At this moment, I suddenly recalled a sentence that Uncle Tuo had left in his letter before he departed, a piece of advice at the very end of the content, a cliché.
"Ten bets, nine cheats; not betting is winning!"
Before, when advising others, I felt that the warning and reminder this sentence offered people were merely its literal meaning.
But after personally experiencing an unbelievable gambling match as a cheat...
It was as if I had been struck by enlightenment, and suddenly, I had a completely new understanding of this sentence in my mind.
The Blue Path of the Thousand Sect, treacherous and unpredictable.
The so-called "not betting is winning" doesn't mean simply not participating in the game, but rather...
As soon as I thought of this, the tension in my heart instantly vanished.
At the same time, my confidence began to rise imperceptibly.
As a top-tier, first-class cheat, the skills Uncle Tuo taught me were not only ever-changing but also divine and unfathomable.
I believe I will definitely not lose to White-Haired Man!
...
When I came back to my senses, the right to speak first and declare the bet had already been directly awarded to White-Haired Man by the referee Gu Jingjing.
Without any hesitation or deliberation, White-Haired Man decisively chose to go all-in.
This confident demeanor was undoubtedly a way of telling me indirectly that he was certain my hand was not as good as his!
After White-Haired Man went all-in, it was Cigar Man's turn.
After smoking his entire cigar, Cigar Man ultimately threw in his hand with resentment.
Judging by his appearance, he clearly only had a pair of Aces showing, at most two pairs.
When it was my turn, after less than three seconds of thought, I chose to call and go all-in.
According to Gu Jingjing's ruling, after calling and going all-in, I would have the advantage of opening my cards first.
At this moment, I seized the opportunity to reveal the hole card in front of me.
The Ten of Spades! A card that would determine the outcome of the gamble.
The instant the Ten of Spades was revealed, White-Haired Man's originally calm and composed expression became startled and even disbelieving.
"This, this... How is this possible? That Ten of Spades was clearly my hole card!!!"
Seeing this, a slight curve formed on my lips, and I looked at White-Haired Man, whose face was filled with shock and doubt, with a look of confident victory.
"Open your cards, brother! If your hole card is a Spade flush, then I'll admit defeat this round!"
Upon hearing this, White-Haired Man immediately acted like a drowning person, desperately grasping for the last straw, and eagerly flipped over his hole card, but alas...
After clearly seeing the suit and rank of the card, White-Haired Man's eyes were instantly filled with an extremely intense shock.
It wasn't the Ten of Spades he wanted, but a completely useless Four of Clubs.
Seeing this, White-Haired Man stared intently at me and asked in a cold voice, "You... When did you secretly switch my hole card?"
White-Haired Man couldn't believe that in the mere time it took to go all-in and open his cards, his winning Ten of Spades had somehow transformed into a useless Four of Clubs.
And this Four of Clubs was precisely the hole card I had mentioned earlier... the one that was blacked out after revealing a corner!
That's right! I had switched White-Haired Man's hole card!
Right under his nose and in front of everyone else, I had swapped it out silently.
And the most crucial point was that no one, either on stage or in the audience, knew about my act of secretly switching the hole card.
White-Haired Man seemingly never imagined that I would have the ability to openly switch his hole card right in front of him.
Hearing this, I shook my head and chuckled lightly, "Brother, you can eat whatever you want, but you absolutely cannot speak carelessly!"
"You say this Ten of Spades is yours, then call it out and see if it answers?"
Upon hearing my words, everyone, including Gu Jingjing, couldn't help but burst into laughter.
In their eyes, White-Haired Man was losing his temper and refusing to honor his bet, resorting to shameless behavior out of anger.
"Answer me!" Ignoring my mockery, White-Haired Man glared at me with furious eyes and sternly demanded, "When did you switch my hole card!?"
"Brother, you've clearly lost, so just accept your fate and admit defeat!"
I did not answer White-Haired Man's question, because the losing party is not qualified to know the truth.
Upon hearing this, White-Haired Man immediately fell into a state of madness, shouting hysterically, "Impossible!!! Absolutely impossible!"
"Heh heh~" After a light chuckle, I looked at White-Haired Man and said, "The only absolute thing in this world is that there are absolutely no absolutes!"
"Just like at the beginning, I never expected you to try and trap me in such an unbelievable way this round!"
Hearing this, White-Haired Man, who had been somewhat agitated and angry, immediately quieted down and asked in a deep voice, "Tell me! How exactly did you see through all of this!?"
White-Haired Man absolutely could not believe that I not only swapped his hole card under his nose but also saw through his plan directly.
To be honest, if I were to reconstruct the entire process of secretly switching cards, ordinary people would definitely think I was performing magic.
But in reality, in the face of true cheating techniques that demand extreme skill and speed, magic is merely child's play.
"You really want to know the answer?" I asked White-Haired Man with a cold smile.
However, before he could even answer, I immediately added, "I'm sorry, you... are not worthy!!!"
I had made up my mind not to explain.
Hearing my sharp refusal, White-Haired Man was instantly dumbfounded.
Seeing his lost and bewildered appearance, it seemed he had never expected this round to completely backfire and result in a loss to me.
More importantly, he didn't even understand how he had lost to me.
Little did he know, all of this was thanks to the eight words: "Ten bets, nine cheats; not betting is winning."
White-Haired Man was very skilled. His card-switching technique, "Universe in the Sleeve," was truly perfected.
The so-called "Universe in the Palm" refers to pre-hiding the cards you need to use in your palm, and then, in the instant you flip your hand over, the cards instantly disappear.
When you need these cards, a slight flick of the wrist and a bend of the fingers, and the cards will reappear.
Beginners who master it can hide one card in their palm without being discovered.
Masters who reach the peak of this technique can manipulate two to three cards simultaneously, and the entire movement is incredibly smooth and seamless, with no flaws visible to the naked eye.
When I was observing White-Haired Man earlier, he was also secretly observing me, knowing that I habitually waited until the last moment before opening cards to make subtle moves to cheat and switch cards.
It's true that I hide cards in my palm, but I'm not yet capable of both "Universe in the Sleeve" and "Universe in the Palm" with such exquisite skill.
Just now, if I hadn't deliberately delayed the time and had Gu Jingjing change the ruling on the betting right, allowing me to gain the advantage of opening cards first by calling...
Then at this very moment, White-Haired Man, who would have opened first, would have used the "Universe in the Palm" technique to reveal the Ace of Hearts before me!
At that point, I, who would have revealed the Ace of Hearts second, would have been ruled as defeated according to the rules...