When Zhao Hao saw his master approach, he quickly took a step forward and said, "Master, let me teach him a lesson." Zhang Lei waved his hand and said, "No need." Mei Jingjing was so angry that her face turned red. She swung her whip and used a bit of real force. This time, it hit the man's back with a loud crack. The clothes on his back shattered into pieces and floated away in the wind. The man screamed in agony as the force of the whip pressed him to the ground. He continued to curse under his breath. Zhang Lei grabbed his neck and lifted him up. "Which gambling den do you belong to? Take me to see your boss," he demanded. The crowd gasped in shock. Another man next to the first one pulled out an eight-inch knife and lunged at Zhang Lei. Zhang Lei didn't even pay attention to the knife. He used his other hand to grab the man's neck as well. The man was extremely frightened. His knife felt like it had struck a block of iron. He couldn't breathe with Zhang Lei's hand around his neck. He blacked out in an instant and the knife fell to the ground with a clang. Zhao Hao reminded, "Master, they've passed out." Zhang Lei thought to himself, "I didn't even use much strength. Why are they so weak?" He quickly released his grip. Zhang Lei asked the middle-aged man, "Which gambling den did you lose yourself at?" The man, who was very frightened, stuttered, "It... it was the Baolai Gambling Palace." Cheng Zizhong whispered, "Sir, the Baolai Gambling Palace has ties to the Litan Kingdom. The situation is complicated." Zhang Lei nodded and said with a smile, "Do you all want to try gambling?" Cheng Zizhong and Zhao Hao would never object to Zhang Lei's decisions. Zheng Peng always wanted to explore new places while Mei Jingjing wanted to find someone to quarrel with. Everyone agreed to go to the gambling den. Zheng Peng held the two big men in his hands, and the middle-aged man led the way to the gambling den. The Baolai Gambling Palace was one of the four major gambling dens in the capital. Those who could open a gambling den in the capital were generally not simple people. The owner of the Baolai Gambling Palace was very mysterious. Few people had seen him. There was a man named Du Dingguang who was said to be a famous master in the gambling world. On the way, Cheng Zizhong briefed Zhang Lei on the situation. As a patrol officer, he was not a mere figurehead. When they arrived at the entrance of the gambling den, Zhang Lei signaled for Zheng Peng to lift up the two men while he held a small gong and knocked on the door. "Come and see, come and see, we're selling living people at a great discount. Two fresh, big men for only one coin. Buy one, get one free. The dead one's free!" Mei Jingjing giggled and said, "Brother, you're amazing. Even selling things, you could be so eloquent. You seem to have a lot of experience." Zhang Lei thought to himself, "What's so amazing about this? The street vendors in our place are much better at calling than me. But they're selling pants, I'm selling people. Anyway, it's all low-quality merchandise." Cheng Zizhong and Zhao Hao exchanged glances and stood on the side, watching the commotion. The middle-aged man trembled with fear. Chaos broke out at the entrance, and a group of thugs rushed out of the gambling den. A big-bearded man at the forefront clasped his fist and said, "Excuse me, friends. I don't know what two of my brothers did to offend you?" When he turned around and saw the middle-aged man, he suddenly realized, "Qilao Er, you darned fool. How dare you bring people to cause a scene? You're not tired of living, are you?" Qilao Er shook his head repeatedly and said fearfully, "I didn't bring them, I didn't bring them!" The big-bearded man said, "If you lose in a bet, you lose. No one else is to blame. You owe money to others and blame them for selling you to repay the debt."

Zhang Lei smirked, "Get lost, don't bother me with your Qi Lao Er and Qi Lao San nonsense. I finally found these two treasures to sell at a good price, so I can go gamble and maybe strike it rich. You stupid dog, don't murmur in front of me and disrupt my selling!" Zhao Hao chuckled to himself, recognizing the tone of their Master, the sage. The bearded man had never seen such arrogance before and snapped, "You little dog, you don't know your place..." Before he could finish his sentence, a whip hit him square in the mouth, shattering his front teeth. He mumbled unintelligibly, gesturing to his henchmen as he said, "H...it...them all...my teeth..." The thugs rushed towards them, but Zhang Lei warned, "Anyone who extends a hand to me will be knocked out. Don't kill them though; dead men are worthless!" Zhao Hao assured him, "Don't worry, Master. None will die." Blackie stretched his muscles, grinning, "Haha, there's a fight to be had. Watch my fists!" Though the guards were proficient, they were no match for Zhao Hao, a master in martial arts and newly-entered practitioner of cultivation. He moved like a dragon, darting between them with agility. As for Zheng Peng, he fought brusquely, grabbing one with his left hand, another with his right, knocking their heads together, and tossing them aside. In moments, the ground was littered with moaning, injured bodies. Eventually, a few individuals emerged from the door. At their head was an elderly man in his sixties, bald with sparse mustache, as if he hadn't seen sunlight in years. His face was wrinkled deeply, and he wore a pained expression. Several middle-aged men dressed in blue stood behind him. Cheng Zizhong whispered, "That's Du Dingguang." Zhang Lei ignored him and continued tapping his small gong, "Selling people here! How many do we have now? Niuniu, count them for me." Mei Jingjing happily counted the thugs lying on the ground, giggling, "There are twenty-one, plus the previous two, twenty-three in all! How much for all of them? I'll buy." Du Dingguang solemnly stated, "How much for this trash?" Zhang Lei was surprised at his calm demeanor, sensing he was a tough adversary. He teased, "Such trash is going cheap, a hundred taels of silver each. If you take them all, I'll give you a discount at two thousand taels of silver. I'm selling at a loss!" One of Du's men was about to interject, but he stopped him and asked, "Are you here to gamble or to leave with your money?" Zhang Lei became wary, sensing his hostility. "Yes, indeed. Today, I've encountered a big customer. Even this garbage sells; my luck must be good! I'm going to gamble for sure," he joked. Du Dingguang signaled with his eyes, and someone ran off. He then gestured for Zhang Lei's group to enter. Qi Lao Er took advantage of the distraction and slipped into the crowd, fleeing. The gambling hall was not the stuffy and smoky place as Zhang Lei expected. The main hall was quite spacious and well-ventilated, so it didn't feel cramped. A dealer approached them, carrying a tray of chips, and flirted, "Sir, would you like to play in the main hall or the private room?" Zheng Peng took the tray from him.

