29- Gambling den

The further one walked, the more flourishing and prosperous it was. Small street vendors lessened while large tents increased in number.

There were all sorts of large tents to be seen - red, blue, green, yellow, in different shapes and sizes, several being a cylindrical shape. Some erected two door pillars at the entrance of their tents, while others hung large red lanterns instead. Inside, some tents had vibrants lights, whereas others were dim and dark.

Liu Yang and Liu Yin slowly walked as they moved from tent to tent while looking at the things the caravan had to offer, Liu Yang started to purchase several materials to refine Gu.

Although Liu Yang is very rich, he bargained for everything he bought and bought many materials at very reasonable prices.

Mostly he is doing this because he is trying to teach Liu Yin how to bargain as this will be very useful in the future for making transactions when buying and selling.

Liu Yin hugged Liu Yang's arm and rested her head on his shoulder, she was enjoying spending time with him and buying different things. "Big brother, have you finished buying the materials you need? Let's go buy some new clothes."

"I haven't finished buying the materials I want yet, but the things I need are not sold in the stalls and tents, I have to meet the caravan leader for that."

"I'll meet him tomorrow so let's do whatever you want now." Liu Yang nodded and accepted his little sister's suggestion, even in this world women still try to take care of their appearance and buy the best clothes.

Liu Yin smiled happily when she heard her brother's approval and began to drag him to all the stalls and tents selling clothes and accessories.

Liu Yang smiled when he saw his sister's actions, he hasn't gone out to buy things with her in a long time so she is very excited to spend time with him and go shopping.

Liu Yin started to wear all kinds of clothes and accessories and asked Liu Yang's opinion on whether the clothes looked great on her.

"Your beauty makes clothes look better, whatever you wear looks good on you." Liu Yang did not lie that his sister was incredibly beautiful, even if she wore simple clothes, the clothes would look very good because of Liu Yin's beauty.

Liu Yin laughed happily upon hearing her brother complimenting her appearance, as she approached him and hugged him while whispering in his ear, "All this beauty is yours alone, you can do whatever you want with it."

Liu Yin really wanted to kiss her brother at this moment, but she remembered that they were in public places and everyone could look at them.

Liu Yin turned away from her brother and looked at him with a gentle smile, "Even if all the clothes look good on me, you should tell me if you like some kind of clothes."

Liu Yang patted her head, "Let's continue to see what clothing stores offer, I will buy all the clothes you want."

The two of them continued to buy clothes, and Liu Yin began to learn the art of bargaining and began to bargain on her own when buying clothes without Liu Yang's help.

Fortunately, Liu Yang had a Gu worm to store all the materials and clothes they had purchased, so he didn't have to carry any bags.

When they finished shopping, they decided to go home, but Liu Yang noticed Liu Sang in front of a gray tent and decided to check Liu Sang's luck.

Liu Sang's body was shrouded in black ink-like luck. This luck gathered and formed a huge coffin shape, completely covering his body, they were emitting a dense death energy, the energy of great misfortune.

'His luck is worse than before, and it seems that he will die soon.' Previously, Liu Sang's luck was very bad, and the more Liu Yang examined him, he found that it was getting worse. And now it seems that his bad luck has reached the point where he will die soon.

'His bad luck came from the inheritance he found, but the cause of his early death is what he will do now.' Normally the person who found a Gu Master's inheritance had very good luck, but Liu Sang had the exact opposite happen to him, the more he delved into the inheritance, his luck began to get worse.

The inheritance he had found must have been the inheritance of a demonic path Gu Master, the risk of searching for such an inheritance was very high because the demonic path would put many traps in it. "I have always been curious about this inheritance. I will instruct one of my clones to look into it."

Although his luck was getting worse, he hadn't even reached the death stage, but now when the caravan came it seemed like he would do something to make his luck worse and speed up his death.

"Big brother, we have never entered this tent before, let's see what's inside before going home." Liu Yin looked curiously at the gray tent.

..... .... ..... ..... ..... ..... .....

Liu Sang observed his surroundings as he walked, finally stopping near a grey-coloured tent.

"It's here," he evaluated while looking at the tent; it had two pillars at the entrance, and there were carvings on the pillars, two lines of antithetical couplet.

The left side wrote, "Small display of courage, obtain good fortune during the four seasons."

The right side wrote, " Large display of skills, obtain good prosperity in all four directions."

In the middle there was still another line: "Luck changes with time."

That's right, this is a gambling den.

