Kowtow

The eyes of hundreds of people in the venue darted back and forth between Shen Fei and Ye Chen.

The result was already crystal clear.

Ye Chen's glass-type Imperial Green jadeite was valued at over a hundred million.

Shen Fei's five-carat natural red diamond was valued at a starting price of two hundred million.

Shen Fei won.

There was no suspense.

There was no dispute.

But Ye Chen still stood there, motionless.

His face alternated between pale and livid, his lips trembled incessantly, and his hands were clenched into fists at his sides, his nails digging so deeply into his palms that blood seeped out.

He did not want to accept this outcome.

He had never lost in stone gambling!

The Clairvoyant Pupil was a heaven-defying ability bestowed upon him by the Medical Immortal's inheritance!

In the realm of stone gambling, he was a god!

But the god had lost.

Lost to a natural red diamond hidden inside a dusty, broken stone.

Lost to the blind spot of his Clairvoyant Pupil.

Lost to Shen Fei.

The gazes of the entire crowd pierced him like needles.

Mocking, pitying, gloating, and coldly indifferent.

It was exactly the same as the chamber of commerce banquet over twenty days ago.

No, it was even worse than that time.

That time, he merely could not answer a few medical questions.

This time, he was utterly crushed in the field he was best at.

"Mr. Ye."

Shen Fei's voice drifted over from opposite him.

Neither heavy nor light, neither cold nor warm.

"Honor your bet. I shouldn't have to teach you that, right?"

Ye Chen's body seemed to be pinned in place by an invisible steel needle, freezing him to the spot.

Honor your bet.

Those words were like knives.

He had accepted this bet of his own free will.

Agreed to it in front of hundreds of people.

Hundreds of thousands of people in the livestream had witnessed it.

If he backed out now, his reputation in the martial and medical circles would be completely ruined for the rest of his life.

He would not even be able to keep his last shred of dignity.

"Mr. Ye seems a bit reluctant?"

Shen Fei spoke again.

He walked slowly toward Ye Chen. With every step he took, Ye Chen's face grew a fraction paler.

Stopping two meters away from Ye Chen, Shen Fei looked down at him from a commanding height.

"Do you need me to help you recall what the stakes were?"

"If you lose, you will kowtow to me three times in front of everyone."

"And then leave Jinling, never to appear in front of Su Qingxue again."

Every single word was spoken with absolute clarity.

Ye Chen's Adam's apple bobbed.

His gaze bypassed Shen Fei's shoulder, looking at Su Qingxue in the distance.

Su Qingxue stood at the edge of the crowd, her arms crossed over her chest, expressionless.

She did not speak.

Did not try to stop it.

She did not even spare Ye Chen a single glance.

From beginning to end, her eyes were fixed solely on Shen Fei.

Ye Chen's heart felt as if it had been stabbed with a knife, twisted, and then stabbed again.

He remembered those days on the mountain.

He had saved Su Qingxue's life.

He had carried her on his back through the snow for a whole night when she had a high fever.

He had used silver needles to pull her back from the gates of hell.

He had silently sworn in his heart to protect her for the rest of her life.

But now, she would not even look at him.

He no longer existed.

In Su Qingxue's world, Ye Chen was already a deleted name, a torn-up past.

Replacing him was this maddeningly composed man standing in front of him.

"Mr. Ye, my time is limited."

Shen Fei raised his wrist to check his watch.

"Five seconds. If you don't kneel, I'll consider it a breach of contract. I think you know the consequences of breaking an agreement better than I do."

Every muscle in Ye Chen's face twitched.

Five seconds.

He only had five seconds to make a decision.

To kneel, or not to kneel.

If he kneeled, he would lose his last bit of dignity.

If he did not kneel, he would lose his last bit of credibility.

To a man of the underworld circles, credibility was more important than life itself.

"Five."

Shen Fei began the countdown.

Ye Chen's lips quivered.

"Four."

His knees grew weak.

"Three."

The entire venue was dead silent; even the sound of breathing had vanished.

"Two."

Ye Chen closed his eyes.

"One..."

Thud!

Ye Chen's knees slammed into the marble floor!

The sound was dull yet resounding!

Hundreds of people in the venue gasped simultaneously!

Ye Chen had kneeled!

The once-in-a-century genius of Kunlun Mountain!

The last disciple of the Third Elder of the Profound Heaven Sect!

The inheritor of the Medical Immortal's legacy!

Ye Chen, who claimed to be unparalleled in medicine and martial arts, the chosen one of destiny!

At the Jinling Stone Gambling Convention, in front of hundreds of top-tier figures and hundreds of thousands of livestream viewers, he kneeled!

Ye Chen knelt on the ground, his head bowed, his expression obscured.

But everyone could see his shoulders trembling violently.

Shen Fei looked down at him.

There was no mockery.

No smugness.

Only a bone-chilling calmness.

"Kowtow."

Just one word.

Ye Chen's body stiffened for a moment.

Then, he bent his waist.

His forehead touched the cold marble floor.

Thump.

The first kowtow.

The sound was not loud, but in the silent exhibition hall, it was terrifyingly clear.

Ye Chen raised his head and bent down again.

Thump.

The second kowtow.

Some people could not help but look away, unable to bear the sight.

More people held up their phones, filming frantically.

Ye Chen bent down for the third time.

This time, he paused for a long while.

His forehead pressed against the floor, motionless.

Three seconds.

Five seconds.

Eight seconds.

Then, he straightened up.

Thump!

The third kowtow was the heaviest!

It left a shallow mark on the floor!

His forehead was red, but he did not reach up to touch it.

The three kowtows were finished.

