Chapter 5 Chapter 5
The process of registering for the gambling stone competition went quite smoothly.
It's just a matter of taking your identity deed to register and sign your name.
After queuing for a while, Ling Suye dipped his index finger into the ink pad, lifted it up, and pressed it down, and the registration was successful.
As I turned to leave, I suddenly heard a burst of violent horse hooves sounds behind me.
Gu Xuanyou didn't have time to think and quickly stood in front of Ling Suye.
"Ride!" the man shouted, tightening his grip on the reins with one hand. The horse raised its front hooves and quickly stopped. "Urgent news! Urgent news! The governor has ordered that the gambling stone competition, originally scheduled for five days from now, will begin tomorrow! Effective immediately, registration for the competition is closed!"
As he said this, he threw a roll of paper tied with soft silk to the yamen runner at the registration office.
The bailiff immediately received the order and stood up to post the prefect's order.
The heartbeats of the onlookers and the registered 'Mr. Shi's' suddenly accelerated upon hearing this, and everyone fell silent. Even Ling Suye, a blind man, could sense the urgency of an impending storm.
What on earth happened that the gambling stone competition had to start early?
Someone had just handed in his identity deed and hadn't had time to put his fingerprints on it. His face was now completely pale, and he was unsteady on his feet. He uttered a gasp in his throat: "Sir? I..."
'Pah', his identity deed was slapped back in his face.
The man fainted completely.
"Master," Gu Xuanyou didn't expect the situation to develop like this. He turned to see Ling Suye's expression, but Ling Suye held his shoulder. "Let's go back to the inn first."
·
The two of them walked into the inn one after the other. Some of the Mr. Shis sitting in the lobby were happy while others were sad.
Some were glad that they had arrived early to register, and were drinking tea and chatting by the bed; some had registered just after the prefect's order, and their servants had already started packing their bags and returning home.
Ling Suye and Gu Xuanyou went upstairs without saying a word.
A mocking voice followed from behind: "Hey, I guess it's another unlucky guy who didn't make it in time to register."
The master and servant turned a deaf ear to this and returned to their room.
Ling Suye sat at the table with his eyes closed, his right hand resting on the table, tapping gently with his jade-like fingertips.
Ever since he could no longer see anything, he got into the habit of making some rhythmic noises to immerse himself in his thoughts.
The gambling stone competition will be held five days in advance, which will at least eliminate 30% of the "Mr. Stone" who have not yet registered.
"A prefect of a state who held a competition and then postponed it at the last minute would tarnish his reputation and infuriate the people," Ling Suye thought. "And the prefect of Chuzhou is clearly a man who loves fame and wealth. If he could suddenly change the order, perhaps someone behind the scenes had ordered him to do so."
If we follow this line of thought, we can infer that the person behind this is the one who stole his pupils.
After all, other people's pupils have been used for three years and it's time to use spiritual jade to nourish them.
Otherwise, the vitality of the Eyes of Truth will gradually dissipate until it becomes a pair of ordinary eyes.
This person was in urgent need of spiritual jade, so he planned to advance the gambling stone competition.
After all, the sooner the spiritual jade is found, the less vitality the Eye of Delusion will dissipate.
When Ling Suye thought about this, his fingertips tapping on the table stopped, and great anger rose in his heart - this person was really domineering and self-centered.
It seems that Lingyu...this person is determined to get it.
Gu Xuanyou had been waiting for Ling Suye's instructions, but he found that Ling Suye's expression became increasingly ugly, and his heart began to hang in the air.
During the three years he had followed his master, he had initially thought that his master was a kind-hearted, carefree, and detached hermit.
Later, following his master to many places, he vaguely discovered that he seemed to have ties with many people. But at that time, he just thought these people were his friends and didn't think much of it.
It was not until this trip to Mobei and Chuzhou that Gu Xuanyou finally realized that his master seemed to be doing something big.
There must be a tragic and legendary story behind this event, but he is not qualified to know it now.
Ling Suye suddenly said, "Give me that goose-yellow silk ribbon."
Gu Xuanyou immediately handed it over.
He thought the master was going to use this to summon the gold-eating beast Xiao Jin.
Unexpectedly, Ling Suye bit the tip of his left middle finger, formed seals with both hands, and made a lotus sacred pattern. Then he turned his wrist over, causing blood stains on his fingertips, leaving a mysterious and strange mark in the air.
After a while, the silver bells in the silk ribbon began to ring, which was crisp and pleasant, but seemed to have a certain rhythm.
Gu Xuanyou even felt that the ringtone sounded like someone was talking in his ear, but he couldn't understand because of the language barrier.
The bell rang for less than a cup of tea before Ling Suye put it down.
At this moment, his lips were noticeably paler than before.
He had just used a secret method to ask Governor Xiao Jin about the situation, and Xiao Jin described in detail what he knew.
It was pretty much as Ling Suye had guessed—the Zhou and Tian families hadn't made any final preparations because the prefect had suddenly moved up the date for the competition. Thinking they were on the same page, they went to the prefect's house to speak. To their surprise, they were turned away.
But a rumor has spread, that is, the prefect has actually invited a group of "Mr. Stone" himself, waiting for tomorrow's competition to take the top spot!