This gambling den took around 700 m² of land; it was considered a large-sized tent.

Liu Sang walked inside. Inside of the tent, there was three rows of counters on a side. On the counter were pieces of amber or fossils. Some were as big as a palm, others were as big as a face. There were also others which were even bigger; those were as tall as a person. It obviously could not fit on the counter, thus it was directly placed on the ground.

Different from the other tent shops, it was silent in here.

Several Gu masters stood before the counters, some meticulously observing rocks on the display counter while others took the fossils and rubbed it in their hand to get a feel of it. There were some that were discussing quietly with their companions, and some were discussing the price with their shop clerks.

But no matter what they discussed, they spoke softly, doing their best not to disturb others.

This was a rock gambling den.

In the Gu world, there were all types of Gu, coming with different shapes and sizes and all sorts of effects. Gu worms have their respective food to consume. Without food, they can only last a short amount of time before dying.

But nature, towards lifeforms, was both uncaring and benevolent.

If they lacked food, the Gu worms still have a chance of survival. That was to hibernate, undergoing self-sealing.

For example, if the Qi-blade Gu did not have Qi flower petals to consume, it may undergo self-sealing. It will try to maximise the conservation of its strength, like winter hibernation, falling into a deep slumber. At this time, not only would the red glow on its body dissipate, it would also turn from a transparent crystal state into a grey rock, covered in a layer of rock shell. Eventually, the rock crust will get thicker and turn into a boulder.

Of course this situation of sealing and hibernating may not happen to every Gu worm. It has a small chance of occurrence, and in most cases, the Gu worm will not fall into hibernation but instead starve to death. Only a small number of Gu worms may, under specific situations, undergo self-sealing.

A few Gu Masters who accidentally obtain these sealed Gu worms' rocks or cocoons would awaken the Gu worms that were slumbering within. Thus they would have a stroke of fortune. Some of the Gu masters became successful due to this, it being a turning point in their lives. These situations happen frequently in the Gu Master world, often being fake or real rumors, giving people hopes and dreams.

The source of the idea behind this rock gambling den originated from these rumours. Of course, these rocks all looked alike on the outside. Only after opening them can one determine if there really is a Gu worm hidden inside.

"In a small-sized rock gambling den like this, nine out of ten rocks are solid core, having no Gu worms inside. Even if there are Gu worms inside the rock, they may not be living worms, most of them are dead Gu. But once someone hits the jackpot of a live Gu, under most situations, one would be able to earn a huge fortune. If the Gu worm is a rare species, they either become a successful person in life or get murdered and robbed of their fortune." Li Yang and Liu Ying entered the gambling den as well, then Liu Yang started explaining everything about this place to Liu Yin.

"Brother, I want to try this, it looks interesting." Liu Yin's eyes twinkled, and she wanted to try her luck to see if she could find a Gu worm in one of the rocks.

"As you wish, but choose only ten rocks." Liu Yang walked with his sister to one of the counter on the right side, because Liu Sang went to the left side and Liu Yang wanted to watch him from afar.

Behind the counter, there was a shop assistant every few metres, both males and females. On their waist hung a green coloured belt, showing that they were not ordinary people but Rank one Gu masters. Most were initial stages, while a selected few were middle stages.

Seeing Liu Yang and Liu Yin before a counter, a female Gu Master who was nearest by walked towards them and smiled, softly saying, "Young master, what Gu worm do you need? Every rock on this counter is sold at ten primeval stones each. If this is your first try, just for the sake of it, why don't you go to the left counter, the rocks there are sold at only five primeval stones. If you are seeking thrills, you can go to the high-end counter at the middle, the rocks sold there are at twenty primeval stones each."

This was an experienced female Gu Master, having worked at the rock gambling den for quite some time already.

She looked at Liu Yang and Liu Yin who entered, and determined that they were a student from their appearance, age and height etc.

Those that came to gamble were all Gu Masters. Students were only considered second-rate Gu Masters, just starting their cultivation. Because they're often tight on finance due to feeding their Gu worms, where would they find the money to come and gamble rocks?

Students like this, normally they just came to take a look and to get an eye-opening experience, satisfying their curiosity. Most were only window shoppers, though if some had well to do families, they might attempt to buy one to try. But most only bought the cheapest fossil.

Thus, the female Gu Master had no expectations towards how many rocks Liu Yang and Liu Yin could buy.

"Let me look around first." Liu Yin nodded at her expressionlessly, then she started to look seriously into the pile.