Chapter 106 - When the Sleeping God of Gambling Awakens

We arranged for the mistress of Thousand Flowers Pavilion to hide for the time being in a safe house used by the leadership of the Divine Cult of the Heavenly Demon. It operated through such a secretive, ingenious system that there was no need to worry about her safety.

After saying goodbye to the Wicked Laughing Demon, she did not forget to put in a word for Yi An.

“Please take good care of your bodyguard.”

Seeing her emphasize it again, it certainly seemed that her earlier remarks about Yi An had been more than mere flattery.

“My bodyguard is supposed to take care of me.”

The mistress smiled at my joke. I felt that my connection with her was only just beginning.

After we parted with her, our carriage set off once again for another destination.

“Laughing Demon, they may ambush us again. Please be careful.”

“You should worry about yourself, Second Young Master.”

“Why would anyone attack me?”

“Now that the person they could kill to infuriate me is gone, they may kill you instead.”

“Would you be angry if I died?”

“For the cult leader’s sake, I would at least have to pretend. It would actually work out well for me. Whatever I did afterward, he would forgive me.”

He spoke as though joking, but he was lava that could erupt at any moment. And our enemies were doing their best to make it erupt.

I leaned out the window of the moving carriage. Beyond the trees rushing past, I could see a sheer cliff in the distance. I had climbed that cliff, too. While searching for the materials for the great art, I had visited every corner of the Central Plains.

Back then, when I imagined life after regression, I had thought I would spend most of it training in martial arts at the training grounds. Yet here I was, passing this place again. Life after regression seemed even busier.

As I let the wind wash over me and recalled my previous life, I happened to glance toward the driver’s seat.

“You two haven’t said a word to each other, have you? Why not have a little chat?”

Her sound transmission came flying back.

“Please don’t do this. I’m already uncomfortable enough.”

“So? Are you going to stay uncomfortable?”

“It’s more comfortable just traveling in silence.”

Just then, Blue Face unexpectedly asked Yi An a question.

“How do you find working as a bodyguard?”

Both Yi An and I were surprised. Of course, he had probably asked out of courtesy to me rather than curiosity about her.

“As you can see, he isn’t an easy man to serve.”

Blue Face gave a slight nod, as though he agreed.

This time, Yi An asked him a question.

“What about you, Blue Face?”

“I enjoy it.”

Had they been a little closer, Yi An would have said, “What does that make me, if you answer like that?”

But their awkward conversation ended there.

That was enough. A beginning like this was enough. Now that the ice had been broken, perhaps a day would come when I would see the two of them chatting away.

I pulled myself back inside the carriage.

“Should a real man be such a busybody?”

He knew how I would answer that sort of remark, yet here he was going on about real men again.

“It’s not nosiness. It’s my temperament. I can’t stand watching something so frustrating.”

“Is that why you want me to remove my mask, too?”

“That probably has something to do with it.”

“Second Young Master. That is precisely what nosiness is.”

After that prickly remark, the Wicked Laughing Demon turned toward the window. Laughing Demon, even with all this meddling, you remain an impregnable fortress.

I chuckled and looked out the opposite window. The cliff I had climbed before regression was receding into the distance.

The carriage traveled on and on, finally arriving at a bustling marketplace.

The nearby vendors gave a startled twitch when three masked martial artists climbed out of the carriage.

Blue Face led the way, and we followed him.

“Second Young Master, do you have much money?”

“Plenty. Why do you ask?”

“If you do, I intend to have you squander it in a gambling house.”

“If you disturb the sleeping God of Gambling, your gambling house might go bankrupt.”

The Wicked Laughing Demon laughed as though the idea were absurd.

Beyond a small door at the end of an alley lay another world.

The gambling house was vast and lavish. Without exaggeration, it was ten times larger than I had expected. It was far too large—larger even than the Cult’s main training grounds—and packed with more people than I could count.

Gamblers crowded hundreds of tables, while slender beauties in revealing clothes walked among them carrying bottles of liquor.

They were all so absorbed in gambling that no one paid any attention to our masks. They did not care who came or went.

“It’s much larger than I expected.”

“Would you like to hear something even more surprising? This place brings in more money than Thousand Flowers Pavilion.”

He had said Thousand Flowers Pavilion earned more than the merchant companies. Now he was saying this gambling house earned more than the pavilion.

“The Unorthodox Alliance is eager to establish a gambling house in this region, by whatever means necessary, and take a share. The Orthodox Martial Alliance wants to get rid of this place entirely. Those orthodox bastards accuse us of ruining people by getting them addicted to gambling, but the truth is, they hate seeing money flow into our pockets. Now, what do you think of our gambling house?”

