Chapter 305: Endure

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The second stage of the tournament has reached its conclusion. Jades containing the memories of those wealthy enough to witness the countless exciting matches shown in the Crimson Cloud Stadium are being sold on nearly every corner of the city for exorbitant prices. The better and clearer the memory, the higher the price.

In the seventy-seventh district, the only memory jades one can buy for anything resembling a reasonable price are the copies of copies of copies from those who sat on the worst seats of the stadium. That will change in a few months as prices adjust for decreased demand, but it is all they have until then. Many will say, not without reason, that such low-quality products are not worth purchasing.

They are sold out in less than a day.

“It was beautiful, I tell you! Beautiful!”

The Three Hogs is packed that day. Bo the Orphan dashes from one table to the next, carrying heavy trays over his head. A large crowd has gathered around Wei the Carpenter. The young man’s mouth moves quickly as he makes wild motions with his arms.

“There were two of them! Two! Well, he was fighting only one of them at first, but the other was lying in wait! It was one of them ambushes, or something! But Chen Guo was ready! He ripped out an entire tree from the ground as easy as I can lift this cup and rooted them out! You should have been it! It was bigger than any house around here, but he was using it like a sword!”

“What happened next?” asks Greedy Chun. The shopkeeper is not the sort who shows his excitement easily, but he is as caught in the atmosphere as the rest of them.

“They fought! There was fire and light and punches and kicks!!” Wei says, his gesticulations becoming wilder as everyone leans in with anticipation. “And then! And then!”

“And then?”

“Well… it ended,” Wei admits sheepishly, making everyone in the bar groan in disappointment. “But it was really good before that!”

“Bah!” says Ying the seamstress. “That’s what you get for buying some low-quality jade! You only got half a fight!”

“No, I swear by the grave of my grandparents!” Wei says, patting his chest. “The merchant said that’s all there was of that fight!”

“You were obviously scammed,” the old woman says. “Accept it.”

“Bah,” says a morose man as Bo fills his drink. His chin is pressed against the table, and his eyes look at the glass without emotion. Undoubtedly, Gambling Xin has seen better days. “Don’t talk about the tournament. I’m sick of hearing about it.”

“What happened, mister?” Bo asks. “You were so excited before!”

“Oh, I’ll tell you what happened, brat!” Greedy Chun says in a loud voice. His teeth gleam as his mouth forms an eager grin. “That useless lout over there lost all his money gambling! Not a single one of his so-called sure things came to pass!”

The look Gambling Xin shoots at the aged shopkeeper is so foul that Bo finds himself stepping away from his line of sight. Seeing a man who nearly always has a clever retort ready fuming in silence says all the bar needs to know about the truth of Greedy Chun’s words.

“Really?” asks Wei, crossing his arms. “Not one thing?”

“Of course I got a few things right!” Gambling Xin shouts, slamming a fist on the table. He grabs his beer and takes a long sip, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “I bet on some lesser-known contestants making it to the second stage, and they did. But all my big bets failed! I lost more than I gained!”

Bo blinks in confusion. Though young, spending enough time in Gambling Xin’s presence has taught him more about gambling than most kids his age know. The trick to them, as Gambling Xin often says whenever he is not bragging about outlandish bets, is to bet on relatively safe things. One gains less from that, but it is better to make several safe bets than to put all of one’s money on a large, unlikely result. That is how Gambling Xin tends to do things. While it hasn’t made him rich, it also hasn’t made him poor.

“Well, who told you to make bets?” Greedy Chun says without one bit of empathy. “You probably bet on your little picks passing the third stage, didn’t you?”

“I’m not an idiot!” Gambling Xin says. “It was supposed to be a sure thing! It’s all because of that damn Dragon!”

The bar goes silent. No one moves. For one brief instant, everyone is holding their breath, waiting for what happens next, as if saying his name would make him appear before them.

He does not.

More than one sigh of relief is breathed.

“You really need to watch what you say, you fool!” says Ying the seamstress. The old woman brandishes her finger like a weapon as she points it at him.

“Yeah, that’s not smart,” says Wei the carpenter. His eyes are still darting around the room, wary of every shadow.

Gambling Xin rolls his eyes.

“Bah! Stop treating him like he’s some monster out of the stories! He’s a cultivator like the rest of them!”

