We Once Killed...

"Seven hundred years."

Gu Baishui repeated the wager he had made.

Lu Ziyou gave him a long, deep look, then opened his mouth. "Eight hundred years."

"Nine hundred years." Gu Baishui remained expressionless.

"One... thousand years."

It was the most extravagant wager Lu Ziyou had made since birth, but he truly didn't want to let this opportunity slip by.

If he won, he would gain a full two thousand years of lifespan. Not only would he make up for what he had lost, he would earn an extra thousand years.

Gu Baishui was right. There was only any point in calling landlord if the two of them did it. Whether they both lost or both won, the game couldn't end.

But, unexpectedly, Gu Baishui raised his eyes and then gave up on continuing to bid for landlord.

Lu Ziyou breathed a sigh of relief. Just as he reached for the cards on the table, the Red-Robed Judge suddenly let out a strange laugh.

"Eleven hundred years."

"Heh." Gu Baishui couldn't help laughing aloud.

Lu Ziyou's expression was resentful and gloomy, but he still pulled his hand back, letting the Red-Robed Judge call landlord.

The reason was simple: Lu Ziyou could match Gu Baishui's lifespan wager, but he didn't dare challenge the Red-Robed Judge.

The wager for this round was eleven hundred years of lifespan. If Lu Ziyou won, he could make up for his losses all the same.

But if he kept bidding against the Red-Robed Judge, he might end up wagering everything he had on the table.

He didn't dare.

The Red-Robed Judge saw through Lu Ziyou's thoughts, picked up the cards, and turned them faceup on the table.

Two 2s and an A. A strong hand, with the power to decide the outcome.

In the fourth round, Lu Ziyou played seriously and cautiously, using all his wits to calculate his moves, but he still fell short and lost to the Red-Robed Judge.

It wasn't because the Red-Print Judge was particularly skilled. It was all because Gu Baishui kept interfering.

No matter what card Lu Ziyou played, the Red-Robed Judge and Gu Baishui would always block him, then pass the turn to the landlord.

One farmer and one landlord teaming up against the other farmer had nearly reduced Lu Ziyou's chances of winning to nothing.

After the game ended, Lu Ziyou could no longer hide how ugly and twisted his expression had become.

He looked at Gu Baishui as if he were a madman, his face full of disbelief. "Are you completely ignoring the consequences? Do you want to die? What good could it do you to keep wagering your lifespan against mine?"

Gu Baishui shrugged indifferently and gave a calm smile. "Driving you into a dead end is the greatest benefit I could ask for."

"You really are insane."

The fifth round began, and the Red-Robed Judge didn't bid.

The turn came to Gu Baishui and Lu Ziyou.

"Nine hundred years."

Gu Baishui gave Lu Ziyou no time to think. He immediately wagered the thousand years of lifespan he had left.

Lu Ziyou had only two choices: wager all of his own thousand years or let Gu Baishui take the cards and become a farmer.

But Gu Baishui's brazen attitude made Lu Ziyou hesitate.

He couldn't tell whether Gu Baishui was simply a madman or whether he had made some sort of deal with the Red-Robed Judge before Lu Ziyou had come to this room.

If it was the former, that was fine. But if it was the latter, this round could very well repeat what had happened in the previous one.

If the Red-Robed Judge deliberately let Gu Baishui win, then Lu Ziyou was sure to lose.

Lu Ziyou stayed silent for quite a while. In the end, he clenched his teeth and pressed his hand down on the cards on the table.

"A thousand years. I'll play one last round with you."

The cards slowly turned over. Two ghostly faces, one black and one white, lay on the table.

Lu Ziyou's expression shifted from nervousness to delight, then turned into irrepressible excitement.

Two Ghost Cards-it was almost the best hand he could have gotten.

The Red-Robed Judge raised an eyebrow, seemingly a little surprised too, but Gu Baishui only sighed helplessly.

"Looks like my luck really isn't that great."

Lu Ziyou gave a cold, sinister laugh, making no effort to conceal the murderous intent and viciousness in his eyes.

"I told you long ago. You're going to die here."

The final game at the card table went quickly. Lu Ziyou threw out a plane and a set of consecutive pairs, and had nearly cleared his hand.

By the time he had only two Ghost Cards and a single card left, victory was all but certain.

The Red-Robed Judge laid down his cards and crossed out Gu Baishui's remaining lifespan in his Book of Life and Death.

As for Lu Ziyou, he had barely changed at all.

"This was a little more boring than I expected." The Red-Robed Judge frowned.

"Yeah. I don't think you needed to test us, either. Asking directly wouldn't have made any difference."

Lu Ziyou, the winner of the game, froze. He didn't understand what the two of them meant.

Hadn't he won?

That annoying man had been eliminated, leaving him as the only inheritor.

What else was there to ask?

But before he could ask anything, the Red-Robed Judge had already stood up and silently gathered the Book of Life and Death and the playing cards.

"Whatever the outcome, since the two of you have made it this far, I think it's only right to answer your questions. Even if you're about to die, at least you won't die confused."

The Red-Robed Judge raised his eyebrows. "Which of you wants to go first?"

"He can go first."

Gu Baishui tilted his head, looking thoughtfully at the rainy night outside the window, and shook it. "I'm in no hurry."

Lu Ziyou didn't bother with formalities. From his perspective, everything in this Mansion was already over.

There was only one thing he needed to confirm.

"Is this Mansion the Mausoleum Grounds of Li Shiyi?"

The rain grew heavier. The Red-Robed Judge's shadow, cast against the window, slowly nodded.

"More or less."

A flash of elation crossed Lu Ziyou's eyes. He asked, breathing quickly, "Did Senior Li Shiyi ultimately prove the Dao and become an emperor?"

"That's right, too."

"Then are all of you guardians of Li Shiyi's Mausoleum Grounds?"

"More or less."

Lu Ziyou asked solemnly, his face sincere. "I passed every trial of the inheritance. Am I qualified to inherit Senior's legacy?"

The Red-Robed Judge tilted his head and studied the boy in front of him for a long while, then asked, "You want to inherit Li Shiyi's legacy?"

"Of course. I couldn't ask for anything more."

"Then I'll have to ask Miss what she thinks."

The Red-Robed Judge paused, then asked in a calm, strange voice, "Are you the Transmigrator Li Shiyi spoke of while he was alive?"

Lu Ziyou froze. Doubt and unease still lingered in his heart.

After all, for every Transmigrator, this was their most secret matter. He hadn't expected it to be laid out in the open so casually.

But Lu Ziyou thought that these people might all have been Senior Li Shiyi's most devoted subordinates, so the senior hadn't kept his secret from them.

Perhaps this was also the final step in determining whether he could inherit the Great Emperor's Inheritance of Li Shiyi.

With that thought, Lu Ziyou nodded firmly. "I am."

"Oh, I see."

The Red-Robed Judge pondered for a moment, then turned his head to look at the silent Gu Baishui.

"Is there anything you want to ask?"

"Yes."

Gu Baishui nodded. After a brief silence, he raised his eyes and asked softly, "How did Li Shiyi die?"

The Red-Robed Judge turned around and looked at the few shadows beside the window outside the room.

He pondered for a long while, then shook his head and gave a calm laugh.

"It was... we who killed him."

"Rumble!"

Thunder boomed outside the window, and rain poured down in torrents.

The expression on Lu Ziyou's face, bright with joy only moments earlier, froze in an instant.

His lips trembled, his face as pale as paper. Not a trace of color remained.