Punishment and Revelation

The two had been kneeling for a long time, but Yonker showed no intention of letting them rise.

Time ticked by, until cold sweat beaded on Betty’s forehead, who dared not use her battle qi. Annie could bear it no longer. “Grandpa,” she declared loudly, “Auntie has nothing to do with what happened today. If you must punish someone, punish me alone!”

Betty shot Annie a fierce glare, then quickly added, “Father, I raised Annie. She is still young, and if she made a mistake, the responsibility should rightly fall on me!”

“Grandpa, I alone am responsible for my actions!”

“Silence, both of you!” The Old Master roared with thunderous fury, pointing a stern finger at them. “Anyone who dares utter another word of nonsense… I will cast you both into the Emerald Abyssal Cage!”

The Emerald Abyssal Cage… Betty shivered violently, clamped her mouth shut, and continued kneeling obediently.

The Old Master glared coldly at them for another moment, then asked, his face etched with anger, “Betty, stand up! Was Annie’s gambling prowess taught by you?!”

Betty stood, not daring to touch her numb, aching legs, and lowered her head. “Father, when my hands got itchy, I would occasionally pull Annie along to play a few rounds with me. But… but Annie is clearly a novice; sometimes she doesn’t even understand the rules…”

“Annie!”

Annie spoke with calm composure, “Grandpa, Auntie taught me how to play dice when I was three, and by thirteen, I could already beat her. However, your rule forbids gambling! So I never dared to gamble myself, nor did I dare to display my true gambling prowess in front of Auntie, fearing I would rekindle her interest and condemn her to an endless addiction!”

“So, your gambling prowess is self-taught, and you could already beat Betty at thirteen. Today, you even managed to switch cards right under Francis’s and my noses… You truly are a gambling genius!” Betty and Annie dared not take this as a genuine compliment. As expected, Yonker slapped the table, rising abruptly, and bellowed, “But does this ‘genius’ of yours know that Margaret has already arrived in the Emerald Sea? Do you know how much trouble you’ve brought upon the family?!”

Margaret has arrived? No wonder Grandpa made an exception today… Annie offered a faint smile. “Grandpa, your granddaughter is willing to bear all consequences!”

Betty grew frantic, grabbing Annie’s shoulders and crying out, “Foolish girl, is it worth it for Francis?! You were originally the Old Master’s most valued successor, and today, for Francis, you’ve ruined your entire life!”

Annie shook her head calmly. “Auntie, I’ve thought this through very clearly. It’s just… today I denied everything in front of Francis, and I hope you won’t tell him the truth later either!”

Betty froze, then after a long pause, she gave a bitter smile. “Foolish girl, is it worth it, for a man who doesn’t love you at all?!” She almost shrieked the question, then abruptly knelt again. “Father, Annie is still young, she still has potential, I beg you…”

“Betty, silence!”

Yonker gazed at Annie for a moment, then slowly approached her, his face clouded. Yet, he suddenly asked, “Annie, you never display your gambling prowess; does your heart not itch for it? Answer my question seriously, for it will determine the punishment you receive!”

Annie calmly shook her head. “Annie has no gambling addiction!”

“With your skill, you claim no gambling addiction?” The Old Master furrowed his brow. “Then, in your eyes, what constitutes losing, and what constitutes winning?!”

Annie, without hesitation, shook her head once more. “Today, Annie denied everything before Francis because Annie doesn’t need anything from him. In Annie’s eyes… there is no winning or losing!”

A sharp glint flashed in Yonker’s eyes, and he pressed, “If there’s no winning or losing, then what, in your eyes, is gambling?!”

Annie looked up, puzzled. “Grandpa, does that question still hold meaning now? Annie is well aware of the family’s laws. This time, even if I don’t die, I’ll be imprisoned for life in the Emerald Abyssal Cage… Please, Grandpa, mete out my punishment!”

“Enough nonsense, answer my question!” Yonker suddenly seized Annie’s shoulders, his fingers digging in with such force that Annie’s face went pale and cold sweat streamed down her brow! But Annie seemed to feel no pain. “Very well, I’ll tell you…” She gave a bitter smile, lowering her head as she slowly spoke.

