Luo Jun's Sincerity

2024-07-07

Chapter 361 (4000) Luo Jun's Sincerity

"I wonder which gangster he is? His skills are truly impressive."

Opposite him stood a kind-looking casino owner, surrounded by several burly men with menacing faces.

Luo Jun smiled and said, "There were no special tricks involved, I just got lucky."

"Luck?" The shopkeeper fiddled with the chips in his hand. "With odds of 1 to 36, it's one thing if you win the first time, but the second time you bet all your winnings and still win! Okay, I'll assume you're blessed by the God of Wealth and have a string of good luck. But then you bet three more times in a row and win every single time. You call that luck? You're kidding me!"

Luo Jun chuckled and shrugged. "It is indeed a bit unbelievable, but I can only say that it is truly a blessing from heaven."

"Still being stubborn?" The boss sneered. "Kid, I didn't call you here to make things difficult for you. Let me put it this way, your methods are the most sophisticated I've ever seen. Even with two of my seasoned con artists surrounding you, they couldn't find a single flaw. All you want is money, right? Well then, come work for me, and I guarantee you'll live a life of luxury and endless riches."

Luo Jun blinked. "What about the money I won?"

"You can't understand human language, can you?" A burly man grabbed his shoulder. "Our boss is doing you a favor by talking to you. If you don't agree, we'll cripple your tools of the trade."

As he spoke, he pulled out a short knife and brandished it at Luo Jun's wrist.

"Even if I'm ruined, I still need money, otherwise I've come all this way for nothing." Luo Jun started counting on his fingers, "I bet one guan in the first round and won thirty-six guan, then I bet thirty-six guan in the second round, that's one thousand two hundred and ninety-six guan. The third round... your casino's single bet limit is fifty guan, so I won one thousand eight hundred guan in the last three rounds. After deducting the initial bet, the total should be six thousand seven hundred and thirty-one guan... How about this, I see you're quite sincere, so let's round it down to six thousand guan in silver notes, and we'll call it even today."

The casino owner hadn't expected this kid to be so ungrateful, and gave his subordinate a wink. "Tear off the tendons in one of his hands first!"

The burly man grabbed Luo Jun's hand and swung his knife at him.

But Luo Jun flipped his hand, easily breaking free of control and grabbing the blade of the short knife.

The burly man hadn't expected the kid to be so tough, but he was a hardened criminal who had lived a life of danger, so he wasn't afraid of this kind of thing. He immediately drew his knife and prepared to cut off Luo Jun's four fingers.

But as soon as he exerted force, he realized something was wrong. The blade seemed to be welded to Luo Jun's hand, and no matter how much he pulled or tugged, it wouldn't budge an inch!

"Try to cut my tendons? If you really have such a good knife, I'd like to see it!"

As he spoke, he increased the pressure in his hand, and the gleaming blade was deformed by his grip, easily twisted into a pretzel, as if it were made of paper!

Upon seeing this, the casino owner frowned. "Take him down!"

Several burly men around him immediately unleashed their inner energy, grabbed their weapons, and charged towards Luo Jun!

Five minutes later...

Inside the ransacked shack, several thugs lay groaning on the ground. One of them had even crashed through a brick wall, his head stuck between the bricks, his fate unknown.

As for the previously arrogant casino owner, he was now all smiles, exchanging chips for him under Luo Jun's guidance.

"Here are seven thousand taels of silver notes... Young Hero, please count them carefully. If it's not enough, bring more..."

"It's a deal, I didn't take advantage of you." Luo Jun waved his hand. "I injured my hand dealing with your incompetent henchmen, this extra two hundred is for medical expenses..."

"Yes, yes, it's all their fault for being clumsy and not knowing their own strength. They hurt the Young Hero. They deserve to be punished, they deserve to be punished..." The shopkeeper said this, but he was almost crying inside. He thought to himself, "You can crush a knife with your slaps. You think you can be injured by a few slaps? You should have some integrity when you're trying to extort money!"

Anyway, having made his first fortune at the casino, Luo Jun started to let loose, indulging in eating, drinking, and having fun throughout the entertainment district. Finally, he chose the most impressive-looking inn, booked a superior room, and had a wonderful night's sleep.

The next morning, he returned to the Gathering Treasure Pavilion, showed the manager the half of the Iron Tag, and after confirming that the token was correct, Luo Jun was led upstairs. After a while, he came out satisfied and left Gathering Treasure Pavilion. Without looking for Wu Kong, he headed north at an extremely high speed towards the direction of Longguan Pass.

It must be said that his journey was quite efficient. He went full speed ahead as soon as he left the Gathering Treasure Pavilion, and left Ganzhou City in a few leaps without the slightest hesitation. It was clear that he was absconding with the treasure.

