A Beginning's Continuation

by Tony Tran

  “On second thought, I’ll do ten million for each of my lovely wives.” Zhang said with a smile as he waved his hand once more and another mound of gold appeared. It was time to lure the snake out of its den. If the casino did not take his bet then he would accuse them of running after winning his money, and if they did then Zhang could win a huge chunk of money from them and that would obviously draw the attention of those who ran the casino, giving him a chance to meet them. Once he met those people the next part of his plan could come into play.

  “Twe-twenty million?” A man in the crowd with a crow mask stuttered.

  Lin Shou gulped as he looked at the amount of gold coins that Zhang had on the floor.

  “I'm thinking I will bet one this square.” Zhang said as he pointed to a square that said triple ones on it. Zhang had bet that the next draw would result in three dice with one point each, the payout of such a bet was one to one hundred eighty. Meaning if he won he would relieve an astronomical amount of money.

  Seeing Zhang’s bet everyone in the crowd had money signs in their eyes. The unbelievable amount of money he could possibly get would be enough to perhaps buy or create provinces.

  “Lin Shou move aside, I will be the dealer for this round.” A young man in his late twenties or early thirties with an intimidating air around him and a scar that ran along his cheek said.

  Seeing this man, Lin Shou didn't say a word and back away while bowing. This man was the underground kingpin of New Moon Province, the man who runs the underworld of the province.

  “It seems the snake has taken the bait. Well it's not like he could afford not to. If I win this his organization might go bankrupt, and it's not like they can try to weasel out of paying me with so many people here. Don't pay up and risk dragging their reputation through the dirt, even an underground organization needs some reputation to operate. Lastly they shouldn't even think of trying to rob me.” Zhang thought for a moment as he eyed the man who just arrived at the table.

  “My magic might have failed but the boss Ran Kaitou, is an earth Mage who can even manipulate metal so certainly that brat is going to get a run for his money.” Lin Shou thought.

  Ran Kaitou had mysteriously appeared in the New Moon Province a few years ago, after the Sai Empire had invaded the Heilong Kingdom and various other kingdoms. It was said that he was the fallen prince of some small kingdom to the north of the Heilong Kingdom.

  This man had arrived in New Moon City with nothing but the clothes on his back and a few retainers but after a few short years was able to seize control of the black market in the province along with other various illegal establishments.

  “Alright young master if that is what you wish to bet on then I will proceed?” Ran Kaitou said to Zhang as he held the dice cylinder. He did not seem like Lin Shou who had looked down upon Zhang but instead he could tell that Zhang was someone unfathomable.

  “If I were to say I wished to double my bet, what would you say?” Zhang asked with a devious smile on his face.

  “I would have to ask you to kindly lower your bet because a small establishment such as ours couldn't afford to pay out such a number if you were to win.” Ran Kaitou replied.

  One hundred eighty times twenty million gold coins was already something that was out of this world, but one hundred eighty times forty million was something that could not be achieved even if Ran Kaitou had all of the men in his organization work for Zhang for the rest of their lives.

  Zhang of course, was bluffing because he himself did not possess forty million gold coins, perhaps thirty million thanks to all of the plundering he had done but nowhere near forty.

  “Consider the extra money after I break even a gift.” Zhang said with a smile, showing he was a hundred percent certain he would win.

  With a legendary treasure, such as the Underworld Heart, he could cancel out any of the techniques that Ran Kaitou or Lin Shou could possibly use to manipulate the dice roll. Then he can use the heart to make the dice land on whatever side he wishes for it to land on.

  This of course, is because techniques used to manipulate the dice had to be subtle, thus it possessed little power, which allowed Zhang to easily cancel them out. If these were instead full on spells, then cancelling them out would not be easy at all.

  “We won’t know if it is you who will be giving the gift of if it will be me who will be giving the gift.” Ran Kaitou said with a smirk as he began shaking the dice cylinder.

  A yellow earthen glow was enveloping the dice inside the cylinder, where no one could see it. But once Ran Kaitou placed the dice cylinder onto the table a purplish glow swept through his yellow one and enrolled the three dice.

  Noticing this yet another yellow energy appeared in the cylinder trying to envelope the dice once more. For a few seconds, perhaps it was able to take control of the dice but was then swept away by the purplish energy.

  Neither man could use a lot of energy or else the crowd around the table would notice their manipulation of the dice.

  With a smile on his face, Zhang released his control over the dice, allowing Ran to manipulate them.

  “If we keep fighting back and forth then perhaps no one will ever see the end result of this match.” Zhang thought.

  Thinking that he had won, Ran quickly lifted the dice cylinder to reveal the end result of the match.

  “Consider this my win.” Zhang thought as the purple energy from the Underworld Heart appeared moments before the dice were revealed.

  Once the dice cylinder was lifted an entire casino fell into silence.

