The crowd snickered and laughed. Someone called out, “What’s wrong with a bun? You’re getting off easy, so shut up!”
Xie Lian could tell that despairing voice belonged to Shi Qingxuan, who was hiding among the crowd of ghosts. Just as he was caught between laughing or crying, Hua Cheng coaxed him to continue.
“Come. It’s the last round. Don’t be nervous.”
“I’m not nervous,” Xie Lian argued.
The two stayed like that, hands still touching, and shook a few times. Even though Xie Lian was truly not nervous, there was still a light sheen of sweat on the hand sandwiched between the cup and Hua Cheng’s palm. Finally, the movement came to a stop. It was time for the reveal. He drew a small breath, then opened the lid—
The dice were two sixes!
Xie Lian let out a sigh of relief, aware of what had transpired, and he gazed up at Hua Cheng. Hua Cheng arched his brows.
“Oh, I lost.”
Even though he acted serious when admitting his loss, he didn’t sound the least bit sincere. The crowd below was engulfed in silence.
There’d been people grumbling earlier, “If this round doesn’t count, then when will it count?” Now, the answer was clear: it counts when this guy wins.
That level of generosity was almost insane!
Even so, no one dared to comment. The croupier from before took the black wooden gambling cup and raised it up high.
“Congratulations to this gongzi. You have won this round.”
Everyone generously gave face and cheered.
“Chengzhu showed us a perfect loss! Beautiful!”
“Wasn’t the winner personally taught by Chengzhu? He won because Chengzhu taught him well!”
“That’s right! Learning the correct dice rolling posture today really opened my eyes! So much benefit gained! So much that it’d take more than ten years to reap it all!”
Listening to the voices of the swarming devils from all around, Xie Lian couldn’t help but smile. Seeing his mirth, Hua Cheng also chuckled and gave the red curtains a flick.
At that point, Lang Qianqiu called out from above, “Since you lost, you should be letting me down!”
Hua Cheng continued to stare at Xie Lian, his smile unchanging and his gaze not moving from Xie Lian’s own. He simply lifted his hand and gave an easy wave, and Lang Qianqiu came crashing heavily down. Xie Lian winced at the loud crash. Shi Qingxuan couldn’t risk exposing himself, so he couldn’t rush forward. Instead, Xie Lian turned and bent down to check up on the god.
“Are you okay?”
Lang Qianqiu crawled to his feet and dusted himself off. “I’m good, thank you. He probably wanted you to go up there so that he could cheat and make you lose—but thank goodness you won!”
Xie Lian thought, You’re completely mistaken. If he didn’t go easy on me, even if the whole world turned to ash, I would still never be able to win you back…
Just as he was thinking that, there was suddenly a crisp tinkling of bells, and the sound was followed by gasps of shock from all around. Xie Lian turned his head to look, and it turned out that Hua Cheng had finally emerged from behind the red silk curtains.
In his previous youthful form, Hua Cheng always sported a slightly crooked ponytail. But now, his raven-black locks tumbled loose over his vibrant red clothing, and an evil aura radiated from his handsome figure. Only a thin braid on the right side, tied at the end with a red coral bead, brought a hint of mischief to the mix. The vambraces were silver, the straps on his boots were silver, the belt was also silver, even the long, slender scimitar that hung at his waist was silver, its curve smooth and peculiar. Just like that long, slender blade, the man himself was slender and tall. He was leaning against the parted curtains with crossed arms and a faint smile.
“Gege, you’ve beaten me.”
Xie Lian obviously knew what had happened and said in resignation, “Please stop teasing me.”
Hua Cheng quirked his brow. “I’m not. Why would I?”
Down below, the crowd of ghosts were bustling with excitement, bubbling like boiling water, each of them thrilled as they whispered among themselves.
“Chengzhu changed his skin again today?”
“I’m dying, his new skin is killing me! It’s so tender and firm!”
“What do you mean, ‘dying’？ Old hag, aren’t you already dead?!”
It would seem that Hua Cheng never showed his true form in public and also changed skins frequently. None of the ghosts in Ghost City knew what he really looked like, and they assumed that this must be another of his fake skins. Only Xie Lian knew that the one standing before him was the genuine Crimson Rain Sought Flower of legend.