“Seeing them mad about gambling in broad daylight makes me want to beat some sense into every one of them.”

“Then you’ll be eating nothing but greens from now on, Second Young Master.”

“It’s their own lives. I suppose I shouldn’t interfere?”

That was the trouble with the lives they led. They did not ruin only themselves.

They borrowed, stole, and cheated. After tormenting their families and everyone around them, they held on to the bitter end before finally collapsing. That was how their lives ended.

Caught off guard by the Wicked Laughing Demon’s visit, the managers hurried out to meet him. The fact that he had come in person left them trembling like leaves.

As we walked toward their office, we came across a spot where an unusually large crowd had gathered.

When the Wicked Laughing Demon stopped, a manager quickly explained.

“That man is the son of a prominent local figure. He sometimes places enormous bets like this. He must be having a lucky day, because we keep losing.”

Sure enough, the expression on the house dealer’s face showed that he was completely overwhelmed by his opponent.

“I’ll bet everything on high.”

The man wagered all the money in front of him.

The stake was so enormous that the dealer’s face froze completely.

“There’s no point in even playing.”

At the Wicked Laughing Demon’s remark, the manager hastily replied.

“I’ll replace the dealer.”

“Wait.”

He stopped the manager, then looked at me.

“Would you like to try?”

“So you can cut off my arm if I lose?”

“What happened to all that confidence about bankrupting the gambling house?”

“Very well. But just one round.”

I took the dealer’s place. Everyone started when I stepped forward in my mask, but replacing a dealer was the house’s prerogative.

I rapidly shook the cup containing seven dice.

The Wicked Laughing Demon’s eyes lit with interest at my deft movements.

TAP.

I set the dice cup down. Once the dice dancing inside had stopped, I lifted it.

Their total fell just barely on the low side.

A groan escaped the man’s lips. His streak of good fortune had come to an end. The dealer who had kept losing to him sighed with relief.

I immediately left the table and walked over to the Wicked Laughing Demon.

“Fortunately, I got lucky.”

“Was it really luck?”

“What else could it be?”

“Perhaps the sleeping God of Gambling awakened.”

“He didn’t, so put him back to sleep.”

But I gave him an inscrutable smile that only made him more curious.

Once again, we followed the manager, leaving through a passage in a corner of the gambling house.

There were several rooms along the corridor, apparently where the martial artists guarding the establishment lived and waited on standby.

We passed them and entered through a secret door to reach the manager’s office.

The manager brought out the ledgers and handed them to Blue Face, then explained the gambling house’s operations to the Wicked Laughing Demon. He reported roughly how many people visited each day, how much they earned, and how they attracted new customers.

Of course, they reported to the Cult every month, but when the Wicked Laughing Demon visited like this, they explained and reported in person.

I watched in silence, while the Wicked Laughing Demon studied my reactions even as he listened to the report.

Honestly, what could I possibly find moving about this process?

Still, I showed no sign of boredom. I tried to understand his life, and I made that effort visible. To show him that I was taking this much interest in his world.

The report and review of the ledgers took quite some time. He had suggested going to cut off arms, but the gambling house was operating smoothly.

The Wicked Laughing Demon offered the managers a few words of encouragement.

Of everything that happened today, this was the key. Just as he had done with the merchant company heads, the Wicked Laughing Demon personally encouraged his managers. He made them aware that the most terrifying man of all was watching them. This seemingly trivial act was what kept his businesses steady.

At least when it came to work, the Wicked Laughing Demon was better than anyone. Did the Blood Heaven Saber Demon or the Single Flower Sword Supreme possess such diligence and attention to detail? I doubted it.

I left with the Wicked Laughing Demon and walked across the gambling house. Yi An and Blue Face followed us, with the managers trailing behind them.

We were making our way toward the entrance through the noise and heat when it happened.

SWISH! SHUNK! THUD!

First came the sound of a blade slicing through the air, followed almost simultaneously by tearing flesh and a heavy impact.

Two men stood on either side of us.

The man on the right had his dagger aimed at the Wicked Laughing Demon’s throat. But before the dagger could touch it, a single palm strike from the demon had already blasted away half his face.

My sword was embedded in the heart of the man who had rushed in from the left.

Their coordinated attack had been exquisitely timed.

The man on the left had been turning around with a triumphant shout about his winnings. The other had rushed over from the opposite side to congratulate him. They were assassins targeting us. They had waited for the instant our paths crossed to launch their surprise attack.

Every gambler nearby turned to look at us.

But a moment later, their attention returned to their games. Two corpses had appeared right beside them, yet not a single person left the gambling house. Instead, they urged their dealers to hurry up and roll the dice. They frightened me more than the assassins did.

