The four VIP halls of Ming Tang Wo were four stand-alone buildings, which were connected to the main hall by corridors. On both sides of the corridors was the beautiful landscape scenery of pavilions, ponds, and gardens; an elegant ambience, totally different and more interesting than the hubbub and the noise and excitement of the mail hall.

Since from time to time the successive monarchs were taking measure to prohibit gambling, the casino had separate venues, which were named ‘Ming Tang Zi’ [lit. bright (or public/open) small hall], and ‘Si Wo Zi’ [private small den/nest]. The former was the casino that was open to public, the latter was a private mansion that was used as the casino. Therefore, the name Ming Tang Wo came from a combination of the ‘Ming Tang’ of the ‘Ming Tang Zi’ and the ‘Wo’ of the ‘Si Wo Zi’.

From this, one could see the ‘Great Immortal’ Hu Fo’s prestige and influence in the Dulin [lit. gambling forest]. It was also clear that in the midst of chaotic situation before the world was unified, the competition among the gambling heroes and gambling hegemons of all parties was already very fierce.

Because this business was extremely lucrative, to be able to open a gambling establishment, not only one must have strong and solid financial resources, one must also get along well with people from black and white ways, plus one must have strong support from either the authority or nobility or both.

In Chang’an, the two largest public and legitimate casinos were Ming Tang Wo and the Six-Happiness Casino. The former had the support of Yin Zuwen, the father of Li Yuan’s doted imperial concubine Yin De Fei [‘fei’ means imperial concubine]. The latter was under Li Yuanji’s protection. Therefore, their standing was extremely strong. Even Li Shimin, who was a proponent of prohibition against gambling, could not do anything against these two casinos.

On the surface, the Six-Happiness Casino was under management of a man with a nickname ‘Shen Xian Shou’ [Daoist immortal/deity hand] Chi Shengchun. But according to Lei Jiuzhi, Chi Shengchun ought to be Xiang Shengchun, Xiang Gui’s eldest son, Xiang Yushan’s eldest brother.

Lei Jiuzhi told all these things to Xu Ziling on their way to Ming Tang Wo, in order to strengthen his resolution to strive for the hegemony of the gambling world. Only by defeating the ‘Great Immortal’ Hu Fo and ‘Deity Hand’ Chi Shengchun would they be able to lure Xiang Gui out and proceed with Lei Jiuzhi’s grand plan of destroying the Xiang Family from the inside.

The four VIP halls of Ming Tang Wo were given the names ‘Da Xian’ [Great Immortal], ‘Tian Huang’ [Heaven/Sky Emperor], ‘Di Huang’ [Earth Emperor], and ‘Ren Huang’ [Man/human Emperor], respectively. Other than the main hall, ‘Da Xian Tang’ [tang = hall], which was not being setup for specific game, each of the three rear halls was setup for specific game. The ‘Tian Huang Tang’ was dice, ‘Di Huang Tang’ was Pan Tan, the ‘Ren Huang Tang’ was Pai Jiu; all were widely popular gambling games.

‘Da Xian Tang’ was Ming Tang Wo’s highest holy land. On the inside, it was divided into eighteen small gambling halls, allowing the gamblers to select the game they wanted to play. The casino itself would be happy to accompany them, but they could also arrange the guests to play against each other; the casino only drew certain-percentage commission.

Xu Ziling and Lei Jiuzhi entered the ‘Tian Huang Tang’, specializing in dice. This hall had about two-thirds the surface area of the main hall, but the number of people inside was only about one-quarter of the main hall. The guests were comparatively of the higher-class; none did not wear gorgeous, fittingly-tailored clothes. Although not as clamorous as the gamblers in the outer hall, the atmosphere was still blazing.

Among the guests, there was no lack of magnificently-dressed women with beautiful appearance. The majority being the ladies from the pleasure houses that the honored guests and the rich merchants brought along into the casino. Everybody was gambling in high spirits; the heaven and the earth lost their light.

Entering the casino, Lei Jiuzhi was like returning home; relaxed and comfortable. He pulled Xu Ziling to sit on the chair at the corner. The casino attendant on duty came to greet them and offer fragrant tea.

Xu Ziling took a sip of the hot tea; he shook his head and said, “I really don’t understand why so many people would be addicted to this and unwilling to let go. Don’t they know the ‘ten bets nine losses’ principle?”