Finally, late that night, Luo Jun, who had been running for thousands of miles, arrived at Longguan Pass.

As a strategic pass separating the Northern Desert from the Central Plains, the Longguan Pass was built to be extremely magnificent. It is nestled between two steep mountain peaks, with high and thick walls. Ballistae are mounted on the walls, and even at night, squads of soldiers patrol back and forth.

Such a formidable pass meant that not only ordinary merchants and commoners could not pass through, but even ordinary Martial Forest Expert could only do so when the pass opened the next day.

But Luo Jun didn't need to go through all that trouble. He lightly touched the ground with his toes and leaped into the air, stepping on the steep rock face. He bypassed the Dragon Pass by the mountain next to him and arrived outside the pass in a flash. After traveling another seventy miles, he arrived at the Mobei Ancient City that they had agreed upon.

This ancient town is not large, and it doesn't even have a proper name. Because of the constant wind and sand, the locals call it Shazigou). It is said that a thousand years ago it was a fertile land with abundant water and grass, but now, it only stretches for two or three miles, and a thousand or so people still live here.

However, since the duel between the two masters is scheduled for the day after tomorrow, many martial arts masters have come from the South Sea to gather here in the past few days. The ancient town, which was not very prosperous before, is now overcrowded. Not to mention the only inn in the town, the abandoned houses and dilapidated temples in the town are full of people. Many Martial World practitioners have even set up tents outside the town in order to get a good view on the day of the duel.

Luo Jun arrived relatively late. After wandering around outside the city, he found that there wasn't even a good place to sleep on the ground, so he could only find a sheltered earthen wall to lean against for the night.

Although he has enough energy to not sleep, he still needs to rest when he has the chance. After all, with his current senses, he can wake up in time if there is danger, even if he is sound asleep. Besides, he is not tired now, so this is more like resting his mind than sleeping.

With a rooster's crow, the sun slowly rose from the eastern horizon. Luo Jun stretched, stood up, dusted himself off, walked into the ancient city, found a newly opened breakfast stall, and ordered a large bowl of noodles.

In September, the weather in Yunzhou and even Ganzhou still carried the lingering warmth of summer, but in this Mobei Ancient City, the morning wind was already quite biting.

Although Luo Jun's constitution is not affected by the cold or heat, he still felt comfortable from the inside out after eating a bowl of hot soup noodles.

Not satisfied, he ordered another bowl of noodles. This time he ate slowly, slurping the noodles while listening with great interest to the conversations of the Martial World practitioners passing by.

"Tomorrow is the day of the final battle. I heard it's scheduled to begin as soon as the first rays of sunlight appear in the morning!"

"Senior Brother, what's the best spot to watch the game?"

"If you ask me, we need to get to the high ground, like the tallest tower in the Southwestern Branch of the city." "Standing in such a conspicuous spot, won't we get caught in the crossfire? I suggest we move outside the city."

"What are you thinking? It's dangerous outside the city! That's a duel between Ascension Expert, how could it happen inside the city? With a single Sword Qi from the Sword Saint, half of the city's hundreds of people would be dead."

"That's right. Mobei Ancient City is just a convenient location. The real duel will definitely take place in the wilderness near Shazigou. It's safest for us to watch from inside the city."

"Speaking of which, I think I saw the people from Heaven's Gate arrive yesterday, but I didn't see the sect leader himself... Will tomorrow's martial arts competition be postponed?"

"They are Ascension True Immortal, traveling ten thousand miles a day. For them, coming from the Heaven's Gate to here is as easy as us going to the market in the town at the foot of the mountain. They can come here in no time."

Breakfast stalls are like hubs for all sorts of gossip. Luo Jun ate his bowl of noodles for over half an hour, during which all sorts of rumors kept popping up. At first, the focus was only on the two main figures, the Sword Saint and the Heaven's Gate Sect Master, but then the discussion shifted to their disciples, and then extended to the smaller sects that were affiliated with the two major sects. Finally, even the list of Martial World scoundrels they had taught a lesson to was recounted one by one...

After feeling satisfied, Luo Jun patted his mouth, left ten large coins, and got up to leave the stall, but suddenly someone pressed down on his shoulder.

However, he didn't react much, but calmly looked to the side at the man with thick eyebrows and big eyes.

"Brother Wu Kong, what a coincidence! I never expected to run into you here!"

Luo Jun smiled, his tone showing no surprise whatsoever.

"You knew I was coming?" Wu Kong sat down opposite him and ordered a bowl of noodles as well.

"I know, and I don't know," Luo Jun said with a smile. "I know you'll come looking for me sooner or later, but I don't know when or where you'll appear."

