One minute on stage, ten years of practice off stage.
I am fortunate, fortunate for Uncle Tuo's strict guidance back then, for him starting with the fundamentals and making me progress step by step.
Without the infinite shuffling and cutting, coupled with endless practice of restoration techniques, I likely would have failed this test set by the middle-aged man today.
After about ten more seconds, I stopped once again.
However, I immediately resumed restoring the cards.
This intermittent operation, in the eyes of Cheng Minglang and Han Jinlun, undoubtedly indicated my lack of confidence.
This made them even more anxious, thinking I hadn't memorized correctly and might make a mistake.
One minute passed quietly…
Just as the time was almost up, I managed to place the cards back on the table.
Seeing this, the young man who had already shown deep hostility immediately sneered, "If you can't do it, don't force it!"
Upon hearing this, I didn't waste any words with him. Instead, I calmly looked at the middle-aged man and said, "Let's reveal the cards and see the result."
After scrutinizing me with a hesitant gaze, the middle-aged man immediately signaled the young man to turn over the leftmost card.
The first card, the ace of spades, was incredibly striking, followed by a consecutive sequence from ace to king of spades.
Next, the second long sequence started with the ace of hearts and flowed downwards.
This scene immediately made the young man's eyes widen, looking as if he had seen a ghost, completely disbelieving.
Then, he hurriedly looked back.
The third long sequence, starting with the ace of clubs.
Now, the young man became even more panicked.
Because the first three long sequences were flawless, if the last long sequence was also correct, it would mean…
With this thought, the young man quickly shifted his gaze to the remaining poker cards.
Starting with the ace of diamonds and ending with the king of diamonds.
Not only were all four long sequences perfect, but the order of spades, hearts, clubs, and diamonds was also clearly laid out.
At this moment, not only was the young man dumbfounded, but Shi Yu and the others beside him were also stunned in place, their eyes filled with an extreme sense of disbelief.
Even the middle-aged man, who had appeared so nonchalant, couldn't help but exclaim, "The martial world, after all, belongs to you young people! The younger generation is truly formidable!"
"Young man, you… you won!"
Upon hearing the middle-aged man admit defeat, I secretly breathed a sigh of relief in an instant.
Honestly, I wasn't worried about anything else, only that the other party might renege on their word and break their promise.
In reality, restoring the shuffled order of poker cards held no difficulty for me.
Because the key to achieving mastery in the perfect shuffling technique is to learn how to restore all sorts of disordered card sequences.
Therefore, during the initial practice, Uncle Tuo would always ask me to restore the card sequences he had shuffled back to their original, unopened state, which was the four long sequences of spades, hearts, clubs, and diamonds.
The two seconds the middle-aged man gave me to look at the card sequence after completely shuffling it with the Star-Picking Hand was the most crucial part.
If he hadn't let me see the cards, let alone the fact that the sequence shuffled by the Star-Picking Hand was impossible to restore, just staring at the backs of the 52 Bee playing cards would have rendered me helpless.
Bee playing cards, which are used universally in casinos worldwide, have meticulously crafted backs designed to effectively counter cheating.
My repeated pauses earlier were not due to a lack of confidence or memory confusion, but rather because I was constantly restoring the card sequences of the four suits in my mind.
The principle behind it is roughly akin to memorizing incantations before solving a Rubik's Cube.
No matter how disordered or scrambled a Rubik's Cube is, one must first observe it for a while and then find the corresponding solving incantation.
…
With the middle-aged man's decisive pronouncement, this poker card duel, which was initiated for recruiting talent, concluded with my complete victory.
Because I had won so cleanly and decisively, even though she was unwilling and unhappy, Shi Yu could only grit her teeth and clench her fists, glaring fiercely at me.
I wiped the sweat beads from my forehead and cupped my fists in thanks to the middle-aged man.
"You don't need to thank me. The rules of the martial world dictate that a bet made is a bet honored! Since you've passed my test, it's my turn to fulfill my promise!"
Waving his hand and letting out a long sigh, the middle-aged man looked at Shi Yu and said, "Shi Yu, didn't you always complain about wanting to earn more money?"
"Judging by this young man's skills, he must be no ordinary person. From now on, you will follow him and work for him."
Upon hearing this, before Shi Yu could even speak, the young man beside him quickly said, "That won't do, Master! What if this person doesn't actually want to cooperate with Sister Yu but has other intentions?"
"How about I go in place of Sister Shi Yu?"
The middle-aged man remained silent, instead turning his gaze to me.
Clearly, the young man's words had caused a slight waver in his mind.
Seeing this situation, I directly spoke, "How about this, senior…"
"Since this brother doesn't trust me, then let him come along as well!"
In a situation like this, if it were anyone else, seeing their disciple about to be poached by a stranger, they would undoubtedly press for details and ask for clarification. But the middle-aged man did not.
From beginning to end, he never asked me any questions about my intentions to poach Shi Yu.
However, in retrospect, even if he had asked, I wouldn't have answered, and would have simply thrown money at him to silence him.
Because this was a contingency plan I had prepared for myself.
After a moment of deliberation upon hearing my words, the middle-aged man finally nodded in agreement.
However, just as I was preparing to leave with them…
"Young man, wait a moment!"
The middle-aged man suddenly called out to me.
As soon as the words left his mouth, before I could fully turn around, I saw his disciples rush to the doorway, surrounding us.
In an instant, the atmosphere became extremely tense.
Seeing this, Cheng Minglang almost instinctively pulled out his extendable baton and blocked me behind him, his expression grave and ready for anything.
I also put on a solemn expression, clenching my left fist and secretly reaching into my pocket with my right hand.
Sensing the atmosphere in the room plummeting to freezing point, the middle-aged man quickly said to his disciples, "All of you, stand down!"
Then, the middle-aged man looked at me and said, "Don't misunderstand me, young man! I'm not keeping you here for any other reason."
"I'm actually just curious and want to ask, who is your master?"
"You don't look very old, perhaps only in your early twenties. To possess such mastery in gambling techniques, you either started practicing from a very young age, but that's clearly impossible."
"If you had truly practiced from childhood, with all your limbs intact, you would have already made a name for yourself in the martial world."
"So I suspect you have a powerful master behind you, and his skills must be extraordinary! Can you tell me, who is he…?"