Being pedantic or rigid certainly does not qualify one as a gentleman. Take, for instance, Weiwu, who agreed to meet someone by the river. Even when the floodwaters rose, he refused to leave; while this demonstrates faithfulness, he was ultimately swept away. Such a person can hardly be called a gentleman. If all gentlemen were like that, they would have been tricked and exterminated by petty men long ago.

Nor can one be called a gentleman if they are reckless, willing to do anything without any moral bottom line.

Those who show one face in public and another in private also fail to qualify as gentlemen.

What is a true gentleman?

A gentleman possesses both capability and principles; he is not rigid, not pedantic, and not constrained by rigid rules. He knows what he must do and what he must refrain from doing—that is a true gentleman.

The Deputy Head of the Confucian Civilization had been testing Lu Yuan, finding that no matter how much benefit Lu Yuan gained from gambling, he never became addicted. Furthermore, he did not rigidly insist on using his Du (Gambling) Character Clone to gain an unfair advantage. These points fundamentally aligned with what the Deputy Head of the Confucian Civilization expected.

Therefore, the Deputy Head of the Confucian Civilization was quite satisfied with Lu Yuan.

However, this did not mean Lu Yuan had completely passed the Deputy Head’s tests.

The matter of inheritance is of paramount importance and must not be treated lightly.

Consequently, whether he would ultimately pass the test remained uncertain.

Yet, the Deputy Head of the Confucian Civilization sincerely looked forward to Lu Yuan's performance.

“It is proven that I have found your clone,” Lu Yuan said, pointing a finger that transformed into a spear, aimed directly at one among countless phantoms. With a boom, the multitude of phantoms dissipated. His opponent's face was somewhat pale: “You win.” This was also a gamble, but the wager was locating the true body.

The opponent had simultaneously manifested a hundred illusory bodies, employing various illusions among them. If one could find the true body within ten breaths, they won. Many failed to locate the true body within the allotted time, losing one after another. Lu Yuan, relying on his extremely keen sense of perception, instantly pinpointed the true body and won this round.

The reason for turning his finger into a spear was that his current false identity, Li Taishi, was the successor of the Light Civilization, who wielded a weapon called the Kuai Jue Qiang (Swift Absolute Spear).

Using a sword was too conspicuous; very few in the Central Dynasty utilized swords. Transforming a finger into a sword could easily expose his identity.

Thus, he transformed his finger into a spear.

A spear was less likely to attract attention.

After winning this round, the prize secured was five Level Two Characters. Indeed, these were the Metal-element Level Two Characters. Lu Yuan, seeing the stakes so casually, decided to play once more, absorbing these five Level Two Characters into his personal Sword Space, and then allowing his Dao (Way) Character Clone to absorb them.

The Dao Character Clone was his most crucial character.

As he was absorbing them, he suddenly noticed that the last Level Two Character seemed odd. The exterior Level Two Character appeared to be a disguise. Once the surface character was absorbed, what emerged was clearly a Du (Gambling) Character.

Eh? A Du Character!

No, it was only a Du Character Clone, and it was not as potent as the one given to him by the Deputy Head of the Confucian Civilization; it was merely a one-tenth Du Character Clone.

Lu Yuan pondered whether he could merge his Du Character Clones. He currently possessed two: one three-tenths clone and this one-tenth clone. Could they fuse? Lu Yuan immediately attempted the fusion, and a line of text instantly appeared: "Merging Du Character Clones."

Huh? The Du Character Clones really could merge.

Lu Yuan snapped back to attention.

“The Battle of the Gambling Gods has begun! The Battle of the Gambling Gods has begun! Those with five thousand spirit stones and a winning streak of twenty consecutive rounds, please prepare yourselves. Decide whether you wish to participate in the Battle of the Gambling Gods.” This battle, held once every two months, is an event not to be missed, as you might find resources you desperately need by taking a single gamble. The voice was highly seductive.

The Battle of the Gambling Gods! He had to participate.

Lu Yuan shrugged. He had already amassed five thousand Heavenly-grade spirit stones. Now, he needed to earn even more Heavenly-grade spirit stones to attempt his breakthrough to the World Realm Eighth Heaven, the True Realm. There was no alternative; the Heavenly-grade spirit stones required for the World Realm Seventh Heaven were an astronomical figure, terrifying to contemplate.

As for the temporary inability to use the merged Du Character Clone, that was a simple matter. He could play small bets for now and increase the stakes once the merge was complete.

This was too simple.

Lu Yuan walked to the very center of Gambling Immortal Island. In the middle stood the most luxurious casino, but entry required inspection. Usually, people could only watch the games inside via water mirror techniques. Lu Yuan arrived at the inspection point and presented his identity token.

“Li Taishi, twenty-three consecutive wins, gambling capital exceeds five thousand Heavenly-grade spirit stones. Entry permitted.” This identity token was issued upon entering Gambling Immortal Island and was temporary. He did possess a true identity jade tablet that allowed passage throughout the Central Dynasty—one crafted by the Deputy Head of the Confucian Civilization. Of course, an identity jade tablet created by the head of an entire Civilization would absolutely be genuine. If he declared it real, even a fake would be forced to become real.

The Deputy Head of the Confucian Civilization also entered, as it was normal for him to accompany Li Taishi, his junior martial nephew.

