It was summer, and the night fell late. After dinner and another hour or so, the sky finally grew dark.
And nighttime—that’s nature’s party zone. All those things you wouldn’t dare or even want to do during the day suddenly pop into your head and heart after dark. Some primal urge, some guilty impulse, all starts to sprout at night, making people go wild, making them act nothing like their daytime selves.
Everyone’s got two sides, and day versus night is the simplest, most natural dividing line.
There’s no curfew in Eight Directions City, but most folks don’t come out at night. Tonight, though, that’s not the case—the entrance to Golden Hook Casino was packed early on. Unlike the brothels tucked away in quieter corners, this whole street was booming, and Golden Hook Casino was even busier than usual. Rich merchants, big shots, even martial artists—everyone was here, all because the boss of Tienjin Pavilion was going head-to-head with the King of Gambling.
Both of them were famous veterans.
The dazzling lights rivaled the neon of any modern city. Among the bustling crowd, two tall men made their way to the casino’s entrance.
Both of them were dressed a bit weirdly.
One wore mostly white with black accents, sporting a super fake-looking big mustache. Not the classic hero’s beard, but one of those Avanti-style upward-curled mustaches, like he’d stuck a croissant on his upper lip—basically announcing to the world, “Hey, I’m in disguise!” Add a turban to the mix, and he was full-on Middle Eastern tycoon cosplay.
The other guy’s outfit was similar, but the colors were flipped—mostly black with white patterns. He had a hood hiding his face in shadow, looking all mysterious and sketchy, like he was up to no good. He kept glancing over his shoulder, as if he was on the lookout for someone.
“Unbelievable,” the big mustache guy sighed, shaking his head as he did.
“Of course it’s unbelievable,” said the hooded man, a bit proudly. “Drunken Moon Restaurant at noon was decent, but honestly, that was just a briefing—nothing substantial, not a big crowd. But look at Golden Hook Casino tonight, you can really see how many people Eight Directions City has drawn in. Folks from all walks of life are here. I bet half the top fighters in the whole city are packed in here—now this is a real event.”
Golden Hook Casino covers a huge area, three floors up and down, packed with halls and private rooms—honestly, it’s not much different from those Las Vegas scenes in the movies. The place was buzzing, with martial artists coming and going, everyone radiating serious energy. And that’s just half of them. Shows you how loaded Eight Directions City really is.
“No, that’s not what I meant. I was talking about you,” said the big mustache guy, looking at the hooded man. “You hung in midair all day, and now you’re still sneaking out to join the fun? Seriously impressive.” He gave a dramatic thumbs-up and dragged out his words: “Coool~~~”
“You’re talking about me?” The hooded man shot back angrily. “You’re the master here, and what did you buy for your own disciple? Fiona’s such a pure and lovely girl, and you got her all those weird gadgets to bring to Madam Dai—her face when she saw them, I couldn’t even look! I thought I was wild, but you’re next level—should we become sworn brothers?”
By now, everyone’s probably figured it out—the big mustache was actually Jack Young… cough, cough, I mean, Teacher Yang. And the hooded guy? That was Easton, who’d spent the whole day getting the full rope-art experience.
After the Drunken Moon Restaurant incident, Jack sent his two disciples to lay low at the Grand Brothel. The brothel was basically their safe house now—once they holed up in there, hardly anyone could touch them. Like Jack said himself, you’ve got to make sure you can cover your newbies before taking them out for experience. Tonight, though, he needed to get close to the Tienjin Pavilion boss, and that guy might be connected to Master Jin, the Silverblade King, Madam Sanmiao, or even other top-tier experts—so bringing the girls wasn’t an option.
Still, even though the girls stayed behind, Easton snuck out and tagged along, planning to team up with Jack for a Golden Hook Casino dungeon run.
“Sworn brothers?” Jack raised an eyebrow—which looked especially funny with that big mustache getup. “You four already cover east, south, west, and north. How am I supposed to join? Should I be called ‘Red Dragon White’ or something?”
“Red Dragon White, Thirteen Wonders, whatever—it’s all small stuff.” Easton threw an arm around Jack’s shoulder and gave him a cheerful thumbs-up. “Bottom line, tonight the crowd’s loaded and clueless, so let’s win, win, win—let’s go for the grand slam and rake it all in!”
Honestly, it’s kind of tragic. Back in the day, the Four Vagabond Knights could blow a fortune and book out a place for ten days straight, but now they’re stuck crashing at someone else’s place as lowly servants. Life’s wild ups and downs, huh? With his three brothers counting on him to help pull off a miracle, Easton was ready for his big comeback tonight!
“True, since we’re here, might as well make some cash.” Jack sighed—money’s always tight. He had plenty of silver, sure, but with Herb Boutique prices, it was nowhere near enough. With all those goods, he didn’t need everything, but if he wanted to train like a real tycoon for a while, he’d need a budget of three hundred thousand taels of silver.
Who knew if his sub-grade meat pills and purification liquid would even pass muster here? For the sake of a high-roller future, he had to hustle for cash!
