Xia Lin's Rock Gambling
Fang Yuan pushes aside his memories and walks into Golden Jade House, a high-end den with tens of huge rocks in its hall. As a Gu Immortal he can easily tell which rocks hold Gu worms and can heal even an extremely weakened one. He is about to teach the den’s unscrupulous merchant a lesson. Then a commotion breaks out behind the hall. ch. 1659
The mermaid Xia Lin accuses a scarred merman of dishonesty, because the shop raised her contract interest from ten percent to sixty. She vows to expose the shop even if she dies, and he answers that living can be worse than dying. Fang Yuan recognizes her voice as that of the mermaid girl from a few months ago. Her grandfather, her only family, had died, and merman sea funerals are very expensive. She borrowed primeval stones for the burial, then nearly died collecting black oil in the Earth Trench until Fang Yuan saved her. The gather oil Gu she got from him raised her efficiency, and selling oil soon earned her a huge sum of primeval stones. She had carried them to the shop to settle her debt. ch. 1659
Alone and ostracized by her tribe since youth, Xia Lin has the urge to die, and she attacks with a yell. Her torrent catches the rank three scarred merman unprepared, though she is only rank two, and washes him into the wall. The watching Gu Masters whisper that the house often tricks the innocent as a loan shark, and that humans should stay out of mermen affairs. Xia Lin stays pale but does not step back as the scarred merman advances. ch. 1659
A voice cries wait, and the scarred merman lowers his head to the shopkeeper, the house’s big bellied yellow scaled owner. The owner scolds him for endangering the shop and demands peace, and the scarred merman nods like an obedient child. Xia Lin judges the owner more terrifying than his man. The owner promises nobody will attack her, but insists her debt is in black and white. When she repeats the terms were changed, he says that without evidence she proves nothing, and offers to let her go if she repays half at thirty percent interest, the market rate. ch. 1659
She says she lacks the primeval stones, and he tells her to pay in Gu worms instead, naming her gather oil Gu, which is his true goal. She refuses even if she dies. The crowd marvels at the rumored rank five Gu, which spends bone marrow instead of primeval essence so even rank one Gu Masters can use it. Some say overuse has killed users, but that with bone path Gu worms it is very safe. ch. 1659
Taking her Gu is hard for the owner, since one thought lets her self-detonate it, and no theft path Gu Masters exist in this paradise. Unflustered, having planned for this, he proposes a rock gamble, two victories out of three, to see who excavates the better Gu. When she distrusts him, he sends her an information path mortal Gu and offers an oath to the Sea God, a huge matter for mermen that proves he is very sincere. He tells her this is her only way out, and she is greatly flustered. ch. 1659
While she hesitates, Fang Yuan tells her in her mind to gamble, since he is here. Xia Lin almost screams from joy at hearing Master Chu. He adds that the terms must change because they are too mild, and that they will make this a huge gamble if she trusts him. She trusts him without hesitation, reasoning that he saved her life and would not have needed to if he meant harm. She asks him what to do and promises to follow his instructions. ch. 1659
