After hearing the driver’s words, Fang Yu felt like he was stepping into a massive pit.
Hasn’t he just returned to Jiangzhou for a short while, and already he had a profound sense of how deep city schemes run - even a pestle can be ground to a needle!
After a journey of over an hour, he finally arrived at a street in the old district of Jiangzhou.
The alley was deep and secluded.
Fang Yu got out of the car and headed into the depths of the street.
It was desolate.
It didn’t seem at all like it should in a big city. Although Jiangzhou isn’t on par with Yanjing, it should still be considered one of the most developed cities in Huaxia, right?
Walking to the end of the street, Fang Yu saw a decrepit three-story building with a sign hanging askew that bore a few crooked words: Barbarian Club.
"Damn! Is it that sketchy?!" Fang Yu’s eyes widened.
He had tapped into all his imagination but never did he expect Barbarian Club to be such a pit! Three stories! Not big, but not small either, just... it was too rundown, the exterior wasn’t even painted, looking just like a newly built but weather-beaten shell of a building.
"Shit, I’m at least the Hall Master in Jiangzhou’s faction... And this is the division?"
Fang Yu shook his head helplessly, took a light glance at the words ’Barbarian Club’ and still went upstairs.
...
Second floor.
The moment he stepped up, Fang Yu was hit with the pungent smell of smoke and alcohol.
And the floor was covered in rubble and scraps of paper.
A group of people were shouting and clamoring around a table.
Fang Yu looked over.
Two skinny guys, a woman, a fat man, and seven or eight other people scattered around, looking idle and bored, like thugs from the society, more like junkies high on drugs!
Fang Yu’s arrival immediately attracted everyone’s attention.
The bearded fat men on both sides stood up, giving Fang Yu hostile looks.
At that moment, a thickly made-up woman approached, cigarette in mouth, squinting her eyes and asked, "Young man, who are you looking for?"
Fang Yu smiled lightly and said, "I’m looking for your Bird Brother."
"Bird Brother?"
Everyone was taken aback.
All eyes shot towards him, converging and staring at Fang Yu.
"Whoa, someone knowledgeable. Not many people know about our Bird Brother... So tell us, are you here to join us, or just to hang around?" The heavily made-up woman asked.
Fang Yu thought for a moment and replied, "To hang around. But, I only play with your Bird Brother."
Slam!
A fat man slammed the table angrily, "You little bastard, you sure talk big. Do you even know whose territory this is? Play with our Bird Brother? You have to pass four challenges first!"
Fang Yu narrowed his eyes and glanced at the fat man, "Barbarian Club, mainly gambling with other side businesses, truly barbaric, I like it... So tell me, what are the four challenges?"
"The first challenge, you have to get past my ’Wind Second Mother’ here."
A seductive woman’s voice came through.
All eyes followed the sound.
Through the smoky haze upfront, under the light, a woman with a long, shapely figure was leaning over the pool table.
The woman slowly turned around, stunningly enchanting.
She was at least thirty-five years old.
"Are you Wind Second Mother?" Fang Yu asked.
"That’s me... If you want to gamble with our Bird Brother, you have to win against my pool game."
"Pool... pool game?" Fang Yu looked puzzled.
Damn it, these scumbags from the Dark Web, wasting their time doing this kind of stuff?
Had he not intended to feel out these trash thoroughly, Fang Yu would have exploded!
"Are you in or not?" Wind Second Mother picked up a cue.
"I’m in."
Fang Yu took the cue.
Wind Second Mother winked at Fang Yu, throwing him a flirtatious glance.
"Let the game begin... American pool, whoever clears first, wins."
"Alright."
Eight years ago, when Fang Yu was mixing it up in Jiangzhou, he had played this game, knew the rules, but wasn’t an expert. Now, eight years later, any technique he had was long forgotten.
Wind Second Mother smiled faintly, "Best two out of three, and I’ll break."
She picked up the cue ball and with a bang, she struck.
Unfortunately, no ball pocketed.
Fang Yu chuckled, "You’re out of luck, my turn now."
Picking up the cue stick, Fang Yu aimed at a small ball by the pocket... Bang, the ball went into the pocket.
But the second shot was not so easy to make.
It was a bit far.
Fang Yu wasn’t a professional player, his ball control skills weren’t that high.
Frowning slightly, he still braced himself and took the shot—
Bang!
As expected, the ball didn’t go in.
Feng Erniang chuckled and said, "Little brother, with these skills, you’ll have a hard time playing with our Brother Bird."
The show was now all Feng Erniang’s.
It was clear she often played on this table, shot after shot all connected, hardly a mistake. When it was time to hit the last black eight, Feng Erniang’s control was slightly off, making her think for quite a while.
"Little brother, watch carefully!"
With a slight smile, Feng Erniang, Bang!
She took the shot.
The cue ball struck the black eight, heading toward the pocket.
Just when Fang Yu thought the ball was unlikely to go in, the black eight took a slight curve... and then, with a pop, it fell into the pocket.
"I win the first round," Feng Erniang said excitedly.
Seeing that shot, Fang Yu couldn’t help but think, using Inner Strength, huh? Heh heh...
The second round started.
Fang Yu broke.
Since Feng Erniang cheated using Inner Strength.
Why shouldn’t he try using Inner Essence?
The control of Inner Essence was a hundred times superior to Inner Strength!
Fang Yu was very confident about this!
When hunting in the mountains, the Master’s use of Inner Strength to shoot birds had a much lower hit rate compared to his Inner Essence! It had been proved then that Inner Essence was far superior to Inner Strength.
Fang Yu smiled faintly, aimed at the ball!
Inner Essence burst forth!
Bang!
The cue ball rushed into the cluster of balls, and instantly, the cluster exploded, chaos ensued!
Plop. Fang Yu pocketed a large ball firmly.
After all, this didn’t require high technique, even a newbie could blindly pocket the first shot with enough force!
"Miss, I won’t hold back, ha!"
Fang Yu picked up the cue stick, aimed at another big ball, Inner Essence burst forth, flowing along the cue stick, at the same time, he aimed for a while, adjusting his Inner Essence.
Bang!
The cue ball hit the big ball.
The big ball moved slowly, awkwardly rolling into the pocket.
The spectators watched Fang Yu in amazement.
"This kid’s got some skills!"
"Wow, he even made that shot!"
"Don’t be hasty, the next shot is Feng Erniang’s break, he’s bound to lose!"
"Hey, every day there are some bored people challenging Brother Bird! Is our Barbarian Club that easy to challenge?"
A chubby bystander rolled his eyes and said, "Stop bragging, didn’t you lose last time? Ended up running naked, got caught and you still haven’t learned your lesson?"
"..."
On the billiards table.
Fang Yu wasn’t satisfied with that last shot, the Inner Essence was slightly lacking.
He continued to adjust.
Aiming at another large ball.
Bang!
The ball plopped, bounced at the pocket, and jumped straight in.
Everyone was dumbfounded.
Fang Yu, on the other hand, shook his head secretly, the Inner Essence was a bit too much.
But in the end, it went in.
Following that, Fang Yu gradually took control of the rhythm, and his Inner Essence control became very smooth.