"BANG!!!"
A deafening gunshot echoed through the teahouse.
Xu Hao's head was pierced by a crossbow bolt, slamming heavily onto the gambling table.
Wang Tianjing claimed the final victory as the bloodstained table reset, and the three figures reappeared in the teahouse once more.
"Hahaha! Brother Xu, seems your ‘eight characters’ aren’t as unbreakable as you thought, eh?"
Wang Tianjing patted Xu Hao’s shoulder with lingering satisfaction.
"Tch. I’ve already figured out your tricks. From now on, I won’t even glance at you during a match!"
Xu Hao gritted his teeth in frustration.
Though he had completed his initial evolution from an honest man to a budding demonic cultivator—learning the art of deception—he was still leagues behind Wang Tianjing in this regard.
Especially when bluffing, he couldn’t help but falter under direct eye contact.
"Enough post-game analysis! Let’s start another round already!"
Chen Yiyun urged impatiently, her fingers twitching with restless energy.
Her addiction had fully taken hold. Dying from the second shot last round had left her deeply unsatisfied.
Wang Tianjing, however, wasn’t in a hurry. Instead, his gaze settled on Lu Ze.
"Brother Lu, care for a duel?"
At this, the other two suddenly remembered—they hadn’t entered this illusion for mere amusement.
They were here to compete for ownership of a hidden treasure!
Earlier, Lu Ze had merely asked them to familiarize themselves with the rules, yet somehow, they’d already played seven rounds.
"Oh right, Brother Lu’s still here!"
Xu Hao’s eyes gleamed with anticipation as he turned to Lu Ze.
"I think I’ve got the rules down now… Brother Lu, shall we make this official?"
"I agree! I’m sick of being sandwiched between you two anyway."
Chen Yiyun nodded vigorously.
"Oh?"
Lu Ze raised an eyebrow, a faint smile playing on his lips.
"Are you sure you don’t need more practice?"
"No need! Come on—I’ve always heard Brother Lu’s intellect surpasses ordinary men. I’ve been itching to test myself against you!"
Wang Tianjing’s eyes burned with fighting spirit.
"Hah! Even if you designed this illusion, that doesn’t guarantee victory, right? Let’s go, Brother Lu! Fight me with everything you’ve got!"
Xu Hao extended a hand toward Lu Ze, his heart swelling with admiration.
He’d completely forgotten his earlier disdain for this so-called "nepotism hire" mere hours ago.
"Brother Xu’s right! Brother Lu, let’s settle this in one round!"
Chen Yiyun chimed in.
Secretly, she was thinking back to her days playing Cultivator’s Descent, where she’d often fantasized about one day "putting the old devil Lu in his place."
Now, it seemed her dream was within reach.
As for Lu Ze being the illusion’s creator?
None of them cared.
To them, The Con Artist’s Teahouse was unlike other illusions.
After a few rounds to overcome the initial learning curve, the game boiled down to pure instinct.
Skill? Deduction? Strategy?
Nothing compared to guts and luck!
Even someone as sharp as Wang Tianjing had only won 2 out of 7 rounds.
Sure, his reads were frighteningly accurate at times—but the man had terrible luck!
Half the time, he’d get eliminated by the first or second shot.
No matter how skilled you were, bad luck meant an early exit.
Even Lu Ze wouldn’t be exempt from that.
By now, all three were convinced they’d mastered the game.
Even if Lu Ze joined, victory wasn’t guaranteed for him.
"Since you’re all so eager… I’ll gladly oblige."
Lu Ze narrowed his eyes, smiling as he took the last remaining seat.
Having observed their matches closely, he’d already deciphered their habits.
Technically, Wang Tianjing was the strongest among them.
Deception, observation, strategy, deduction—he used every tell in the book to discern real cards from bluffs.
He had all the makings of a true card shark.
But to Lu Ze, that was merely the baseline for sharing a table with him.
