Chapter 97: A Bet—Is Two Hundred Thousand Even Considered Money?

“But my sword still needs to be refined three more times,” Lin Mu said. “I need to get ready in the meantime. The refining jade I need is kind of hard to find.”

Xu Xianxing asked, “Refining jade has to be freshly mined and used immediately. Where are you getting the money to buy raw stones?”

Lin Mu coughed lightly. “Well… to be honest, I’ve got a way to get raw stones for free—it’s just a bit troublesome.”

“Actually, I…” Xu Xianxing was about to say his family owned dozens of mines and she could just ask if she needed anything, but once he heard Lin Mu had another method, he got curious.

“What kind of way? Can you tell me?” he added, “Maybe I can help.”

Lin Mu knew his family specialized in this line of work, and he’d even taught her how to identify quality spirit ore. He was clearly experienced. If she got qualification to join the stone-betting event, taking him along could help her avoid unnecessary detours.

So she told him straight out, “I’m competing in matches at a place called the Feihai Pavilion. If I win, I get raw stones. But I still need someone to help me pick the good ones…”

“Feihai Pavilion? Never heard of it.” Xu Xianxing had lived in northern Xuanwu most of his life and didn’t pay attention to southern Zhuque news, so he knew nothing about it.

But since Lin Mu was involved, he figured it had to be interesting. He immediately pointed at himself. “Me! I can pick stones!”

Lin Mu had guessed he’d agree. His delusions of grandeur weren’t anything new—he’d always had a thing for strange and unusual places.

“Then come to my room at noon tomorrow, I’ll take you with me.”

Xu Xianxing: “Should we bring Bai Lique?”

“Just you is enough.”

“Alright.”

…

Feihai Pavilion.

“Today at Shen hour, Arena No. 10 will host an intense match. All cultivator friends are invited to come watch!”

Along Feihai Street, several people in plain robes were handing out invitations to passing cultivators.

“Our boss has a match today! Anyone who enters with an invite gets free spirit stones! Come cheer for us!”

Lin Mu had just stepped onto Feihai Street with Xu Xianxing when a slip of paper flew toward her. She caught it and saw a drawing. One side featured a huge, grinning spotted dog with a fierce expression. Under its paw was a small scorpion, its eyes crossed out, looking very much dead.

“The divine beast hidden for ten years emerges today! Rank-5 Golden Beast, the Spiked-Tail Gray Wolf ‘Earth-Splitting Big Black Dot’ versus an unidentified-rank ugly scorpion ‘Invincible General Bean!’ All friends welcome! Come cheer for our big bro! One thousand spirit stones per attendee!”

Lin Mu read the note, glanced at the others flying through the air, and fell into silence.

She had come as scheduled to compete. She’d be staying at the Feihai Pavilion for the next few days and had already asked Xu Xianxing to act as her decoy, so she wouldn’t have to run back and forth.

She was mentally prepared to face Linghu Meng, but she hadn’t expected this much commotion. From the looks of things, the entire Feihai Street already knew about the match.

It was Xu Xianxing’s first time here. Even though Lin Mu had briefed him on the rules beforehand, he still felt unsure and stuck close to her side just in case.

“What’s this?” Xu Xianxing had picked up an identical flyer. “The scorpion on here looks like your spirit pet.”

Lin Mu: “…”

“What kind of nonsense is this? Ninth-rank arena… and they’re seriously handing out invites for such a low-level trash match?”

People on the street were gossiping loudly.

“I heard the challenger is a friend of Gong Yu. Just got here recently. Probably a big shot.”

“His pet’s only Rank 5, and the opponent’s pet doesn’t even have a known rank. Compared to Gong Yu’s arena, this one is pathetic.”

Lin Mu stopped to observe and saw that the bulletin boards near the beast-fighting arena were plastered with notices about her upcoming match with Linghu Meng. Near the ticket booth, plenty of people were buying tickets just for their fight.

She stepped forward and handed her jade pendant to the silver-masked man to register early.

When he saw her, the silver-masked man said, “You’ve got a tough opponent. Linghu Meng sent invitations to everyone in the Feihai Pavilion. Your arena’s spectator seats are already full.”

“All this for just one match?” Lin Mu was puzzled.

The silver-masked man shrugged. “He said he wanted the entire pavilion to witness you becoming his defeated opponent. Ninth-rank matches rarely get attention, but he paid a bunch of people to hype it up.”

Xu Xianxing swept his gaze over the silver-masked man without speaking, just silently stood beside Lin Mu and listened.

Lin Mu looked to the betting board to the right of the arena. Their match was now the most talked-about event in the entire arena for the past seven days. No doubt a fortune had been spent just to draw a crowd.

“…So Linghu Meng’s this rich, huh? And this is what he spends money on?”

Lin Mu thought for a moment. The silver-masked man assumed she was hesitating and was about to remind her that backing out mid-match was not allowed.