Upon entering, they found an immense gambling table within the hall.

Lu Yuan sat at one corner of the table. Several other individuals were already seated around the table. This table had eight positions; Lu Yuan occupied Seat Number Eight. At Seat Number Three sat a thin, frail-looking middle-aged man holding a feather fan. This man exuded an air of profound composure in his demeanor.

Lu Yuan looked at this middle-aged man—this was Tong Yun Chou, who had harmed him several times but whom he was meeting for the very first time. Lu Yuan held a deep impression of Tong Yun Chou. Tong Yun Chou had set up several killing arrays targeting him. If not for sheer luck and timely breakthroughs, Lu Yuan would have likely died by Tong Yun Chou’s hands. As Lu Yuan regarded him, Tong Yun Chou returned a smile that seemed remarkably friendly. However, anyone who believed the ringleader of the Bronze Civilization's First Army Corps—who orchestrated such gruesome deeds—was genuinely friendly would not be far from death.

Seat Number One was occupied by the Wasteland Imperial Scion, the Imperial Scion of the Ancient Wasteland Civilization. He exuded a natural aura of malevolence. Lu Yuan, disguised as Li Taishi, did not discern Lu Yuan’s true identity, but he instinctively disliked the figure of Li Taishi.

Seat Number Two was occupied by the Martial Movement Imperial Scion, an accomplished Scion of the Martial Ancient Civilization.

Seat Number Four was occupied by the Moongrazer Buddha, a subordinate of the Suzerain Buddha. His bearing was stately and dignified; to be called Buddha, he must possess strength at least at the World Realm Seventh Heaven.

Seat Number Five was occupied by a young man in white robes—none other than the Sword Scion. The Sword Scion had cultivated within the Bronze Civilization for a time and now possessed considerable power, his entire body surging with divine energy.

Seat Number Six was held by the Heart-Bound Imperial Scion, also quite young and a Scion with immense potential.

Seat Number Seven was the Rage-Blast Imperial Scion, a Scion of the Law Ancient Civilization, characterized by a volatile and fiery temperament.

Seat Number Eight was naturally Lu Yuan, currently masquerading as Li Taishi.

In fact, this central casino on Gambling Immortal Island was not limited to just this single table. There were several others. While five thousand Heavenly-grade spirit stones was a high entry fee, and twenty consecutive wins were difficult, Gambling Immortal Island boasted so many masters that some qualified and could afford to play.

A dealer arrived to stand nearby. This dealer was a Soulless Puppet. Soulless Puppets were the most uniquely developed type of automaton—completely devoid of sentience and immune to external influence. This quality was generally acknowledged, making the Soulless Puppet ideally suited to act as a dealer and preside over the games.

The Soulless Puppet emitted an extremely stiff voice: “This Battle of the Gambling Gods will be played with Pai Gow.”

“Minimum bet is one hundred, no upper limit.” One hundred Heavenly-grade spirit stones counted as a large amount outside, equating roughly to one million Earth-grade spirit stones, approximately one-tenth of the entire wealth of the Sword Sect—one-tenth of the total assets of a Supreme Great Sect. How enormous that sum was! But in a place like Gambling Immortal Island, where spirit stones were not truly treated as currency, it wasn't considered excessively large.

However, while a minimum bet of one hundred was not huge, the nature of this game was immense: no upper limit. Remember that no upper limit.

“For this Pai Gow, there is no banker, and no face-down cards. In each round, players may call or fold. Those who fold immediately forfeit. Those who call may continue betting until the end.”

“Comparison is based on size. Each person receives two cards, calculated using the Heaven, Earth, Benevolence, Buddha, Hall, Plank algorithm, ranging from zero to nine. Zero is the smallest, nine is the largest. Above nine are Earth Tiles and Heaven Tiles, and pairs.” The Soulless Puppet explained the rules of this Pai Gow contest. The format without a banker and face-down cards was rather ruthless; it was truly a test of psychology. If you had a good hand but the opponent kept raising the stakes until you folded, the opponent could profit even if their hand was inferior to yours.

Lu Yuan listened to the rules and smiled slightly. Since the Du Character merge was not yet successful, he needed to play small for now and increase the stakes later.

Lu Yuan was genuinely in no hurry.

This was truly a peculiar experience. The eight individuals seated here—the Wasteland Imperial Scion at Seat One, the Martial Movement Imperial Scion at Seat Two, Tong Yun Chou at Seat Three, the Moongrazer Buddha at Seat Four, the Sword Scion at Seat Five, the Heart-Bound Imperial Scion at Seat Six—in terms of status, they were all his enemies. Lu Yuan had genuinely contemplated facing these individuals on the battlefield. Yet, now, under the guise of Li Taishi, he was here gambling resources with them.

Tong Yun Chou at Seat Three smiled faintly, his smile quite captivating: “We are all old acquaintances, only Seat Number Eight, Li Taishi, is unfamiliar to me.” He began inquiring about Lu Yuan’s background while trying to liven the atmosphere. Lu Yuan casually employed a Tai Chi method of deflection. After all, the entire false identity had been prepared by the Deputy Head of the Confucian Civilization. Lu Yuan spoke vaguely, half-truthfully, never revealing the slightest real detail. He was, for now, simply Li Taishi.

The Battle of the Gambling Gods was about to commence.