Dragon's Soul Chapter 101: Ring Leader

All eyes were now focused at the table on the far end of the casino. After winning back some of the gold coins he and his two lovely wives lost, Zhang had been on a winning streak.  Although he started off with only a one-thousand-coin bet, Zhang had been doubling his bet every match afterward like he had done before. But this time instead of losing, he was winning every single match. Zhang had lost a total of around ten million gold coins and had won six million back, but if he kept this trend up he would win back all he lost, then some.
 
“How… how could this be possible. I’ve made sure to use my fire magic on the dice every time, like I’ve done before… I even swapped out the dice, how is this happening.” The dealer who had cheated Zhang thought after losing four rounds in a row.
 
“Lin Shou, the boss told me to come and replace you.” A voice rang out behind the dealer.
 
“Brother Qian Sheng, please give me a chance. Just one more round, I need to wipe that smirk off this brat’s face.” Lin Shou said in an unhappy tone, he knew if he left this table and let the other dealer take over then there wouldn’t be a chance to deal against Zhang again.
 
Also although Zhang had not won back all his money yet, Lin Shou was still somewhat afraid of being punished because he allowed Zhang to win so much of it back. Although the casino still hadn’t lost any of its money yet and was simply giving Zhang back the money he had lost before, the way they saw it was that Zhang was winning their money. Once money entered their pockets, they did not want to dish it back out.
 
It was as if someone walked up to a dog and gave it a juicy steak but as it took a nibble the person takes back the juicy steak.
 
“One more round and that’s it.” Qian Sheng said in a cold tone.
 
“Are we still playing or not? If not, I’ll take my leave.” Zhang said in an impatient tone.
 
“No no, young master. Of course we are still playing. Please place your bet.” Lin Shou said as he held on to the dice cylinder with a fake smile on his face. It was clear that he looked down on Zhang and disliked him.
 
“Ai how much do you think we should bet this time?” Zhang said in a playful tone, the total opposite of how he had spoken to Lin Shou moments ago.
 
“Bet a lot, I dare you. I’ll make sure that you lose this round. You son of a b.i.t.c.h, I’ll make sure you lose so badly this time.” Lin Shou thought as he cursed at Zhang in his mind.
 
“ Ummmmmm ten million.” Ai said as her finger was poking her face as if she was lost in thought.
 
“Ten million it is.” Zhang said.
Once those words left Zhang and Ai’s mouths the crowd around their table was life breathless. Many of them has never seen such a large amount of money in their lives and to think someone was betting with such an outrageous amount.
 
“Young master, for a bet that large we would need to see the bet.” Qian Sheng said as he stood behind Lin Shou.
 
“There's six million there and here's another four million.” Zhang said as he waved his hand and a mound of gold appeared on the ground. The crowd stared at this mound of gold with glimmering eyes but did not get any funny ideas because moments after the gold flowed onto the ground, dozens of guards from the casino came to safeguard it.
 
“d.a.m.n how can someone have so much money on them.” Qian Sheng thought. He had hoped that Zhang was bluffing and then he would be able to decline Zhang’s bet because after subtracting out the amount that Zhang had lost before, the casino would be in over six million gold coins it Zhang won. Such an amount would definitely cause the higher ups of the organization to punish or reward whoever the dealer was. But seeing how Lin Shou was on a losing streak, Qian Shen hoped to keep him out of trouble.
 
“On second thought, I’ll do ten million for each of my lovely wives.” Zhang said with a smile as he waves his hand once more and another mound of gold appeared. It was time to lure the snake out of its den. If the casino did not take his bet then he would accuse them of running after winning his money, if they did then Zhang could win a huge chunk of money from them and that would obviously draw the attention of those who ran the casino, giving him a chance to meet them. Once he met those people the next part of his plan could come into play.
 
“Twe-twenty million?” A man in the crowd with a crow mask stuttered.
 
Lin Shou gulped as he looked at the amount of gold coins that Zhang had on the floor.
 
“I'm thinking I will bet one this square.” Zhang said as he pointed to a square that said triple ones on it. Zhang had bet that the next draw would result in three dice with one point each, the payout of such a bet was one to one hundred eighty. Meaning if he won he would relieve an astronomical amount of money.
 
