Chen Yan never expected that something like this would happen.
Before he could even react, it was the waiter leading the way ahead who laughed first:
"Mister Cui, the name Chen Yan is even more of one that not just anyone can carry!"
Hearing this, the middle-aged cultivator wearing vermilion-purple Daoist robes slightly furrowed his brow, revealing a rather puzzled expression:
"Why?"
"Because Chen Yan is the great name of the current Chief Disciple of Kongyuan Mountain in the Kongshan Sect!"
The waiter said.
"Is that really the case?"
Mister Cui's expression suddenly became embarrassed.
Not to mention who the current Chief Disciple of Kongyuan Mountain was.
Over ninety percent of these rogue cultivators around Taiyun City, whether in the Body Forging Realm or Qi Circulation Realm, probably couldn't even name the current Sect Master of the Kongshan Sect.
But as for who the current Kongshan Sect's Stationed Envoy in Taiyun City is, these rogue cultivators know all too well.
This is actually quite normal.
Because for them, the Kongshan Sect's Stationed Envoy disciple is already a quite formidable big shot. It could be said that within the scope of the Taiyun City vicinity, all matters of the immortal cultivation world must obtain the approval of the Kongshan Sect's Stationed Envoy disciple to proceed smoothly.
As for higher-ranking Kongshan Sect disciples, these rogue cultivators or scions of cultivation families have absolutely no contact with them.
Just like Chen Yan, who was once a marginal disciple of the outer court.
If you had asked him back then to name the Grand Elders of the Kongshan Sect, he definitely wouldn't have been able to name a single one either.
But as for which supervisors were in the outer court, and who the outer court elders were, Chen Yan knew perfectly well.
"Originally, this lowly one hadn't heard of the name of the Kongyuan Mountain Chief Disciple either. It wasn't until recently when I happened to hear some immortal masters discussing the Heavenly Summit Mountain Cataclysm, saying that only three of the Kongshan Sect's five Chief Disciples returned, that I learned what the Kongyuan Mountain Chief Disciple is called."
The waiter whom Huang Hongtao called Xiao Li said with a laugh:
"Seems there was also the Chief Disciple of some Qing-something Peak, called Chu-something or other, and also..."
"Xiao Li."
Chen Yan called out to the waiter leading the way ahead.
"Yes, Immortal Master! What are your instructions?"
The waiter responded.
"You seem quite proficient at the work in this gambling den."
Chen Yan said.
"Of course, Immortal Master! When you've done it for a long time, you naturally become proficient!"
"How long have you worked in the gambling den?"
Chen Yan asked.
"Ever since this Huang Family Gambling Den opened, I've been serving here!"
"And before the Huang Family Gambling Den opened?"
Chen Yan pressed further immediately.
Upon hearing this, Xiao Li fell silent for a moment, then chuckled twice:
"Immortal Master, to be honest with you, before I came to this Huang Family Gambling Den, I also worked for a few years at the original Immortal Gambling Den in Taiyun City."
"Then you really are fortunate, escaping that catastrophic disaster. I heard those people left no survivors."
"Heh, guess this lowly one's life is just big. On the night the Immortal Gambling Den was tragically wiped out, I happened to be off that day, so..."
Lies.
This waiter was lying.
Because on the night the Immortal Gambling Den was tragically wiped out, it was this very waiter in front of him who held his horse.
But, he didn't seem to recognize Chen Yan.
And how exactly did he survive, and why was he lying?
Chen Yan would get to the bottom of all this sooner or later.
...
Inside the Huang Family Gambling Den, inner area, private room.
There were only four people inside.
The sound of dice cups rattled, then stopped.
"How about it?"
Mister Cui lifted the dice cup in front of him, saying with a smile.
"Again!"
Chen Yan, flushed red, pushed the small handful of mid-grade spirit stones in front of him to the very center of the square table.
"Take it easy, Brother Yan, take it easy!"
The tall, skinny man with shifty eyes and a rat-like face beside him said to Chen Yan:
"There's plenty of time, Brother Yan. Even if you lose a few dozen mid-grade spirit stones today, it's nothing much. If you can't win them back today, just forget it, forget it!"
Seemingly comforting, but actually stirring the pot.
"Come on!"
Chen Yan shouted.
Everything was under his control.
The fundamental reason why this so-called "Mister Cui" was so enthusiastically bringing Chen Yan into this Huang Family Gambling Den to broaden his horizons was precisely to drain Chen Yan's money here.
It seemed this wasn't his first time doing this either.
Most likely, that vermilion-purple Daoist robe made of Azure Glaze Silk fabric on this old fellow's body was obtained through exactly this kind of method.
And that shifty-eyed Mister Zhu and that dull, gloomy Mister Zheng were most likely Mister Cui's accomplices.
This wasn't the first time something like this had happened.
That also meant it wasn't just these scoundrels in front of him;
the Huang Family behind this gambling den must also be intentionally tolerating these guys.
Relatively speaking, the former Immortal Gambling Den's way of doing things was more straightforward.
On one hand, it was because the manager of the Immortal Gambling Den, Ding Qiu, was himself a straightforward person.
On the other hand, it was because the Immortal Gambling Den also had the shadow of the Kongshan Sect behind it. With the Kongshan Sect's stature, such despicable matters were naturally intolerable.
"Open!"
Mister Cui once again lifted the dice cup in front of him, revealing the three dice inside.
"A pity, Brother Yan!"
Mister Cui shook his head with feigned regret, but couldn't hide the glee in his eyes.
These people's methods were also quite mediocre.
They just deliberately went easy at first, letting Chen Yan taste some sweetness, then suddenly dealt a heavy blow, making Chen Yan gradually lose his head, eventually evolving into the current situation.
"I'll turn it around, I must turn it around..."
Chen Yan muttered, reaching his hand into his robe. "Inadvertently," several high-grade spirit stones fell from his robe onto the gambling table in front of him.
Then, Chen Yan, as if nothing happened, stuffed these high-grade spirit stones back in.
But the attention of these cheating scoundrels had long been completely captured by the few high-grade spirit stones Chen Yan had revealed.
They had finally caught a big fish today.
The tragic part was, they never realized that the one truly losing his head wasn't Chen Yan, but them.
They were so far gone they never even considered how a young rogue cultivator at the mid-stage Body Forging Realm could possess so many high-grade spirit stones.
Loss.
"Again!"
Chen Yan shouted.
Still a loss.
"Again, again!"
Still, the same result.
"Come, aga..."
Chen Yan reached into the collar of his Daoist robe, only to find his pocket was already completely empty.
"There's plenty of time, Brother Yan."
The shifty-eyed Mister Zhu advised like this.
"Continue."
"But Brother Yan, what else can you bet with?"
"How about this?"
The originally hysterical "Yan Chen's" voice suddenly became incomparably calm.
This caused everyone else in the private room to hesitate for a moment.
They saw Chen Yan's hand make a light probing motion in the air, then slap the object that appeared in his hand onto the table in front of him.
A storage treasure. Not long after returning from Heavenly Summit Mountain, he had asked Lin Qifeng for one.
It was indeed very convenient.
The thing Chen Yan tossed onto the table was a jade token.
On the token were engraved four large characters: "Kongyuan Chief Disciple."
Compared to a storage treasure, this token represented convenience in another sense.
"I bet this, how about it?"
"Bro-Brother Yan?"
Looking at the jade token on the table, Mister Cui's brain clearly short-circuited for a moment.
Causing his voice to start stuttering a bit.
Chen Yan raised his right hand, made a "shush" gesture in front of his own face, then slowly said in a soft voice:
"My surname is Chen, Senior Cui."