Chapter 22 – Making Money

"Show us your inner disciple token."

Two guards stopped them at the entrance. Sol took Mei's token out of her storage ring and showed it to the guards who nodded and let her in.

"You can go to the corridor on the right and go up the stairs to get to the private booths on the second floor."

One guard pointed in the direction of the stairs and the pair found it and went on their way. Ken looked around and saw some people who seemed like bet brokers, but nobody approached him. He figured nobody wanted to mess with someone who had a high enough position to get a seat on the second floor.

"Sol, go bring one of the bet brokers to our booth, I would like to try my hand at gambling here."

"Young Master, it might be inappropriate. Fifth Elder will be angry if she finds out you've lost the money she had given you on illegal gambling."

"Just do as I say."

Sol didn't try to dissuade him anymore and went to call one of the bet brokers. The three stepped into the private booth while the broker presented himself.

"Young Master, I'm Max. You can gamble up to one intermediate stone at once, and I can supply you with info about the fighters as well as the odds for each fight. May I ask for your name?"

"I'm Ken Sue, the son of Haoran Sue and Mei Jinn."

Ken chose to tell the broker his background instead of letting him guess. The broker cupped his fist in his hand and bowed immediately.

"Young Master Ken, it's my pleasure to serve you."

He felt weird giving gambling service to a kid, but since the one who seemed like his nanny called him to do it, he could only do as he was told.

"Give me the information about the next two fighters."

Ken knew he had exactly 5 intermediate stones and 3200 lower stones after his purchases, and he wanted to raise some capital again. He quickly read the information and checked the odds. The first fighter had a ratio of 1:1.3 while the other one had 1:4.

By reading their information and analyzing everything, he came to the conclusion that the odds were right and the first fighter would win.

"Put 100 lower stones on the second fighter."

Ken placed a losing bet and waited for the fight to start. As expected, he lost his money. this went on for 3 rounds until in the fourth one he saw a discrepancy between a few facts in the report.

"Put one intermediate stone on the first fight."

"Young Master, are you sure? You've already lost 400 lower stones. Fifth Elder won't like it if you lose too much."

Sol hesitantly warned Ken before he placed his money on another risky gamble of 1:5. Ken just nodded and she gave the money to Max. Max smiled and took the money; he was making easy money with no competition. Normally his gains would be much lower since people would sometimes win and balance his earnings.

The fight began and Ken watched with interest. It was a fight between a disciple who only showcased basic skills against his opponents so far, and it was his first fight against someone stronger. He was only ranked 1727 in the sect and challenged rank 598, which caused his low odds.

As he expected, the fighter had a lot hidden. As soon as the fight started, he displayed a movement technique and dodged the other fighter, catching him by surprise with a palm technique that sent his opponent flying. Both techniques were of the sky grade, and he had never shown them before.

"Haha, Max, seems like luck was by my side this time."

"You're wise and the heavens are by your side, Young Master Ken."

Max forced out a smile and gave the kid sitting next to him his money. This cycle continued twice more; Ken gambled low amounts on matches he knew he would lose, then raised the bet to the maximum when he found a discrepancy in the information. Overall, he earned slightly above 13 intermediate stones.

Some duels even finished with the death of one opponent, reminding Ken of how cruel the cultivation world was. A world in which murder was legal under the right terms, maybe even encouraged.

"Young Master, I'm afraid I can't afford your bets anymore. I can call another broker to take my place."

On the third time Ken raised his bets and won, Max quit serving this awful young master.

"Sure, bring someone."

3 hours passed, and the fights were over. Most of the fights were of disciples challenging those above them in the list to get a better ranking along with the better treatment that came with it.

Ken changed brokers 5 times and had around 70 intermediate stones, which was a few times higher than before purchasing his weapons.

"Young Master, how did you know when to raise the bets? You milked those brokers dry. They will probably have some of their bones broken when they go back to the disciples behind them."

"That's not my problem."

Ken just shrugged and ignored her question.

"It probably is. Some of them have a background similar to yours and would be able to cause you some trouble. They might even use their goons to challenge you once you officially enter the ranks of the inner sect."

"Haha, I don't mind beating some of them. Since they dare let others gamble, they should be prepared to lose their money."

After this refreshing break, Sol and Ken headed back home with their new loot. Ken took back his space ring and Sol placed her new saber on her back since she didn't have one. Since Ken finished strengthening himself, he decided it was time to research the next step in their cultivation, awakening the collateral meridians.

The manual he was given by his father included only 30 of them, and his father said that there was no manual to awaken the last 15 in the sect. He already prepared an improved manual for the first 30 for himself and Sol, but he still had to invent a new one for the other 15.

Ken and Sol sat down in a lower Qi Gathering Formation which was good enough for anyone in the first three stages of cultivation. He fueled it with the intermediate Qi Stones he won in the arena, and they could easily feel the thick Qi around them.

Formations were constructs that could be drawn on the ground with the required materials and they served different purposes. For example, the Qi Gathering Formation was meant to increase Qi density in its proximity, which could aid one's cultivation.

Since the process of opening the collateral meridians was much more precise and complicated, he wanted them to have the best environment they could get.

Sol popped a jade bottle open, took a pearl-looking pill, and swallowed it. It was a special pill that Ken invented after learning the recipes for the three classic meridian awakening pills, which facilitated the awakening process of the major, minor, and collateral meridians.

This pill had exactly 30 versions right now, and each one of them was meant to be used when awakening a different collateral meridian. By making it more specific, he tripled the effects of the pill before taking into account the other tweaks he made in the recipe.

He hugged Sol and carefully scanned her body's reaction to the pill and the manual he had given her. After a few hours, he got up and the pair went to take a shower as always.

'I can still improve it for myself and get better results. It's good that I had her test those things before making them for myself.'

This time, Sol needed a few days to rest between each awakening, lest her body might experience a Qi deviation in the new meridian. Ken just used this extra time to plan his own awakening and execute it, and 2 months before his fifth birthday, he finished awakening the 30 collateral meridians.

'I want to learn some battle techniques for my sword and martial arts, but all the strong ones involve the power of the soul. It'd be a waste of time to learn them now before getting into the next stage and strengthening my soul.'

Given his age and the fact that he didn't need to improve his ranking on the inner sect's power list for resources, he could just neglect his practical fighting skills and focus on getting stronger.

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"Ken, do you want to enter and see your mother and the new baby?"

"Yes."

He followed his father to the room in which his mother gave birth and recognized it as the same room he was born in. They had a few empty rooms in their house, so there was no problem with space.

He saw his mother lying down on the bed with a clean baby in her arms. She was resting after giving birth, and the servants already helped clean both her and the baby before giving the family some privacy.

"Kenny, Are you excited to have a little brother? It's a boy!"

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I read Su meant respectful in Chinese and Jin means gold. From now on my characters will have Western names since I don't know Chinese, and I don't want to accidentally pick bad names or do something offensive.