But then he heard her say, “So if you enter with an invite, you get a thousand spirit stones? Can you stack that? If I bring two invites, can I get two thousand?”

The silver-masked man: “…”

Was that really the takeaway?

He glanced at plainly dressed Lin Mu, then at the obviously well-off Xu Xianxing next to her, and couldn’t help wondering how these two ended up together.

“I’m just a worker. Don’t ask me,” the silver-masked man said expressionlessly. “More importantly, I think you should worry about your spirit pet.”

He pointed to the black scorpion on Lin Mu’s shoulder. It looked listless and limp, lying motionless.

Lin Mu said, “It’s just sleepy. It’ll be fine once we’re in the arena.”

She wasn’t sure what was wrong with Green Bean today—it had been groggy since morning, barely able to walk, weak and wobbly.

Still, Green Bean was obedient and had come along quietly.

As they talked, a commotion rose at the entrance—Linghu Meng had arrived, flanked by a crowd of lackeys treating him like a celebrity.

Dressed in ornate robes, glowing with confidence, Linghu Meng radiated wealth from head to toe.

He held his spotted dog on a leash and slapped a jade pendant onto the silver-masked man’s desk with a loud smack. “Arena No. 10, Linghu Meng reporting in.”

Then he looked Lin Mu up and down, and turned his gaze to Xu Xianxing, raising a brow. “So this is your cheer squad?”

He swept his gaze over Xu Xianxing’s fox-fur robe in surprise, but when he saw the three purple jade rings on Xu’s fingers, his expression darkened and he sneered, “If you’re gonna wear fakes, at least make them look real. What, trying to act like some young master from a rich family? I thought you’d bring in someone impressive—this is it?”

Xu Xianxing: “?”

Just as Linghu Meng finished speaking, another figure walked in—it was Gong Yu. He silently stepped up beside Linghu Meng, cold-eyed and silent.

The silver-masked man, seeing both competitors had arrived, said slowly, “You’re the two beastmasters for this match. You may place bets here, but once you enter the arena, no more betting is allowed. If needed, place your bets now.”

He pressed a mechanism on the table, and two golden toads with open mouths popped out in front of Lin Mu and Linghu Meng. Beside them were stacks of silver coins with patterns indicating various amounts.

Lin Mu wasn’t interested in the betting and was about to pull Xu Xianxing away when Green Bean suddenly moved on her shoulder. It opened its eyes, stared in one direction, then leapt off and scurried away.

With the match about to begin, Lin Mu had no idea what it was doing, but could only chase after it to bring it back.

Once she left, only Xu Xianxing remained.

Linghu Meng immediately tossed in a silver coin with a ghost orchid pattern—representing a bet of 100,000 spirit stones. “I bet on my spirit beast to win.”

The silver-masked man finished recording the bet and turned to see that Lian Mu had vanished, so he said to the person she’d brought, “If you don’t have money, you can choose not to bet.”

As soon as he said that, everyone nearby turned to look.

Linghu Meng’s opening bid of 100,000 marked him as one of the most extravagant in the entire arena.

Meanwhile, the owner of General Bean clearly looked like a pauper. As for her friend… well, paupers stick together. Even if he looked sharp, Linghu Meng had already pointed out that the rings on his fingers were fake.

“No need to force yourself,” the silver-masked man said. “You can still enter the match without placing a bet.”

Xu Xianxing replied, “I’m betting.”

He raised his eyes to look at Linghu Meng. “You bet a hundred thousand?”

“What, don’t tell me you’re going to bet two hundred thousand on her?” Linghu Meng scoffed. “Friendly advice—open your eyes wide. Don’t lose everything you’ve got.”

“Of course not.”

Xu Xianxing didn’t even glance at the silver coins laid out before him. Instead, he reached straight for the ones engraved with peony patterns.

He picked up one peony coin and tossed it into the golden toad’s mouth.

The betting board quickly updated: General Bean’s side had just received a new bet of 500,000.

“Two hundred thousand? That’s supposed to be money?” Xu Xianxing casually pushed all the peony coins on the table into the golden toad’s mouth. “If that were lying on the ground, I wouldn’t even bother picking it up.”

“Three million. That’s the cap. No more bets allowed,” the silver-masked man hurriedly said.

Xu Xianxing turned to him. “I’m betting for her. Three million. All on General Bean to win. If she wins, give her the money. If she loses, come find me to settle up.”

Everyone nearby: “???”

Linghu Meng’s eyes went wide. “You—!”

The silver-masked man fell silent: “……”

Lian Mu returned with Green Bean in hand, and for some reason, the whole place had gone dead quiet. “What happened?”

She instinctively looked toward the betting board, where the most eye-catching name now had a string of zeroes trailing behind it—so long it was nearly bursting off the edge. “?”