  “Brother look! Look we win!” Ai said happily. Simply winning made a smile appear on her beautiful face, as for the money she didn't care too much about it. Inside her interspatial ring were all sorts of luxurious gems, necklaces and other sorts of jewelry, along with a mountain of gold coins of her own.

  “Young master, someone with your power couldn't possibly be here to win some gold coins. Please tell me how I may help you, instead of continuing with this charade.” Ran Kaitou said as he looked down at the three dice on the table.

  All six sides of each of the dice on the table had single dots on them. In the amount of time Zhang has, for him to be able such a thing without anyone noticing or causing the dice to explode showed he had complete control of his essence.

  Someone who had complete control over their essence was obviously a master and of course, a master couldn't possibly be out to scam a casino. But of course, there are also exceptions.

  This was all the Underworld Heart’s doing but how could anyone possibly know.

  “I have but a single request, a rather simply one that could be beneficial to you.” Zhang said as the gold coins around him began floating into the air. All of the gold coins on the table he was sitting at and soon copper, silver and gold coins also began floating into the air.

  Zhang's arms were now wrapped around his two lovely wives. As the three were in the center of the swirl of floating coins a piece of paper appeared in front of Zhang and slowly drifted toward Ran Kaitou.

  “Meet me at the location on that piece of paper.” Zhang said as the swirl of gold coins turned into a storm and blocked Zhang, Ling and Ai from everyone’s gaze.

  Moments later a blinding white light caused everyone to shutter their eyes. By the time their eyes opened, Zhang and two beauties accompanying him had disappeared, along with all of the gold, silver and copper coins that had floated into the air.

  “That was such a mystical sight.” A man in cat mask said.

  “Where’d my money go!?” Another man who was in a dog mask yelled.

  Following this man’s words everyone now noticed that Zhang and the beauties not only disappeared but so did their money.

  “Boss! The room where we keep the winnings is empty!” One of Ran Kaitou’s men yelled out in a panicked voice.

  Ran Kaitou did not respond because he was still reading the contents on the piece of paper that Zhang gave him.

  “Meet me at the Silver Swan
Hotel in three hours, bring along as many men as you can. If you do not show up, then you will regret missing out on an opportunity such as this for the rest of your life.” Zhang’s letter said.

  “Casino is closed for the rest of today and the next few days! Qian Shen gather all of the men, we have a get together to attend.” Ran Kaitou yelled out.

  Outside of the casino Zhang could be seen walking with his two lively wives, hand in hand.

  “Sweetheart aren't you afraid that he won't work with us because you emptied out his safe?” Ling asked as her body brushed an against Zhang’s and her head leaned on his shoulder.

  “Yea brother, sis is right. Wouldn't they not want to work with us?” Ai joined in while also leaning her body onto Zhang as her head rested on his shoulder.

  “We sure made a killing today.” Zhang chuckled. Along with getting back all of the money he lost, he was able to get a few hundred thousand gold coins from the casino. Although the it wasn't a number in the millions, he was still quite happy with this harvest.

  “Sucks they didn't keep too much at the casino, they must have a safe house somewhere else.” He thought.

  “Well if he works with us then his reward will be many times more enticing than a few gold coins.” Zhang said with a laugh as he and his two wives continued walking down the street. Ai and Ling continued walking asking side him while his arms were wrapped around their waists.

  With the masks, they were wearing removed, many jealous gazes were directed at Zhang as they continued down the street.

  Chapter 10: Undead Parade

  After Zhang, Ling and Ai left the casino, Ran Kaitou stood staring at his empty vault without saying a single word. Behind him was a casino full of people, however none of them were customers or looking to have some fun. Most of these men were men that Ran had spent the last few years of his time in the New Moon Province, while a few others had followed him since he had been kicked out of his home by the Sai Empire.

  “Boss all of our men in the city have been gathered.” A voice rang out behind Ran Kaitou as his eyes were focused on the empty vault in front of him.

  “How many do we have?” Ran Kaitou asked without looking back.

  “On such short notice, our men in the other cities or our networks elsewhere can be accounted for so we have roughly two thousand men.” A voice sounded out once more.

  “But is it wise to cooperate with someone we don’t know and on top of that he robbed us…” The voice added.

  “Yea boss is it wise to work with someone who robbed us?” Some of Ran Kaitou’s men asked.

  “Quiet… Let me think.” Ran Kaitou roared at his men.

  “If that man wanted to simply rob us he wouldn’t have had gone to the trouble of luring me out, nor would he have given me that letter. He said that he had a simply request for me that would be beneficial to me and if I miss this opportunity I would regret it. But he required me to gather and bring as many men as I could, so most likely he has some big plans but requires lots of man power.” Ran Kaitou thought.

  “Qian Sheng! Have our men go and gather every able body they can find; I don’t care if they are just drinking buddy or acquaintances I want as many men as possible! As long as they know how to use a weapon bring them. Then the lot of you meet me back here before sun down so we can get to the Silver Swan.” Ran Kaitou ordered.