Lei Jiuzhi replied quietly, “Although everybody knew that principle, by nature people are greedy, they always think that the god of fortune might bless them; therefore, since ancient times they are always like circling vultures. Otherwise, the casinos would be out of business a long time ago.”

Lei Jiuzhi’s eyes scanned the gamblers again before calmly said, “Casinos are really like miniature world; there are all kinds of people in existence here. Some only whittle their time away or just to dispel their boredom, gambling leisurely to balance their life. Some came to flaunt their riches, throwing away a thousand taels of gold without hesitation; the casino is just like a place where they could parade their wealth. For some, the intense battle on the gambling tables is some kind of psychological detachment from the real world, to turn anxieties into amusement, to immerse themselves into the excitement of a game of chance. But some others gamble out of curiosity, or perhaps using the game of chance as a means to seek contact with certain people for their own benefit, to use it as a communication method, so much so that they would deliberately lose to the other party, which is akin to a disguised form of bribery. The worst kind is the compulsive gamblers; losing, they want to recover their capital, winning, they want to win some more. This kind of addiction is difficult to cure; they would keep sinking and bring disgrace forever.”

Greatly astonished, Xu Ziling said, “Your thought is very thorough. Although I did think about this problem, I could only think about gamblers as the recipients of the excitement stimulated by the depravity of gambling, by the changeable situation, where victory and defeat will be decided in an instant, the psychological temptation of winning a lot of money by relying on pure luck. I have never thought about other situations.”

Lei Jiuzhi smiled and said, “Let’s stop chatting. I want to see your, Laodi [ol’ younger brother] skill in listening to the dice; I wonder if it has disappeared due to lack of practice?”

‘The long Wuxia [Gorge] of the Three Gorges [on the Yangtze River] in the eastern Ba [Sichuan], three cries of the apes brought tears staining the lower garment. The apes of the Three Gorges of Eastern Ba cry in grief, three cries of the apes brought tears moistening the dress’.

Bu Jie, Bu Ting, Tian Santang, Xiao Xiuming, Xie Jiarong, Chen Liang, Wu Dengshan, and Liu Shiwen, along with the nine beautiful courtesans accompanying them drinking, had never thought that this Mo Wei’s improvisation in poetry was as excellent as his swordsmanship. Nobody did not clap their hands and cheered, and toasted each other with a cup.

The beautiful courtesan accompanying Hou Xibai called Guizhi [lit. cinnamon] threw half of her body into his bosom while cooing tenderly, “Mo Ye’s train of thought is very quick; it seems that it would be difficult to find an opponent in Chang’an! Let Nujia toast you one more cup.”

Inwardly though, Hou Xibai felt a little regret. Reciting poetry and composing poems were easy for him, but if Xu Ziling became Mo Wei again, this might be a problem. It’s just too bad that going to a brothel for him was like Lei Jiuzhi going to a casino; after two cups of wine went down this belly and he had beautiful women by his side, his will was immediately swept away, he forgot who he was, and was unable to control himself.

When he was drinking the good wine that the beauty held against his lips and the crowd was cheering to boost his spirit, someone outside the door laughed and spoke in impure Han language, “I hope Mo Xiong’s sword is like your skill in producing poetry, so that Dazhi can broaden his horizon.”

Immediately Bu Ting and the others’ countenance changed.

Raising his cup, Hou Xibai drained it in one gulp, and said with a long laugh, “When morning breaks, go to Shang Lin, when evening comes, rest at Shang Lin; from dawn to dusk spend the day in Shang Lin. Ke Xiong wants to personally experience Xiaodi’s sword technique, it is indeed Xiaodi’s honor. Only aren’t you afraid that saber light and sword shadow will greatly damage Shang Lin’s wind and moon [romance/beautiful scenery]?”

The door was opened wide, revealing Ke Dazhi’s imposing figure. This young martial art from Eastern Tujue’s eyes were like lightning as they stared fixedly at Hou Xibai’s face. Calmly and leisurely he said, “Using martial art to make friends is actually another way apart from using poetry and drinking wine to meet friend. Since we are not going to fight a life and death battle, what does it have to do with Shang Lin Yuan’s fine time, beautiful scenery?”

Confident and at ease, Hou Xibai laughed and said, “Well said! Let Xiaodi offer Ke Xiong a toast.”

Hou Xibai’s leisurely and comfortable, relaxed manner was greatly beyond Ke Dazhi’s expectation. He would never have thought that the everyday Hou Xibai was just this kind of free, unconstrained, casual person. Even if he was defeated or even killed, he would never change this distinctive character.

