A Mage in the Martial Arts World - Chapter 010
“Old thing, are you shameless? Plotting against a small cricket—how disgraceful! It’s a shame the human race has scum like you.” Li Wei didn’t hesitate to expose the hunchbacked old man’s scheme.
A mental attack? It was useless. With the Taoist character protecting him, the old man couldn’t hurt him at all. As for a direct attack—this was the Golden City, the Marquis of Xiaoyao’s own territory. Unless the old man had lost his mind, he would never dare. Li Wei had nothing to worry about.
He didn’t relax, though. Drawing a quiet breath, Li Wei tightened the link between himself and the cricket, ready to dodge any sneak attack the old man might attempt.
Young Master Liu, Yu Deshui, and the others had planned to fleece him, but the tables had turned—they were the ones losing money. The stakes were already enormous, and Li Wei feared they might lash out in desperation.
They wouldn’t dare attack him directly, but a cricket? That was another matter.
Suddenly, a sharp, piercing cry echoed through the room. Through his connection with the cricket, Li Wei instantly understood—the rooster’s other eye had been bitten out. The match was over.
He was thrilled, but also puzzled. Why hadn’t the hunchbacked old man made his move? He had clearly been preparing to act.
Li Wei’s sharp eyes quickly picked up on something strange. The old man’s expression was frozen in fear, his whole body rigid as if immobilized by some unseen force.
Someone had intervened—someone from the Marquis’s household, and a master far stronger than that old man. Relief washed over Li Wei.
You bastards, your retribution is coming. He wanted to strike back immediately but held himself in check. Better to finish the match properly.
If he won all three rounds, his total winnings would exceed fifty million taels of silver—a fortune that would make future plans infinitely easier.
Even after the rooster went blind, Young Master Liu and the others clung to false hope and refused to announce the result. But when the bird finally stumbled out of the ring, they had no choice.
“Little Marquis, you win.” Young Master Liu almost ground his teeth to dust as he said it.
“Accepted, accepted—a lucky win,” Li Wei replied with a bright grin that made their faces twist with fury.
Zuo An gathered the silver notes neatly and placed them before Li Wei.
Li Wei could feel the burning stares of Liu and his companions fixed on the pile of money, as if their eyes had turned into hooks trying to reel it back.
“Young Master Liu,” Li Wei said cheerfully, “do you have any other tricks to show me? I’d love to broaden my horizons. I’ve made a little spending money anyway.”
Liu glanced first at Master Hu, then exchanged looks with Yu Deshui before shaking his head. “No. Let’s move to the final match.”
“That’s fine. The sooner we finish, the sooner I can go to bed.”
Then, suddenly, Young Master Liu straightened his back and locked eyes with Li Wei. “Little Marquis,” he said slowly, “are you interested in raising the stakes?”
“Didn’t we already bet?”
“I mean raising the bet.”
“How much?”
“Everything. All the silver notes and cash we have on us. Do you dare?”
“If there’s money to be made, why wouldn’t I?”
“Excellent.”
At Liu’s signal, the hunchbacked old man pulled out a handful of silver notes and about twenty taels in loose silver. Liu then gestured for Yu Deshui and the rest to do the same.
Soon, a large pile of silver notes and coins lay on the table. After counting, Liu and Yu Deshui’s total came to 37,526,235 taels—rounded up for convenience.
After some discussion, Li Wei returned the ten million taels he’d borrowed earlier.
That left Liu’s group with 47,526,235 taels in total, while Li Wei held twenty million. He wrote a note for the remaining 27,526,235 taels—if he lost, they could claim the amount from the Marquis’s mansion.
By his estimate, if he won this final round, he’d walk away with nearly eighty million taels—almost a hundred million including his previous winnings. It was far beyond anything he’d expected.
Even so, the sheer scale of it made his pulse quicken despite his best efforts to stay calm. Only after sending a wave of mana through his body did his heartbeat settle and his mind grow steady again.
