After we finished conversing with one another, I was told to start doing some tasks or at least do my duties if I wanted to get any medicinal baths or pills to support my cultivation, reminding me that I have yet to head for the Fighting Circle, after all a lot of things had happened .
The assets left by Master was enough to support us in the next dire days to come, but with the release of so many disciples and the money that had been handed over, there was a huge financial crisis waiting to happen sooner or later .
So as a way to maneuver the Dojo through this crisis, Uncle Li had brought the Contribution System back, as I heard how it work, I had no issue whatsoever with it, I thought it was quite fair actually, you get what you are worth and not a slight bit less .
Those who don't do regular jobs in the Dojo, like managing the different halls, cleaning, preparing meals, these kinds of stuff, were required to go and complete tasks like carrying out errands, escorting important figures, bounty hunting, Monster hunting, collecting herbs .
But to do the latter, they will need to go ahead and enter the Pit, opportunity and risks goes hand to hand with one another, wanting to make it big, will require for you to put some things on the line, even though I had already had my own set of experience with the Pit .
Unless I was truly left with no choice, I wouldn't like to venture into that place just yet, even though the risk of meeting the same trouble as Senior Brother Bai thanks to the Panel I have, there was a lot of issues still lay deep in that monster filled place, that was already clear to me .
I don't need to think about this for the time being, I should just manage that Fighting Ring under my control and in the next period of time, I shall be able to afford enjoying some high-quality resources, I had quite the loot on me after all .
After splitting with the senior brothers of mine and letting Senior Brother Fu try and reach out for Han Jun, wanting to get my other wanted poster out of the way, a lot of things had happened and as time passed since that incident, I became aware of some things that might have been lurking in the shadows for a while now .
Phoenix Nest, Feng Rui, that cultivation realm she spoke of, the weird and powerful techniques she used and that Heavenly Messenger mentioned by Han Jun that day, the day where everything actually started, I'm starting to realize how strange this world actually is and my heart keep getting filled with palpitations when I think about what else might be hiding out there .
What kind of place was this world, what secrets did it have, who is the force behind the so-called Heavenly Messenger, will this person be even more powerful the Feng Rui, where Han Jun wanted to go with him, who was that woman I saw in inside Lu Hua .
What was that crazy war that resulted in whole stars get shattered and for the heaven and earth be dyed red, was she on the good side or the bad side, why did those shadow like creatures gave me a familiar feeling as if I had seen them somewhere before, who was that guy trying to stop me from releasing her, one of their accomplices .
Why was his angry roar enough to shake my whole being and soul, could he have left a mark on me, was he stronger than the woman in that cocoon, was he stronger than Zi Xue enemies or weaker, where in the world is Zi Xue right now ? .
Questions, my head was currently filled with nothing but questions that I had no clue on how to even start solving them, I shook my head and decided not to keep burdening myself with these kinds of questions, I still have a lot of troubles already .
That Master of the Evil Tigers group, even though the mark he left was nullified, I still have a threatening premonition in my heart, just by thinking about it, so there should be other ways for him to locate me, the only thing I can do is to increase my strength as much as I can, only then will I be at ease to face whatever that is to come my way .
The only thing that a person can depend on in this world is his fists, as long as your fists are strong enough, you can pave a straight way for yourself even through mountains, I involuntarily clenched my hand and pointed towards the sky as if issuing my challenge and showing it my resolve .
What are you doing young master ? .
Just as I was engrossed in my own mind and thoughts, a bewildered voice sounded from right behind me, the voice belonged to an acquaintance, the only person who would call me with such a title and with so much awe in his tone is Mu Lu and I was indeed right, he was indeed standing right there behind me and he had a weird look in his eyes .
It took me a few seconds to realize that he was weirded out by my current pose, I become a bit embarrassed and coughed slightly as to try and ease my embarrassment then said :
" Nothing, I was practicing a newly acquired Martial Arts, ~cough~cough~, more importantly what in the world had happened to you, why are you so battered and tattered like this ? .
He grit his teeth and shame washed over him as he fixed what was left of his clothes and said a bunch of curses, all were aimed at the Moon-Whispering Willow, I recalled that Senior Brother Fu did indeed told me that Mu Lu had volunteered to help among a few others that were selected from the disciples who remained .
In the end of his explanation, he just sighed and asked me how am I doing instead, even Mu Lu didn't know about Master passing away, yet he still stayed in the Dojo even when doom was imminent, it eased my heart to know that I didn't indeed help raising a snake hearted guy .
" Forget about me, tell me something first, you know that the Dojo was already doomed so why did you stay ? .
I wanted to gauge his thoughts and intentions, feeling quite suspicious towards everything after what I had been through these past few days, I saw that his face had a bitter expression as he said :
Young Master already know about me being the only person left in my family, I have nothing else to go back to, I only have my yearning for Martial Arts and a huge debt of gratitude towards the Dojo Master and Young Master .
So even though I could have went to another Dojo to learn Martial Arts, it would have just caused my heart to fracture, due not being able to repay the favors you showed me, dooming my pursuit of Martial Arts in the future, to me this was no different than death, since death was imminent anyway, I preferred to die without torment .