So, the big mustache and the hooded guy slung their arms around each other, looked up at the swaying Golden Hook sign, nodded hard in sync, and strode into the casino together.
Golden Hook Casino was one of Qian Wanliang’s businesses, and the rules weren’t much different from modern casinos. You exchange silver for chips at the door—smallest is one tael, biggest is a thousand taels, anything more needs special approval. The chips are metal blocks of various sizes, and there are all kinds of services here. The chips work for everything, giving the place a full-on entertainment complex vibe.
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Jack swapped out three thousand taels for chips to test the waters. Three thousand wasn’t small change, so he got a sweet smile from one of the service girls—turns out, even a big mustache can have his springtime if he’s got cash.
“Hey, miss, can I get half a chip?” Easton lifted his hood a bit, showing off his electric eyes and handsome face, trying to charm his way through. Too bad—Golden Hook Casino only deals in cash, not looks, so all he got was a snicker.
“What’re you laughing at? You looking down on me?” Easton was instantly triggered, slapped his chest and fished out—another half tael of silver. He scraped together a full tael and handed it over, hands trembling: “I—I can gamble too!” He looked so reluctant, his voice was even shaking.
Jack asked curiously, “I’ve been meaning to ask—where’d you get your gambling stake?”
Easton sniffled—could he be any more tragic? “Second brother’s doing grunt work in the woodshed, third brother’s sketching portraits for pretty ladies, and fourth brother’s got it worst—he spent all day getting his cheeks pinched by a gang of girls. That’s how we scraped together one tael. I even wanted to save half a tael to buy them some crab buns, but now that’s out the window. So—” He clenched his tiny chip, raised his fist to the sky, and burst with fighting spirit: “I, King of the Boudoir, will show my true skills and shine tonight!”
“What did you even learn in your life, anyway?”
Joking and bickering, the two blended into the casino’s bustling crowd. Their outfits were weird, but not so much that people couldn’t handle it. This world’s nothing like ancient China—there’s not much etiquette or government control, so even the clothes are a bit over the top. For example, Madam Sanmiao’s outfit looks straight out of a video game, but it’s not totally out of place; some folks even appreciate it at special events. So, the big mustache and the hooded guy weren’t the oddest ones here.
They mingled with the crowd, drifting from table to table, scoping things out. The gambling here worked pretty much like the modern world, so Jack picked it up fast. Who knows what it’s like in his other world, but here, there were plenty of ways to bet. Whenever he placed a wager, he’d catch all sorts of rumors floating around.
The hottest gossip was all about the Phantom Sword Saint and Ouyezi. News in the martial arts world travels fast—sometimes just a day makes the difference. Word of the Phantom Sword Saint sneaking into the city got out early for those in the know, and a day later for the rest. Besides that, folks heard the Phantom Sword Saint and Ouyezi were prepping for the big Weapon Appraisal Tournament, which would kick off in the next day or two. The Sword Saint’s own martial arts contest would run at the same time, giving all the old-timers a stage to show off.
Another hot topic was the Herb Boutique. In just one afternoon, their little booklet had been copied a million times and was all over the streets. Everyone was drooling over their spiritual medicines, and a good chunk of the folks at the casino tonight probably had the same idea as Jack—win some extra cash to buy the magic herbs they’d been eyeing.
Some people were after special trades, too. Rumor had it that Ouyezi even brought his Hundred Refinements Furnace, and might personally forge a divine weapon at the Weapon Appraisal Tournament. Plenty of blacksmiths brought their own creations, and young heroes showed off their treasures—if Ouyezi gave his stamp of approval, even an unknown blade could skyrocket in value. Then, trading for an ultimate spiritual pill at the Herb Boutique wouldn’t be just a dream.
Besides those two stories, plenty of people were buzzing about the mysterious sect leader who stirred up trouble at Drunken Moon Restaurant. The whole thing was so loud, folks from all over saw it—no way to keep it under wraps. The way those sect leaders tried to chase off the riffraff really ticked off the grassroots crowd, so even though the big shots wanted to hush it up, the common folks were going all out spreading wild tales. Plus, the Three Dragons of the Long River Triad were involved, so there’s no denying it—the sect leaders really embarrassed themselves.
“Who’d dare tick off that many sects all at once?”
“Word is, it was a sect leader too.”
“Must be some kind of mega-sect, then.”
“They call it Flower Shifting Palace. Never heard of it, but I guess it’s some hidden high-class sect. Listen, let me tell you—the head of Flower Shifting Palace is young, but their martial arts are something else. That trick they pulled, Flower Swap Jade Touch, was so good it looked like magic.”
“Yeah, I passed through Greenhill Town yesterday and heard the same rumors. That move’s got a fancy name—Flower Swap Jade Touch. No idea what kind of secret technique it is, though.”
Everyone was gossiping away while Jack gambled casually. Suddenly, the crowd stirred—a voice shouted at the entrance: “Look, the Tienjin Pavilion folks are here!”