Rise of the Demon God

"I will reflect on it, Young Master," Nanli Gu replied.

"Sorry for the delay. Let's continue," Mu Fan apologized to Long Chen for the delay Nanli Gu's action had caused.

They again got back to selecting a crystal from the 3rd basket.

The third crystal was a Red Spica Jade as well. Both of them had succeeded once again.

The 4th try was a success for both of them as well, which stunned Nanli Gu and the attendants. The other people present in the room weren't able to believe their own eyes either. The two of them made it seem so simple like they could see the Red Spica Crystal.

"I thought my luck was good. Clearly, yours is just as good if not better," Long Chen said as he glanced at Mu Fan.

"You can call it luck, but it can be something else either," Mu Fan muttered as he shook his head.

"Some people are special. Some people can see more than other people. This world is filled with people. Some have useful talent, while others have waste talents. Some people can use various powers because they are born that way. Everything can't be explained with luck," he added.

"Are you one of those special people?" Long Chen inquired.

"I might be, just like how you can be. It's not about what a person is, but how a person is. What makes one special is a combination of many things," Mu Fan said as he picked a crystal from the 5th basket.

Long Chen also picked up his next crystal.

It was again a tie.

"Looks like I won another ticket, right?" Long Chen asked Nanli Gu.

"Yes. Every five-win streak ensured that you got a ticket. That's valid until we run out of our ten tickets quota," Nanli Gu answered.

"Good. I wanted to buy tickets for my friends as well. But using my luck to get the tickets is much better," Long Chen said as he picked the 6th crystal.

They kept picking up crystals and succeeding. Each of their successes shocked the crowd even more.

Soon, both of them had a winning streak of 25.

Both of them were so engrossed in this competition that they weren't thinking of anything else, but their attention was attracted by someone's comments, which raised a valid question.

"9 tickets have already been issued to them. Both of them won at the same time. Only ten tickets are allowed. Who will get the 10th ticket?" 

Long Chen looked towards Nanli Gu as he also got curious about it.

"This..." Nanli Gu didn't know what to do in this situation. Both of them had Broken the crystal at the same time.

"Of Course Master Xu Shen will get the ticket. He is our guest. I don't have interest in the tickets either," Mu Fan let out with a professional smile on his face. He was doing two things at once. Maintaining the reputation of this shop and subtly helping Nanli Gu out so that he doesn't make a mistake with his decision.

"I already have enough tickets. I only needed 4. Any extra will just be a waste," Long Chen rejected the offer.

"I understand that. We can't give you that many tickets either as we need to have the record of every person that is going to use our tickets. We can give you the value of the tickets in currency. Three Hundred Thousand Black Gold Coins for every extra ticket that you have received," Mu Fan explained to Long Chen about the specifics and the technicalities behind the rewards.

Long Chen couldn't help but smile behind his mask. He was expecting to lose all his coins for tickets, but instead of losing money, he had made money instead. All while getting the tickets for free.

"I'm now starting to doubt if we would even have a winner. Your abilities have long ago crossed the scope of luck unless you are carrying the goddess of luck in your pocket," Mu Fan let out as he glanced at Long Chen.

"That is the strange thing about luck. No one can know when it's too little, and no one can know how far it can go. It's kinda like destiny," Long Chen replied just as vaguely.

"That's true. Both of them are unexplainable forces that I don't believe in," Mu Fan said as he picked up a crystal from the 26th basket.

"Not believing in something doesn't make it go away. That's the sad reality. Just like we can't make bad things go away by not believing in them, we can't make good things go away either," Long Chen responded.

Their exchange continued, which sounded like two intellectual humans talking about profound theories to the normal people that were watching them.

They continued to select crystals, and soon, they were in the last basket. It was the 35th basket.

Both of them had already set a record of most win streaks in this shop. At this point, almost everyone was sure that it would be a tie again.

Everyone had taken them for granted by now. They were like Red Spica Crystal experts in the eyes of everyone present here.

They crushed the last crystal together. The result was outside the expectation for no one. It was again a tie.

Mu Fan couldn't help but sigh.

"And here I was hoping to get my first defeat. Whatever, it was fun while it lasted even though there was no victor or loser," Mu Fan let out with his usual expressionless face.

"Don't give up. Let me try one more time. One more basket each. I believe that we would definitely have a winner now. Master Nanli, can you bring two baskets for us?" Long Chen asked Nanli Gu. Long Chen's face behind his mask had a subtle smile on his face.

"Alright. If you say so, let's do it one last time," Mu Fan nodded his head.

This time, Nanli Gu personally went to bring a basket.

He came back and placed the baskets before both of them.

"Please go ahead. I hope there is a winner this time," Nanli Gu let out before he stepped back.

Long Chen looked at the basket in front of him. His smile only deepened.

'Right where I wanted you to be,' Long Chen thought as he subtly glanced back at Nanli Gu.

"Shall we begin?" Mu Fan asked Long Chen.

"Wait a minute. I'm not picking a crystal from this basket," Long Chen let out sternly.

"Why?" Mu Fan asked with a frown.

Nanli Gu also started getting somewhat worried.

"I just thought of something. It's about destiny and luck. It was my destiny that those 35 baskets were placed before me, and it was my luck that made me select the right crystal. I think it was the same for you, but now I want to shake things up a little. Let's exchange the baskets. Let's see if my destiny basket and your luck wins or Your Destiny Basket with my luck," Long Chen said to Mu Fan.

"Interesting analysis. Fine," Mu Fan let out as he smiled.

"Let's change places then," he let out as he walked towards Long Chen.

Long Chen nodded his head as he walked towards Mu Fan's place.

Nanli Gu had suddenly started sweating. He wanted to stop them, but he knew that it was too late now.

Long Chen picked a crystal from Mu Fan's basket. Mu Fan, on the other hand, just stood before Long Chen's basket blankly. Soon, a frown appeared on his face.

He glanced at Nanli Gu with furrowed eyebrows.

He picked one crystal from the basket as well.

"You started this competition with you going first. Let me end this by me going first," Long Chen chuckled as he smashed the crystal revealing the green inside it.