Chapter 642: July

The two stared at each other, their intense gambling aura freezing everyone else in place, making them nervously swallow their saliva.

"I... I don't believe it," Di Hou said. "You only know one 'Jiu Yue Er Shi San'. If you could guess all the solar terms, I might understand, but claiming you can figure out six ways to compare card sizes is just absurd."

"Oh...?"

Qi Xia found Di Hou's argument intriguing, as it touched upon a problem he had never considered before.

"Di Hou, in your mind, is it really impossible for me to do something like this?" Qi Xia asked.

"There's no way to say you absolutely couldn't," Di Hou replied. "It's just that this goes way beyond what a normal person could achieve. In just a short minute, are you saying you not only thought of six methods for comparing cards, but also guessed what card I had, and then tested my card against all six scenarios?"

"Basically, yes," Qi Xia said. "But to correct one point... I thought of more than six ways; I just discarded the ones that didn't make sense for comparing sizes."

"I don't believe it," Di Hou reiterated. "So, that means you now have a five-in-six chance of beating me?"

"Yes," Qi Xia nodded. "If you don't want to raise the bet, we can just reveal the cards now."

Di Hou pondered for a few seconds before finally picking up his hidden card.

"Then let's reveal."

He flipped his card to show the face: "Duan Wu".

Qi Xia furrowed his brow slightly upon seeing "Duan Wu".

Now, Di Hou's hand was "Xia Zhi", "Duan Wu", and the community card "Zhong Yuan".

"Your turn," Di Hou said.

Qiao Jia Jin then reached out and flipped his own card, as there was no point in hiding it anymore.

His hand was "Da Shu", "Li Qiu", and the community card "Zhong Yuan".

"What about you?" Di Hou looked at Qi Xia. "You know the tattooed guy's card won't make a difference, so this round is really just between us two. His presence is only to make the pot look fuller."

"True. I have to say, if you're holding 'Duan Wu', that's a bit beyond what I expected," Qi Xia said as he revealed his own card. "But after thinking it through, even though your hand might be strong, there's a high chance it's still smaller than mine."

Qi Xia placed his "Qi Xi" and "Chu Shu" right in front of Di Hou, causing Di Hou's expression to darken instantly.

Out of the more than thirty cards, only one could let Qi Xia win, and he had drawn exactly that one: "Chu Shu".

"Your expression is priceless," Qi Xia said. "I win, right?"

Di Hou pressed his lips together and said nothing, sitting in stunned silence for a moment before quietly pushing all four "Dao" tokens in front of him toward Qi Xia.

"You're that unwilling?" Qi Xia asked as he took the "Dao" from Di Hou. "You should be grateful you didn't bet more this round, or I would have staked my life on it."

Di Hou was silent for a long time before finally saying, "You won this round, but what about the next ones? Are you, you madman, planning to risk your life every single time?"

"You know it, Di Hou," Qi Xia replied. "Though there are seven players in this game, the six of us need to take 'Dao' from you. Winning sixty 'Dao' from you over eight rounds is going to be tough no matter how you look at it, so it's very likely I'll have to put my life on the line midway through."

"Are you threatening me with your 'life'?"

"Yes, it's a threat, and I absolutely mean it," Qi Xia said, picking up the two cards in front of him and tossing them back to Di Hou. "I've said before, if any bet of yours exceeds all our chips, I'll immediately stake my life."

At these words, Di Hou's face changed slightly, and the veins hidden deep in his forehead twitched.

"Di Hou..." Qi Xia continued, "You can exploit loopholes in the rules by not telling us how to win this game, and we can do the same."

"You..."

"It seems you already knew," Qi Xia said. "Your game is 'two Dao to enter, ten Dao to leave', so in this 'Shuo Wang Yue' gamble with lives, it's not actually part of your rules. Even if we lose our lives, we'll still be safe in the end."

"In that case... why say it out loud?" Di Hou asked while gathering the cards on the table. "You could have caught me off guard."

Qi Xia smirked. "Because I need to make sure you keep losing sixty 'Dao' to us steadily, so listen carefully... Whether your bet exceeds ours or you try to fold midway in any round, if I sense anything unfair, I'll stake my life right away. Even if I lose, the six of us will take turns risking our lives against you. Unless your cards always beat everyone, we'll find a way to take you down."

Di Hou felt a chill creeping up his back as he listened to Qi Xia's words.

The person in front of him was completely different from the one in his memories—not just in intelligence, but in sheer ruthlessness as well... What on earth had happened?

"If you can pull that off... go ahead."

At that moment, everyone handed their cards back to Di Hou, who began shuffling them again.

Qi Xia, meanwhile, used all the information Di Hou had provided to deduce the game's rules.

When Qiao Jia Jin revealed his cards, Di Hou showed no reaction, meaning the situation was as he had anticipated.

Qiao Jia Jin's hand—"Da Shu" and "Li Qiu" plus "Zhong Yuan"—was smaller than Di Hou's "Xia Zhi", "Duan Wu", and "Zhong Yuan".

And Di Hou's three cards were smaller than Qi Xia's "Qi Xi", "Chu Shu", and "Zhong Yuan".

In terms of months, Qiao Jia Jin's cards—"Da Shu", "Li Qiu", "Zhong Yuan"—corresponded to "six month", "seven month", and "seven month".

Di Hou's cards were "five month", "five month", and "seven month".

Qi Xia's cards were all "seven month".

One possible way to compare was by adding up the months on the cards, with the highest total winning, but that didn't seem right.

After all, Di Hou's attitude before revealing suggested he thought he could beat Qi Xia with just "five month" and "seven month".

But at that point, Qi Xia had already shown "seven month" and "seven month", so under that rule, Di Hou's chances of winning wouldn't be great.

"That means 'months' aren't the key factor..."