His eyes were nearly popping out of their sockets.
If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he never would have believed any of it!
He clearly remembered the remains of the Gu Insect he'd used to forge the fake stone—but why? Why?!
Why were those Gu Insect remains not in his own hands, but in his opponent's?
The yellow-scaled merman couldn't make sense of it no matter how hard he tried.
"Could all of this be an illusion?" Driven to the brink of madness, a flush of crimson suddenly spread across his ashen face.
He suddenly pointed at Xia Lin and screamed, his voice shrill: "You cheated!"
Xia Lin, the mermaid girl, flew into a rage upon hearing this.
She too had been kept in the dark, completely unaware of Fang Yuan's handiwork. She shot back immediately: "Lost is lost. With everyone watching, are you really going to try to deny it?"
The yellow-scaled merman stared at Xia Lin, then swept his gaze over the surrounding Gu Masters. His eyes suddenly went vacant, and he murmured: "No, this isn't real. None of this is real. It's all an illusion."
He stumbled backward, desperately trying to escape this cruel reality.
Seeing him in such a pitiful state, the surrounding Gu Masters wore complicated expressions, and some of the glances they cast at Xia Lin carried unmistakable wariness.
The yellow-scaled merman had been toyed with to the breaking point by Fang Yuan!
But Xia Lin pressed on without mercy: "Hand it over. You didn't win a single round out of five. This Golden Jade House is mine now."
The yellow-scaled merman's body jolted as if struck by lightning. He snapped back to his senses and screamed frantically: "No! All of this is mine! It's my life's work—no one can take it from me! You'll have to kill me first!!"
"My lord, at worst we can go down together!" The scarred merman stepped forward and advised, his expression vicious and ferocious.
The yellow-scaled merman shuddered again.
The thought had crossed his mind too, but the scarred merman's reminder jolted him to sudden clarity.
*Regardless of who was behind this, the mermaid girl might simply be a pawn placed on the surface. Whoever it was had managed to forge the deception without anyone noticing, set a trap that left me completely powerless to resist. Against that kind of power, how could I possibly compete? Trying to fight back would be nothing short of suicide.*
Though the yellow-scaled merman couldn't bear to part with the Golden Jade House, when weighed against his own life, the latter was far more important.
The yellow-scaled merman looked around. His instincts told him that among the watching Gu Masters, there had to be someone working for the other side.
He suspected everyone, yet couldn't pin down a single identity.
"I admit defeat! I admit defeat!" Suddenly, he dispelled all his defenses and collapsed flat on the ground like a dead fish, shouting at the top of his lungs.
He prostrated himself fully and surrendered: "I don't care who you are—I've lost, all right? Do whatever you want with me—kill me, torture me, it's all the same. But even if I'm going to die, please let me die knowing why. What on earth did I do to offend you?"
The crowd erupted in uproar.
The yellow-scaled merman's behavior was unexpected. Some looked down on him for it, while others felt it showed a capacity for flexibility—that he was someone to be reckoned with.
Someone who had survived as a shrewd merchant here for decades was no simple person.
Xia Lin was stunned as well. At the same time, deep admiration for Master Chu surged within her heart.
She understood deeply that all of this had been orchestrated by Master Chu. Without his guidance, Xia Lin herself would have fared far worse than the yellow-scaled merman. Now, watching the yellow-scaled merman on his knees begging for mercy, Xia Lin felt both satisfaction and relief.
"The time is right." Fang Yuan smiled faintly and continued guiding Xia Lin.
Xia Lin addressed the yellow-scaled merman: "Do you know why you lost?"
The moment she spoke, the crowd fell silent.
The yellow-scaled merman raised his head and looked up at Xia Lin: "I don't know. Please, my lady, enlighten me."