Cheng Zizhong explained, "The hall is where the poor play, only the rich can enter the inner hall for leisure. Zhang Lei laughed and said, "Okay, now I'm a rich man. Haha, I have two thousand taels of silver to gamble with, let's go to the inner hall." Du Dingguang, who was standing behind, casually rubbed his hands, stopping his subordinates from impulsively following. The waiter led everyone into the inner hall. It was decorated luxuriously, with beautiful young maidens shuttling back and forth. There were many screen partitions, separating the space. Du Dingguang said, "What would the guests like to play? Fan-Tan, Sic Bo, Pai Gow, as long as the guests request, our establishment will satisfy."

Zhang Lei was at a loss. He didn't know how to gamble and had never gambled before. After a moment of thought, he decided to try his luck with dice and said with a smile, "I'll play dice, where can I play?" Du Dingguang glanced at him disdainfully and led the group to a large table.

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There were six wealthy men dressed in luxurious clothing sitting at the table, completely focused on the dealer who was shaking the dice cup and calling out, "Under! Under! Under!" Everyone called out, "Come on! Come on! Come on!" And then the dealer revealed the dice, causing some to rejoice and others to despair. Du Dingguang waved the dealer away and took over, saying, "I'll serve our guests."

The six wealthy men were familiar with Du Dingguang and asked why he was personally serving them. They were surprised to see the owner of the Treasure Silver Jewelry Pavilion, Zhao, who was known to be skilled, playing with them. Zhang Lei suggested they play the game, "One person, one cup, six dice, and the one with the highest points wins. In general, it's considered a tie if the total points are the same, and the winner is whoever has the lower number."

The surrounding people were amazed by this way of gambling. Although Du Dingguang was a gambling expert, this method was new to him. Zhang Lei was pleased with his suggestion and challenged Du. After examining the dice, Zhang Lei said, "Your call, you go first." Du Dingguang picked up the dice cup, shook it a few times, and gently placed it down, saying, "Please."

Zhang Lei was excited, tossing the dice one by one into the air with a controlled force of true elemental energy. He then grabbed the dice cup and swung it back and forth, skillfully placing each dice inside before vigorously shaking it up. Zhang Lei was intentionally showing off, spinning the cup in his hand in a way that left everyone dazzled before finally throwing it up high in the air and slamming it down on the table. Everyone was amazed at his feat and couldn't help but applaud. Even Du Dingguang, who had been frequenting the gambling dens for years, was caught off guard and felt a growing sense of unease.

The shopkeeper on the side said, "Place your bets. If you bet on Mr. Du's win, put your chips on the left. If you bet on this young master's win, put your chips on the right." Du Dingguang asked, "How much?" and Zhang Lei teasingly replied, "What if I win? How are you going to pay me?" Du was getting angrier by the second, and he struggled to keep his composure. He gritted his teeth and said, "One to one. Do you want two to one?" Eventually, his anger had been ignited, and Zhang Lei was thrilled because he knew Du was not thinking clearly, so he thought to himself, "Good, you're not calm. That means you'll lose half your money first."

Zhang Lei joked, "Would you be willing to do two to one if I win?" Ha ha!" Du Dingguang's face turned red with anger and Meijingjing snapped, "Hey, he's shy!" Everyone burst into laughter, but Du Dingguang was shaking with rage. He thought, "You little rascal, you're pushing it too far! I don't believe that I can't beat you with my gambling skills!" In a moment of impulsiveness, Du said, "All right, two to one, but you go first."

