Chapter 436: Chapter 436

"Cheating? How do you think I could cheat?" Xiaoyao looked at the middle-aged man and asked. "If you can't afford to lose, just say so. Don't make excuses. Also, don't think you can avoid paying. That was eight taels and eight qian of silver just now, give it to me."

"..." The middle-aged man looked at Xiaoyao. He felt cheating was impossible too. Xiaoyao was being watched by so many people, and the gambling house also had special staff watching. Cheating could almost be ruled out, unless this kid was some kind of super expert, but how could that be possible?

"Fine, I'll pay. I don't believe you can have such good luck." The middle-aged man was angry, wanting to fight Xiaoyao to the end. The other two had already retreated and been replaced by new people, this time the newcomers seemed more high-end.

"Come, come, continue."

"Self-draw Pure Hand." Xiaoyao pushed down his tiles again. This time the middle-aged man couldn't sit still.

"Self-draw..." Xiaoyao again, and the middle-aged man was nearly collapsing.

"Please stop self-drawing. Can't I admit defeat?" The middle-aged man cried. He never wanted to see this freak Xiaoyao again. This time, he had psychological trauma.

"Admitting defeat is fine, but I still want the money." Xiaoyao held out his hand.

"Here, this is my entire fortune, I'm giving it all to you." The middle-aged man threw down all his chips and ran off, seemingly in tears.

"Really, he actually escaped. Clearly that money still isn't enough. Forget it, it's just gambling debt anyway." Xiaoyao found the chips were still short by some, but didn't pursue it. After all, he was just playing around, having made someone lose everything, what more could he do?

"Do you want to continue?" Xiaoyao looked at the people beside him.

"Of course I will continue." The two newcomers were somewhat sweating but still wanted to continue. So far they hadn't lost and had even won quite a bit, Xiaoyao's round was still far from enough.

They didn't think Xiaoyao could keep winning, that was almost impossible.

"Then let's continue..."

Xiaoyao continued on, not knowing if this luck would stay with him. What he didn't know was that at this time, someone was worrying about him, wondering why he hadn't returned yet.

"Why hasn't young master returned yet? I'm still waiting to practice qin." At Yihong Courtyard, Mudan had already completed the task Xiaoyao assigned her. That Qi Dongqiang hadn't left earlier but had found other courtesans to continue drinking with. When Mudan came out, he naturally went with her.

Qi Dongqiang didn't blame Mudan because of Xiaoyao's matter, it wasn't just Mudan who had gone, all the other talented courtesans had gone too. Even those he could only look at but not touch had gone. What was there to blame? That would only show his pettiness.

So Mudan easily carried out her plan, sweet-talking him, using her feminine wiles, then when Qi Dongqiang was confused, bringing out Xiaoyao's book and letting Qi Dongqiang see that painting.

What she hadn't expected was that Qi Dongqiang seemed to suddenly sober up after seeing the painting, saying things Mudan didn't understand at the time. But soon Mudan had questioned out the situation.

So that's how it was...

A night passed. Xiaoyao returned to Yihong Courtyard at dawn. Who knows what he had been playing at Ruyi Gambling House to stay until now. When he was preparing to rest, Mudan caught him, so naturally he first listened to Mudan's report.

"What? He doesn't recognize her?"

When Xiaoyao heard Mudan's report, the first thing he heard was that Qi Dongqiang actually didn't recognize the woman in the painting.

Unexpectedly, after being busy for so many days, the result was "doesn't recognize her." This left Xiaoyao somewhat speechless. However, he quickly recovered from his disappointment, not because of his fast psychological recovery, but because there was more to the story.

"Though he doesn't recognize the woman in the painting, he knows who she is and where she comes from." Mudan said with a smile.

"Continue..." Xiaoyao irritably tapped Mudan. Actually keeping me in suspense, made me think this trip was wasted.

Mudan stuck out her tongue in a very cute manner. Indeed worthy of being Yihong Courtyard's top courtesan, she could act like anything.

"He said the woman in the painting was someone he admired, that he fell in love at first sight. But her status made it impossible for him to approach her, and at the time she already had someone beside her, so he could only sigh from afar." Mudan began speaking, but after talking for a long time still hadn't mentioned the woman's identity.

"Get to the point. I don't want to know about Qi Dongqiang's feelings, just tell me who the woman in the painting is." Xiaoyao said irritably. What was this Mudan rambling about?

"You're the one who told me to tell you everything completely, and now you're complaining." Mudan looked aggrieved, as if she had suffered great injustice.

"Alright, alright, my mistake. Continue speaking." Xiaoyao had a slight headache. These brothel women were indeed formidable. Forget it, no point arguing with her, after all, she was a woman.

