As soon as the finance minister finished speaking, King Haagen-Dazs rose from the seat of honor, his customary gentle smile spreading across his face as he spoke warmly:
"Good, excellent! Cloudtop Academy's team leader truly has extraordinary boldness. I have long heard of your academy's considerable strength, and now that I have seen it for myself, you certainly live up to your reputation."
He paused, sweeping his gaze over the other team leaders present. "This year's Preliminary Tournament is packed with experts. For Cloudtop Academy to rise above such fierce competition, they must possess genuine ability."
As he spoke, he led the applause with two claps.
Several team leaders in the front row obligingly joined in, some smiling naturally, others forcing their smiles.
Li Chen leaned back in his chair, looking at the king's face plastered with smiles, and found it laughable.
He glanced around. Everyone present knew the slot had been bought, yet they all tacitly pretended this was an entirely legitimate advancement.
The other academies' team leaders left one after another. They still had to head elsewhere for another round of under-the-table dealings.
They all knew their academies' teams would merely go through the motions at the grand finals, but even placing thirty-third in the Soul Master Tournament would give both their students and their academies a title that could bring enormous benefits.
Soon, only King Haagen-Dazs, the finance minister, the bishop in black, and Li Chen himself remained in the conference room.
An attendant gently shut the door, and the room fell quiet.
"Mr. Li," the finance minister cleared his throat, his tone softening a little, "will you pay the four million gold soul coins now, or arrange for someone to deliver them?"
"I'll pay now." Li Chen raised a hand after speaking, and a mountain of gold soul coins appeared beside him. He had just produced them directly with the Transmutation Table.
The conference room fell silent.
The finance minister's mouth hung open, the gold soul coin prepaid card in his hand frozen in midair as his gaze fixed on the mountain of coins.
Transactions of this size normally used gold soul coin prepaid cards. This was genuinely his first time seeing someone carry several million in cash.
"M-Mr. Li, you... have you never applied for a gold soul coin prepaid card?"
"I hardly ever spend anything, so I couldn't be bothered getting one. Hurry up and have someone count these."
As though he had found a reasonable explanation, the finance minister breathed a sigh of relief. He took a gold-edged card from inside his clothes and offered it with both hands:
"This is a VIP prepaid card issued by the gold soul coin bank partnered with our Haagen-Dazs Royal Family. It is anonymous, cannot be reported lost, and allows the holder to deposit or withdraw gold soul coins at any bank on the continent."
He paused, his tone becoming a little more courteous. "Please keep this card. It will make large transactions like this more convenient in the future."
Li Chen took the prepaid card, glanced at it, and put it into his Storage Ring. It was not worth taking up a slot in his inventory.
The finance minister quickly finished the count. Once he confirmed that the amount was correct, he nodded to the king.
The king of Haagen-Dazs put on his false smile again. "Mr. Li, you are indeed a straightforward man. I wish Cloudtop Academy an unbroken march of triumph through this year's Soul Master Tournament, bringing glory to our kingdom."
Li Chen showed no particular reaction and merely replied casually, "Thank you, Your Majesty. We'll do our best."
There was nothing else for him to do here now. Having offered his perfunctory response, he did not linger and returned to his room.
"Master, come here, hurry! These two are terrible." Wine Fox called out when she heard the door opening and his familiar footsteps.
Li Chen entered to find both women with their faces covered in paper strips. Without even thinking, he knew Wine Fox must have been cheating. Although his deck was specially made, it could not withstand a high-level soul master's Mental Power and sleight of hand.
"Brother Li, do something about her! She keeps bullying Lingling and me." Dugu Yan truly had no options left. She could not beat Wine Fox in a fight, so why could she not beat her at cards either?
"All right. Lingling, you deal." Li Chen stepped between them.
While Ye Lingling was still shuffling, Li Chen noticed that Wine Fox had already begun using her Mental Power to peek at the cards. He immediately interfered with her using his own Mental Power, while starting to scan the cards himself.
Someone might have asked at this point, wasn't that cheating? But this was not an ordinary world, after all. However bottom-of-the-barrel it might be, it was still a fantasy world. Why shouldn't someone use the strength they possessed?
That was also why he had not forbidden Wine Fox from using her Mental Power to peek at the cards in advance. Even the Card and Chess Hall Shang Lu ran merely separated ordinary people from soul masters. As long as no sleight of hand was involved, everything else was tacitly permitted.
"Master, what did that attendant call you away for just now?" Wine Fox suddenly asked.
"Oh, nothing much. The royal family joined forces with the local Spirit Hall to auction off a promotion slot, and I've already bought it. Little Yanzi, let everyone know later that they should train hard and aim to sweep all seven opponents single-handedly in every match of the Promotion Tournament."
"No way! This is a tournament for the Whole Continent. How does the Haagen-Dazs Royal Family dare sell off a slot so brazenly like that?" Dugu Yan's eyes widened.
Li Chen did not think much of it. As he spoke, he picked up the pile of cards in front of him and quickly sorted them. "Because even when teams from these kingdoms and duchies reach the grand finals legitimately, they generally get knocked out in the first round. Over time, people stopped paying much attention to those teams."
"Pass." After looking at his hand, he still did not dare bid for landlord.
"Pass." Wine Fox also declined to bid, even though her hand was actually quite good. "So now we just have to wait for the other academies to finish their matches?"
Dugu Yan saw how good her hand was this time, including both jokers, and immediately claimed the landlord role.
"Pair of threes." Dugu Yan played her smallest cards first.
"Bomb." Li Chen flung down his four tens. "That's right. There's no need to watch the Preliminary Tournament matches either. There's a very good chance they'll be fixed."
"Seriously? It's just a pair of threes!"
"I know. I have my own way of playing."
Wine Fox, seemingly unwilling to be outdone, threw down four kings next. "Wine Fox, you're not going to play double agent and throw the game on me, are you?"
Dugu Yan felt rather numb now. She could hardly throw out her rocket already, so she could only let Wine Fox's play stand.
"Airplane. One card left!"
With no other choice this time, Dugu Yan had to play her rocket. Having lost her strongest trump card, she became extremely cautious with every play, not even daring to play a single.
But even though Li Chen sat idle for the rest of the game, Dugu Yan eventually looked at the three singles remaining in her hand and played her highest card, an ace.
Li Chen glanced at Wine Fox and chose to pass rather than beat it.
"Two."
In truth, from the start of the game, everyone except Dugu Yan had effectively been playing with their cards faceup-both he and Wine Fox.
Dugu Yan looked at Li Chen, who was snickering, and suddenly realized what was happening. "Oh, so that's how it is! I'm telling Grandpa you're bullying me too!"
"I only passed on landlord because my hand really was awful. Who knew you'd end up taking it?"
Before you continue