Daoist Tai Hua was really stunned.
“More than a hundred thousand Spirit Stones?”
‘A few hundred thousand Spirit Stones?’
‘What concept is that?’
Ten taels of gold was equivalent to one inferior-grade Spirit Stone.
A hundred thousand or so inferior-grade Spirit Stones were equal to more than one million taels of gold.
An inferior sect would earn only hundreds of taels of gold each year.
A third-rank sect would earn about a thousand taels of gold each year.
A second-rank sect would earn at most tens of thousands of taels of gold.
A first-rank sect would earn about a hundred thousand or hundreds of thousands of taels of gold each year.
In other words, if he was lucky, he’d be able to earn the net annual income of a first-rank sect.
Daoist Tai Hua was dumbfounded.
However, Daoist Tai Hua had underestimated something. A first-grade sect had many means of earning money, which were far beyond that. However, they would not reveal the exact profits.
Those were all Daoist Tai Hua’s own guesses.
But no matter how much exactly, hundreds of thousands of inferior-grade Spirit Stones were still a staggering number.
He would never finish spending them.
“Ahem!” Thinking of this, Daoist Tai Hua couldn’t help but cough before looking at Shi Liangjin.
“Cultivators should never be blinded by money, but it suddenly occurred to me that my eldest disciple is easy-going and has a heart of gold. He can’t stand seeing the world suffer and would donate whenever he can.”
“This might be aligned with justice, but money should not be stolen or snatched. I happen to be worrying about it these days. Why don’t you tell me about the overall plans? I’ll ask my eldest disciple about it by then.”
“However, there are lots of bets for the Qingzhou Sword Dao Meet and most of them have high limits. I believe that we can earn hundreds of thousands of taels of silver. But are you fooling me when you said hundreds of thousands of Spirit Stones?”
Daoist Tai Hua was calm when he said that, but he was very curious too.
He wasn’t unaware of the limits placed on bets, but even if one was lucky enough, they wouldn’t dare to take the bet.
Hence, Daoist Tai Hua didn’t quite believe that they could earn more than a hundred thousand Spirit Stones.
Shi Liangjin was a smart person too and didn’t seem to care about Daoist Tai Hua’s attitude towards him. To him, there was nothing bad about suffering that grievance as long as he could earn some money.
‘It isn’t that easy to earn money these days.’
“Immortal Tai Hua, you might not know much about the outside world since you’re in the sect, but the entire nation is paying attention to the Qingzhou Sword Dao Meet.”
Shi Liangjin said excitedly.
“The entire nation? Why?”
Daoist Tai Hua was a little nervous.
“Sikong Jiantian is also attending the Qingzhou Sword Dao Meet.”
Shi Liangjin’s words made Daoist Tai Hua stunned.
“Sikong Jiantian is here too?”
Daoist Tai Hua was astonished. Everyone in Jin Nation knew about him.
If that was really the case, it would be normal for the nation to pay attention.
“Yes, that’s also the reason why everyone is paying attention to this Sword Dao Meet, but Sikong Jiantian is not the only one receiving attention. Your disciples are too.”
“Without the trade union as bankers, we can control it ourselves and…”
At this point, Shi Liangjin paused and didn’t continue.
However, it was obvious what he meant.
Daoist Tai Hua was a genius too. As soon as he spoke, he immediately understood what Shi Liangjin wanted to express.
In the past, there would be bankers who opened bets for the Qingzhou Sword Dao Meet, but there were upper limits so there were no shams.
This time, due to Sikong Jiantian’s presence, the entire Jin Nation paid attention to it, and hence, there were naturally interests involved. Once there were interests involved, it would attract the bankers.
If he could control the outcome, they would be in for a huge winning.
After figuring that out, Daoist Tai Hua was excited.
“What exactly should I do?”
Daoist Tai Hua stopped pretending and simply asked the question.
Everything else except Spirit Stones was fake.
The ranking was nothing either. Ye Ping and Su Changyu had both gotten into the top eight so advancing to the third-rank would definitely be a piece of cake.
