Chapter 582: Chapter 281: Marquis Xuanping Makes a Move (First Update) Chapter 582: Chapter 281: Marquis Xuanping Makes a Move (First Update) Tang Yueshan quietly assessed Xuanping’s ability in his mind. To tell the truth, he hadn’t really crossed hands with Xuanping many times, and even if he had, it was something that happened twenty years ago.
Xuanping’s martial arts skills were slightly superior to his, but Xuanping had suffered a waist injury and it was rumored that he had not fully recovered even now, experiencing vague pain every time it rained.
If it were a match in terms of martial arts, he was confident that he could beat Xuanping.
Could it be a test of wits?
In that way, Xuanping would be even less of a match for him.
Although Tang Yueshan wasn’t much of a scholar, in comparison to Xuanping who was a little hooligan with no scholarly ambitions, he was indeed superior.
Xuanping groaned and said with some reluctance, “Lord Tang, you should know about my injury. Is it possible for me to find a proxy?”
It seemed that he was really prepared to challenge him in martial arts. Tang Yueshan glanced at the young man standing behind Xuanping. He knew this young man, his name was Chang Jing, a secret guard. As for his specific origins, Tang Yueshan had little knowledge.
Tang Yueshan could not perceive any fluctuations in the other man’s energy. This could mean two things: the other person either had no martial arts skills, or his martial arts skills surpassed Tang Yueshan’s. Without a doubt, it was not the former.
This was strange, yet not so strange.
It wasn’t strange because Tang Yueshan was a battlefield commander who mastered the art of battling enemies. His martial arts skills were highly advanced but not necessarily at same level as a secret assassin like Chang Jing.
What was strange was the mysterious aura surrounding this young man. No one in the Capital City had been able to find information about his background.
Tang Yueshan valued face, but he was not the type to cling to face even to his own detriment. Perhaps a bit of provocation might work on him, but the real reason he agreed to this bet came down to his own personal desires — he wanted to strip Xiao Ji of his title as Xuanping.
Therefore, he would not let Chang Jing compete on Xuanping’s behalf for the sake of a little face, even if Xuanping then accused him of taking advantage of his injured waist and winning dishonorably.
“I disagree,” Tang Yueshan said solemnly.
As expected, Xuanping immediately retorted, “Taking advantage of my waist injury, aren’t you afraid others will laugh at your dishonorable victory?”
Tang Yueshan coldly snorted in response, “If you dare, then bet. If you don’t dare to bet, then leave.”
“Bet, of course I will bet. Do you think I am someone who is afraid to bet?” Xuanping’s notoriety for being shameless was well known in their circles. Even when Tang Yueshan was worried about losing the bet, Xuanping wasn’t, since he had a notoriously thick skin. Thus, he wouldn’t mind losing a bet.
In some ways, this was a unique quality of Xuanping. Tang Yueshan was not worried that he would back off afterward.
“Alright, let’s start then.” Xuanping opened his palm, revealing two marbles made of jade, “Pick one.”
Tang Yueshan was puzzled, “What are we doing?”
Xuanping said, “Playing marbles, of course!”
Tang Yueshan was almost choking on his words, “You…you mean to say…you are talking about this?”
“Ah, yes!” Xuanping responded as though this was the most obvious thing in the world, “What else did you think it was?”
Tang Yueshan clenched his fists, grinding his teeth almost to the point of having a stroke.
He was the one who had earlier said, ‘If you dare to bet, bet. If not, leave.’ Now he couldn’t even go back on his own words, after all, it wasn’t about being shameless, it was about keeping one’s word.
Tang Yueshan draw in a breath of cold air. He never thought that at his age, he would have to play such a game with someone else.
Was there something wrong with Xuanping’s mind? How did he come up with this thought? Didn’t he feel like he was making a fool out of himself?
Tang Yueshan had played with these things when he was young and he was rather good at them. Besides, martial artists had quick reactions and good aim, so he was not worried.
“Ok, ok, let’s play with these!”
Impatiently, he picked up one of the marbles.
Although Chang Jing’s marbles appeared similar, each was different. For instance, Tang Yueshan picked a cobalt jade marble, whilst the one in Xuanping’s hand was a jade flower marble, both of which had exquisite patterns.
Xuanping had someone dig two small holes in the ground; one for each of them. There were many ways to play with marbles, so he let Tang Yueshan choose the method. Tang Yueshan chose a type where there was no need to determine who went first: each person holds ten marbles aside from the ones in their hands, and whoever is able to get all ten of their marbles into the hole first, wins.
The only problem was that crouching in front of their subordinates and playing these games made them look like idiots.
Xuanping, at least, was a handsome idiot. Anything he did was pleasing to the eyes; Tang Yueshan, on the other hand, looked rather awkward when he crouched down.
Tang Yueshan suddenly felt a tinge of regret. Why had he chosen to gamble with this madman? Had he forgotten that this madman had hardly ever done anything normal in his life?