Immortality Through Array Formations

Chapter 2492: Chapter 17: Decadence (Part 3)

Mo Hua understood, "You’re taking me to have some fun?"

Elder Ji nodded, "Yes."

"Where to play?" Mo Hua asked.

Elder Ji did not answer directly but said mysteriously, "I promise Young Master Mo will be satisfied."

Mo Hua vaguely felt that where he was being taken was probably not a good place.

But a man should be fearless.

Mo Hua nodded, "Okay."

Afterward, Elder Ji led the way and brought Mo Hua to a tall, splendid, luxurious tower in Canglang City.

This tower was located in the main city of Canglang City and was the tallest building within the city.

Mo Hua had seen it while strolling yesterday.

However, yesterday he could only glance at it briefly from the outside.

But today, Elder Ji brought him upstairs, and they ascended to the highest floor.

Jade-made terraces, emerald rooftops.

Gold-thread screens stretched across, fine silk curtains blurred, glass lamps were bright as the moon, clouds of purple smoke rose from incense burners.

For a moment, it truly seemed like a paradise on earth.

The level of luxury and indulgence rivaled that of some fourth and fifth-grade Great Sects in the Qian Learning State Boundary.

Mo Hua felt quite shocked.

Elder Ji clapped his hands, commanded servants to serve wine and delicacies, and summoned beauties to dance.

Soon, the feast was ready, and beautiful women entered in succession.

These women, with graceful appearances, varied physiques, each with their charm, ranging in age from young girls to teenage maidens, pure beauties, alluring women, and even voluptuous wives, each different in their own way.

Mo Hua frowned deeply as he watched.

Elder Ji was observing Mo Hua carefully on the side and further confirmed his thoughts. When these women finished their singing and dancing, he clapped his hands and said:

"Change the batch."

What came up next was a group of men.

There were young boys, teenagers, middle-aged men.

They too had outstanding looks, each dressed differently. Some were handsome and meek, some mature and steady.

Some even cross-dressed as women, their allure not losing out to the females.

In Mo Hua’s eyes, there was already a hint of coldness.

He only knew that exhausting wealth leads to prosperity, prosperity breeds arrogance and luxury, arrogance and luxury lead to indulgence, and indulgence leads to decay.

But he never thought it would decay to such an extent...

Elder Ji looked at Mo Hua, feeling somewhat puzzled.

"Could this person truly be wooden and unaware? Why doesn’t he like women or men?"

"What does he like then?"

Seeing Mo Hua’s displeasure, Elder Ji quickly waved his hand, "Out, out."

After everyone left, Elder Ji whispered, "Young Master Mo, do you enjoy gambling a little to try your luck?"

"Gambling for luck?"

Mo Hua was slightly stunned, then suddenly realized that this Elder Ji was trying to trick him into "gambling."

Since Mo Hua didn’t say he liked or disliked it, Elder Ji continued:

"Young Master Mo, if you haven’t tried, why not give it a go? There are countless pleasures in this world of mortals, you should experience them all to hone your Taoist Heart and forge ahead."

Mo Hua actually felt Elder Ji’s words made some sense, so he nodded, "Alright."

"Good."

Elder Ji led Mo Hua down two floors to a large hall that gleamed with gold and green.

The interior was vast and crowded, filled with cultivators in ornate robes gambling loudly.

This was a gambling house, with various forms of gambling and different stakes.

But mostly, they were betting on Spirit Stones. After all, Spirit Stone is the most common equivalent in the Cultivation World.

"Young Master Mo, come with me, I will let you try playing each game..." Elder Ji said with a friendly smile.

Then he guided Mo Hua through most gambling formats in the Golden Gambling House.

He even generously provided Mo Hua with a full twenty thousand Spirit Stones as chips.

Unable to refuse such hospitality, Mo Hua played casually.

Unexpectedly, his luck was very good; in no time, the twenty thousand Spirit Stones multiplied sixfold, earning him a total of one hundred thousand.

But Mo Hua couldn’t be happy.

Because the setup was too obvious.

He could see at a glance that Elder Ji deliberately wanted him to win, and he felt no sense of excitement.

Moreover, even if Elder Ji wasn’t intentionally helping him win, he could easily win.

Gambling is connected to cause and effect.

With Mo Hua’s Divine Sense being heaven-defying, coupled with his knowledge of Heavenly secret Calculation and Heavenly secret Tricky Calculation, he understood the changes of cause and effect; for these typical Qi Refinement or even Foundation Establishment gambling games, he could easily foresee the outcome. Even if Elder Ji didn’t "cheat" for him, he could effortlessly win tens or hundreds of thousands of Spirit Stones.

But as he said, gambling involves cause and effect.

These winning Spirit Stones are not falling from the sky but rather using the rules’ loopholes to "snatch" from the losers.

When you are winning, someone else is inevitably losing.

What you win is what others lose to you.

Thus, gambling is essentially a form of "exploitation."

Not only exploitation of Spirit Stone wealth but also deprivation of fortune.

The way of humans is to take from the insufficient to serve the surplus.

Mo Hua, who is well aware of cause and effect, naturally understands this principle, so he never thought of relying on "gambling" to win Spirit Stones.

Moreover, the Heavenly secret Calculation he learned from his master and the Heavenly secret Tricky Calculation from his uncle are profound knowledge, naturally should not be used for such "demeaning" tricks.

Therefore, gambling matters must not be touched.

Spirit Stones won through gambling, tainted with others’ cause and effect, cannot be kept.

Afterward, Mo Hua "acted recklessly," giving back all the Spirit Stones Elder Ji painstakingly made him win, then cursed:

"What a lousy gamble, lost everything, utterly meaningless, not playing anymore..."

Elder Ji felt infuriated hearing this.

He had worked hard to set up the game, allowing Mo Hua to win quite a lot of Spirit Stones.

Yet this brat, without a bit of gambling "talent," acted stubbornly and heedlessly, and in a blink, squandered all the Spirit Stones won through setups, solely relying on his "personal ability."

Surely muddy mud cannot hold the wall. Even when helped to win, he can’t manage!

And then, he cursed the lousy gambling game, not fun.

Do you know how to play?

"If it weren’t for the Sect Leader’s instructions to treat him well, I would have taught this brat a lesson by now..."

Elder Ji suppressed his fury, flashed a smile, and said:

"Perhaps this gambling session wasn’t suited for you, Young Master. Why don’t we try something else?"

Mo Hua arrogantly nodded.

So next, Elder Ji took Mo Hua on another round of deceitful tricks.

Mo Hua was deeply shaken, but still felt compelled to criticize:

"It’s boring, not fun, a bit dull, they’re wearing too little clothing, a bit eye-stinging..."

...

In this way, Mo Hua spent a day of extremely decadent and "corrupt" living under the guidance of Elder Ji.

Later, as night fell, he left the gold-drunk dens of vice and rode a carriage back to Canglang Sect.

Passing by the outskirts of Canglang City, Mo Hua glanced out of the window and saw another street.

On the street, cultivators were wearing ragged clothes, their skin thin and pale.

Some were begging, some were selling their labor, some were beaten and kneeling to beg for mercy, some mothers painfully spent a few Broken Spirit Stones to buy bread for their children...

Mo Hua watched all of this unfold before his eyes, his expression sympathetic, with a faint dark aura swirling in his eyes.

...