Chapter 37 – Betting & Competing (II)

Chapter 37

Betting & Competing (II)

“Hoh? Elder Yao, did you break through?”

“I’ve had a bit of luck recently.”

“Congratulations, congratulations!”

“Ha ha, many thanks, fellow Daoists! But it’s a small matter; us old folk breaking through is nothing compared to seeing the young shine.”

“You must be confident in your disciples if you’re steering a conversation from yourself onto them.”

“Ha ha ha.”

So, a lot of chatter went sort of like that: the humble brags, fake humility, annoying laughter, stroking of the beard—you get the gist. Old men doing old men things. And I really do mean old men. There wasn’t a woman in sight among the Elders.

There actually were female Elders, seven of them in fact, but they got their own special tower to hang out in.

I tried to catch as many conversations as I could since I seldom had a chance to interact with these wrinkled skins, but most of them were so inane that my head started to hurt. Until I was yanked to reality by the mention of my name.

“Elder Lu, I’ve heard a strange thing recently.”

“H-huh?” The speaker was… well, honestly, they all kind of looked alike to be honest with you. Fifty to sixty in appearance, white-haired and bearded, slightly different colors of eyes… one of these days I’ll actually have to remember them. Not today.

“That you’ve made a bet with Daoist Mu.”

“Ah,” here it is. Tsk. Look at those greedy eyes; it’s a wonder they held back for so long. But… why are they going out of their way to instigate a bet with me? For all intents and purposes, and as far as they knew, I pissed dust bunnies with how broke I was. “Yes, indeed. A small bet, a small bet.”

“Really? From what I’ve heard, it is not that small,” it was another one who spoke up.

“You must really be confident in your disciples if you agreed.”

“…” Look at them, staring, waiting, like circling wolves waiting for their prey to bleed out. Haah.

Okay, fine, maybe Lu Qi deserved some of it; but this was just putrid humanity at its most base.

“Hm, they are good seeds, indeed.”

“Oh? So, you think one of them can win?”

“Ah, I just hope they don’t embarrass themselves.” I, too, have some experience saying a whole lotta nothing using words with triple meanings. These geezers have never engaged in the wars of wits in the 2000s on the WoW forums about whether certain characters had horns in all the places or not. Those days… they change a man.

“Ho ho, indeed, indeed,” come on, just get to the point; even the birds are rolling their eyes impatiently. “I wonder if fellow Elder Lu is willing to prove his belief in his disciples to us, too.”

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“Hm? What do you mean, Elder?” I would have called him by his name, too… except I didn’t know it! Honestly, Lu Qi’s memories were so vague I would have been better off just reading a diary he wrote or something…

“A bet. With me, too.”

“Ah, Elder. I… I’m rather… poor…” Look, I hate to be acting like this too, okay? But I have to! To reel in the big fish, you gotta be a worm… or something. I went fishing once, and it was with my father-in-law-to-be, and he spent the entire trip bitching about how his daughter knew more about fishing than a grown-ass man…

“I’ll cover all Elder Lu’s bets,” hm? That voice is familiar–hey, Elder Qin, you bastard! What are you doing?!

“Oh? Is Elder Qin also confident in Elder Lu’s disciples?”