Ironically, the straightforward Xu Hao posed the bigger threat.
As the saying went, "The amateur’s reckless strikes often slay the master."
This guy played purely on instinct—sometimes stubbornly targeting his upper player repeatedly. Such opponents were the hardest to predict.
The game began.
Seats were randomized.
Lu Ze’s upper player was Xu Hao, his lower was Chen Yiyun, and across from him sat Wang Tianjing.
Noticing Xu Hao wasn’t his immediate lower player, Lu Ze allowed himself a faint, hidden smirk.
His odds had just improved.
"Ugh, why am I stuck between you two?!"
Chen Yiyun groaned, eyeing Lu Ze and Wang Tianjing with dismay.
This was like being stripped naked under a spotlight.
"Who cares? Let’s see whose fate holds stronger!"
Xu Hao roared with the fearless audacity of a newborn calf.
[This round’s target card: Heaven.]
A single Heaven card spun atop the table before merging into the deck.
Instantly, four hands of five cards were dealt.
Lu Ze glanced at his hand, then swiftly placed it face-down, his expression unreadable as still water.
As the illusion’s creator, he was the center of attention.
The move didn’t go unnoticed.
"Ho! Brother Lu’s got tricks up his sleeve already!"
Wang Tianjing remarked, subtly angling his face to study the others.
At the start of every round, he’d habitually analyze micro-expressions to form early deductions.
But Lu Ze’s flawless, instantaneous card placement unnerved him—an invisible pressure.
"Likewise."
Lu Ze smiled, his eyes crinkling as he scanned the trio in a split-second sweep.
Internally, however, he was annoyed.
Because…
His hand was five Human cards!
Not a single target card—pure bluffs!
Starting at such a brutal disadvantage made him wonder if the Heavenly Dao’s remnant spirit was mocking him: "Try being human for once."
Or had Senior Brother Zhou’s spirit possessed him?
"Two Heaven."
After a pause, Xu Hao played two Heaven cards.
Almost instantly, Lu Ze calmly picked up the first, second, and fourth face-down cards from the table and played them.
"Three Heaven."
He rubbed his nose, then grinned at Chen Yiyun, his lower player, mimicking Yu Ji’s tone:
"Care to guess~?"
for mindless slaughter, this isn't for you.] My name is Ye Shu, and I'm a transmigrator. It seems I'm supposed to be the protagonist, but that feels pretty unlikely. This world has been invaded by a system. The antagonists on the other side have suddenly become pure, flawless saints. The female leads have been force-fed the so-called "original plot," making them think they've been reborn. Now, everyone thinks I'm scum. Including the old lady in my ring. And here I am, in the Monster Beast Mountain Range, braising pork. To put my situation in perspective— It's as if, the moment Xiao Yan stepped into the Monster Beast Mountain Range, the Soul Emperor already knew he would become the Flame Emperor, and Yao Lao had been turned to the enemy's side. I have nothing right now. Oh wait, that's not true. I do have a white-haired loli child-bride who's the Heavenly Dao, and her only skill is acting cute. So, tell me guys... what are my chances of making it to the end?
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
s + Rent Collection Wealth】 At the start, he inherited a rundown house in the urban village from his grandfather. The house had no tenants, but the moment he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, a self-proclaimed empress from the Tianxuan Continent arrived as his first tenant. Ye Chuan soon discovered that with every new tenant moving in, not only did he receive massive daily payments, but he also obtained unique items related to their backgrounds. 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Tiger Strength Pill—dramatically enhances physical power!】 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Deer Blood Pill—significantly boosts vitality!】 …… From that day on, all sorts of bizarre tenants began appearing in the house: the empress from Tianxuan Continent, an apocalyptic sorceress from the Magic Realm, a mysterious scientific girl who fell through a spacetime rift… Every single day, he received strange, powerful items and endless money. Then one day, he suddenly realized—he had become invincible. Enough, enough! Stop giving me more!