  Moments later the casino became void of life as Ran Kaitou stood inside alone while his men were out gathering up more people. He did not have to wait long before his men returned and their numbered swelled to four thousand men.

  Soon Ran Kaitou and his men took to the streets and headed for the Silver Swan Hotel. Of course, they had split up into many small groups to avoid getting too much attention because moving across the city in a mass of four thousand men would only be looking for trouble.

  As Ran arrived at the hotel he noticed that there was strange writing on the ground, written in blood or red ink. From the look of things, the ground around the entire hotel and even a few buildings beside it was surrounded by these blood red letters. That was when he noticed that on some of the windows of the builds were red colored talismans. The buildings themselves looked to be connected by makeshift bridges made from wooden planks that connected the balconies of each building to the next.

  “You made it.” A voice rang out from the third floor of the Silver Swan hotel.

  When looking up at the play where the voice originated from, Ran Kaitou spotted Zhang and beside him were two outrageously beautiful young women who he could tell were not the same women that accompanied Zhang to the casino.

  Zhang stood on the balcony of the third floor of the hotel looking down at Ran Kaitou and the few men that arrived. He himself had hired a few men that added up to a total of about five hundred, not counting the acting troupes that he hired.

  “Yuying, I think he can gather around two thousand or so men on such short notice that would mean we have about two thousand and five hundred men do you think that will be enough man power to fight back the lesser Jiangshi?” Zhang asked Yuying who’s waist was caressed by Zhang’s arm.

  “With that many we can probably barely manage.” Yuying replied as her body brushed up against her husband’s, as one of her hands interlocked with Zhang’s and her other arm was fiddling with her red hair.

  “Don’t forget the poison I made. It can melt those Jiangshi back into the ground, maybe.” Lingqi added as she stood leaning against Zhang on the opposite side of Yuying.

  “But you said I can't have any of the poison unless I promised to do something for you.” Zhang said with a laugh as he gazed at Lingqi, ignoring that she said maybe at the end of her sentence.

  “Of course, nothing in this world is free especially my poison that can maybe melt a Jiangshi. But I don’t want anything like clothes, jewels or money, you gave me plenty of those already.” Lingqi said as her gaze shifted to the interspatial ring in her hand, which her husband had given her. Like Yuying, Ai and Ling, the interspatial ring that Lingqi received from Zhang possessed a portion of Zhang’s vast wealth. Millions of gold coins, mountains of gold and jewels were inside each and every one of their interspatial rings.

  Although Zhang only had thirty million gold coins, the amount of actual gold that he had was astronomical. From the number of treasuries that he plundered there was no way his wealth added up to a measly thirty million, if he hadn’t given shares to his wives then Zhang’s wealth in current currency alone would be four times more.

  “Then what does my princess wish for? Do you wish for me to pluck the stars in the sky for you? Or perhaps some unseen flower that can compare to your beauty?” Zhang said, while already having a vague idea of what Lingqi wanted.

  With somewhat blushed cheeks she leaned up toward him and whispered something into his ear.

  “Done, but you didn’t need to trade me anything for some alone time with just the two of us.” Zhang replied with a glint in his eye as his hand touched her chin and he leaned in for a kiss.

  “Ahem… A certain someone spent all day drawing runes all over the place” Yuying said but before she could finish her sentence her lips became occupied with another task.

  “IS THIS WHAT YOU WANTED ME TO COME HERE FOR?! I don’t have the free time to watch you guys make out, you know.” Ran Kaitou yelled from below the balcony.

  “Get into the hotel with all your men then we can talk!” Zhang yelled back down from the balcony.

  A while later all of Ran Kaitou’s men arrived and entered the hotel together just as the sun was setting. Once inside the found that the place was filled with runes, on the walls, windows and floor. One could imagine how much money Zhang gave to the hotel owner to allow him to do such a thing or perhaps he had even bought the hotel.

  “Close the doors.” Zhang said as he appeared on the second floor of the hotel with four beauties beside him after Ran Kaitou had entered for some time. Moments later his men appeared and closed every single door into the hotel and then stuck talisma
ns across the doors.

  “Let me ask you something. Do you believe in Jiangshi?” Zhang asked Ran Kaitou and the men on the first floor of the hotel.

  “What? Is this why you gathered us here for?” Ran Kaitou asked. He had been somewhat displeased, because Zhang had made him wait for a while before showing up.

  “Answer the question.” Zhang said in a cold voice.

  “Those are but things of fairy tales that are told to scare little children into behaving.” One of Ran Kaitou’s men replied.

  “Shut up… He didn’t ask you.” Ran Kaitou said as he pushed the man back into the crowd of men behind him.

  “I am neither a believer nor a disbeliever. If proof is shown to me then I am a believer if not, then I will remain skeptical.” Ran Kaitou replied.