Chapter 20: She Was Winning It Back

They reached Wangshan City without delay. Yun Wan handed Li Xuanyou's situation off to Qin Zhiyan and Chu Lin, then headed to the black market with Xie Tingyun.

It wasn't indifference. Something about that old man stank of a setup, and since the two of them were independent cultivators with no faction behind them, making any real move would've been complicated. Qin Zhiyan had a sect mission. Better to let her handle it cleanly.

The black market sat inside a small secret realm tucked off Changye Street.

Secret realms in this world ran three tiers: Heaven, Earth, and Spirit, each divided into nine grades. Earth-tier was the most common. A standard Earth-first realm was wide open and empty, useful mostly as training grounds for sects. When one appeared outside sect territory, merchants moved in fast, converting it into a black market — hidden from civilians, invisible to sect patrols, and extremely profitable.

This one was exactly that.

Before entering, Yun Wan and Xie Tingyun both changed their appearances. Even their swords got a new look. Only then did they step through.

Whatever the realm had looked like before, it was unrecognizable now. Restaurants, brothels, gambling dens — the works. A full underground city that had grown into itself over the years.

Yun Wan didn't go looking for Li Xuanming yet. First, she made the rounds and asked questions.

Three types of gambling ran here. Duels pitted cultivators' spiritual power against each other, with a life-or-death contract signed in advance — the most brutal option. Stone betting worked like gemstone gambling: crack open spirit ore and see who pulled the highest-grade stone. The Flying Sword Tournament was the simplest: a straight aerial race, first to the finish line wins.

She bought some insider information from a broker, listened carefully, and worked out the shape of things.

Then she stopped at a teahouse, picked up two small items she'd need, and went to wait.

Qin Zhiyan and Chu Lin arrived not long after, with the hapless Li Xuanyou trailing behind them.

He spotted Yun Wan and immediately lit up, crossing the distance at speed and grabbing her hand with both of his. "Miss! You saved my life! I will never forget this as long as I live!"

She'd heard that line before.

Yun Wan took her hand back, expression unchanged. "Is your matter sorted?"

Li Xuanyou's face fell. "Don't get me started. That old man poisoned my tea and tried to take my sword. If these two hadn't shown up when they did, I'd have been finished."

Qin Zhiyan picked up the thread: "The demonic beasts that attacked you were captured from Luwu Mountain and trained specifically to guard Xiaotian Peak. After they killed someone, the handlers would collect the valuables left behind and resell them. They saw your swords and set the whole thing up to lure you in." She clicked her tongue. "You really walked right into it."

Li Xuanyou's jaw tightened. "The tea that old man gave me tasted exactly the same as what my junior brother and I drank before we ended up here. We were barely conscious when we signed the contract and got thrown into the arena."

The whole city, it seemed, was rotten top to bottom.

Yun Wan gave his shoulder a pat. "Doesn't matter. We're going to get your junior brother back right now."

His face pinched. "Redeeming him will cost spirit stones, and I'm afraid I don't have—"

"Who said anything about paying?" Yun Wan raised an eyebrow. "I'm going to win it."

Silence.

Qin Zhiyan stared. She had been trying to figure out how Yun Wan planned to make them all money, and somehow she had landed on gambling. Gambling. She thought of her senior brother from the Medicine Sect, who had walked out of a den like this with nothing left to his name.

"I knew it." Qin Zhiyan's voice climbed. "You kept saying you'd help people earn big money, and this whole time you were leading us into a casino! I should never have trusted you." She grabbed Chu Lin's sleeve and turned to leave.

"Hold on." Yun Wan stepped in front of her. "You're not thinking about this right. Gambling requires you to risk your own money. You haven't put in a single spirit stone or placed a single bet. How is that gambling?"

Qin Zhiyan opened her mouth. Closed it. Chu Lin glanced at Yun Wan sideways.

Yun Wan dropped her voice. "I looked into it. The Flying Sword Tournament pays out prize money to the top five finishers, and spectators can bet on whoever they like. Four of us compete, one of us holds the bet on the outside. We earn from both ends."

Li Xuanyou shook his head slowly. "Miss, you don't understand. The tournament is run by the Black Market Owner. They have over a dozen of their own people seeded in the race, there to interfere with everyone else and guarantee their chosen winner takes first place. That's exactly how my junior brother and I lost everything."

"Which is precisely why I want four of us in there." Yun Wan looked around at them. "Three to run interference, one to win. You protect the runner, the runner crosses the line. Or are you telling me the four of you can't handle a handful of planted ringers?" She let that sit.

One by one, without quite meaning to, they straightened up.

