strategies, so it was obvious that the one with better luck would take the lead and have an easy victory.
That was how Chu Liang had won the game. He had used this "small" advantage to defeat Jiang Yuebai and the remaining two unimportant players, advancing to the finals of the Mahjong Tournament.
Chu Liang was now one of the candidates to become Mount Shu’s Mahjong God.
Xu Ziyang empathized with Jiang Yuebai greatly. Just the mention of the koi-fish girl left him speechless.
However, after a moment of contemplation, he said, "Ordinary koi-fish demons shouldn't have such ridiculously good luck. She must have some mystical ability that enhances her luck."
Hearing that, Ling Ao’s expression darkened, with a hint of malice flashing in his eyes.
While those three were in conversation, the last participant, Chu Liang, arrived. Unsurprisingly, he had brought Liu Xiaoyu'er with him.
"You’re here to draw your match from among the top four. Why did you bring her?" the supervising elder asked with a chuckle as he brought over the tube with the lots. "There are no weak options."
Chu Liang grinned and replied, "No matter what, the name on the lot that Xiaoyu’er draws will definitely be the best opponent for me."
Jiang Yuebai smiled. "All right. Then, let’s have little Xiaoyu’er go first."
"Thank you, Big Sister Jiang," Liu Xiaoyu’er said politely.
Then she approached the tube.
The supervising elder knew that Liu Xiaoyu’er would be drawing a lot on Chu Liang’s behalf, so he let her reach into the tube.
Liu Xiaoyu'er pulled a lot out and handed it to Chu Liang.
Chu Liang looked down and saw two words: Xu Ziyang.