Beginning with the Ubume Bird
Chapter 690 - Chapter 690 Chapter 76 Remaining Years of Life

Chapter 690: Chapter 76 Remaining Years of Life Chapter 690: Chapter 76 Remaining Years of Life .

“Pong.”

“Four Bamboo.”

…

Wenle scanned the table’s tiles, Se Kong could remember the positions of more than a dozen tiles, but since he was not familiar with the rules of mahjong, he couldn’t take advantage of it, while Wenle could only remember the position of one tile. Better than nothing, interestingly, Wenle was waiting to win on the Eight of Circles.

“No one else has made any calls for chow, pong, or kong, and in the next round, if I draw the Eight of Circles, I can win with a self-drawn tile and end this game, but if I break up the two Eight of Circles in my hand, I have a chance to win with a ‘Clean Hand with Pung’.”

Wenle gathered his tiles and secretly calculated: “If Muni really dies this time, and I can exchange the life chips I win back to their full amount, that would be the best outcome. Delays can lead to complications, I should end this round quickly. I can’t wait for the big win any longer.”

He was about to discard one of his character tiles when he caught a glimpse of Se Kong in the corner of his eye. The little nun’s gaze was very profound.

“…Eight of Circles.”

After much thought, Wenle decided to go for the ‘Clean Hand with Pung.’ He wasn’t being greedy; he just wanted to make a statement to Se Kong, to show that he was trying hard to win Zhao Jianzhong’s life chips.

Two rounds passed. Se Kong drew a very “live” Nine of Characters, and by then Wenle was ready to win, solely needing the Nine of Characters.

“If I let Wenle win the last round with my discard, wouldn’t I just be giving him an advantage for nothing?”

Se Kong, who had no intention of winning in the first place, decided to keep the Nine of Characters and discarded an East Wind tile.

“East Wind.”

“Four Bamboo.”

Now it was Zhao Jianzhong’s turn to draw, and his eyebrows twitched when he got the tile. He tossed it out immediately.

“Nine of Characters.”

“Win! Clean Hand with Pung.”

“Ya-ho!”

Se Kong was even happier than if he had won himself, jumping right up.

“Clean Hand is three times the points, Pung Hand is twice the points. Plus one time the points for the bonus tile. That’s six times the points, twelve hundred taels in total. Thank you for your generosity.”

Yu Shiqie glanced at Zhao Jianzhong, who nodded, before she spread out her tiles.

“One shot with double happiness, the sequence of middle, prosperity, and white dragons is five times the points, missing one suit is one time the points. In total, six times the points, twelve hundred taels.”

Zhao Jianzhong’s expression remained unchanged, evidently having anticipated this.

The soul chips began to move. Only Se Kong and Zhao Jianzhong lost chips at the table. Se Kong had lost a total of more than six hundred thousand soul chips beforehand, while Zhao Jianzhong had lost exactly thirty-one thousand points. Of which eighteen thousand two hundred were to Wenle, and twelve thousand eight to Yu Shiqie.

Wenle won big with just over fifty thousand, and Yu Shiqie also won more than sixty thousand.

“Mr. Zhao, why would you?”

Yu Shiqie couldn’t understand why Zhao Jianzhong deliberately let the last round go.

Zhao Jianzhong tapped the remaining tiles, which hopped twice to the one Wenle was about to draw, turned it over, and it was indeed the Nine of Characters.

“That’s better than him drawing it himself,” he said.

Se Kong’s face flushed red: “You still say you weren’t cheating!”

“Just counting cards,”

Zhao Jianzhong appeared nonchalant: “Didn’t you count? That doesn’t count as cheating.”

Zhao Jianzhong composed himself: “I won, so according to our agreement, you have to answer a question of mine.”

“Alright, ask away.”

Se Kong appeared calm, but her heart was pounding. After that seventeen-times-the-points game, she was of course not naive enough to think that she could easily get away with lying or reneging, and she couldn’t help but wonder how to answer if he asked about the location of the Bitter Realm or matters concerning Ben Wu.

Zhao Jianzhong’s face suddenly turned serious: “Where is Chen Xiaohu?”

Se Kong raised an eyebrow: “Who is Chen Xiaohu?”

