God of Pets

"I know you're doing this for my own good, but I cannot disobey the master's orders." Qinghua shook her head.

Leng Zhe nodded, understanding what Qinghua was talking about. If it were him, he might have made the same choice as Qinghua.

Chen Guan didn't say anything. He had met the Lotus Temple Master before and knew that person possessed great Divine Power. He feared that his interference might ruin Qinghua's opportunity.

"Brother Guan, I'll go up first," said Qinghua as she prepared to head to the field below.

Chen Guan originally wanted to try it himself first, but he thought if he lost and was taken away, he wouldn't be able to watch Qinghua participate in the gamble. So he decided to let her go first.

Qinghua arrived at the field. Teng went through a procedure and asked her what prize she wanted.

"I want the Inner Core of the Eighth King," Qinghua resolutely stated the task given by the Lotus Temple Master.

As soon as those words were spoken, Teng was stunned, and everyone else was shocked. Even the black-clad crew members originally expressionless and standing guard around turned to look at Qinghua.

"Is she... crazy?" Everyone looked at Qinghua with disbelief in their eyes. The words she uttered didn't sound like something a sane person would say.

"Say it again... I didn't hear it clearly..." Teng thought he was hallucinating or hadn't heard correctly, believing it was impossible for her to say such a thing.

"I want the Inner Core of the Eighth King," Qinghua repeated. This time, Teng was certain he hadn't misheard, and his face turned extremely complex.

"Okay." Before the stunned Teng could ask the Eighth King, the Eighth King's voice already came through.

At the same time, everyone saw the statue of the Eighth King begin to move. The statue lowered its head with interest and looked at Qinghua. An ethereal voice like that of a deity echoed: "What do you want to gamble?"

From the start of the gamble until now, it was the first time the statue had moved. Previously, the statue was motionless, with only its eyes occasionally glowing. People thought it was just a lifeless object, used by the Eighth King to transmit sound and maintain its mystery.

No one expected this statue to be truly alive, not only capable of movement but also with subtle facial expressions.

"Number eight," Qinghua stated her choice.

Among the eight gambling methods prepared by the Eighth King, only the eighth didn't involve killing. For other methods, even if the Cultivator won, the Secret Spirit involved in the competition would still die.

This eighth method was simple: Two people each write a character on white paper and compare if the total number of strokes is odd or even.

Qinghua needed to first guess if the total would be odd or even. After both had written, she would win if her prediction was correct.

Someone had already challenged this method before. At that time, the Eighth King allowed Teng to write a character on his behalf and place it on the gambling table, waiting for the Cultivator to finish writing before unveiling them together.

All the rules were relatively fair for the Cultivator, but that Cultivator still lost.

Qinghua was the second person to choose this method, but this time, the Eighth King didn't let Teng write on his behalf. Instead, his massive body stood up from the throne, stepping into the field.

Every step he took made the ground tremble, creating an intimidating scene.

Reaching the field, the statue bent down, extending its hand to take the white paper from the gambling table. He personally wrote something on the paper and then placed it back on the table.

The statue straightened up, looking down at Qinghua, and said calmly, "You carry the aura of an old acquaintance. For his sake, I'll personally gamble with you, to let him accept his loss gracefully. I'll give you an advantage and write first, then you guess."

Upon hearing the Eighth King mention Qinghua as an old acquaintance, everyone turned to her with surprise, uncertain who could be so significant that just sensing a trace of their aura, the Eighth King could recognize her.

Chen Guan felt somewhat relieved upon hearing the Eighth King speak.

The Eighth King regarded the Lotus Temple Master's successor with such esteem, indicating that the Lotus Temple Master's abilities were indeed extraordinary. Perhaps Qinghua could really win this, though he wasn't sure how.

Looking at the majestic statue, Qinghua was not afraid at all. Picking up a pen and white paper, she thought for a moment, then wrote a character and placed it on the gambling table.

In fact, it didn't matter whether she covered it or not, as the Eighth King's paper was already placed there first.

"She should guess even, right? Although the last person who guessed even lost, the odds of winning with even are generally higher."

"If both written characters have odd strokes, the total is even; if both are even, the total is also even. Only one even and one odd would make an odd total, so it makes sense to guess even."

"Not necessarily, it depends on whether the Eighth King and the girl know more odd-stroke or even-stroke characters. If they know mostly odd-stroke characters, they're more likely to write odd. Conversely, other possibilities exist, and it can't be judged so simply."

"What if one only knows how to write even-stroke characters, and the other odd-stroke ones? Then the odds total would be one hundred percent."

"How does your brain work? How could someone only know how to write such characters?"

"What if?"

Qinghua hadn't made her guess yet, but the people outside were already arguing.

"Do you think she should choose odd or even?" Chen Guan asked Leng Zhe next to him.

"It doesn't matter," Leng Zhe said, staring into the field. "But now the situation is different from what I mentioned earlier. I said earlier that if Good Karma is high enough, it could influence the outcome. But now that the result is predetermined, can her guess still affect it?"

"I think it's tough. Otherwise, the Eighth King wouldn't voluntarily join the gamble. By taking the field himself and writing first before letting your friend guess, he probably anticipated this, giving your friend no chance. Maybe not even Good Karma could help," Leng Zhe sighed. "Aiming for the Eighth King's Inner Core is too risky; he wouldn't want to lose this round no matter what."

Chen Guan also thought this was true, but would the Lotus Temple Master allow Qinghua to lose?

"I guess it's even," Qinghua made the decision that seemed most favorable to her.

Everyone looked at the two sheets of paper on the stone platform, waiting for Teng to reveal them.

"What you perceive as a high probability may sometimes deceive you. Open it and see for yourself," the Eighth King's statue said softly, indeed treating Qinghua differently.

This statement made everyone's heart skip a beat. Chen Guan couldn't believe it and stared intently at the two sheets of paper, silently wondering, "Could she really lose?"

Qinghua stepped forward to uncover the two sheets of paper. Everyone's gaze fixed on the papers, revealing "one" written on one sheet and "two" on the other.

"It's odd..." Chen Guan's expression changed. Qinghua had indeed lost.