Qi Xia walked up to the Earth-Monkey and knocked on the counter.

Only then did the Earth-Monkey seem to hear something and slowly opened his murky eyes.

“Damn, welcome, just put two ‘Dao’ here and you can start gambling…”

His words seemed to move faster than his body. Before he had fully awakened, the words of welcome had already reached everyone’s ears.

After hearing this, Qi Xia tossed two “Dao” on the table, then said, “Not only can we start gambling, you can start gambling too.”

“Hmm…?” The Earth-Monkey opened his eyes and reached up to rub them. He looked at the two “Dao” on the table surface, as if pondering the meaning of those words.

“Take the entry fee, let’s begin,” Qi Xia said.

Hearing this voice, the Earth-Monkey slowly raised his head and happened to meet Qi Xia’s gaze.

What followed was more than ten seconds of silence.

This silence came at just the right moment. Whether the Earth-Monkey was drowsy or had some other hidden circumstances, he simply didn’t speak for a long time.

“I also… gamble?” He stared at Qi Xia for quite a while before finally spitting out four words.

“What, is it inconvenient for you?” Qi Xia asked with furrowed brows.

“Ha… hahaha…”

The Earth-Monkey suddenly revealed an unsightly smile. Qi Xia felt this smile was somewhat similar to when he first met Chen Junnan.

“Of course I can gamble…” The Earth-Monkey slowly stood up, then helplessly shook his head.

“The small shop has distinguished guests today. Closing shop to gamble.” He turned back to size up the six people standing in the room again. “Are all of you men, women, old and young going to gamble with me together?”

“What men, women, old and young,” Qi Xia said indifferently. “Do you think the people standing here are all weak?”

“Whether a team is weak or not mainly depends on whether the ‘leader’ is strong,” the Earth-Monkey also smiled. “I completely trust this team’s capabilities.”

The Earth-Monkey’s words had hidden meaning, which Qi Xia naturally understood.

But right now it was difficult to determine whether this person had some relationship with himself or some relationship with “Heavenly-Dragon.”

When Qinglong gave out the map, he clearly stated he hoped Qi Xia could come meet these eight “Zodiacs,” but unexpectedly the first “Zodiac” seemed to have some connection with him.

“Leader…?” Qi Xia nodded. “Somewhat interesting. Shall we begin?”

“Then I must carefully choose the gambling game… hehe.” The Earth-Monkey kept staring at Qi Xia, his gaze exceptionally deep.

“You’ll choose?” Qi Xia asked back. “This is your venue, using your equipment, yet you still need to choose the ‘gambling game.’ Won’t that be somewhat unfair?”

“You can’t say it like that…” The Earth-Monkey smiled. “All of you are one team. It’s hard for me to believe you don’t have plans to cheat. I’m one against six. No matter how you put it, I’m the disadvantaged party, so I must personally select the game.”

After hearing this, Qi Xia slowly furrowed his brow.

“You should also know, right? Is the key factor affecting the outcome of a gambling match the ‘game’?” The Earth-Monkey slowly walked toward the table again, then lowered his head to search for something. “The most important thing in gambling… is clearly the ‘people.'”

Before long, he pulled out a wooden box from under the table.

This exquisite wooden box seemed completely out of place with the dirty and chaotic environment throughout the venue.

It was square-shaped, entirely brownish-black, with clear wood grain. Every edge and corner was inlaid with glinting gold thread. The top of the box was carved with faint patterns of sun, moon and stars, and in the center, standard script was engraved using a gold-stamping technique.

It read “Lunar Month.”

The surface of the wooden box was spotless, looking as if it were wiped every day. Yet at this moment, the Earth-Monkey still reached out and gently wiped the surface of the wooden box, then opened it before everyone.

The instant the wooden box was opened, a faint woody fragrance wafted out. Everyone moved forward to look. The inside of the wooden box was lined with soft velvet cloth, and lying inside was a stack of cards facing down. The backs of the cards had the four words “Nuwa Game” written on them.

“For many years I’ve been looking forward to someone gambling a round of ‘Lunar Month’ with me,” the Earth-Monkey said while looking at the wooden box, his expression somewhat dazed. “Unfortunately, no one has been able to. I haven’t seen a single gambler who could make me take out this deck. Those with gambling skills lack knowledge, those with knowledge lack courage.”

“Is that so?” Qi Xia asked ambiguously in return. “This city has tens of thousands of people, and you don’t have a single one you think highly of?”

“This city…?” The Earth-Monkey gave a “hehe” laugh. “I was assigned from ‘Vortex City’ to ‘Jade City,’ and from ‘Jade City’ assigned here… Not one person in all three cities could catch my eye.”

“Oh? How refreshing,” Qi Xia also smiled. “You ‘Zodiacs’ actually have job transfers?”

“Of course.” The Earth-Monkey nodded. “When those two cities had no more ‘Participants,’ the ‘Zodiacs’ in the cities had to take their games and be dispatched elsewhere. Not just me, many ‘Zodiacs’ receive ‘Heavenly-level’ orders and undergo transfers.”

“How fortunate then,” Qi Xia lowered his head to look at the wooden box on the table. “Fate has allowed us to meet here.”

“‘Fate’…?” The Earth-Monkey slowly narrowed his eyes. “Let’s hope it’s fate.”

“Oh?”

“Have you ever thought… if all the other cities fell, and all the ‘Zodiacs’ slowly converged in the same city, would it be a good thing or a bad thing?”

The Earth-Monkey seemed to have hidden meaning in his words. Qi Xia didn’t answer immediately, only stared at his eyes for a long time, then said, “Let’s start talking about the rules.”

After hearing this, everyone slowly gathered around and all looked at this exquisite deck of cards on the table.

“Rules…” After hearing this, the Earth-Monkey slowly grinned. “What are you all thinking?”

After hearing this, Qi Xia slowly furrowed his brow.

“My game rule is ‘two Dao to enter, ten Dao to exit,'” the Earth-Monkey revealed a cunning smile, making Qi Xia feel something wasn’t quite right. “As for how to play this deck… that’s for you all to figure out.”

“Figure out?”

The Earth-Monkey picked up the wooden box and turned to walk toward the large round table in the distance.

Everyone exchanged glances, knowing the Earth-Monkey had started playing his mind games. To be precise, the rules for how to play this deck weren’t really part of the “Earth-level game” rules, so the Earth-Monkey could conceal them. After all, in this gambling match he and everyone else were opponents, and there was no reason to increase everyone’s chances of winning.

After a few seconds of silence, everyone also walked toward the round table. Chen Junnan remembered that yesterday the Earth-Monkey had dominated at this very table. In that round, he had won at least several dozen “Dao” plus one life.

After walking a few steps, Qi Xia shook his head, trying hard to keep himself alert, then sat down in front of the Earth-Monkey and watched him take out that deck of cards and place it on the table surface.