Just Luck

Guangwang Street, Jinghai Casino. Za Jiu's arm was wrapped in bandages. An underling lit his cigarette for him and said in a low voice, "Ninth Master, who was the blind fool that did this to you?" Za Jiu shot him a narrow-eyed look. "Don't ask what you shouldn't ask." Here he was, a dignified Snake Muscle master—he'd gone to catch a mere Skin and Membranes junior, and the brat had still slipped away. Back in the Walled City, that would make him a laughingstock. Suddenly the casino floor erupted in clamor. A figure as tall and massive as a mountain lowered his head and stepped through the main doors, an invisible pressure rippling outward. In a daze, the patrons seemed to see a giant hairless old bear, standing taller than the heavens, furiously scraping against a mountain ridge, its savage aura tearing the drifting clouds apart. The newcomer wore a trench coat, a cigar clamped in his teeth. He casually scattered a fistful of banknotes and said with a laugh, "Brothers, business at Jinghai Casino's been good lately—everyone gets a cut!" Dao Youming—Leigong Shed's strongest Straw Sandal, its fourth-ranked man. Za Jiu sprang up with a start and hurried out to greet him. "Brother Ming." Dao Youming frowned. "I was off on a mission a while back. I only just returned and heard you'd been hurt. Who did it?" Za Jiu pulled out a chair for him, had the underling pour tea, and said with a smile, "Brother Ming, it's nothing. Just a personal grudge of mine." Dao Youming seemed to guess at something. "Za Jiu, if this is about investigating that matter, then drop it. Your life is worth far more than that piece of trash's." Za Jiu led Dao Youming into the private office and said in a low voice, "Brother Ming, I just wanted to do something for you." Dao Youming paused, then sighed. "Ah Ji's death doesn't surprise me in the least. The kid had lousy talent—he only made it into the Skin and Membrane Gate by gulping down fish balls. His character was rotten from childhood, and his martial will was weak. The Three Poisons of greed, anger, and ignorance soon ate into him and clouded his mind; his temper grew ever more wayward, and he wouldn't even heed my words. I saved him, and still he resented me and kept his guard up against me. Remember this: to me, the ones who matter most are you, Tong Chui, Chang San, and Jinqianbao! You're not just my most important fighters—you're my most important family. You're family!" A warmth spread through Za Jiu's chest. He hadn't expected the boss to care for him so much. He clenched his fist and said solemnly, "Brother Ming, don't worry—I know what I'm doing." Dao Youming said nothing more. He merely set a small porcelain vial on the table and said earnestly, "Za Jiu, I know you've been stuck at Snake Muscle all these years, unable to advance an inch. As your boss and your brother, it makes me anxious too. But Flood Dragon Great Medicine—you know how rare it is. Take this one pill. Call it a reward for your hard work these past years. I can't spare more than that; don't blame your big brother for being stingy. With this, you should be able to save yourself a good deal of hard effort. With your aptitude, you should have a real hope of entering Python Muscle this year. As for Dragon Muscle... there's nothing I can do to help. There are plenty with more talent than you, of middling caliber, who still can't get into Dragon Muscle. For an old python to shed its skin and become a dragon—that is a tribulation. Dragon Muscle is the most singular of the great stages within the Three Gates of martial cultivation. Even with my talent, I was stuck a full year back then before I barely scraped into Dragon Muscle. From here on, focus on healing your wounds in peace, and don't bother with that mess over Ah Ji. As for how Ah Ji died, I already have my suspicions. The one pulling the strings behind it is not someone a mere Straw Sandal like you can afford to provoke." Za Jiu said with a smile, "I understand. If I can just make it into Python Muscle, I'll be more than satisfied—I won't be the one dragging down the Five Tigers of Guangwang Street!" Dao Youming paused in the doorway, his gaze behind the sunglasses turning wistful. "The Five Tigers of Guangwang Street... We really were naive back then." After the boss had gone, Za Jiu picked up the little green vial, overjoyed. "So Brother Ming still holds to the old bond after all. I didn't even pull it off, and he still gave it to me." The Flood Dragon Great Medicine, as its name implies, is a potent medicine that helps those at the Snake Muscle and Python Muscle stages build up qi and blood quickly. For