Li Qingshan led Little Fatty behind Cheng An and quickly arrived at the first underground level.
The view suddenly opened up before them. The space, over a thousand square meters, was bright as day.
Dozens of gambling tables, large and small, stood throughout the hall, each surrounded by quite a few guests.
"Business is this good?" Li Qingshan raised a brow in surprise.
"Hehe, the customers here aren't just from Luoying. Gamblers from several nearby cities also like coming here to play."
Cheng An rubbed his hands together, his occupational habit flaring up again.
"Boss, interested in playing a couple rounds first?"
"What do you think?"
Li Qingshan's indifferent glance made Cheng An shudder and immediately come to his senses.
"I spoke out of turn! The stairs to the third underground level are up ahead. This way, Boss."
Cheng An slapped his own mouth as he led the way.
Before long, the group of three passed through the casinos on the first and second underground levels and emerged from the stairwell.
Outside the stairwell, a pair of massive double iron doors blocked their path. Two burly men in black stood guard before them.
Cheng An took the initiative to step forward, nodding and bowing as he said:
"Gentlemen, these are old customers of mine. They want to take a look at the third level tonight. Please open the door."
Hearing this, the men in black swept their gazes over Cao Shaoyu, lingering briefly on the Chopping Knife in Li Qingshan's hand.
However, they said nothing and directly pushed open the iron doors.
A wave of clamorous noise instantly poured out from beyond them.
Li Qingshan frowned and followed Cheng An into the third underground level.
Compared with the two levels above, the lighting here was much dimmer.
More precisely, the entire third underground level had only a few spotlights serving as its light sources.
Moreover, every spotlight was trained on a square arena at the center, roughly twenty meters to a side.
The arena was completely empty, while beneath it, heads packed together in a dense sea. A rough glance showed there were likely over a thousand people there, making the place exceptionally lively.
Li Qingshan reached out and pulled Cheng An to his side, asking:
"Is it usually this crowded here?"
"No. It's this lively tonight because word was put out beforehand that there'd be several Peak Competitions.
"Besides the ace fighter I mentioned before, the one suspected of being at the Body Tempering fifth level, several other Body Tempering fourth-level experts will also be appearing..."
Cheng An's voice paused. His expression turned uncertain as he glanced at Li Qingshan and lowered his voice.
"Boss, could it be that Silver Glow released the news to pull a sleight of hand under the nose of the sky and secretly build hype for the Beast Battle?"
The news about Fierce Beasts certainly could not be openly advertised, but for such a grand undertaking as a Beast Battle, how could the usual tiny audience possibly be enough?
Using the Peak Competition to draw in gamblers and gather popularity was just right.
"We'll know soon enough."
Li Qingshan spoke blandly, his gaze sweeping across the entire venue before settling on the waists of the black-clothed security guards.
The "ace fighters" and "experts" Cheng An spoke of were merely tall men picked from among dwarfs.
Whether they were at the Body Tempering fourth level or the Body Tempering fifth level, neither posed much threat to him, given his Mizong Step at Great Accomplishment and his saber technique at Great Accomplishment.
Firearms, on the other hand, might be able to injure him.
Though that was only a possibility.
With the Mizong Step at Great Accomplishment, it was already difficult for Ordinary People to injure him with guns.
Just then,
A hoarse, mocking voice sounded beside them.
"Fatty Cao, you pig-brained idiot, you really took the bait!"
Li Qingshan turned toward the voice and saw a skinny youth about Cao Shaoyu's age approaching with two black-clothed bodyguards.
"Lou Jiang? What are you doing here?" Cao Shaoyu's face was full of surprise. He even forgot to curse back.
"Silver Glow Hotel is owned by my dad. If I'm not here, where else would I be?"
Lou Jiang folded his arms across his chest, looking utterly pleased with himself.
"Where do you think that 'inside information' you received came from?"
"You deliberately lured me here?" Cao Shaoyu's face flushed red, shame and fury mixing together.
Beside him, Cheng An looked astonished, while Li Qingshan's face darkened.
For the sake of the Fierce Beasts, he had already prepared himself for a bloodbath.
But now,
The so-called Beast Battle was very likely nothing more than an excuse casually fabricated over a grudge between children.
"Hehe, I can't beat you at school, but this is my family's turf!"
Lou Jiang waved his hand, signaling the two black-clothed bodyguards to step forward.
Bang! Bang!