Besides, Sikong Jiantian had also joined the competition, and it was basically hard for them to clinch first place. One of them would at most come in second.
However, it didn’t matter if they came in second or eighth place. It would be wonderful if they could reap some interests.
Hence, Daoist Tai Hua was moved.
“Immortal Tai Hua, the most popular topic about the Qingzhou Sword Dao Meet are your two disciples. I have a simple idea and that is, we will place bets on the top eight, and if your disciples face each other during the round for the top four, that is when we will make a big profit.”
“We will let whoever has the highest odds lose so that the trade unions will earn a large number of Spirit Stones while we profit from it too. It’s a win-win deal, what do you think?”
Shi Liangjin’s words made Daoist Tai Hua tempted.
Thinking about it, he was still a little worried. After all, winning the banker’s Spirit Stones would definitely warrant an investigation.
If the banker won and they did too, the ones who were unlucky would be the gamblers.
However, Daoist Tai Hua couldn’t help but say, “If we profit, wouldn’t those gamblers…”
He couldn’t bear to do it as he felt guilty.
However, Shi Liangjin shook his head with a sneer.
“Immortal Tai Hua, you’re wrong about that. Gamblers are rarely good people.”
“Even if we don’t get involved, will these gamblers definitely win?”
“Even if they can win, will they keep winning for the rest of their lives?”
“Besides, once they win, they will want to win more and they will never stop. If they lose, they would want to recoup their losses. These days, everyone is pitiful except the gamblers.”
“It may be inappropriate for us to do that, but this is what life is about. Some are born with an abundance of material comfort while some struggle to make ends meet.”
“Immortal, I’m just a mortal. I will give money to the poor whenever I see them, but I have to survive too. These days, the poor are looked down upon. When you’re poor, justice is just cheap talk.”
Shi Liangjin’s words hit the nail on the head.
Daoist Tai Hua’s hesitance gradually vanished too.
Shi Liangjin was right.
“How do we calculate the principal?”
Daoist Tai Hua asked.
“Simple, we’ll go with a four-six ratio. I’ll contribute 60%, you contribute 40%, if you don’t have enough, I can borrow you some. We will split the total profit equally.”
Shi Liangjin said.
“If we succeed, I want a 30-70 ratio. I will contribute 30% of the capital and you contribute 70%.”
Daoist Tai Hua said after thinking about it.
At that moment, Shi Liangjin pondered for a while before gritting his teeth and said, “Okay, 30-70 it is. However, Immortal Tai Hua, you must convince your disciples. After all, if you want to earn more, the principal must be higher. We can’t afford to lose.”
It didn’t matter to him that he had to come up with 70% of the capital, but he wanted to ensure that there were no mistakes. After all, the share of profits was 50:50 and he just had to bear a higher risk.
“I dare not guarantee that, but I will write them a letter. Why don’t we place the bets only after we get a definitive answer?”
Daoist Tai Hua was not sure if Su Changyu and Ye Ping were willing to take the job.
If they were not willing, there was nothing he could do. After all, it was up to them.
“Okay, Immortal Tai Hua, let’s talk while we make our way down the mountain.”
Shi Liangjin nodded. Anyway, it wasn’t a 100% chance that they wouldn’t do it.
“Oh, by the way, whose odds are the highest now?”
“Sikong Jiantian has the highest odds of 1:20, your eldest disciple’s odds are 1:10 while your youngest disciple is 1:5.”
“What? My eldest disciple’s odds are 1:10? What’s the point of sending a letter then? Let’s bet on him losing.”
Daoist Tai Hua and Shi Liangjin’s voices gradually vanished in the Qingyun Mountains.
Just like that, the list of the final eight appeared again, and the opponents who were paired with Ye Ping, Sikong Jiantian, and Su Changyu decided to withdraw again.
The list of the final four was also revealed at noon.
“Ye Ping VS Wang Minghao”
“Sikong Jiantian VS Su Changyu”
Once the list was released, everyone in the Qingzhou Ancient City was overwhelmed with excitement.
In just less than half a day, there was an uproar in the Jin Nation!