“Are you all right, Young Master?”

In response to Yi An’s concern, I praised her.

“You’ve improved so much.”

When the assassin attacked me, her sword had been almost completely drawn. In the past, she would not even have reacted, but now she had nearly drawn her sword.

“If he had attacked me, I would have died.”

“No, you wouldn’t. You were behind me and still almost drew your sword. That means if you’d been in my place, you would have cut him down. That’s how far your skills have come.”

Yi An looked as though she could not quite believe it yet.

After speaking briefly with Blue Face, the Wicked Laughing Demon walked over to me.

“I never expected them to target even you, Second Young Master.”

“They probably didn’t know who I was, since I was wearing a mask. They must have thought I was one of your guards.”

Even if they had known who I was, they might still have given the order. The people behind this truly wanted war between the Cult and the Unorthodox Alliance. Would the Heavenly Demon’s own flesh and blood be exempt from their reckless schemes?

“They’ve changed their plan.”

“How?”

“They intend to kill you to spur the Cult into action. It doesn’t matter if they fail. In your fury, you’ll eventually unleash a slaughter. Whoever is behind this seems determined to use your departure from the Cult to achieve their goal, one way or another.”

I could feel the lava within the Wicked Laughing Demon bubbling even more fiercely.

The masterminds were clever. If he had not come out with me, that lava would already have erupted in one way or another. What they had failed to account for was my presence.

Just then, Yi An cautiously asked a question.

“If war breaks out over this, wouldn’t they be in danger, too?”

I shook my head.

“If it were a war to annihilate each other, yes. But realistically, that kind of war won’t happen. Even if war breaks out, it will end after a certain number of casualties. The losing side will pay enormous compensation and agree to a truce. To them, war is also a business.”

“They’re lunatics.”

“They’re utterly selfish bastards. They don’t care if thousands have to die for them to seize power.”

I spoke to the Wicked Laughing Demon again.

“The fact that they’re going this far means they don’t have much time, either. Things within the Unorthodox Alliance must be urgent.”

At my words, the Wicked Laughing Demon spoke, leaking killing intent.

“They certainly won’t have much time left.”

That was his declaration that he would kill them all. He had already said he would kill the masterminds, but this made his resolve even firmer.

My task was to steer him toward eliminating only those behind this affair, without touching the Unorthodox Alliance’s other martial artists.

If I could manage that, the successor Bi Sain and the Unorthodox Alliance would actually be grateful to us.

Just then, one of the Wicked Laughing Demon’s subordinates arrived, delivered an urgent message, and left.

After reading it, Blue Face quickly reported, his eyes tense.

“This is an urgent dispatch from Heaven-Reaching Pavilion. They say your name appeared on the Death Ledger, Laughing Demon.”

The Death Ledger was a mysterious organization shrouded in secrecy, a kind of intermediary connecting assassins with clients. It earned money by collecting a commission in the process, and with so many grudges in the world, rumor had it that its earnings were immense.

“The contract is worth a million taels. Black Kill has accepted it. The men who attacked us just now were probably assassins from Black Kill as well.”

“So they accepted knowing it was me? Even if they succeed in killing me, they’ll eventually be exposed and wiped out by the Cult, won’t they?”

I knew why Black Kill had accepted this contract.

Its leader had joined hands with the people behind this affair. He intended to use this opportunity to quit the assassination business and wind up his organization. It did not matter to him if he sacrificed every one of his subordinates.

He had already secured a promise that, along with the enormous sum of a million taels, he would receive a new identity and an important post within the Unorthodox Alliance.

“Since the assassination attempts have begun, Black Kill’s assassins must be spread throughout Guizhou.”

Despite Blue Face’s report, the Wicked Laughing Demon looked delighted.

“What are we to do? Our Second Young Master said he dislikes seas of blood.”

“I can swim with a smile in a sea made of assassins’ blood. Let’s go.”

There was no need to take Yi An along, but I spoke to her.

“You’re coming with us, aren’t you?”

“I was planning to wait here and do a little gambling.”

“I’m afraid that won’t do, my bodyguard.”

“Then I suppose I have no choice.”

Joy flickered in her eyes. I knew how badly she wanted to come with us. She simply had not dared bring it up first, afraid she might become a burden.

I had no intention of raising her in a sheltered greenhouse. Nothing helped a martial artist grow more than real combat.

And my confidence in taking her along did not stem solely from the fact that I would be with her.

It came from the hilt of her sword, polished smooth by grueling training. From the calluses on her palms.

Lest I worry about her, Yi An said matter-of-factly,

“Don’t concern yourself with me at all. A heart beats on its own, doesn’t it?”