Seeing Zhang’s bet everyone in the crowd had money signs in their eyes. The unbelievable amount of money he could possibility get would be enough to perhaps buy or create provinces.
 
“Lin Shou move aside, I will be the dealer for this round.” A young man in his late twenties or early thirties with an intimidating air around him and a scar that ran along his cheek said.
 
Seeing this man, Lin Shou didn't say a word and back away while bowing. This man was the underground kingpin of New Moon Province, the man who runs the underworld of this province.
 
“It seems the snake has taken the bait. Well it's not like he could afford not to. If I win this his organization might go bankrupt, and it's not like they can try to weasel out of paying me with so many people here. Don't pay up and risk dragging their reputation through the dirt, even an underground organization needs some reputation to operate. Lastly they shouldn't even think of trying to rob me.” Zhang thought for a moment as he eyed the man who just arrived at the table.
 
“My magic might have failed but the boss Ran Kaitou, is an earth Mage who can even manipulate metal so certainly that brat is going to get a run for his money.” Lin Shou thought.
 
Ran Kaitou had mysteriously appeared in the New Moon Province a few years ago after the Sai Empire had invaded the Heilong Kingdom and various other kingdoms. It was said that he was the fallen prince of some small kingdom to the north of the Heilong Kingdom.
 
This man had arrived in New Moon City with nothing but the clothes on his back and a few retainers but after a few short years was able to seize control of the black market in the province along with other various illegal establishments.
 
“Alright young master if that is what you wish to bet on then I will proceed?” Ran Kaitou said to Zhang as he held the dice cylinder. He did not seem like Lin Shou who had looked down upon Zhang but instead he could tell that Zhang was someone unfathomable.
 
“If I were to say I wished to double my bet, what would you say?” Zhang asked with a devious smile on his face.
 
“I would have to ask you to kindly lower your bet because a small establishment such as us couldn't afford to pay out such a number if you were to win.” Ran Kaitou replied.
 
One hundred eighty times twenty million gold coins was already something that was out of this world, but one hundred eighty times forty million was something that could not be achieved even if Ran Kaitou had all of the men in his organization work for Zhang for the rest of their lives.
 
Zhang of course was bluffing because he himself did not possess forty million gold coins, perhaps thirty million thanks to all of the plundering he had done but nowhere near forty.
 
“Consider the extra money after I break even a gift.” Zhang said with a smile, showing he was a hundred percent certain he would win.
 
With a legendary treasure such as the Underworld Heart, he could cancel out any of the techniques that Ran Kaitou or Lin Shou could possibly use to manipulate the dice roll. Then he can use the heart to make the dice land on whatever side he wishes for it to land on.
 
This of course is because techniques used to manipulate the dice had to be subtle, thus possessed little power, which allowed for Zhang to easily cancel them out. If these were instead full on spells, then cancelling them out would not be easy at all.
 
“We won’t know if it is you who will be giving the gift of if it will be me who will be giving the gift.” Ran Kaitou with a smirk as he began shaking the dice cylinder.
 
A yellow earthen glow was enveloping the dice inside the cylinder, where no one could see it. But this once Ran Kaitou placed the dice cylinder onto the table a purplish glow swept through his yellow one and enrolled the three dice.
 
Noticing this yet another yellow energy appears in the cylinder trying to envelope the dice once more. For a few seconds perhaps it was able to take control of the dice but was then swept away by the purplish energy.
 
Neither man could use a lot of energy or else the crowd around the table would notice their manipulation of the dice.
 
With a smile on his face, Zhang released his control over the dice, allowing Ran to manipulate them.
 
“If we keep fighting back and forth then perhaps no one will ever see the end result of this match.” Zhang thought.
 
Thinking that he had won, Ran quickly lifted the dice cylinder to reveal the end result of the match.
 
“Consider this my win.” Zhang thought as the purple energy from the Underworld Heart appeared moments before the dice were revealed.
 
Once the dice cylinder was lifted an entire casino fell into silence.
 
