Since we have an agreement, then I hope that the elders and Young Master will empty the stage, so that we can have a proper ring for the competition .
Lu Chiang, you ... .
Not a problem, I too became quite interested in seeing what kind of performance will a first layer Flesh Tempering gave us .
I was still engrossed in my own thoughts when I heard the absurd request that Lu Chiang made, I was forced to wake up and get back to reality, it just so happened that the moment I came back, I saw a short bald elder on the young master's side was about to shout at Lu Chiang, but he was stopped by none other than the young master, who actually agreed to such a blatant try to humiliate him and the other elders .
It's true that his practice realm was quite low, but I had confidence in the ability of my younger brother, he will be able to beat anyone under the third layer of Flesh Tempering .
A few seconds before he said this, I couldn't help but shift my attention to the audience here, the reason I did so, was because I wondered if there were any high members of the Evil Tigers around, but I didn't see anyone that looked dangerous than usual .
I was currently an eyesore to all the family members present, the hate mostly came from the young master's side, but due to the words of Lu Chiang, it was quite understandable, whether it was young, old, were of high-class or were servants all were looking at me threateningly .
If eyes could kill, then I would have been dead by now, this guy had succeed in making me the public enemy of the young master of the family and all who supported him, seeing that no one seemed to be malicious enough to be called an Evil Tiger member .
So I couldn't help but wonder, from where or whom did Lu Chiang get the confidence in asking for such a ridiculous request, what's even more shocking was Lu Jian's response, he actually approved of granting this humiliating request, but only made a few remarks about my pitiful strength .
As I was looking around, I happened to see the face of some people who were unable to understand what was going on and even though some of them did, they were unable to swallow what they understood, they were staring at me with wide eyes, 4 guys in particular stood out from the others with their grave expressions being more severe than others.
It was the trio that decided against welcoming me on my first hours in this world and last but least I noticed the person who was almost pale with fright, the instigator of that incident and the lapdog of Deacon Lu, Lu Jong, just as I wanted to flash them a big smile, I heard the words Lu Chiang said about me beating guys a whole level above me and my face went ugly .
Is something wrong with my arrangements, junior Tian, are you not up for the challenge, speak now, as to not make us back in the Dojo, lose more face than what we already did, you should be able to at least do that much, do you disagree ? .
I removed the intentions that kept appearing in my heart about strangling this guy as to not give him a reason to attack me directly and instead calmed my heart and composed myself again, I cleared my mind then said while cupping my fist and without bowing this time :
" As I said before, I will listen to the instructions of the Senior Brother, I will do my best .
The reason to why I came to hate that guy to the bone was because of how cunning and malicious he was, that guy intentionally kept on raising his voice in trying of making me look bad, if he was digging into me with his words, I would not have taken that bait of his, in the end, I didn't have any need nor care for what people thought of me, but he just had to brought the last straw that I was holding on to survive .
The Dojo had become my last line of defense, losing its support or getting released from it, pretty much meant that my life could possibly be over, so either accept his order or maybe getting released from the Dojo after words of me refusing to fight for the sake of keeping the face of the Dojo .
After dealing with that guy, I began to believe that leaving the Dojo in the end especially with that guy around might be actually a good idea with my current strength, I can't hope to call myself a strongman, but might be able to guarantee my safety at least, I will be considering this solution in my options, but first I should be dealing with the problem at hands first .
As I was deep in thinking, I felt someone suddenly patting me on the shoulder, I flinched only to see that the person who was patting me on the shoulder was none other than the female maid from before, the one that gave me the incense, it seemed her pat brought me back from quite the long trance I was in, the round stage hadn't been stripped of all the decorations and was moved to the center of the courtyard in the time that I was engrossed in thinking .
Why everytime I stumble upon you, I see that you somehow ended in a tight situation, want my advice, you should just surrender once the competition start, face doesn't worth risking your life for, even more so when it wasn't even your own face, that you were trying to save .
Seeing the girl talk too much about this and even tried to advise me on what to do, warmed my heart quite a bit, so I said :
" Don't worry, I won't die until I repay back the debt I owe you and your young miss, you really are a quite knowledgeable girl, I didn't expect you to be so smart actually .
The girl seemed to understand that I won't be taking her advice seriously and even told her that she didn't look that smart, puffed her cheeks in annoyance and tried to stomp on my feet, but I hurriedly moved away, the girl seemed to be so small and kind, but she was actually quite strong, even though I could tell that the stomp of her just now was without using much of strength, however, it was enough to make the earth beneath her leg cracked .
I couldn't help but getting startled by this, seeing my reaction, the girl put her hands on her waist and with a haughty expression she said :
Do you still think I'm not brilliant .
" You are more brilliant than me, sister .
Tu Tu, call me big-sister Tu Tu and might take care of your ashes .
I was about to thank her for the offer, but then recalled what she said and couldn't help but say :
" Don't you have any faith in me at all, a few nice and cheering words will be more effective, y'know and why do you think I will be cremated, my senior brother might interfere to safe me if I were to face any life-threatening danger .
That guy will come and save you, are you kidding, you should better just let me take care of your ashes .
Hearing her say this and notice her face wrinkling, mad me believe that Tu Tu might have an opinion on my senior brother, so I couldn't help but ask her to guide me, since I don't know much about him, she looked left and right and the mighty pose she was making disappeared, then she said :
He is quite vengeful and keep this between the two of us, I had never liked him, ever since I kept catching him giving strange looks to the Young Miss, after that, I began to feel that he was untrustworthy .
I thought she was about to tell me that she had some ideas about him being a spy or something, but she really gave me her personal experience so easy without even thinking that I might relay what I heard here to him or anything like that, to make a girl like Tu Tu who was easy to trust someone she just met, feel that you are untrustworthy then there might be indeed something terrible with that guy .