"Brother, that's not very fair," Wu Kong laughed. "I've shown such sincerity, and you actually kept the treasure for yourself, and even came all this way?"

"Brother Wu, you are mistaken." Luo Jun waved his hand. "You said before that you were not destined for this treasure and that I could do with it as I pleased..."

"I mean, if you can't open the cabinet door... never mind, I won't argue with you." Wu Kong waved his hand. "Now that the thing is out, I have to see it, right?"

To everyone's surprise, Luo Jun shrugged, looking completely innocent. "What is that?"

"Of course it's the most precious treasure in the treasury!" Wu Kong looked at Luo Jun: "You used the token, took the treasure, and then left Ganzhou City, traveling non-stop all the way here. The item is naturally on you."

Luo Jun smiled and shook his head, "Brother Wu, you've misunderstood again. I didn't take anything at all."

"Didn't take it?" Wu Kong frowned. "Impossible!"

"What's impossible about it?" Luo Jun laughed. "You overestimate me. I did go in and take a look. That safe was made of Extraterrestrial Dark Iron, taller than me, thicker and heavier. I didn't have the password, how could I possibly open it? So I took one look and came out. I didn't even try to retrieve the treasure!"

"Impossible!" Wu Kong shook his head and said, "If you hadn't retrieved the treasure, you should have brought the Iron Tag with you, but the Iron Tag isn't with you at all!"

"Huh?" Luo Jun looked surprised. "How did you know the Iron Tag wasn't on me?"

"Uh..." Wu Kong was momentarily speechless, but Luo Jun seized on the opportunity. "Oh, you tampered with the Iron Tag, didn't you, so you could monitor my location at any time! No wonder you could find me even though I'm so far away!"

Luo Jun's guess was actually correct. Wu Kong had indeed left a very subtle trace in the Iron Tag, which only he could sense. Yesterday morning, after Luo Jun entered Gathering Treasure Pavilion, he felt the aura of the Iron Tag disappear. After a while, Luo Jun came out and headed north. Luo Jun naturally assumed that Luo Jun had taken the item, so he followed him.

Although the Iron Tag was gone, Luo Jun had carried Iron Tag with him for a long time, and it still carried some of his aura. Wu Kong could sense it, which is why he was able to keep track of Luo Jun's location all the way to Shazigou.

"Looks like I guessed right." Luo Jun shook his head with a disappointed look. "You spoke so frankly the day before yesterday, about showing sincerity and being out of luck with the baby... but in the end you still pulled some tricks... I didn't expect someone with such thick eyebrows and big eyes to be so scheming. Your eyes are bigger than your heart!"

Now that his tricks had been exposed, Wu Kong didn't waste any more words. "Anyway, the item is definitely on you, so hand it over!"

"I swear to God!" Luo Jun spread his hands. "It's really not here. Search if you don't believe me."

Wu Kong narrowed his eyes slightly. "What about the Iron Tag?"

"Iron Tag?" Luo Jun smiled slightly. "Brother Wu may not be very sincere, but I am. Since you're entrusting something so important to me, of course I'll take good care of it for you!"

Wu Kong was slightly taken aback, then his eyes widened in surprise, and he exclaimed, "You... you stored the Iron Tag away?!"

Luo Jun chuckled, "Isn't that sincere enough?"

That's right. The day before yesterday afternoon, Luo Jun went to the casino and played a few big hands, turning one tael of silver into seven thousand taels. His purpose was not to make money for food, drink and entertainment, but to raise enough money for the preservation fee of the Supreme Treasure Pavilion!

The Supreme Treasure Pavilion claims to only collect the most precious treasures, but there's no clear definition of what constitutes a treasure. If value is the primary criterion, then fine jewelry, antiques, and calligraphy and paintings would certainly qualify as treasures! But for Martial World practitioners, a divine skill manual or a Divine Weapon would also be considered a treasure! Besides these, top-secret documents, commentaries written by a master mathematician, and so on—anything of sufficient significance—could be considered a treasure!

Therefore, Gathering Treasure Pavilion decided not to set standards for treasures, but instead to set a huge storage fee. No matter what it is, as long as the depositor is willing to spend a huge sum of money to preserve it, it means that the thing has enough value!

Therefore, the only standard for the Supreme Treasure Pavilion is the storage fee. As long as you can afford it and are willing to spend a fortune to store a pile of excrement in the Supreme Treasure Pavilion, Gathering Treasure Pavilion will still process your paperwork as usual!

The reason the signal from the Iron Tag disappeared yesterday morning was because Luo Jun had stored it in the Supreme Treasure Pavilion!

Wu Kong, upon realizing this, was dumbfounded...

(End of this chapter)