Ke Dazhi was displaying a martial art master’s bearing; stepping forward directly toward the table, he took the cup of good wine that Hou Xibai personally poured to the brim. Raising it up, he said, “Mo Xiong’s spirit is indeed out of the ordinary. We will have a three-stroke limit to add a little color to Shang Lin Yuan’s beautiful scenery.”

Hou Xibai was relieved. It would be very bad if they were having a free hand combat and he was forced to reveal his unique school’s Fan of Beauty.

Under Bu Jie and the others’ worried look, Hou Xibai rose to his full height. He and Ke Dazhi saluted each other with a toast. Before using martial art to make friends, they used the wine to make friends first.

Showing off the wild and dauntless character of Tujue warrior, Ke Dazhi casually hurled the wine cup onto the floor, creating sharp and clear noise as the cup shattered. His eyes were flashing with intense murderous intent, but the tone of his voice was surprisingly tranquil. He said, “Taizi Dianxia’s room is a bit more spacious. Mo Xiong, please!”

Turning around, he simply left.

Hou Xibai signaled Bu Jie, Bu Ting, and the others not to worry and to wait for him, before following behind Ke Dazhi out of the room.

The other gamblers’ envious eyes were looking at Xu Ziling collecting his win. More anxiously, they were waiting for which gate, among the two gates, ‘big’ and ‘small’, Xu Ziling would put his bet next.

Xu Ziling has been playing for seven hands and won five, netting him nearly fifty taels of gambling chips, which was equivalent to nearly two hundred taels of Wu Zhu Coin[1]; a considerable amount of money.

Originally, when the Sui Dynasty unified the world, they also unified the currency by minting Wu Zhu Coin. By the time Emperor Yang ascended the throne, the expenditures of the military campaigns over many years put a very heavy burden on the state treasury, which forced the House of Sui to mint a large amount of Wu Zhu Coin. As a result, its worth and market value plummeted, inflation intensified, plus under lax government control, there were a large number of private foundries casting their own money.

When the House of Tang was established in Guanzhong, Li Yuan, following Li Shimin’s proposal, minted new currency called Kaiyuan Tongbao[2], in which ten wen worth one tael. The people under his rule may still use the old dynasty’s Wu Zhu Coin in place of the new currency, with the exchange rate of four taels of Wu Zhu Coin to one tael of Kaiyuan Tongbao. Therefore, winning fifty taels in Chang’an was equal to winning two hundred taels of Wu Zhu Coin being used in the area outside the Pass. This amount was nothing to be sneezed at.

If gold was converted directly into Tongbao, each tael of gold could be exchanged for more than thirty taels of Tongbao. Therefore, Xu Ziling’s win of fifty taels of gaming chips was really a considerable wealth.

Although the ‘Tian Huang Tang’ specialized in dice, there were all kinds of gambling games; there was big and small, two gates, and then there was sixteen-gate wager, or putting the bet according to the number of dots on the dice themselves, such as using three dice: if one die matched the number of the bet, the payment would be one to one, if two dice matched, two to one, if all three matched, three to one.

There was also Pan Tan style counting; the total number of dots on three dice divided by four, the remainder would be the points that the bet was checked against. The most complicated was using Tian Jiu Pai style. The three dice were matched against various tile combination of the Tian Jiu Pai, and the winning or losing was determined according to Tian Jiu rules.

All shapes and styles, rich and diverse; it was difficult to enumerate.

Xu Ziling was playing the simplest big/small, two gates, simply because his dice-listening skill was still not one hundred percent accurate, he could not always hear the dots that the three dice landed on. Therefore, although the two-gate wager only paid one to one, he had a comparatively higher odds.

Lei Jiuzhi intentionally did not stay near him; he stood on the other side of the gambling table, helping him by being on the lookout.

With an endless clanking noise the covered bowl was shaken for one round and then stopped, the casino girl shaking the bowl called loudly in singsong voice, “Have treasure bet your treasure, no treasure leave the table.”

The more than thirty gamblers standing around the table had their eyes on Xu Ziling, to see which gate he would put his bet on, because they wanted to go with the tide and place their bet on the same gate, hoping that they could obtain his luck and win some money.

Xu Ziling already received pointers from Lei Jiuzhi that under this kind of situation, it was not advisable to win money, or else he might attract the casino’s attention; therefore, he deliberately placed his bet on the losing gate, prov