In Ling Suye's opinion, the person behind the scenes has the powerful "Mr. Shi" in his hands, and is just waiting for the competition to begin to collect spiritual jade for him!
Ling Suye didn't tell Gu Xuanyou that he could communicate with monsters. He just said, "You don't have to go to the Ye family tonight. Get some rest and go to gamble on stones early tomorrow morning."
·
The next morning, before daybreak, Gu Xuanyou quietly brought breakfast.
Ling Suye happened to sit up at this moment, and Gu Xuanyou said hesitantly, "Did we wake the master?"
"No, too many things have happened recently and I can't sleep well." Ling Suye pressed his solar plexus.
Gu Xuanyou selected clothes for him, and after everything was ready, he led the way.
The gambling stone competition was held on Guniang Mountain, three miles away from Chuzhou City.
It is named because its shape resembles a woman combing her hair.
The place where they were standing at the moment was the comb area on the Girl Mountain. It was a huge platform with rows and rows of stones. The small ones were only as big as a fist, while the big ones were taller than a person.
The mountain breeze rustled Ling Suye's clothes, but the sound of the competition rules being read out rang out clearly in his ears: "Everyone, listen carefully. The gambling stone competition uses a cumulative score system. That is, all three rounds will be scored, and the ranking will be based on the total score from high to low. The same applies to those who serve the three major families. The family ranking will be determined by the number of people in the top ten. Today is the first round of the gambling stone competition. Everyone must form a team and enter the venue one by one. You may not look back at all. Those who have selected a rough stone will stop. Finally, the value of the jade in the rough stone will be scored!"
The voice emphasized again, "Remember, you are not allowed to look back. If you pass by, you will miss it. Those who look back will be disqualified! Also, this is an elimination-based competition. Only the top sixty will advance to the second round!"
Gu Xuanyou acted as Ling Suye's eyes. "Master, the three major families in Chuzhou are Zhou, Tian, and Ye. The Zhou family has about a hundred Shi Masters wearing red clothes. The Tian family has about eighty wearing pink clothes. The Ye family has only seven wearing green clothes. The rest are folk Shi Masters, about two hundred people."
Ling Suye thought that 'Mr. Shi', the man behind the scenes, was hiding among these two hundred people.
The voice of the person reading the rules rang out again: "Next, those whose names are called will step forward and be led by the yamen runners to line up!"
"Zhou Shuanzi!"
"The common people are here."
"Tian Xiaoyang."
"The common people are here."
Gu Xuanyou took advantage of the commotion and whispered, "Only the governor is sitting in the main seat, and flanked by people from the three major families."
There are no other suspicious persons.
Ling Suye couldn't help but be a little surprised at Gu Xuanyou's intelligence.
He didn't tell the original male protagonist anything. Gu Xuanyou was able to guess that the competition would be held earlier because there was someone behind the scenes manipulating it, and even the prefect had to listen to this person.
Ling Suye nodded slightly: "Yeah."
'Ling Wuming' may be ZY because he was the last one to register, so his name also appeared last.
At this moment, the whole place was filled with sighs: "All the big stones have been picked up. Even if there are thousands of raw stones, what can he do to pick them?"
"If I were him, I would just find an empty rock and stand next to it. It's better than the ones in front who just wanted to wait for the big rock at the back, but ended up spinning all the way around and ended up not choosing anything."
"What you said makes sense, but they are blind and can't see, so naturally they don't know whether they have turned all the rough stones."
"Ah, those blind men who didn't choose the stone are also pitiful. Don't you hear how sad their crying is?"
"This year's competition is too strict. Out of more than 400 people, only the top 60 were selected. So many were eliminated in the first round. It's too strict."
Ling Suye shuttled through the pile of raw stones, tapping them lightly with his fingertips, and turned a deaf ear to the discussions outside.
He actually had no idea.
After all, he and 'Mr. Shi' have only one thing in common: he is blind.
He knows nothing about gambling on stones.
In previous years, the gambling stone competition only implemented a point accumulation system. No matter what the scores were in the first two rounds, as long as one was willing, one could participate in the entire competition.
This year the time has been advanced, and unexpectedly the rules have become more stringent.
Ling Suye came for the spiritual jade. If he could directly enter the final game, he might still have room to perform - after all, if jade wants to have life, it must have some connection with monsters.
As a former demon catcher, he probably knows how to use his fists and feet.
Now...
Ling Suye could only pay attention to the stones under his fingertips, pick one that felt comfortable to touch, and try his best to save the situation.
Ling Suye was unsure, but he walked fast. His steps were steady and his expression was calm. He tapped many stones and walked away without any lingering feelings, looking like a master.
The people outside the venue exclaimed: "Wow, I didn't expect the last one to be such a master!"
This sound reached Ling Suye's ears for no reason. He staggered and pressed his fingertips on the stone to steady himself.
Unexpectedly, the wound from last night's bite was scratched by the rough stone surface, and a drop of bright red blood flowed out and dripped onto the stone.
Immediately, Ling Suye sensed a demonic aura.
Very weak.
It can even be ignored.
He suddenly realized—
The stone in my hand shows signs of being inhabited by a demon. There must be some good jade inside it!
The author has something to say:
Top 60 is a sure thing!
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