“Is that why you bet against him?” asks Greedy Chun.

“Not one more word out of you, old man!” says Gambling Xin, glaring at him. “I already said I’m not an idiot! Why would anyone bet against him? Especially after everything that’s happened since the tournament began!”

The people in the Three Hogs all nod. The Emperor of the Storm Dragon Empire has given them plenty to talk about.

“Some people are just too lucky,” laments Wei the carpenter. “One girl from the Eternal Flame Clan! One girl from the Divine Frozen Palace! Why can’t I get even one beautiful woman interested in me!”

“Get yourself a country, and that might change,” says Greedy Chun with a loud laugh. “Still, to have a flower on each hand. It makes me wish I was young again!”

“Whatever for? Women would ignore you just the same,” Ying the seamstress says, making the bar laugh.

“Our lonely shopkeeper’s poor luck with women aside,” Gambling Xin says, unable to resist the urge to take a jab at the older man, “I am not just talking about the Young Dragon’s popularity with women. I’m not even talking about his appearance at the Imperial Banquet, which apparently caused quite the stir, or so the palace servants tell me. I’m talking about the other thing. You all heard about it, right? Felt it, too. These bones of mine sure did.”

A few shiver. Many nod. There is no need for Gambling Xin to elaborate.

They still vividly remember the afternoon in which the Young Dragon and the Wandering Wind clashed.

“Scary, that was,” Wei says, holding his arms and shuddering. “Had a customer who fainted right on the spot. Nearly fainted myself as well.”

The way the presence of the Young Dragon spread over the city had been overwhelming to many of the city’s weakest inhabitants. However, that was nothing compared to what they felt when the Wandering Wind had met him. Her presence had been too much. It had been like staring into the sun without being able to close one’s eyes.

“Why did that even happen?” wonders Wei.

“Isn’t it because of the banquet?” asks Bo, already more than familiar with the conversations and theories of those at the bar.

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“Most likely,” Gambling Xin says, grimacing. “It’s all about the Xiao Sect, you see. Turns out, the girl of the Divine Frozen Palace the Young Dragon is engaged to used to be part of the Xiao Sect, the daughter of the previous Patriarch. The Divine Frozen Palace wants the Xiao Sect, but the Endlessly Raging Valley supports the new Matriarch. The Young Dragon’s obviously trying to look good in front of his woman, but standing up to the Wandering Wind is not the sort of thing anyone can do.”

The Wandering Wind is the Wandering Wind. That is something everyone knows.

The Old Man of the Mountain. The Ruler of the Eternal Flame. The Queen of the Frozen Palace. Along with the Wandering Wind, those are the four strongest people in the entire continent, as far as those in Imperial Cloud City know. Even Emperors have to submit before them. That is how powerful they are.

So what does it mean that the Young Dragon dared to stand in the Wandering Wind’s presence?

“That’s why it was all perfect!” Gambling Xin says, banging his fist against the table again. His glass of beer is empty once more. “I put so much of my money on the Young Dragon!”

The bar collectively blinks.

“But if you put your money on him…” Bo says as his young mind struggles to put together the puzzle.

“Doesn’t that mean you won?” Wei finishes for him.

“You’d think so, right?” Gambling Xin says with palpable vehemence. “I bet on him defeating at least five other fighters during the second stage, encountering at least one member of the Four Great Sects, and a whole lot of other minor things that should have obviously happened! But here’s the problem! They didn’t show a single one of his matches! Not one was shown throughout the whole second stage! Since there’s no way to prove what happened or what didn’t happen, the bets should have been canceled! It’s obvious, right?! But they’re saying we don’t bet on the outcomes! We bet on whether the outcomes will be shown! Damned bloodsucking leeches! Such a stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Excuse!”

He bangs his fist against the table again and again.

“Accursed Dragon! He probably arranged something with the Emperor to keep his abilities hidden! I just know it! My money! My money!”

“Serves you right.”

Multiple heads turn towards the corner where an old man sits. No one knows his name, yet he is one of the bar’s regular customers.

“It’s not up to people like you to make money from people like him,” the old man says.

“Bah! What do you know about people like him and people like me?” Gambling Xin asks him.

“I know his fate is beyond our scope,” the old man says simply. “Had you known it before, your pockets would be full instead of empty.”

~~~

“How is she?”