Chapter 53: Greedy Desires

After seeing the pointer on the Divine Beast Roulette stop spinning, Fatty Sang ignored the gazes of the surrounding cultivators. With a beaming smile, he collected the spirit stones from the other seven patterns, leaving only the spirit stones on the Black Tortoise pattern untouched.

After checking that the spirit stones within the Black Tortoise area all bore magic power imprints, Fatty Sang felt a sense of relief. Knowing that no disputes would arise, he immediately prepared to distribute the stones.

With a wave of his sleeve, the spirit stones on the Black Tortoise pattern instantly shot toward the crowd, each hovering before its respective owner marked by a magic power imprint.

None of the cultivators present dared to attempt a robbery or fish in troubled waters under the watchful eye of Fatty Sang's divine sense.

Seeing that no disputes occurred, Fatty Sang patted his protruding belly, his smile growing even more gentle.

He then tapped his storage bag, and large quantities of spirit stones, grouped in sets of three, flew toward the hovering cultivators.

In the blink of an eye, the rewards were exchanged successfully without a single error or omission.

The many cultivators who received their spirit stones showed expressions of joy and began to discuss amongst themselves.

"I didn't expect Boss Sang to be so trustworthy!"

"Indeed. This is my first time playing, and not only did I win, but he actually redeemed the spirit stones!"

"Boss Sang is truly wealthy and generous; his reputation is guaranteed!"

...

Watching this scene, Cheng Buzheng saw the desires of the cultivators fully unleashed. Their lofty, immortal-like disguises were completely torn away, and like mere mortals, they opened the gates of greed for the sake of money.

He knew that once one entered this pit, the deeper they dug, the harder it would be to get out. Unless one won a single round and left immediately without ever touching it again, the winnings would never truly belong to them.

Otherwise, one was merely looking after the spirit stones for a while; sooner or later, the winnings would have to be returned to Fatty Sang. That was why Fatty Sang felt no heartache in giving away such large amounts of spirit stones.

At this moment, Fatty Sang appeared exceptionally magnanimous and grand.

However, Cheng Buzheng knew it was impossible for Fatty Sang to have done nothing underhanded; it was simply that he hadn't discovered it yet.

He speculated that many of the cultivators present must also have their doubts, but so far, no one had stepped forward to expose him. It was possible they had discovered the trick and were quietly making their own fortunes, or perhaps they simply hadn't noticed anything unusual.

Cheng Buzheng still did not place a bet, unless he discovered an anomaly to verify. Regardless of whether he won or lost afterward, he intended to stop.

He watched quietly through the next several games.

As time slowly passed, Cheng Buzheng remained in the distance, quietly observing every detail. Dozens of rounds had already passed.

In every single round, Fatty Sang earned at least dozens of spirit stones.

It was pure profit, a business with astronomical returns.

Although Cheng Buzheng had not yet found Fatty Sang's trick, he did notice a detail.

Whenever the amount of spirit stones bet on the four regular spirit beasts was high, while the amount on the Divine Beast patterns was low, there was a high probability that a Divine Beast would appear.

While it wasn't the case every time, the probability was quite high.

Seeing this, Cheng Buzheng made a decision in his heart to wait for the right moment to verify it.

After several more games, he saw that this time, the spirit stones bet on the four regular spirit beasts were quite high, with over a hundred stones bet on each.

Meanwhile, on the four Divine Beast patterns, the highest bet was on the White Tiger with a dozen or so stones, and the lowest was on the Black Tortoise with only six stones.

Seeing this, Cheng Buzheng knew the time had come. However, he did not act immediately, but instead waited for the final moment just before the betting closed.

Until the very last moment, one could not be certain of the exact number of spirit stones on each pattern, making it impossible to accurately bet on the desired Divine Beast pattern.

Cheng Buzheng held two spirit stones in his hand. A single character, "Zheng," was branded onto them with magic power, maintaining a state ready to be launched.

Every person's magic power is different, as it is tempered with their individual will; it is impossible for two sets of magic power to be identical.

At the same time, Cheng Buzheng was silently counting down in his heart.

"Ten"

"Nine"

"Eight"

...

"Three"

"Two"

"One"

At that exact moment, without the slightest hesitation, Cheng Buzheng flicked his right hand, sending the two spirit stones flying as two streaks of grayish light.

At that same instant, six other streaks of light shot toward the patterns on the animal hide along with his grayish lights.

However, the two grayish streaks of light instantly bypassed all other lights, striking the Divine Beast patterns of the Black Tortoise and the Azure Dragon on the hide.

The moment Cheng Buzheng's two spirit stones hit the Azure Dragon and Black Tortoise patterns, a layer of magic power instantly enveloped all eight patterns, blocking the other six streaks of light from entering.

No further betting could be done, and the remaining lights returned to their owners.

Cheng Buzheng glanced over and saw that the faces of these six early-stage Qi Refinement cultivators had become much uglier.

He thought to himself: "It seems... there are quite a few perceptive people here!"

Then, Cheng Buzheng shifted his gaze back to the animal hide.

On the four Divine Beast patterns, there were now eight stones on the Azure Dragon, fifteen on the White Tiger, twelve on the Phoenix, and seven on the Black Tortoise.

As Fatty Sang finished his incantation, the pointer on the Divine Beast Roulette instantly began to move.

Simultaneously, the gems surrounding the roulette began to shine brightly.

Cheng Buzheng knew this was the omen of a Divine Beast appearing; it was always like this whenever a Divine Beast was drawn.

His heart remained calm; this was merely a verification for him.

Cheng Buzheng watched the roulette quietly. As the pointer passed each pattern, it would flash and then quickly extinguish. The pointer sped up and slowed down, causing the hearts of the many cultivators present to rise and fall in sync.

As time passed, the magic power within the roulette was consumed, and the speed of the pointer gradually slowed down.

When the pointer slowly passed the Black Tortoise, Cheng Buzheng knew that the Azure Dragon would definitely appear this time.

Sure enough.

The pointer finally came to a halt within the narrow area of the Azure Dragon pattern, remaining motionless.

With a hint of envy, Cheng Buzheng watched as a large amount of spirit stones was collected by Fatty Sang into his storage bag.

At this point, he couldn't help but feel a sense of anticipation for the spirit stones he was about to receive.

A moment later, a spirit stone wrapped in grayish magic power shot toward him and hovered before him.

Fatty Sang tapped his storage bag and, with great wealth, took out one hundred and fifty-two spirit stones, grouping them into sets of nineteen and shooting them toward the eight winning cultivators.

Seeing the twenty spirit stones hovering before him, Cheng Buzheng ignored the envious and hateful glares of the surrounding cultivators and directly collected them into his storage bag.

He thought to himself: "After deducting the cost of the two stones I bet, I won eighteen stones. Earning spirit stones like this is too easy, and as a result, they will be too easy to lose!"

At the same time, Cheng Buzheng silently warned himself that a cultivator must exercise restraint over their desires, rather than being controlled by them.

Otherwise, the ultimate result would be having one's reason intoxicated by desire, leading to being slain and facing total destruction.

Afterward, Cheng Buzheng did not place any more bets, but instead continued to watch quietly.