Heavenly Jewel Change

“Boss, isn’t this a bit too shabby?” Ma Qun held up his clothes as he complained.

Zhou Weiqing shot a glance at him and said: “If you think it’s too shabby for you, you don’t have to join the tournament. What do you know, haven’t you heard of the term acting as a pig to eat tigers?! Or do you prefer to write on your forehead ‘I AM VERY STRONG’ before you are happy? Do you know what it means to feint some weak points for your enemies to draw them in?! Don’t forget that besides winning, we still need to work hard to earn money!”

Crow burst into giggles at the side, saying: “Just listen to Boss. The art of acting like a pig to eat tigers, no one is better than him at it. Both Weiqing and I have attended the previous Tournament, and we were also pivotal in achieving victory. Anyone could easily identify us. As such, it will be best for us to delay revealing ourselves as much as possible. Otherwise, how can we earn any money at all. Right, Boss?”

Zhou Weiqing grinned and said: “Looks like it’s Crow who knows me best. Alright now, hurry up and change clothes, I still have a mission for each of you to accomplish.”

Under Zhou Weiqing’s forceful request, the group of them grudgingly changed into this team uniform that was not really a team uniform. At least, they were relatively neat and in sync. If not for Ma Qun, Crow and Xixi’s heights, they could have been easily lost in the sea of people in the crowded streets. This was exactly the result and effect that Zhou Weiqing was looking for.

Once everyone had changed and returned to Zhou Weiqing’s room, he placed a stack of crystal cards on the table.

“Each of you take five cards. Each of these cards contain one million gold coins. I want you all to place bets according to my instructions. Once you have finished betting, only then do you take your participant badge to the competition ground by yourselves.”

As such, he handed out the cards to the various individuals, and he began informing them of the bets they were to place, each of them having different bets. This was the result of the past few days, which he had spent calculating the best odds for them to maximise their winnings.

Tian’er couldn’t help but find it amusing, saying drolly: “If I didn’t know that you were targeting the championship, I would really think you are just a professional gambler.”

The first round of fights had also been arranged and scheduled after drawing lots, and the schedule had also been released to the public for the sake of betting. However, all the bets would only start this morning, from daybreak until the sun is high in the morning, which was the arranged time for bets to be placed before the actual fighting began.

Zhou Weiqing grinned and said: “Winning money is also a grand accomplishment, one that grants you much satisfaction. Very soon, you will all feel it for yourselves. Oh right, for your own money, if you want to bet, do not follow my instructions. Our first fight will be against the Mi Ou Battle Team… so you can just bet on ourselves.”

This first fight could be said to be stress-free for all of them. It was perhaps the easiest fight in their entire group, and thus Zhou Weiqing found it extremely easy to arrange for their first day.

The team stealthily left their inn, mixing into the crowd as they split up, each heading to their own destinations according to Zhou Weiqing’s directions. They would be betting in different betting stations, and with their nondescript clothings, it should not draw much attention.

Naturally, they would not just dump a million gold coins at once on a single battle team. Instead, Zhou Weiqing’s method was to get them to scatter their bets here and there, even placing a few tiny bets on those battle teams which did not seem to have a chance to win, while having the majority on his targets. In this way, those above mentioned targets would not be too obvious.

Early in the morning, the odds of the day’s fight had already come out.

The Heavenly Bow Battle Team and the Mi Ou Battle Team’s odds had also come up, 1.5 to 1. That was to say, if the Heavenly Bow Battle Team won, bettors would gain 1.5x their bet, and if the Mi Ou Battle Team won, bettors would gain 1x of their bet.

The odds were constantly fluctuating, and it was determined by the ZhongTian government authorities, while the adjustments were done according to the bets.

Zhou Weiqing and Tian’er quickly arrived at their destination betting booth. After some observation, he discovered that many more people were betting on the Mi Ou Battle Team than their Heavenly Bow Battle Team.

After all, the Mi Ou Empire had joined the Heavenly Jewel Tournament many times before. Although their results weren’t astounding, more people would look to them rather than the Heavenly Bow Empire which had never joined a single Heavenly Jewel Tournament prior to this.

“Little Fatty, aren’t we going to place our bets? It isn’t early already.” Tian’er asked curiously.

Zhou Weiqing grinned and said: “Very well, let us begin. You go first, bet one million gold on the Mi Ou Battle Team.”

“Huh? Did you get that wrong? Bet on the Mi Ou Battle Team?” Tian’er was caught by surprise. “Are you planning on giving up the first fight?”

Zhou Weiqing continued grinning widely as he said: “Heh heh, just do as I say first.”

Although Tian’er was filled with puzzlement, her trust in Zhou Weiqing won out in the end. Furthermore, in her eyes, one million gold wasn’t much, so she did as he said and placed the bet.

Barely two minutes after Tian’er had placed her one million gold coin bet, the odds were adjusted, changing dramatically, reaching a high of 1 to 4.5!

After all, these two Battle Teams were not popular at all, and most did not have information on them. As such, the amount of total funds bet on them was not much. With a sudden addition of a one million gold coin bet, the odds would naturally be influenced greatly.