“Brother look! Look we win!” Ai said happily. Simply winning made a smile appear on her beautiful face, as for the money she didn't care too much about it. Inside her interspatial ring were all sorts of luxurious gems, necklaces and other sorts of jewelry, along with a mountain of gold coins of her own.
 
“Young master, someone with you power couldn't possibly be here to win some gold coins. Please tell me how I may help you instead of continuing with this charade.” Ran Katou said as he looked down at the three dice on the table.
 
All six sides of each of the dice on the table had single dots on them. In the amount of time Zhang has, for him to be able such a thing without anyone noticing or causing the dice to explode showed he had complete control of his essence.
 
Someone who had complete control over their essence was obviously a master and of course a master couldn't possibly be out to scam a casino. But of course there are also exceptions.
 
This was all the Underworld Heart’s doing but how could anyone possibly know.
 
“I have but a single request, a rather simply one that could be beneficial to you.” Zhang said as the gold coins around him began floating into the air. All of the gold coins on the table he was sitting at and soon copper, silver and gold coins also began floating into the air.
 
Zhang's arms were now wrapped around his two lovely wives. As the three were in the center of the swirl of floating coins a piece of paper appeared in front of Zhang and slowly drifted toward Ran Kaitou.
 
“Meet me at the location on that piece of paper.” Zhang said as the swirl of gold coins turned into a storm and blocked Zhang, Yuying and Ai from everyone’s gaze.
 
An instance later a blinding white light caused everyone to shutter their eyes. By the time their eyes opened, Zhang and the two beauties accompanying them had disappeared, along with all of the gold, silver and copper coins that had floated into the air.
 
“That was such a mystical sight.” A man in cat mask said.
 
“Where’d my money go!?” Another man who was in a dog mask yelled.
 
Following this man’s words everyone now noticed that Zhang and the beauties not only disappeared but so did their money.
 
“Boss! The room where we keep the winnings is empty!” One of Ran Kaitou’s men yelled out in a panicked voice.
 
Ran Kaitou did not respond because he was still reading the contents on the piece of paper that Zhang gave him.
 
“Meet me at the Silver Swan Hotel in three hours, bring along as many men as you can. If you do not show up, then you will regret missing out on an opportunity such as this for the rest of your life.” Zhang’s letter said.
 
“Casino is closed for the rest of today and the next few days! Qian Shen gather all of the men, we have a get together to attend.” Ran Kaitou yelled out.
 
Outside of the casino Zhang could be seen walking with his two lively wives, hand in hand.
 
“Sweetheart aren't you afraid that he won't work with us because you emptied out his safe?” Ling asked as her body brushed an against Zhang’s and her head leaned on his shoulder.
 
“Yea brother, sis is right. Wouldn't they not want to work with us?” Ai joined in while also leaning her body onto Zhang as her head rested on his shoulder.
 
“We sure made a killing today.” Zhang chuckled. Along with getting back all of the money he lost, he was able to get a few hundred thousand gold coins from the casino. Although the it wasn't a number in the millions, he was still quite happy with this harvest.
 
“Sucks they didn't keep too much at the casino; they must have a safe house somewhere else.” He thought.
 
“Well if he works with us then his reward will be many times more enticing than a few gold coins.” Zhang said with a laugh as he and his two wives continued walking down the street. Ai and Ling continued walking asking side him while his arms were wrapped around their waists.
 
With the masks they were wearing removed, many jealous gazes were directed at Zhang as they continued down the street. Of course there were also gazes of young women who had become smitten with a tall young man with somewhat broad shoulders who gave off an air of greatness, he had long flowing black hair that would put some women to shame. He had handsome features such as slanted eye brows along with large eyes, light colored skin and a lean build.
 
Overall Zhang looked like a scholar, but gave off a mysterious sense of attraction to those around him.

=====================================================================================
Ran Kaitou appears! Thank You for Readers. Thank You Donators. Thank You those who support me on patreaon! Wish you all a great day or night O_O. I'm working on chapter 3 of Ascending The Heavens now once i get to like 50 I'll post them all in one go O_O and flood the site.