“When I asked Auntie Betty to force a marriage with Francis back then, my heart was full of confidence. I wanted to gamble, to bet that Francis would accept the engagement… But the result was that Annie lost, and lost a great deal! Yet, Annie also understood a principle: where there is gambling, there will be winning and losing. If one doesn’t want to lose, doesn’t want to forfeit, then one must not gamble. Those who don’t gamble are the true victors!”

A strange smile touched the corners of Yonker’s lips. “Not gambling is the path to victory. Well said!” He slowly released his grip. “Stand up!”

Betty’s heart brightened. “Annie, Grandpa has forgiven you. Quickly, thank him!”

But, unexpectedly…

Annie did not stand. Instead, she continued the words she had yet to finish. “However, as Annie grew older and saw more of the world, I began to think: if I hadn’t gambled back then, wouldn’t I have forever been unable to obtain Francis? In that case, by not gambling, although I wouldn’t lose anything, I also wouldn’t gain anything!”

Yonker’s smile abruptly vanished, and he stared blankly at his granddaughter.

Betty grew frantic. “Foolish girl! Your grandpa is a Master who understands ‘The Art of Not Gambling’! Now you must speak to his liking! What do you mean ‘if you don’t gamble, you get nothing’… Do you want to die?!” In her haste, she blurted out the truth!

Yonker, however, waved his hand blankly. “Annie, continue!”

Annie seemed completely unconcerned with their reactions, absorbed in her own words…

“To gamble, there is a chance of losing! Not to gamble, however, means gaining nothing! To gamble, or not to gamble, this question troubled me for a very long time… until a year ago! I met another girl who had pursued Francis back then—Avril! We became friends, and then… the answer to ‘to gamble or not to gamble’ I saw in Avril. I asked her, ‘All the effort you’ve put in today, Francis doesn’t even know about it. You’ve endured so much unimaginable hardship, just to make a grand gamble that when you meet Francis again in the future, he will fall in love with the person you are now?!’ Avril told me she never gambled. She simply pursued with a sincere heart! If she achieved it, a lifetime of happiness. If not… then so be it, but she would have no regrets!”

Annie gave a bitter smile.

“Not long ago, I met Francis again. When I mentioned Avril’s promise from back then, his emotions were far more intense than when he saw me, Annie, in person! Regardless of Avril’s ultimate fate, she will forever occupy a place in Francis’s heart—even if not as a lover! But in Francis’s heart… I hold almost no position, at most, merely an old classmate with a decent impression!”

Annie bit her lip, her eyes moist, her voice choked. “From then on, Annie understood. It wasn’t that I shouldn’t have loved Francis back then, but that I used the wrong method! To love someone is to pursue them with a sincere heart, not to win them through gambling…”

Gently wiping away the tears from the corners of her eyes, Annie gave a wretched smile and finally said, “Gambling is for gaining more, but to gain more, one doesn’t necessarily have to gamble! By doing things with heart, one can achieve the same, and even if not achieved, the loss is far less than what gambling incurs! Grandpa, if there must be gambling, if there must be winning and losing, then your granddaughter can only say: not to gamble, but to win with heart!”

Having finished her lengthy discourse, Annie lowered her head, awaiting her Grandpa’s final verdict!

Betty had long since been dumbfounded.

The Old Master Yonker remained silent for a long moment, then suddenly picked up the playing cards from the table and, with a sharp *rip*, tore them apart. He then uttered words that outsiders would never have imagined: “Betty, go greet your brothers and sisters… From today onward, Annie is the first in line of succession for the Batuk Family!”

Betty’s eyes widened dramatically, and Annie, too, stared at her Grandpa in bewilderment.

Yonker suddenly burst into wild laughter. Joking aside, in that moment, he looked like an old street thug. “Damn it, if I had known Annie had already reached this level of enlightenment, and possessed such profound gambling prowess… why did I bother guiding Betty?! It truly is a case of ‘searching far and wide only to find it at one’s feet’… The conflict between Du Chen’s Divine Cult and Water’s Embrace Lake has actually forced out a peerless genius, haha!”

The Old Master abruptly turned and fixed his gaze on Betty. “Betty, now I can tell you the truth! Rondo taught you gambling prowess back then under my instruction. Unfortunately, while your skill has been sufficient for twenty years, your state of mind has never quite reached the required level… Otherwise, you would have long been the first in line of succession for the family!”

