"Have you seen Gao Jin? Do you know what Gao Jin looks like?"
"I said the master is Gao Jin, is there a problem?"
It was all thanks to Su Mu's story being too brilliant.
So much so that the guests had already deeply imprinted Gao Jin in their minds.
Su Mu's every action now was a perfect match for Gao Jin in the story.
Cold sweat trickled down Tsunade's forehead, her inner rage intensifying: "He can't possibly beat me, this is all his acting!"
Su Mu gently swept his right hand over the cards in the air, directly grabbed them, flipped them over, and slammed them onto the table.
It was an Ace!
The guests who had seen the cards behind Su Mu were stunned.
They had clearly seen that the dots on Su Mu's cards were an eight.
Why was it an Ace when it was revealed!
Tsunade sat down on the stool, a look of despair on her face.
"Look! This is the real God of Gamblers!"
"I, Zhou Shanjie Zuo Muxiong, declare the master to be the strongest!"
"The story is brilliant, and the storyteller is even more brilliant!"
Shock value +30!
Shock value +100!
Shock value +25!
...
"You win, hmph, so there really is a God of Gamblers in this world."
Tsunade looked at Su Mu expressionlessly.
Su Mu merely smiled slightly, then opened his fan and fanned himself twice: "There is no God of Gamblers. It was just a dream I had after falling off a cliff."
Tsunade clutched the necklace around her neck in silence: "Before you give me this necklace, can you tell me another story about the reincarnation of the dead?"
Su Mu was taken aback. It seemed that the necklace was indeed Tsunade's lingering concern.
But this was good. Taking this opportunity to help her resolve her inner conflict would likely yield substantial rewards.
"I happen to have a story about summoning souls and animating corpses. Are you listening carefully?"
Su Mu turned and ascended the high platform.
The guests below, hearing that Su Mu was about to tell another story, excitedly returned to their seats.
"Waiter, bring me ten more bottles of sake!"
"Brother, you should order a plate of peanuts, if you can eat even one, you'll be able to crawl home..."
"I'll have five bottles too!"
"Three bottles!"
The shop's business was often sustained by Su Mu's stories.
Usually, Su Mu told only one story a day, and after finishing, he would wait for two days before coming out to tell a new one.
Today was an exception.
Telling two stories in one day, these guests were ecstatic.
It was all thanks to Tsunade.
Immediately, they all offered to buy Tsunade drinks.
Just as Su Mu was about to begin speaking, two outsiders dressed in black robes suddenly entered.
They found a seat in a corner and sat down.
Su Mu merely glanced at them and then smiled.
"Next, 'Blood Robe Soul Summoning' begins!"
"It is said that souls who die in a foreign land cannot find their way home, and these souls will remain in that foreign land like their bodies, suffering endless misery."
"They cannot enjoy the offerings of incense, the sustenance of food, or the salvation of scriptures."
"This solitary soul will become the most tragic hungry ghost, forever cycling in a foreign land, drifting for a long time with no hope of reincarnation."
"Unless their family performs a 'soul summoning' for them, making them hear the voices that yearn for them, they can only return following those voices. Once the arrangements for the deceased's body are complete, a soul summoning ceremony must be held."
The lights in the shop were dim, which perfectly complemented the atmosphere of the story.
The guests felt a little scared, but they couldn't bear to miss any part of the story.
"Can the souls of people who have been dead for a long time also be summoned?!"
Tsunade suddenly stood up, asking the question on her mind.
This startled everyone around: "Miss, can you please slow down next time? I almost died from a fright!"
Su Mu signaled Tsunade to not interrupt him and continued, opening his folding fan: "There is a place called Blue Star. On Blue Star, there was a man named Lin Zhengying, also known as Uncle Seven."
"Wherever he was, it was fine, even sleeping in a graveyard."
"Uncle Seven possessed divine abilities, capable of summoning souls and animating corpses..."
...
As the story was being told, a man in a black robe in the corner suddenly let out a scoff: "How ridiculous, summoning souls and animating corpses?"
"It's just a deception."
"When people die, their souls enter the cycle of reincarnation, but they do not reincarnate."
"My Edo Tensei naturally explains this principle."
Another man in a black robe nodded: "Lord Orochimaru, are your hands alright? Take the medicine later."
"Hmm, it seems Tsunade still can't let go of Nawaki and Kato Dan. This is a very good bargaining chip."
"My hands should be saved..."
A long, slender tongue was revealed from beneath the black robe.
From the beginning to the end of the story.
Tsunade listened attentively, her eyes never leaving Su Mu's gaze.
The guests marveled at the magic of the soul summoning and corpse animating methods, but found it somewhat unrealistic.
Compared to the God of Gamblers, it seemed a bit exaggerated.
"My father didn't tell me where he hid the money before he died. If I could summon his soul, I'd like to try..."
"If your father were truly summoned back, he'd probably scare you to death!"
"But the story is really good. As long as Uncle Seven is here, there's a sense of security!"
Su Mu knew what Tsunade wanted to ask, but he couldn't answer yet.
Entering the system world.
Su Mu had accumulated over two thousand points of shock value.
The first story, "God of Gamblers," also awarded him five hundred points upon completion.
Opening the All-Things Exchange Mall.
Here, he could exchange for any cultivation techniques, skills, items, weapons, and even characters from stories.
However, it required exchanging with an equal amount of shock value.
For example, Uncle Seven's peach wood sword required three hundred points of shock value to exchange.
The more powerful the item, the more shock value it required, some even needing millions of shock value points.
Gray items were locked and couldn't be exchanged because the corresponding story hadn't been told yet.
To unlock exchange items, the basic requirement was to complete the telling of the story.
When Su Mu told "God of Gamblers," Uncle Seven's peach wood sword was not yet available for exchange, but after telling Uncle Seven's story, the peach wood sword was unlocked.
Items needed for summoning: a soul-calling bell, a peach wood sword, and items used by the deceased during their lifetime.
Su Mu looked at the soul-calling bell, which required two hundred points of shock value, not expensive.
Thus, he used five hundred points to exchange for the soul-calling bell and the peach wood sword.
With everything ready, Tsunade had already taken off the necklace around her neck and placed it on the table.
"Thank you for your story, a bet is a bet..."
With that, Tsunade turned to leave.
"Don't you want to see the person you care about?"
Just as Tsunade was about to step out the door, Su Mu suddenly spoke.
Bang, bang, bang!
Tsunade's heart pounded violently. She turned back excitedly and looked at Su Mu, her eyes full of anticipation: "Can you really do it?"
Even Orochimaru and Kabuto, sitting in the corner, were shocked.
"Lord Orochimaru, this guy must be joking, right?"
"No... I don't think so. With so many people here, would he really ruin his reputation?"
"But I really can't imagine how this guy can summon the souls of Nawaki and Kato Dan."
"However, since he said it, we'll just have to wait and see..."