I thought amusingly and saw that the stage was all set and ready for the friendly competition he mentioned, I wanted to make sure of one last thing from here, I said :
" I also agree with you that something fishy seemed to be going on here, but let me ask you this, I hope you don't misunderstand my intentions in asking this, but does your Young Miss have something in her heart for senior brother Lu Chiang .
Tu Tu remained silent for a while, then she said in whispers :
I don't believe so, no, but a lot of times the young miss said that she treated him like a younger brother and nothing more, that was why I believed him acting weird around here was suspicious .
She finished saying this and shifted her vision from being on me to somewhere else as if evading talking anymore about this sensitive topic, I too wasn't going to ask her more about it, I understood that luckily at least the Young Miss of her hadn't had feelings for him and that was already more than enough, if she had some feelings for him, things might have gotten ugly .
" Wish me luck .
That was all that I was able to say to her, since I was being called to the ring where the competition will be held on, just as I was heading there, I was stopped by the instigator behind all of this, my senior brother Lu Chiang .
I keeping enough face with him still cupped my fist in greeting without no longer bowing to him, he didn't seem to care much about this, he put his arm around on my shoulder and even though he didn't seem to be using that much of strength, I still felt like his hand was quite heavy .
When you go up, I will ask Young Master Lu Jian to offer you the reward of a 1 wish that he must grant you, that wish you will state before the fighting start, remember , your wish will be him abdicating from the successor of the family's head position, do your best to win this and don't worry even if you lost, you would only need to apologize to my uncle and kowtow in front of my father's casket for three days and nights, then I will let bygones be bygones and even accept you joining me .
He said this and didn't even seemed to want to listen to my opinion about this and just went back to setting in the front row of seats beside the stage, inwardly I kept cursing this conceited guy, from his words just now he didn't even believe that I would be able to win, him telling me to state it before the fight was nothing but him trying to agitate the young master's side a bit more, once again through me .
He wanted me to work for him after all that he did was something ridiculously funny, but as I continued to think more about this situation, I actually believed that it might end up being in my favor, so after that short pause, I continue heading towards the stage .
The stage was swarmed with people from all angles and only a few seats were provided, those who wanted to watch the fight will have to watch it standing, the stage was a bit over the ground .
So there were a few wooden stairs to take before getting into the ring, each step I took, the eyes on me seemed to add more weight on my back, making each step I took heavier than the previous one, but in the end I stood in the ring waiting for whatever that might unfold next .
Once I got on stage, I heard the voice of the young master Lu Jian coming from the other side opposite to the place Lu Chiang had settled in saying loudly :
I believe all of you here understand how will the competition go, all the young and old people who in the 2 layer of Flesh Tempering or lower can be able to challenge him until there is no more people that dare to challenge, only then he will be considered to have one, those who will be able to win against him, will be rewarded handsomely, what do you think about my arrangements Lu Chiang ? .
I turned my head to look at the guy who was being asked and saw that he had an ugly expression on his face as he said coldly :
I very much appreciate the current young master's arrangements, but I believe that things like this might be quite unfair for my junior brother, why only those who won against him can be allowed to be rewarded, when no reward was presented to him, if he were to go against all the odds and won, this might start a few rumors in the outside about young master's unfairness .
Hearing him hearing this, I know that it was the time for me to perform as he instructed me, even though hearing about needing to fight all the people here who might challenge me become a bit dizzy, the two seemed to be conversing politely and rationally, but those who were able to read between the lines, can able to tell that the two weren't missing a chance to belittle one another .
Oh, you are right, can't let someone go around spreading such a rumors about the successor of the family, I might kill such a person directly and hang him in front of the outer gate, but since you pointed this out, why don't you help this junior brother of yours by asking for a big reward on his behalf .
The face of Lu Chiang was black as the bottom of a pot, his smile currently was quite ruthless and his killing intent was actually materializing, he was so agitated that even those close to him didn't dare to set beside him anymore and they moved away from him, anyone who was familiar or unfamiliar with the guy there might actually be able to tell that he was quite angry at the moment .
But then I saw all this vanished in the next second, he regained his composure almost instantly, he now had a kind smile on his face and was shaking his head, then he said :
Even though I'm his senior brother, he is still his own person, so I wouldn't like to interfere with him deciding what reward was beneficial to him, but I can only gave him a bit of guidance, after all he might not knowledgeable enough to decide on what reward he wants, but I believe that Young Master Lu Jian would be kind to grant three wishes of this junior brother of mine .
Huh, it seemed that not only I was confused, but the people at the Young Master's side were too, one of them yelled directly saying :
Huh, 3 wishes, 3 wishes your father, what three wishes, is your junior brother competing for title of the strongest in the young generation of the family or something, three wishes for a competition where the strongest people in it were of the 2nd layer of Flesh Tempering, what a joke, did losing your father affected your mind or something .
At the vulgar words of the elder who was yelling at Lu Chiang, the other side began to respond to him and both sides suddenly began exchanging curses at each other, people of the same family cursing their shared ancestors, making the scene look ridiculously chaotic but also a bit funny to watch, but I wasn't given enough time to witness it due to the fact that Young Master Lu Jian suddenly said loudly with a voice filled with authority :
One wish, the one who won from either the two sides, will be granted one wish .
After he said this, the whole scene turned quiet, then those who were already thinking of challenging and even those who weren't all began to cheer, only now did I understand that him asking for three wishes before was nothing but a decoy, a bait that those at the young master's side took, granting Lu Chiang what he wanted .
But then young master Lu turned to look at me and said :
Have you already decided on what your wish going to be ? .