Li Xuanyou lifted his chin. "As a disciple of the Pure Moon Sect, I'd be ashamed to admit I couldn't manage that. My cultivation may not be exceptional, but don't count me out."

"Good. Then it's settled."

Qin Zhiyan still wavered, worrying at her lower lip. "But if my father finds out..."

"If you don't say anything and I don't say anything, and we're all in disguise, who's going to tell him?" Yun Wan glanced over at Chu Lin. "You're not going to report her, are you?"

Chu Lin said nothing, but his expression shifted slightly. Something about this woman was dangerous — not in any obvious way, but in the way she moved words around until they meant what she wanted them to. Qin Zhiyan didn't stand a chance against that.

"Ayan." His voice was calm. "This is resolved. We should return to the sect and report to the elders."

Yun Wan didn't miss a beat. "Ayan. Have you really thought this through? You won't get another shot at something like this."

Qin Zhiyan was caught squarely between them.

Chu Lin was probably right. She should go home. But then again — Chu Lin was incredibly powerful. A few planted competitors shouldn't give him any trouble. And she had been running low on spending money for a while now.

She grabbed the edge of her sleeve. "You're... not going to deceive me?"

Yun Wan sighed, patient as ever. "If I were going to deceive you, I'd have done it already. And besides, this isn't about gambling — it's about rescuing someone. His junior brother is trapped in there. His sect is gone. Is it gambling when you risk something to save a person? We're doing a good deed. Acting with honor. Heaven rewards that kind of thing."

She said it with complete sincerity, chin raised, looking righteous enough to carve into stone.

Qin Zhiyan blinked, thoroughly thrown.

Only Xie Tingyun stayed quiet, eyes lowered, one hand resting on the hilt of his sword.

Sure you are.

"Alright," Qin Zhiyan said finally, tugging at Chu Lin's sleeve. "Senior brother. His sect was taken from him. I really think we should help."

Li Xuanyou immediately grabbed Chu Lin's other sleeve. "Yes, senior brother. My sect is gone. Please help me~"

Chu Lin looked at the hand on his sleeve.

Revolting.

He shook Li Xuanyou off and conceded, because what else was there to do.

Qin Zhiyan wanted to bet on Chu Lin to win — he was the finest disciple in Jingyue Sect, after all. Yun Wan shut that down immediately. "If your senior brother is that capable, he's more useful as backup. Let us handle first place."

Qin Zhiyan thought about it. Her senior brother was powerful. He should be doing the hard work.

"Senior brother, please. Just this once. Keep them from trying anything."

Chu Lin stood very still for a moment.

He was fully aware this woman had maneuvered every single one of them here. But the roles were already assigned.

With that settled, a new problem surfaced: Qin Zhiyan had no money to bet with. She couldn't ask Chu Lin — he'd sunk nearly everything into his sword. She was too embarrassed to ask Yun Wan. She was still turning the problem over in her head when Yun Wan reached into her storage bag and set down a thousand high-grade spirit stones.

All three men went still.

Li Xuanyou swallowed audibly. "Miss. I had no idea you were carrying that kind of money."

"It's nothing." Yun Wan pushed the pile toward Qin Zhiyan without ceremony. "Your bet."

Chu Lin couldn't stop himself. "Didn't you say there was no betting?"

"Ayan isn't using her own money, so she isn't betting. I'm using mine. What's the problem?"

The breath left him. He turned away. "Absurd."

Qin Zhiyan stared down at the spirit stones in her palms, warm and solid, for a long moment. "And if I win..."

"The winnings are yours."

"Mine?"

"Yes. Yours."

Qin Zhiyan nearly went lightheaded.

Things like this actually happened in the world?

"Then — then what do I do?"

"Go find a spot in the stands. We'll handle registration."

She tucked the spirit stones away and practically floated off toward the arena seating.

Yun Wan led the rest through to the inner arena. The registration table stood just inside the entrance, guards flanking it, with the competitors' waiting area beyond. She didn't move to register. She tapped two fingers lightly on the table.

The record-keeper looked up. "Registering?"

"I'm here to see Master Qiu."

Master Qiu. The black market's owner.

The steward's eyes slid past her to Li Xuanyou, and recognition clicked into place. He smiled, slow and unbothered. "Young Master Li sent someone to pay a visit?"

Li Xuanyou's jaw set. With Yun Wan beside him, he found his nerve. "Tell that man to come out and face us."

The steward's smile didn't waver. He gestured to someone nearby, and a fox-eared half-demon appeared at the edge of the room. "My master invites you in. Please follow me."

Yun Wan walked forward without hesitation.