The Silly Alchemist

“Hmm, this only works with the sixth sense…” coughed Ye Lang.

“Are you sure you can do it? Without hurting yourself?” asked a very worried Ye Chengtian. He only cared if he was prone to injury. Winning or losing didn’t matter to him at that point.

“Sure!” Ye Lang was dead serious. Many thought it was temporary!

“Then… I must still go!” Ye Chengtian hesitated but didn't change his mind.

“...”

Ye Lang insisted that no one was allowed to interfere with what he was doing, or else he would have a fall out with them. But this wasn’t much of a problem as not many people bothered him anyway.

However, in the end, Ye Chengtian didn't go. It wasn’t because of Ye Lang’s insistence, rather it was because Li Danteng had agreed to change the death duel to a regular duel.

While the change of the duel mode was unprecedented, it was an exceptional case then and no one opposed. Many people actually supported the change- almost the entire town!

Perhaps no one realized that Ye Lang was protected by the entire town. Because when Li Danteng had ‘forced’ Ye Lang to a death duel, many of them rushed to the house of the First Swordsman to criticize Li Danteng’s shameless actions and fiercely demanded him to withdraw from the duel.

The First Swordsman thought Li Danteng was acting suspicious, had pressure from the public, and at the same time didn’t want to offend the Ye family. However, since the duel was fixed, and no one was backing out, it was impossible for it to be called off!

The only thing the First Swordsman could do was persuade them to change the mode of the duel. That way, both sides didn't have to fight to death!

While this outcome was still unsatisfactory to him, it was the only solution.

The time and venue of the duel were fixed. It was to be held at the arena of the Royal Institute of Education in seven days. The arena was chosen as it could accommodate up to thousands of people.

After it was decided, Li Danteng underwent secret training to prepare himself for the duel. He felt that he should be committed to every duel even if his opponent was trash like Ye Lang.

Speaking of which, how was the trash- er, I mean, Ye Lang?

He just attended school as usual. 

“Ye Lang, why are you acting as if nothing happened?” Zhen Xiaoyan asked helplessly. The kid who said that he would win it for sure seemed to have forgotten what he had said.

“Why? What’s the matter?” It looks like Ye Lang had indeed forgotten about it.

“The duel between you and Li Danteng!” Zhen Xiaoyan shook her head and looked even more helpless.

“There are still seven more days, what’s the matter?” Apparently, he still remembered it, yet he wasn’t nervous at all.

“You should prepare! If not, how else would you win? How would you avoid getting hurt? If you dare lose a single hair on your head, I will teach you a lesson!” said Zhen Xiaoyan ruthlessly as she grabbed Ye Lang’s hand.

“Fatty, if I lost a single strand of hair, it would have been by accident and normal. You can’t blame me for it!” said Ye Lang innocently.

“....I don’t care. You can only lose loose hairs…” said Zhen Xiaoyan “unreasonably”. She went blank for a moment after he had said that. 

“This is quite difficult, I have to do some research… Ah yes, where’s my lunch?”

“It’s here. I wanted to deliver it to you first.”

After a few days, Ye Lang recalled an incident out of the blue and dragged Zhen Xiaoyan somewhere. After they had arrived, he stared off blankly, unable to believe his eyes.

“Fatty, look at the notice board. Are my odds, 1:3 or 3:1?”

“I think it’s 3:1!” Zhen Xiaoyan said, doubt in her voice. She also suspected that there must’ve been a mistake!

However, there wasn’t a mistake. It was indeed 3:1!

These were the predicted odds of the duel between Li Danteng and Ye Lang. Whenever there was an opportunity to gamble, Ye Lang was always there.

Though, he didn't expect the odds to be this huge. Li Danteng’s was 1:3 while he was 3:1!

What was going on?

Ye Lang didn’t expect almost everyone to support him enough to place their bets on him.

This was a situation that had many people astonished too.

“You’re betting on the thirteenth prince again? Have you not heard that the thirteenth prince is trash and knows absolutely nothing? His odds weren’t even one percent before this.”

“We know.”

“Then, why bet on him?”

“Because we like the thirteenth prince!”

These were the opinions of some of the commoners, whereas the aristocrats, who placed heavy bets, believed that this should be explained by the emperor. 

The “gamble-addict’” emperor placed heavy bets yet again!

His reason was as per usual, which was - 

“I have no idea about Ye Lang’s capability, but I do know of his luck. I believe he’ll win!”

Many other reasons made the outcome much more surprising. Ye Lang was proud that he was rather popular.

He didn’t care much about the odds, simply because he never thought about earning money. The reason he was there was to place bets on Li Danteng. That way, he can lose all the money!

Sadly, he wasn’t allowed to place his bets!

“What? Why can’t I bet?”

“Thirteenth prince, you’re the main character this time. Although we somewhat trust your character, it’s going against the rules! If you really want to bet, bet on yourself. It’d still be acceptable!” said the casino employee humbly.

“My ass! If I bet on myself, won’t I just win money? You know what, forget it. Just forget that I came here!

“...” 

Perhaps you’re the only one who doesn’t want to win money, always thinking about losing money all day...

Soon, Ye Lang whisked Zhen Xiaoyan away from the betting parlour and strolled the streets in search for entertainment and delicacies.

“Ye Lang, you should prepare for the duel. You shouldn’t waste anymore time,” said Zhen Xiaoyan. However, she started changing her tone as time went on.

“Ye Lang, this is delicious, and this, and this too…”

In the end, Zhen Xiaoyan forgot about everything and simply accompanied Ye Lang as he continued wandering around!

Time passed quickly. Li Danteng worked hard every day while Ye Lang simply strolled about, enjoying life. There was a huge contrast indeed.

Had Ye Lang given up completely or was he simply very confident?

In theory, it’d be the former, and some believed it was the former. The Ye Lang that everybody knew had no chance of beating Li Danteng. Therefore, there was simply no need to prepare for the duel.

However, some people thought the latter as Ye Lang had always been lucky, carrying his luck over into this duel. Heck, he probably didn’t even have to fight Li Danteng to win! This was also the major reason the majority of people supported Ye Lang.

What would the final result be? 

All would be revealed today...