Ye Chen knelt on the ground and slowly raised his head.

There were no tears on his face.

His eyes were red, but he had forcefully held the tears back.

Replacing them was an extremely dangerous gleam.

That light was like a flame compressed to its absolute limit; quiet on the surface, but with a core that had reached the critical point of an explosion.

Hatred.

Pure, intense, undisguised hatred.

Shen Fei saw this gaze crystal clear.

But he did not care.

When a person had lost everything, what did it matter how intense their hatred was?

Hatred could not be eaten, nor could it be used as a weapon.

"Very good."

Shen Fei withdrew his gaze and turned to walk toward Su Qingxue.

With his back to Ye Chen, it was as if this person had already vanished from his world.

Camera flashes erupted madly across the venue!

Phone screens were filled with the image of Shen Fei walking away and Ye Chen kneeling on the ground.

This scene was uploaded to the internet within seconds.

The captions were bizarre and varied, but the meaning was all the same.

Jinling Stone Gambling Convention: The self-proclaimed God of Gamblers, the miracle doctor from the mountain, suffers a miserable defeat against the Shen Family's Crown Prince, kowtowing in public to admit defeat!

The final chapter of the Unparalleled farce! Ye Chen kowtows three times; there is no miracle doctor in Jinling!

Shen Fei vs. Ye Chen: A natural red diamond crushes the God of Gamblers' last shred of pride!

The video views surpassed a million within minutes.

The comment section was completely flooded.

"This is too tragic..."

"Tragic my foot! You bet, you pay up! It's only tragic if a man goes back on his word!"

"Young Master Shen is awesome! Outrageously calm the whole time!"

"Ye Chen is finished for life. Videos of him kowtowing in public are all over the net. Who would dare go to him for medical treatment in the future?"

"Su Qingxue is so beautiful... Young Master Shen is a true winner in life."

Ye Chen remained kneeling on the ground.

The crowd slowly dispersed.

The onlookers grew fewer and fewer.

From the initial dense crowds, only a scattered few remained.

Most people had already chased after Shen Fei's direction.

After all, the winner was the center of attention.

The loser was merely a sideshow.

The man in white walked up to Ye Chen and hesitated for a moment.

"Brother, are you... alright?"

Ye Chen didn't look up.

"You helped me make over eighty million. I'll remember this favor." The man in white pulled a bank card from his pocket and placed it on the ground in front of Ye Chen. "There's five million in here, your rightful share. Take it for now."

Ye Chen still didn't move.

The man in white sighed, left the card on the ground, turned, and walked away.

The exhibition hall slowly emptied out.

Until only Ye Chen was left.

Kneeling on the empty marble floor.

Before him were two stone-cutting tables and scattered gravel.

The overhead lights were pale and glaring.

Ye Chen slowly reached out and picked up the bank card from the ground.

Five million.

From eighty bucks to five million.

But he couldn't feel even a shred of joy.

He slowly stood up.

A piercing pain shot through his knees. He had been kneeling for so long that they had gone completely numb.

He limped toward the exit.

Passing by a glass wall, he caught his own reflection.

His clothes were ragged, his face haggard, and his forehead red and swollen.

Like a stray dog.

Ye Chen stared at that reflection for a long time.

Then, he smiled.

It was a cold smile.

So cold it seemed to leave a layer of frost on the glass.

"Shen Fei."

His voice was low, sounding as if it crawled from the depths of hell.

"You won this round."

"But I still have my life."

"As long as I have breath in my body, this score isn't settled."

Ye Chen walked out of the exhibition center.

The dusk sunlight fell upon him, stretching his shadow long.

His steps were no longer staggering.

Step by step, he planted his feet firmly on the ground.

He headed toward the north of the city.

He had a place to go.

Hidden in his rented room was a silk pouch his master had slipped him before he came down the mountain.

His master had told him never to open it unless he was at a true dead end.

This was a true dead end.

Ye Chen disappeared into the twilight of Jinling.

...

At the entrance of the exhibition center.

Shen Fei and Su Qingxue walked out of the building side by side.

Su Qingxue hadn't said a word the entire way.

She only stopped when they reached the Maybach.

"Shen Fei."

"Hmm?"

"Don't ever use me as a betting stake again."

Her voice was calm, but it carried a tone that brooked no argument.

Shen Fei glanced at her.

"There won't be a next time."

"Because the other party in the bet no longer exists."

Su Qingxue fell silent for two seconds.

"You were too ruthless to him."

"It was his own choice."

Su Qingxue said no more.

She slid into the car and closed the door.

Shen Fei walked around to the other side and got in.

The Maybach started and slowly drove away from the exhibition center.

Shen Fei leaned back in the rear seat and closed his eyes to rest.

The system panel flashed quietly in his mind.

[Child of Fortune Ye Chen publicly humiliated, kowtowed three times! Major crack in his Dao Heart! Social reputation completely collapsed!]

[Ye Chen's Luck Value has plummeted!]

[Ye Chen's Luck Value: -800!]

[Current Luck Value of Ye Chen: 2070 -> 1270]

1270.

From the initial 8888 down to the current 1270.

Only a fraction remained.

Shen Fei opened his eyes and watched the street scenery speeding backward outside the window.

Soon.

Very soon.

Ye Chen must be making his final death throes right now.

A man pushed to a dead end will do the most insane things.

He was waiting.

Waiting for Ye Chen to reveal his final trump card.

And then, he would harvest him once and for all.

On the system panel, the countdown for the First Blood mission was still ticking quietly.

[Time remaining for First Blood mission: 6 days, 11 hours, 38 minutes]

Six days.

That was enough.