"Exactly. I just saw Lu Yu win seven or eight thousand Heavenly Crystals!"
"Of course. It wasn't just him—I won quite a bit too. Those who lost simply had bad luck!"
"How could the Heavenly Pavilion possibly do such a thing? Open your eyes, all of you—what nonsense are you spouting? The divine canon was erected there for free, and they let you read it as you pleased! Where have you left your consciences?"
"Exactly! They even let you read the divine canon of the Heavenly Rank. Instead of speaking up for the Heavenly Pavilion, you actually favor this Heavenly Workshop that swindles and cheats people. Are your brains broken?"
"That's right! Anyone else who dares say anything bad about the Heavenly Pavilion, step forward! I swear I'll beat him until he can't crawl away!"
"The Heavenly Pavilion even helped us teach those Treasure Pavilions that only knew how to make money a lesson! It brought us Heavenly Crystals! Now that you can use Heavenly Crystals, don't you know in your hearts who you have to thank?"
When the crowd heard that, they all felt it made sense. Even though some people had lost everything, quite a few had won so much that their hands had gone soft from counting money. After all, my manipulation of the betting pool had not been crude. It had served to confuse people, while also casting a long line to catch a big fish.
But the most important thing was still the prestige the Heavenly Pavilion had built up. Don't be fooled by how much those merchants hated us—the disciples below now supported our Heavenly Pavilion whenever they could, and they would not easily go to the Heavenly Workshop to show it any business.
If not for the ongoing Mountain Lord Tournament, the Heavenly