WoJiang City was but a very small city. With not many residents in the city, the shops on the streets were almost nonexistent.
But the passersby on the road were especially few today, because in the LongHu Mountain located very close to WoJiang City, there gathered the biggest road bandit faction in the South! Every First and Fifteenth of a month in the Lunar Calendar, those bandits would descend the mountain to plunder and steal. And coincidentally, today was the Fifteenth.
But nobody knew why those bandits still hadn’t come so late in the day yet. It was almost as if they had been delayed by something…
Above the LongHu Mountain, in the ChangFeng stockade, on the tiger-skinned throne sat Xiang Yun Yi who was currently sizing up Xie Lin Lang in front of him with squinted eyes.
Originally, he was planning to descend the mountain today. As the weather had been getting cooler, it was the perfect time to snatch a couple of attractive ladies to fill the stockade!
Who would’ve known that a handsome young man would suddenly appear, offering a thousand silver and requesting to meet him! This was stranger than strange. All along, it had only been people avoiding him, yet today, someone even brought money in order to see him!
“So the one that wanted to gamble treasures with me…was you?” Xiang Yun Yi raised his eyebrows, then spoke to Xie Lin Lang in a funny tone, “Simply from looking at you, it seems like the one valuable thing that you have on you, is probably that face of yours, isn’t it?”
As he finished speaking, the fellow bandits surrounding him all began to laugh loudly. And as they laughed, they looked at Xie Lin Lang with a type of obscene expression.
Xie Lin Lang wasn’t bothered by it at all. After all, she considered it a compliment. Then she removed the Buddha beads from her left wrist and spoke with a playful voice.
“You can’t judge someone from only looking at their appearance, you know! I heard that the leader of the LongHu Mountain had been collecting treasures from all over the world, and his hobby was gambling: namely, gambling with treasure! The reason I’m here today is to gamble treasures with the leader!
The treasure that I have, I’m certain that none of you here have ever seen it before, so you better open your eyes wide!”
Xiang Yun Xi made an ‘oh?’ sound, squinting his eyes, “By treasure, you don’t mean that garbage bracelet you’re holding, do you?”
Xie Lin Lang shook her head, with a mysterious expression, she said, “This is not an ordinary set of beads—every one of these beads is produced by an extraordinary high priest using the remaining of the bones between their eyebrows. There are twelve of these in total, completed only after waiting for one thousand two hundred years!
Additionally, they have also been placed under a seal in the sect for a few hundred years, so it wouldn’t be an exaggeration if it was labeled as an extraordinary treasure! So how would it be considered a garbage bracelet?”
At first, Xiang Yun Yi was only listening halfheartedly, but the more Xie Lin Lang said, the more focused his expression became!
Under certain orders, he resided in the South to look for treasures for more than ten years, so he’s seen virtually all the treasure the land has to offer. But an extraordinary artifact made from the eyebrow bones of high priests that can only be crafted every thousand years? Not only has he never seen these types of treasure, he hadn’t even heard about it before!
“Are you telling the truth? The Buddha beads in your hand, is really made of eyebrow bones of high priests’? How am I supposed to know if your words are to be believed?”
Xie Lin Lang smiled politely, “Whether it’s real or fake, I believe you can tell once you see it.”
She then handed the beads to one of Xiang Yun Yi’s underlings by his side. That person handled the beads so carefully it was as if he was holding a mountain of gold in his hands that even his breathing became constricted.
And he didn’t know if it was just his imagination or when the beads first touched his hands, he felt as if all the hairs on his arm stood up, frightening him so much that he quickly handed the beads to his leader.
At first, Xiang Yun Yi was only playing along with her story, but when he held up the beads, his entire expression changed!
He immediately took out a silk handkerchief, carefully putting the beads in his hand and examining it in close attention…
He saw that inside every single bead, they were carved with thickly compacted words from ancient spells, and above the spells were a layer of different four-word mantras, as if by layering the mantra on top of those spells, it acted purposely as a containment to the words underneath.
The four-word mantras included phrases like “May Heavens be Kind”, “Compassion Bares Great Responsibilities”, “Kindness Flows Like Water”, “Ocean Contains Countless Rivers”, and more.