When he had joined the previous Heavenly Jewel Tournament, Zhou Weiqing had already spent some time observing all the details of the betting stations. These odds were controlled by objects similar to the Lustre Gems on the Heavenly Jewel Island. As long as one betting booth had a large infusion of bets, then all of the booths would change the odds.

As for the citizens, when they placed their bets, there was usually some distinguishing signs. That was, the popular battle teams and fights would definitely have a greater amount of bets in total. For example, if it were down to the top eight fights, and a Great Saint Land Battle Team was facing another Great Saint Land Battle Team, perhaps the total bets would amount to several billion gold coins or more!

Conversely, in the preliminary stages, due to the large number of fights, some of the smaller empires would have much lesser bets. After all, most would not want to place their bets on unfamiliar teams.

Indeed, as Zhou Weiqing had expected, after trying it out, the bet of one million gold had greatly increased the odds, proving Zhou Weiqing’s guesses to be accurate. He was instantly overjoyed.

Odds was a rather tricky thing. Sometimes, when it went high, it would cause others to follow suit. Seeing the Mi Ou Battle Team’s odds, before long, there were other people following suit, causing the odds to continue rising.

Humans had a habit of the inertia of thought. To many of them, since someone had dared to place such a heavy bet on the Mi Ou Empire, that must be because they had absolute confidence.

This year’s Heavenly Jewel Tournament betting had some variations from previous ones. Besides being the banker as usual, the ZhongTian Empire also added a rule that they would be taking a small cut from all the winnings. That was to say, if someone won money in a bet, a tiny portion would have to be paid up as ‘taxes’. The current declared ‘tax’ was about five percent. 1

Do not underestimate this mere five percent. After all, the Heavenly Jewel Tournament was sufficient to draw in all the richest people of the world to come watch and enjoy, and bet at the same time. The final tally of gold inflow and outflow could be more than a hundred billion gold coins. A mere five percent of that was already a massive sum of money.

If it were any other empire, they might be called into question for daring to take a small cut. However, who dared to challenge the ZhongTian Empire? If they weren’t willing to pay the cut, they could just not bet. However, this Heavenly Jewel Tournament could only be held by the ZhongTian Empire. As such, though there was some unhappiness due to this new rule, the dissenting voices were quickly drowned out.

Very soon, the time for the fights were about to begin. By this time, the odds of the Heavenly Bow Battle Team and Mi Ou Battle Team had risen to 1 to 7. That was to say, the Mi Ou Battle Team’s odds were 7 to 1, and the ‘profit’ for betting on them was very minimal now.

At this time, Zhou Weiqing finally placed his own bet. He placed every single cent he had with him and Tian’er onto their Heavenly Bow Empire, all at once. Once he placed the bet, he quickly left with Tian’er.

Although the odds would continue changing from there, but the fight was about to start soon. Of course, the payout would have a instant change from his bet, but it was unlikely many would be able to follow suit. The final odds should not be very different from the 1 to 7 payout rate.

Of course, that wasn’t to say that the ZhongTian Empire would lose money. The ones who truly lost would be those who had bet on the Mi Ou Empire. Although Zhou Weiqing had savagely bet on themselves, even a 1 to 7 odds was a far cry from the past tournament’s 1 to 100 odds.

“You are just too sly and cunning.” As Tian’er and Zhou Weiqing walked towards the entrance of the competition ground, she couldn’t help but comment with a smiling face. “Didn’t you say we should not raise too much attention?”

Zhou Weiqing grinned and said: “Heh, Since I didn’t place all thirty million gold on this betting round, that is already giving the ZhongTian Empire a lot of face. To be honest, this will be our biggest opportunity to earn money in the entire Heavenly Jewel Tournament. Since no one knows of us yet, and the Mi Ou Battle Team is also the easiest fight, we only have this chance to use our wealth to manipulate the odds… as such I can only seize this opportunity to earn a large sum first. The same situation should happen for most of the other bets I planned. Those I have chosen are mostly those fights between smaller empires. However, the betting process will be different from what we did just now… after all, I only have fifty percent certainty about the results. Although we cannot win it all, we have a major advantage in terms of the odds. As such, though we are splitting our bets, I estimate that we will at least earn ten million gold coins for this round.”

“Although this will definitely draw the attention of the ZhongTian Empire, perhaps even causing them to change some rules, at least we will have earned the base of what we need. From here on, we will not be able to duplicate that feat. We can only wait for those tough fights before we bet on ourselves to win and rake it in again. This time, I want to bring back at least sufficient funds to run our Heavenly Bow Empire for at least five years without issues.”

As the pair spoke, they entered the competition grounds.

On the surface, the Heavenly Jewel Tournament did not seem any different from the previous one. It was still that same central stage, surrounded by the various resting rooms of all the Empires. At the front, there was the VIP viewing stand.

However, for this year’s four best resting rooms, the Dan Dun Battle Team did not have a place. Instead, the Fei Li Battle Team had taken their position. More so, it was the best room, the one which had belonged to the ZhongTian Battle Team the previous time.