Everyone only saw a blur before their eyes. In the blink of an eye, the two bodyguards had dropped to their knees.
Li Qingshan stood between the two bodyguards, the sheath of his saber resting on Lou Jiang's shoulder.
"Kid, I don't care about you children fighting. But if the news about the Fierce Beasts is fake, I'll let you know the consequences of lying!"
"Y-you... you..."
Lou Jiang's lips trembled, and his legs shook.
"Little handsome, don't get worked up!"
A coquettish laugh rang out as a mature woman in a qipao swayed her hips toward them.
The slit in her qipao ran extremely high. As she walked, glimpses appeared and vanished, unconsciously drawing the gazes of everyone around her.
Everyone except Li Qingshan.
The instant he heard her voice, Li Qingshan nearly instinctively stared at the woman's hair.
Her golden curls cascaded naturally down her shoulders, swaying gently with her steps and adding a few touches of seductive charm.
Not purplish-red?
Suspicion filled Li Qingshan's eyes as he looked at the woman's face again.
Although she was equally bewitching, there was not the slightest trace of familiarity. He had never seen this face before.
Even so, Li Qingshan did not dare relax in the slightest.
The moment he heard the woman's voice, he had felt an inexplicable sense of déjà vu.
Two months ago, that purplish-red-haired woman had also called him "little handsome."
Moreover, their voices seemed somewhat similar.
"Little handsome, put the knife away first. Don't frighten my son."
The blonde woman came close and extended one finger, lightly pushing the hilt of the knife.
Li Qingshan took the Chopping Knife back with the motion, his gaze moving back and forth between Lou Jiang and the blonde woman.
"He's your son?"
"Stepson is still a kind of 'son,' isn't it?" The blonde woman covered her mouth with a coquettish laugh and lightly patted Lou Jiang's head.
"Good son, be polite to guests in the future. Mommy won't be able to show up in time every single time."
"Got it, Aunt You."
Lou Jiang shrank his neck and unconsciously shifted a few steps to the side, seemingly extremely afraid of this stepmother.
"Children are just shy."
The blonde woman paid it no mind. She stepped forward, placing her fair hand on Li Qingshan's shoulder.
"Rest assured, guest. The Beast Battle is about to begin. Please look forward to it."
Her slender fingers slid down, brushing across his chest. With a coquettish laugh, the blonde woman turned and left.
Her swaying figure tugged at countless gazes as she gradually vanished into the crowd.
Li Qingshan slapped a hand onto Cheng An's shoulder and asked in a low voice:
"Who is that woman?"
Cheng An reluctantly pulled his gaze back and clicked his tongue.
"You Qingya, the mistress of Lou Cheng, the owner of Silver Glow Hotel. No, she's more than just a mistress now."
"That woman isn't simple. In barely over a month, she not only successfully rose to the top, she recently even obtained management rights over the underground casino from Lou Cheng."
"Who knows what kind of love potion she fed Lou Cheng for him to actually entrust this den of gold and vice to her?"
Cheng An was curious about her methods, but Li Qingshan cared more about when You Qingya had appeared.
"You're saying this You Qingya only appeared a little over a month ago?"
Cheng An did not understand why, but he still nodded.
"That's right."
Hearing Cheng An confirm it, Li Qingshan fell into thought.
Two months ago, the Evil God Cultist hideout at Star River Bar had been wiped out, but that purplish-red-haired woman had slipped through the net.
And this You Qingya, who gave him such a familiar feeling, had happened to appear only a little over a month ago.
That was too much of a coincidence!
Furthermore, Wan Keshan had specifically mentioned before that Flesh Demon God cultists possessed the ability to alter their physiques. Changing their appearance was no big deal at all.
"Though this is all my speculation and I have no evidence, when it concerns Evil God Cultists, there's no need for evidence at all!"
Li Qingshan quickly made his decision. A Light Screen silently unfolded above his lowered left palm.
His left thumb tapped, selecting the Patrol Bureau as the recipient, and he began entering a message.
However, because he could only operate it with his thumb, typing the message was extremely difficult.
"No, it'll be hard to explain things clearly like this, and the Patrol Bureau might not dispatch people immediately."
Li Qingshan frowned, directly deleting all the information and changing the recipient as well.
His thumb tapped a few simple times, and a message was sent.
"Silver Glow Hotel. Evil God Cultists. Come quickly!"
Recipient: Wan Keshan
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