Betty offered a sheepish smile. “Father, so Annie has met your requirements?”

“Wrong. She has met the requirements of our ancestor, Thunder God Batuk!” Yonker didn’t care if Betty understood or not, waving his hand. “Betty, you should understand the meaning behind my frankness—don’t let me catch you envying Annie! Very well, you may leave. You are not qualified to know what happens next!”

Betty paused, then let out a strange, cackling laugh as she exited. Clearly, Annie was about to receive something great, while Betty herself had forever lost her opportunity because she failed to grasp the Old Master’s gambling prowess insights. However… Annie, who was like a biological daughter to her, achieving this made her happier than if she had achieved it herself! Envy? What envy?!

If Annie became the Family Head in the future, wouldn’t Old Mother be able to indulge her gambling addiction whenever she pleased? Haha! Not long after leaving the study, Betty let out her unique, legendary, ‘Battle God Physique Hormone Imbalance’ laugh!

While Yonker was “admonishing” Annie, Du Chen and Liana were still sighing in their room.

Du Chen pondered deeply, then stated with certainty, “There’s no mistake, Annie must have switched the cards for me!” He rubbed his nose. “I wonder what kind of punishment she’ll receive…”

“If you want to know, why not go see for yourself?!” A voice suddenly echoed in his mind!

Du Chen’s eyes lit up. “Dus, you’re finally alive again!”

“Hmph, when has Fifth Brother ever died?!” A phlegm-like substance, squirming like a maggot, crawled out of Du Chen’s sleeve. It wriggled for a moment, then transformed into the likeness of Du Chen, the Divine! It was rather disgusting… yet Fifth Brother was triumphant. Upon his revival, he immediately let out a mighty roar to vent the frustration of the past ten days, “Let the storm rage even more fiercely! I, Dus, have brought myself back to life once more!!”

Liana shrieked, “Dus, you hooligan!” She scooped up Beibei and bolted out of the room. It turned out Fifth Brother, true to habit, was once again unclothed…

Du Chen chuckled. Dus, however, shrugged indifferently. His shrug was remarkably fluid, indistinguishable from a genuine human movement, far superior to his previous stiff actions!

Dus declared, “Thanks to you, Fifth Brother’s strength has greatly advanced! I can almost manifest complex internal human organs now. Before long, I reckon I’ll be able to form a throat and vocal cords to speak!”

Du Chen smiled. “What about me?” Ever since the Fifth Trigram’s lotus bloomed its twentieth petal, he had been swamped with activity. And since Fifth Brother, who could assess Du Chen’s strength, was still ‘inflating himself,’ Du Chen hadn’t yet figured out his own power level. Now that Fifth Brother was awake, this was naturally his first question!

Fifth Brother sensed him for a moment. “Your strength, eh… Do you remember the Dragon God? You could fight him now, but don’t expect to win, yet don’t fear losing either!”

Du Chen mused, “So that means Eleventh-Tier upper echelon… on par with the Pontiff! Hmm, I understand. Dus, tell me clearly what exactly you encountered in that cave that day!”

Dus pursed his lips. “That’s not urgent. Hey, aren’t you worried about Annie? Don’t you want to see for yourself?”

Du Chen waved his hand lightly. “The Batuk family’s Exquisite Pagoda is riddled with traps, and we’re even more uncertain of the Old Master’s true depth. I won’t take such a risk for something I’ll know eventually!”

Dus proudly shook his head. “Before, no, but now… Nineteen, come out!”

Du Chen was greatly startled. On the day Miki’s Restoration succeeded, a total of three Precious Lotuses had bloomed. The effects of Green Cloud and Wind Source had left Du Chen utterly captivated, but Nineteen had mysteriously vanished and remained unfound to this day… Du Chen glanced around, but even after Dus finished speaking, Nineteen was still nowhere to be seen. He couldn’t help but frown. “Where is Nineteen? Why can’t my inner strength and Primordial Spirit sense him?!”

Dus smiled mysteriously. “In Fifth Brother’s opinion, the true meaning of the Fifth Trigram is… wind has no form, clouds have no fixed shape! A true master of concealment can even deceive themselves!”