Looking around, he noticed the others weren’t faring as well—Young Master Liu and his group were flushed and short of breath.
Liu gulped down a cup of tea and exhaled heavily before saying solemnly, “Little Marquis, Young Master Yu, let’s begin.”
“Agreed,” Yu Deshui said, waving to his men.
They immediately dismantled the previous arenas and brought in a large five-foot-square wire cage. The wire was thick and densely meshed—sturdy enough to hold a beast.
It’s just a cricket fight… why such an iron cage? Li Wei frowned.
The memories he inherited from the body’s previous owner included countless cricket matches, but never anything like this. Still, he stayed silent, choosing to watch.
He soon understood why.
A burly middle-aged man stepped out from behind Yu Deshui, carrying a heavy iron box covered by a black cloth. Setting it atop the cage, he fiddled with some mechanisms until an opening connected the box and the cage—but nothing came out.
After a while, Yu Deshui grew impatient and gestured to a waiter.
The young man looked terrified but obeyed, picking up the blind rooster, opening a small hatch on the cage, and shoving it inside.
The rooster immediately let out sharp, panicked crows—then something happened.
Before it was even fully inside, a black shadow shot out from the iron box and struck it.
Li Wei’s mage-trained eyes caught every detail. It was a cricket—but enormous, nearly twice the size of a normal one, its body bristling with spines.
It landed squarely on the rooster’s head and bit deep into its comb.
The rooster froze instantly, unable to even scream. Its bright red comb drained of color and turned deathly pale, while its body shriveled rapidly.
Li Wei’s pupils constricted. He had a suspicion—and when dark mist began to seep from the creature’s body, his suspicion turned to certainty.
A demon species. This cricket carried the bl00d of monsters.
No wonder Yu Deshui hadn’t panicked when Tai Sui died earlier—this was his real trump card.
As the demonic cricket swelled larger from sucking the rooster dry, Li Wei’s cold gaze swept toward Yu Deshui and the others. They avoided his eyes.
Finally, he turned to Young Master Liu and Master Hu, his voice like ice. “Judges, this is your so-called fairness? You’re letting a demon-blooded cricket fight ordinary ones?”
“Little Marquis,” Liu said smoothly, “there’s no such thing as absolute fairness. Besides, you never said demon species weren’t allowed. How can you blame us for that? Isn’t that right, everyone?”
Everyone, including Yu Deshui, nodded without a hint of shame.
Li Wei sneered. “So now it’s my fault?”
“Exactly,” Liu said smugly. “You’re learning fast. As your former teacher, I’m quite proud. Knowing your mistakes is the first step to improvement.”
Then, smiling coldly, he added, “If you don’t think you can win, I’ll make you an offer. Admit defeat now, hand over Crescent Lake and forty million taels of silver, and we’ll call it even. I’m being generous—that’s ten million less than you’d owe otherwise.”
Before Li Wei could reply, Yu Deshui chimed in eagerly. “The Little Marquis should accept. You won’t find such a good deal again.”
The others nodded, looking at him as though they were doing him a favor.
“Fine. Fine. Fine!” Li Wei’s voice trembled with fury. For a moment, he was too angry to speak.
Then, suddenly, a calm voice whispered in his ear: Young Master, shall this old servant teach these shameless fools a lesson?
It was a secret sound transmission. None of the others heard it.
The voice felt familiar, but Li Wei couldn’t place it. He shook his head slightly, declining.
“Very well,” he said aloud, turning back to the group. “You want to fight? I’ll see it through to the end.”
Ignoring their stunned faces, he pointed at a jar in the suitcase and signaled Zuo An to bring it to the cage.
Zuo An hesitated but obeyed. As he approached, something astonishing happened—
Before he could even open it, a sleek, jet-black cricket burst out of the jar on its own, knocking the lid aside and shooting straight into the iron cage.