Zhang Lei placed two thousand taels of silver on the table and asked, "Can I bet with jewelry as well?" He pulled out four night pearls the size of quail eggs and placed them on top of his chips. Everyone was shocked because they were worth so much money. Zhao Hao said, "These pearls are worth at least twenty-five thousand taels of silver each." Du said, "You're ruthless!" Zhang Lei pointed to a maidservant and said, "You come and open the cup." The maidservant peeled the cover of the cup and everyone was taken aback. Six dice were arranged like a five-star pattern, all showing six points. One of the dice was split in half, as if cut by a knife, with an additional point in the middle.

Du Dingguang's face was ashen and he said bitterly, "You win." Even though Du's dice also showed six points on each die, Zhang Lei had cleverly added an extra point in the middle. Applause filled the room as everyone cheered, "What a spectacular win!" and "How amazing!" Suddenly, a group of people walked into the room. The man leading the pack was a military officer wearing a third-rank official's uniform. Cheng Zizhong whispered, "He's Peng Yongnian, the commander of the Imperial Guard." Everyone fell silent as they realized that this man was probably the local ruler.

Peng walked up to the table, picked up one of the night pearls, and asked, "Where did this pearl come from? It looks like someone recently reported to the authorities that a batch of jewelry had been stolen." He turned to his subordinate and asked, "Is this true?" A soldier nearby replied, "Yes, your Excellency. The pearls that were reported missing included four night pearls." Zhang Lei was amused watching the officer's performance, but Cheng Zizhong was secretly worried, thinking to himself, "You're really asking for trouble, aren't you? Out of all the people you could mess with, you choose Zhang Lei. If you want to steal from him, you need to know what you're dealing with first." Meijingjing was also outraged as she lashed out at Peng with her whip.

As soon as Peng Yongnian picked up the four Night Pearls, Mei Jingjing's shadow whip was already in his face. He was indeed a magistrate and had excellent skills. He slightly moved his body and deftly dodged the whip with a light flick of his wrist against the table-corner. The whip left a crack on the table. Mei Jingjing exclaimed, "You're fast! But let's see if you can dodge this one!" Zhang Lei reached out to stop her. He knew Niu Niu was going to bind him with the shadow of her whip. But he didn't want to end the show yet. How could he allow himself to be immobilized? "Ha! This little girl is brave enough to strike even a magistrate. Times have changed, and now even young girls are this fierce. Come on, take these suspects away!" The soldiers all rushed towards them. An invisible force emanated from Zhang Lei's body. Almost all the people present couldn't stand still and kept retreating. Only Zhao Hao, Peng Yongnian, Du Dingguang, and Mei Jingjing could barely stand. Zhang Lei was ecstatic. He didn't know the sitting position he learned from Hou Pi Jing's Yu Tong Jian actually caused this effect. Peng Yongnian looked embarrassed as he said, "You're quite a dude! You dare resist arrest. Listen, call for backup to surround the casino and invite some experts from the Guofengtang." Peng Yongnian already understood that Zhang Lei was a cultivator. Yes, some soldiers quickly ran outside to make the call. The people in the casino started to panic, but it was too late to leave. Zhang Lei chuckled slowly, "Don't panic. Take it easy and report slowly. I haven't had enough fun yet. Oh, Du Dingguang, what a badly named person. Dingguang means 'losing the light.' Ha ha, losing all his money is guaranteed!" Mei Jingjing giggled, "Hey, brother, he hasn't lost any money yet. How much should he pay? Let me calculate. Ah, two thousand taels of silver and four Night Pearls, each worth 25,000 taels of silver. That's a total of 240,000 taels of silver! While they were talking, Peng Yongnian started to feel uneasy. He had been in the officialdom for many years and could easily tell the weight of different affairs. Either these people were idiots or their status was too high to fear him at all. He thought hard but couldn't recall any information about them. He had a premonition of something bad happening and asked, "Hey, kid, what do you do? Who are your elders?" Inside, Cheng Zizhong sighed inwardly. He's not completely stupid, but he knows it's not going well. Of course, Zhang Lei wouldn't answer him because he had already won. Du Dingguang couldn't resist anymore. He walked up to Peng Yongnian and whispered a few words in his ear. Peng Yongnian felt relieved. He was only the head of a silver bank, and these people were probably not that powerful. Besides, the head of a silver bank must be wealthy. It seemed he had struck the jackpot. Thinking of this, he laughed heartily and said, "I advise you to surrender. Resisting is futile. Explain yourself in the yamen, and everything will be okay. Ha ha!" Zhang Lei found it amusing to listen to Peng Yongnian's self-talk and said to the people around him, "Hey, did you guys hear that? I keep hearing a buzzing sound of a little bug in my ear. It's so irritating! Oh, by the way, do you know who was talking just now?" Everyone wondered how this guy could insult people without using vulgar language. Peng Yongnian was almost going crazy. He trembled and said, "Fine, we'll see about it." He didn't dare to curse anymore. He really couldn't understand on what basis this guy dared to act so recklessly. A soldier reported that four high-level experts from Guofengtang had arrived.