She indeed couldn’t recall who it was, but Ying Tianshou still extended his vines, clearly indicating that this answer was not satisfactory to him.

“Let me think, let me think, Chen Xiaohu…”

Se Kong seemed to finally remember: “I’ve heard the elders with the sickness and the elders with the pain talk about this person, he’s dead.”

“Really?”

“Really, even his inheritance, Boxun, has been taken away by Muni. The man vanished into thin air long ago. I’m afraid that among all the fruits of connection with him, not even a few counterparts remain.”

“That doesn’t really matter.”

Zhao Jianzhong’s expression was hard to describe, but overall, it was comforting.

“Isn’t there still something left?!” Se Kong crossed her arms, “Fair is fair. How do we settle this game?”

She was staring at Yu Shiqie.

Yu Shiqie thought for a moment, “I don’t really know what I want. Let’s just let Ying Tianshou handle the calculations; I’m not picky.”

“If there are no special requests, Ying Tianshou will integrate lifespan, inheritance, Awakening Degree, Yan Fu’s secret treasures, etc., and distribute them proportionally to the winner. External objects are often calculated last. Over thirty thousand points typically equate to some years of life, secret treasures, and things like that,”

Zhao Jianzhong explained.

“Okay.”

Se Kong also agreed.

The life tokens in front of Yu Shiqie started to rapidly decrease, but her complexion became unusually rosy. Eventually, her life tokens hit zero; when Yu Shiqie tried to stand up, she faced no obstruction. Clearly, the part she had won had already been settled, but what exactly she had won was known only to her.

As for the losers Zhao Jianzhong and Se Kong, that amount of tokens wasn’t enough to cause them any major disturbance. Their complexions didn’t change at all.

“It’s his turn.”

Se Kong pointed at Wenle and then opened her mouth, spitting out a red bead from it.

“Open your mouth.”

Wenle did as instructed and opened his mouth; Se Kong shoved the saliva-coated red bead into his mouth.

“This bead of mine is worth at least five hundred thousand life tokens, right?”

The conversion token in the middle fluctuated and finally settled at five hundred and thirty-five thousand.

“No problem, then I’ll also…”

Zhao Jianzhong didn’t finish his sentence before Se Kong interrupted him.

“Hold on, the remaining life tokens, Wenle wants to convert them all into years of life!”

Zhao Jianzhong looked at Wenle.

Wenle smacked his lips, finding the bead from just now quite sweet. He saw Se Kong watching him and nodded too, “Years of life, years of life.”

“…Okay.”

Zhao Jianzhong placed his hand on a teacup.

As mentioned before, there are two types of tokens: life tokens and lifespan tokens. As an Elder of the Five Directions, Se Kong’s life tokens were over ten million, while her lifespan tokens were over one thousand. However, the display was limited to nine hundred and ninety-nine.

Zhao Jianzhong was the same, but the previously seen ‘999’ was obscured by a porcelain teacup, revealing only a ‘9’. This was purportedly ordinary water, but Se Kong seemed to have taken notice.

Wenle’s life token in front of him was rapidly decreasing.

Se Kong’s strength was too immense; though hundreds of thousands of life tokens were being drained, nothing seemed amiss from the outside. Finally, Wenle’s life tokens hit zero, the settlement finished, and Wenle also stood up.

The gaze of the three people on the field simultaneously focused on Zhao Jianzhong’s number of lifespan tokens.

Nine…

Eight…

Suddenly, Se Kong erupted into action, the air around her cracking with the force, leaving no time for anyone to react. Her target was not Zhao Jianzhong, but the porcelain teacup in his hand.

The porcelain shattered into nothingness at the sound, not even leaving behind powdered remnants, as the number on the lifespan token continued to fluctuate…

Seven…

Six…

Zero zero zero zero six.

Se Kong couldn’t help but burst into uncontrollable laughter, grabbing Ren Ni’s wrist.

“Old man Zhao, you’ve outplayed me this round, but I wouldn’t say I’ve lost. Wu Yin Flourishing will be waiting to collect your corpse!”

Then both of them disappeared from sight.

Zhao Jianzhong clenched his fist and then, smiling at the stupefied Yu Shiqie, said, “Had I known, I would’ve chosen a sturdier porcelain cup.”