a wealthy man who needs it badly, this sort of secret medicine—he'd trade a house outside the Walled City for it. A single great pill is worth months, even half a year, of hard work for a Snake Muscle master of ordinary innate physique—nothing like those "fish balls" sold on the open market can compare! The hardest part about it isn't the price; it's that there's simply no channel through which to buy it. Only two places under Changle General Headquarters—"Changle Tower" and "the Academy"—let you trade for it using special contribution points. Za Jiu locked the little green vial in his desk and murmured, "My arm's crippled, and I'm a deficient body now. I can't circulate my qi, and there's no way I'd switch to cultivating those Heaven-Deformed methods. If I refined it now, I'd waste most of the medicine's potency. Give it another half month and my wounds should be healed; I'll take it right away then, before anything can go wrong. If I can force Li Xiuwen's hard qigong manual out of him and hand it to Brother Ming, that'll be one more great merit—and there'll surely be more Flood Dragon Great Medicine to follow!" How could Za Jiu not understand? By delivering the Flood Dragon Great Medicine ahead of time, Dao Youming was telling him to stay out of the "Rotten-Life Ji" affair, lest he sink in deeper and deeper. But right now there was a chance to earn a great merit, and he truly didn't want to let it go. Human greed—that is the hardest thing of all to overcome. ... Four Seas Martial Arts Hall. On the first floor, the disciples were training hard, while Old Chen, day in and day out, read his books and drank his tea in the cage. Li Xiuwen hadn't been by for a few days, and he found the hall had picked up quite a few new faces. Old Huang—really raking it in. With his current strength, he could just as well open a third-rate health hall of his own and make a little money. But running a martial hall eats up a lot of time and energy—you have to teach newcomers, manage the place, build connections, make challenge visits to win the martial world's recognition... Generally it's the seasoned veterans whose potential is spent yet who still command real prestige in the Walled City who open one. If he wanted to open his own, it could only be a Sea Sand style branch—he'd need Old Huang's approval, and would have to hand Old Huang a cut, and Changle a cut... With all that skimming at every level, once the costs came out he'd barely make anything, so the idea died the moment it was born. "Ah Wen! I've missed you to death!" Ah Zhen said jokingly when she caught sight of him. "And yet I never saw you come visit me," Li Xiuwen said with a smile. "You're the big busy man of the second floor—how would I dare disturb you? Brother Ah Wen, give me a few pointers on my palm techniques." Ah Zhen smiled. "Sure." Li Xiuwen went up to the second floor. Among the first-floor disciples of Four Seas Martial Arts Hall, he was the most respected, for he put on no airs and could blend in with everyone—unlike Ao Jiu, Lu Yu, and their crowd, who carried themselves like they'd ascended to immortality, above all worldly concerns. "Ah Wen... may I spar with you?" Liu Chun said, face reddening. "Sure," Li Xiuwen said with a smile. In the Illusionary Realm of the Great Void, he could pound Liu Chun with a single hand. But here he held back, letting Liu Chun trade ten blows with him before going down. The others were still rather stunned. During this stretch, Liu Chun had also been secretly gulping fish balls and had already reached the peak of Black Membrane—everyone knew it. Even so, Ah Wen had crushed him. Ah Wen's strength was unfathomable. "Liu Chun, your qi and blood are a little unsteady. Ease up on the fish balls." With that, Li Xiuwen left. Do you have a cheat, kid? Someone like you, and you dare copy me! Liu Chun stood with clenched fists, unwilling to accept it. "We both gulp fish balls—so why is his qi and blood cultivation more solid than mine?" ... In the study, Huang Sihai's abacus beads clacked with a deafening racket. Contentedly, he locked the money away in the safe. Hearing a knock, he said, "Come in." Li Xiuwen stepped inside. Huang Sihai took one look, and his expression turned grave. "It's not what I'm imagining, is it?" Li Xiuwen said with a smile, "It's exactly what you're imagining... Your disciple has, by sheer luck, succeeded in the gate-crossing." Huang Sihai drew a deep breath, unable to hide the astonishment in his eyes. "No preparation? You crossed the gate directly?" Li Xiuwen wore the look of a man who'd never dare do that again. "This time was luck. Just luck."