Little Sorcerer, Divine Doctor

Dawn had just broken within the Great Zhou Martial Saint General Mansion.

"You're telling me that Tian Quezi fled the battlefield!" Yun Bahe heard this astonishing news early in the morning.

For today's competition, Yun Bahe even brought out the armor he used on the battlefield back in the day, polishing it until it shone, ready to dazzle that little thief Tian Quezi with his brilliance.

But just as Yun Bahe was about to step out of the Martial Saint General Mansion, full of vigor and ready for the showdown, a shocking piece of news spread throughout Yujing City.

All of Yujing City shuddered.

Tian Quezi had fled the battlefield.

No, more accurately, Tian Quezi had disappeared.

Indeed, he had vanished. The Dark Crown Prince's men had searched the entire Post Qin Embassy to no avail, short of digging three feet under. Yet they found no sign of Tian Quezi.

The much-revered Post Qin Martial Saint had evaporated from the world on the eve of the battle.

There was no letter, no sudden illness, no news at all. Without a peep, Tian Quezi was gone.

The only explanation was that he feared he couldn't defeat Yun Bahe and fled the battlefield.

Otherwise, how could someone so prominent, a named Martial Saint, just disappear into thin air?

Yun Bahe first cursed a few times in frustration, but then he couldn't help but laugh out loud.

With Tian Quezi's disappearance, all problems ceased to be problems.

Fleeing the battlefield was an enormous joke; the Dark Crown Prince of Hou Qin had no face left to demand a quarter of the Purple Gold Vein, not to mention, any alliances between Hou Qin and Tang Yuan were to go to hell!

It's said that upon hearing this news, the morale of the Hou Qin Soldiers at the border plummeted. Each one of them cursed their ancestors, greeting all eighteen generations of Tian Quezi's family, leaving Tian Quezi's house in Hou Qin in utter disgrace.

Compared to Hou Qin, the reaction from Tangyuan Country was also quite subtle.

Second Prince Li Shao of Tang Yuan received this bizarre piece of news in record time.

Skilled in strategy, Second Prince Li Shao of Tang Yuan had already begrudged losing the Purple Gold Mine to Great Zhou.

Despite his opponent being formidable and snatching half of his Purple Gold Mine, no matter how hard he searched, he could not find any clues.

Li Shao could only hold a grudge against Great Zhou.

The combined forces of Hou Qin and Tang Yuan were, in fact, secretly instigated by Li Shao. Even the bottle of Demon Beast Amniotic Fluid had been passed on by him to Xuan Wuji.

The entire affair was flawless. Li Shao had even made meticulous preparations in case Yun Bahe was to lose, he would immediately invade Great Zhou.

Who could have known that at this critical juncture, Tian Quezi would go missing.

They must find him alive or bring back his corpse.

"What is Hou Qin's response?" Li Shao still didn't wish to retreat.

"The Dark Crown Prince has already ordered the troops to retreat a hundred miles, making the search for Martial Saint Tian Quezi the top priority," the spy reported back.

"We will also hold our forces for now," Li Shao gave his order, waiting for further news from Yujing.

Emperor Zhou, on the other hand, couldn't be happier about Tian Quezi's disappearance.

Emperor of Great Zhou was overjoyed, secretly reveling in his heart, as this was undoubtedly the best possible outcome.

It's said that in a rage, the Dark Crown Prince of Hou Qin executed two attendants who served Tian Quezi.

But what people didn't know was that another force had gained even greater benefits, silently making a huge fortune—that was the Wanlong Gambling House.

Previously, during the match between Tian Quezi and Yun Bahe, since both were Martial Saints, bets on either side were about fifty-fifty.

Who would have known that Tian Quezi would pull such a stunt? With no winners or losers, all the betting money went straight to the Wanlong Gambling House. The gamblers cursed their bad luck but could only swallow their frustration.

When Yun Sheng received this news, she had just left the Magic Tower. On the surface, she remained calm, but inside she was eager to find Ye Beiming and the Rich Man Gold she hadn't seen for a few days.

What caught Yun Sheng's eye was that the Rich Man Gold had undergone significant changes.

Upon closer inspection of its limbs, they were completely different from when Yun Sheng first refined it; every inch of its lines was now tougher and more powerful.

The originally dazzling Purple Gold color had turned red, stained with blood.

Within just a day and night, the Rich Man Gold, initially a Mid-level Life Magic Artifact, had already reached the pinnacle of the intermediate class, on the verge of breaking through to the high-level, able to unleash more than fifty percent of the power of the Combat Skills and Magic it mimicked.

The Rich Man Gold as it stands now could be truly called a War Magic Artifact.

Seeing this, Yun Sheng couldn't help feeling joyful. Ye Huli was reliable in his work—Tian Quezi had indeed "disappeared." But her mood soon soured again.

"A miscalculation; I should have bet on a draw at the Wanlong Gambling House before the match. That way, I would have made a killing. It's Wanlong Gambling House that got lucky, striking it rich unexpectedly. Well, I also secretly took some Purple Gold from Ye Huli, as a consolation prize," Yun Sheng thought. With Tian Quezi's disappearance, all the betting money went to the Wanlong Gambling House, which by rough estimates, earned at least ten million Imperial gold coins from this event.

If Yun Sheng knew that the person behind Wanlong Gambling House was Ye Beiming, she would probably vomit blood out of frustration.

Indeed, a fox will always be a fox, never coming out at a loss.

In the following days, the whole Yujing City was abuzz with discussions about Tian Quezi's disappearance, while Yun Sheng distributed some of the refined Purple Gold Holy Weapons to members of the Hunting Corps.

In a place within the Wanlong Gambling House, Yun Sheng and Qi, among others, attended a gambling event at their old haunt.

Long Huo and several other stewards from the Wanlong Gambling House stood to the side.

The four great stewards of the Wanlong Gambling House—Long Huo, Long Shui, Long Feng, and Long Tu—three men and one woman, each of a different appearance and age, rarely appeared together in the Wanlong Gambling House. But today, they gathered all at once.

Ye Beiming sat alone.

Of the Si Long, Long Huo was the oldest, over a decade senior to Ye Beiming, but in his presence, all four showed the utmost respect and awe.

Ye Beiming was a born ruler, a fact understood by the four stewards years ago when he had walked out of the Cold Palace and appeared before them.

Standing beside him was a person.

The figure seemed vaguely familiar, yet cloaked from head to toe in interconnected fish scale armor pieces like those Blood Hand Ditch people, not a single gap visible.

No one would have guessed that the former Post Qin Martial Saint could become this—"a puppet" devoid of thought—overnight.

His hollow gaze and silent demeanor, he had long forgotten he was once Tian Quezi.

"Master, the gambling house has made quite a profit, totaling 15,330,000 gold coins," said Long Huo, behaving as if he didn't notice the additional person.

Having followed Ye Beiming for a long time, he knew many things were better left unasked.

"Allocate 5 million of those gold coins to recruit manpower, expanding the Netherworld Guards," commanded Ye Beiming, glancing through the account book, then taking out a storage ring.

Long Huo took the storage ring and was startled upon inspecting its contents.

In such a place as the Wanlong Gambling House, where dragons and snakes mixed, Long Huo's eyesight was stronger than the average person's; the weapons inside the storage ring also took him by surprise.

All of them were not ordinary weapons, but Holy-level Weapons integrated with bits of Purple Gold.

Where did the master get such a large batch of Purple Gold Weapons from?