Ignoring the fact that the craftsmanship of the creator had peaked at the arts of engraving after the beads were placed in his hands, Xiang Yun Yi immediately felt his sight brighten up, his hearing sharpen, and his head become clearer, consequently proving its value!
Having such a rare treasure out as a wager, it seems like the opponent’s request isn’t going to be of small magnitude either…
Xiang Yun Yi waved his hand and returned the beads to Xie Lin Lang.
It’s not as if he was a good person incapable of cheating his way to obtain the beads, but rather it was this bead’s overly icy chilliness that if someone cruel like him touched it for just a bit longer, it felt as if he was going to get frostbite.
As for when Xie Lin Lang was holding it, she acted as if nothing was wrong, enough to tell him that she wasn’t just a regular person and to not try anything shady with her.
“Yes, this is a treasure indeed. I’ll take on your gamble! Go on, tell me. What is it you want me to wager?”
After Xie Lin Lang put the bracelet back on her wrist, she touched her chin thoughtfully, “There are many things which I want, but mainly three things: HuanHun Herb, PuLuo Roots, and FenXiang Flower. If you have these things, let us begin the gamble. If you don’t, I will head off to find someone who does.”
Xiang Yun Yi took in a cold breath, “Kiddo, you’re really not afraid to go all out. All of these are the world’s scarcest items, no wonder why you are willing to wager those rare Buddha beads…”
In actuality, the herbs were hard to find, yet they weren’t completely impossible to find. But with only one Buddha bead bracelet like this, it could definitely be one of the rarest items in this world without question. Thinking thus, he soon came to a decision.
“Alright! I’ll take on your gamble with these items! But according to the norms, I get to decide the gambling rules. Even like this, are you still willing to continue gambling?”
Hearing him agree, Xie Lin Lang unnoticeably let out a breath.
“Naturally. Since we’ve already agreed to it, let’s just begin the gamble now!”
Seeing her in such a rush, Xiang Yun Yi couldn’t help but poke fun at her, “Seeing all those things you’re asking for are life-saving items. You’re not rushing home to save a childhood sweetheart, are you?”
Xie Lin Lang was caught off guard, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. Then she heard Xiang Yun Yi continued.
“If so, then I won’t be holding back. Come follow me, I’ll be taking you to a place!”
Xie Lin Lang answered and followed after him at an unhurried pace.
When the stockade village heard the leader was taking on a bet, they all grew with excitement. But when they saw Xie Lin Lang being brought towards the back mountains, they all shook their heads, believing the ending had already been decided.
They weren’t to be blamed for thinking that either because all of the people that had been brought to the back mountains by their leader never made it out alive. Presumably, this new young lad would face the same fate as well: not just losing their treasure, but their life as well.
On the other hand, Xie Lin Lang herself did not feel any threat to her life. After they had walked for a very long time, and as the fog in front of her faded layer by layer, they finally got to where they needed to go.
They arrived at a valley. It was apparent that the temperature within the valley was higher than the outside by at least a few degrees. The inside of the valley was fully grown with all sorts of rare herbs that appear all over the world, and it’s all gathered here. Looks like this valley must be one of LongHu stockade’s many treasury vaults!
But this field of treasury needed no security. Because within the valley, it was fully infested and packed with poisonous insects and snakes! Those insects and snakes each had very vibrant colors with odd shapes and appearances that immediately gave off the fact that they were extremely poisonous!
Seeing Xie Lin Lang furrow her brows, Xiang Yun Yi lifted his head, somewhat pleased with himself.
“Since we’re gambling valuable treasures, then let’s gamble with our life! All the medicine you want and need is in that area. As long as you can go down there barehanded and pick the herbs without using any outside forces, then no matter how much you bring up, I’ll let you take it all away! How about that? Do you dare take on the gamble?”
He said that so simply, yet the people around him took in a sharp breath!
Isn’t this basically the same as openly telling her to go die? If she walked down there like that, she would die from the poisonous bites without a doubt! Seems like the leader already made up his mind to not let the opponent win this gamble.