"Hehe, Master Qi said the woman in the painting is called Yun Qingyi. He saw her at a sect competition over twenty years ago and became fascinated, had someone paint her portrait, and looked at it every day. Later, though not as obsessed, he still liked her very much. Even after marrying and having children, he never took down the portrait." Mudan organized her words as she spoke.

Qi Dongqiang seemed quite devoted to Yun Qingyi. If force had been used, it would have been very difficult to get information. Even with Mudan's intervention, success was only possible because so much time had passed and he had softened somewhat, otherwise it would have been very difficult.

If ordinary people asked him, it would only make him angry. This was a pain of his lifetime that even his daughter couldn't touch.

"Yun Qingyi?" Xiaoyao repeated the name. Finally knowing the name, as long as there was a name, it would be easier to investigate. Even without knowing other details, they could slowly find out.

"I know a bit about this Yun Qingyi. Back then she was one of the four great beauties of the martial world, called the Green-Robed Immortal. Later she got together with one of the four rising stars, Cloud-Entering Dragon Luo Yuntian. It was quite a romantic story in the martial world at the time, whether in appearance or martial arts, they were like a golden couple." Mudan said. Originally she wouldn't know about past martial world affairs, but this matter involving a beauty, as a woman, she would naturally look into it and happened to know about this.

"Luo Yuntian?" Another name appeared in Xiaoyao's mind. Could this Luo Yuntian be the man from that couple?

"Yes, Luo Yuntian. He's a young master of the Luo family." Mudan said. She also knew something about Luo Yuntian because of Yun Qingyi.

"Which Luo family?" Xiaoyao asked. There were quite a few Luo families in the world.

"Seems to be from a small country called Flowing Stone Kingdom. The Luo family is the largest family force in that country, counting as a great family. But the problem is Yun Qingyi wasn't simple. Yun Qingyi was the daughter of the sect master of Floating Cloud Sect, one of the ten great sects. Because of this, it's said Yun Qingyi's father, the Floating Cloud Sect master, looked down on the small Luo family and opposed Yun Qingyi being with Luo Yuntian." Mudan recalled and spoke of these matters.

"Another tragedy of matching social status. Some people just don't understand this lesson. Forget it, such is the mundane world." Xiaoyao helplessly shook his head.

"It's said the Luo family was also a great power long ago. At that time, even Floating Cloud Sect at its peak wasn't as strong as the Luo family. But later the family declined and lost in competition with another great power, nearly being exterminated. Later they escaped somewhere unknown and reappeared hundreds of years later, slowly developing in Flowing Stone Kingdom from a small family to the current great family."

Mudan continued: "It's said the Luo family could originally compete with great families of major nations, but the Luo family, whether from fear or other reasons, never left Flowing Stone Kingdom and kept a very low profile."

"Could it be such a coincidence? Does the Luo family have several thousand years of history?" A flash of inspiration struck Xiaoyao, he seemed to remember something.

"If counting the earlier period, yes, several thousand years, possibly even longer." Mudan replied. "I don't know the specifics, you'd have to check relevant historical records."

"I'll look into this. The Luo family, if it's really like that, then it's quite interesting." Xiaoyao looked out the window, murmuring.

"What?" Mudan asked puzzledly.

"Nothing. What else do you know?" Xiaoyao smiled and asked casually. ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴠɪsɪᴛ N0v3l.Fiɾe.net

"I know quite a lot. I also know that Yun Qingyi and Luo Yuntian actually grew up together as childhood sweethearts. Luo Yuntian went to study at Floating Cloud Sect from a young age, which is why they had such deep feelings. Later, because of opposition, they eloped and disappeared from the martial world for several years. Later they were found by both families, but it's said the rice was already cooked, they even had children, so the families could only agree to let them be together."

Mudan paused and continued: "But there was a condition, Luo Yuntian had to marry into the family. Only then did Yun Qingyi's father reluctantly agree to their marriage. It's said the two are very happy now, making people envy only mandarin ducks, not immortals."

Eloping and disappearing for several years, this seemed to match the conditions. It looked like the people he was looking for should be this couple.

"Oh, so this couple should be at Floating Cloud Sect now." Xiaoyao said. Since it was marrying into the family, they should be living on the woman's side, naturally at Floating Cloud Sect.

"No, they're still at the Luo family." Mudan shook her head.

"??" Xiaoyao was somewhat confused. What was this situation? Why would they still be at the Luo family? If they were at the Luo family, then Luo Yuntian would be pitiful.

One could imagine what kind of status someone who basically married into the family would have while living in his own clan, he would only be mocked. Even if not openly, there would definitely be secret ridicule.