Seeing this old guy who was at least in his thirty almost shed tears in front of me, I couldn't help but be moved by his passion to Martial Arts and I patted him on the shoulder and said :
" Seeing this resolve from you is already enough for me, consider your debt has been payed back, you are free to pursuit Martial Arts with any way you liked .
My road ahead would be very dangerous and it's not a exaggeration to say that it might even lead to a certain death, me relieving him from his debt, but never would I have expected that me trying to dissuade him against following me down that path of certain doom would only make him more determined to follow me through .
Master, don't need to say anything, I had already made up my mind and Master don't need to think that I would be the one losing a lot in such a bargain, following Master might be just the only right decision I could have even made .
My title had changed to Master from Young Master, it gave me a little bit of disgust as I recalled that this was how a slave called his master, this wolrd had slavery after all, so to make everything clear for him and as to also clear my guilty conscience, I offered to accept him as only a subordinate and nothing less .
He agreed with a smile, rummaging through the pouches I have accumulated on me, I found what I was looking for, throwing a round pill at him, he instantly caught it and the second he saw it clearly, he almost screamed its name out loud, a Green Azure Wood Pill was enough to almost make him hit the ceiling from shock .
I motioned for him to say no more and directly told him to go ahead and recuperate, with him being recruited I now had a loyal subordinate who could indeed solve some of my current headaches, after he finish recuperating he will meet me in the Fighting Circle, from there I will tell him about what he need to do after that .
Leaving the still dumbstruck, still rooted in place Mu Lu, I directly continued to head towards the place that I almost forgot even paying it a visit since I took it from Lu Chiang's hands, that guy also hadn't appeared in the Hall and in the Dojo for a few days now .
He was one of the reasons to why I missed on Master's funeral, Lu Chiang appeared only once in the Lu Family, but even though he only appeared once while I was there, I had no doubt that he had been notified of my presence in the Lu Family, according to what senior brother Bai, senior brother Fu said as well .
Lu Chiang was the one to notify them of my whereabouts after they failed to find any clue about my whereabouts, only after the funeral was over by a whole day, did he finally told them about me staying in the Lu Family as a guest all these days and that he only found out after the funeral was carried out and everything was over .
But since then, there was no sign of him stepping foot in the Dojo ever since, I may have felt some compassion towards Boa'er so I didn't intend to make things hard for her, but this guy had truly irked me with his actions this time and surely will deserve everything that might happen to him .
As I thought evily to myself, I had finally arrived before that familiar sealed door with and once again it was closed from the other side, but the cheering voices still carried on still, knocking a few times, there was no response from the person that should be behind the door .
Continue to knock with more and more strength, the peephole was unsealed and an annoyed and seemingly drunk guy finally responded aggressively from behind saying :
What do you want, bastard ? .
Judging by how smelly his mouth was, I can tell that he was completely out of his mind and his senses were extremely dull, I frowned slightly as it was very clear to me that this guy hadn't recognized me and him being drunk made the issue even worse .
Had the kitten eaten your tongue, speak your damn business, damn it .
Forcing myself to calm down as if I did truly let my anger erupt I would very much bring this place down on their heads, I took a deep breath and noted that guy's face in my mind and said :
" You have a guy called Ti Tu, let him come out to see me .
Huh, ~hicc~ who the hell are you, wanting me to call second boss Ti Tu to come out and meet you just like that, go away, else I opened the door and let you get beaten to death, scram .
" I'm here to fight, so could you open the door ? .
At this point I thought that this guy was just being ridiculous at this point, so might as well just ask for an entry and let everything proceed as normal, but never could I have expected that he actually shut the peephole and his voice came right after saying :
Not going happen, scram before I call the 5th and 6th bosses over and you will be dead meat by then .
" Even if I carried a message for him from the one running this place ? .
The loophole was once again opened instantly and the guy fiercely looked at me and demanded to see it before he open the door, but since I used this as my last card, I had already prepared a good excuse to use, I said :
" I can let you check it, but I will have to tell Young Master about it later, he had already told me to deliver it secretly to a guy called Ti Tu and to do it as secretly as possible, I'm already endangering myself and you by disclosing this, any more disclosing and I might lose my life and you.....
Wait here, I'm going to call the 2nd boss for you, he should be able to check and confirm whether you were telling the truth or not, sorry brother, I would have let you inside but there is a fight ~hic~ currently going on .
His drowsiness seemed to recede slightly due to how serious the situation had become, but his hiccup in the end confirmed that he was still dead drunk, but this might have worked in my favor, he was completely nervous about it and this will help him in convincing Ti Tu to come out .
This better not be someone playing a joke .
He said it's an important message from Young Master Lu Chiang .
After a while these voices naturally fell into my ears indicating that the person whom I had been waiting for had arrived and was currently threatening the drunk guy from before, hearing the name Lu Chiang come out of his mouth, I couldn't help but laugh in my heart .
I had never mentioned Lu Chiang, but I can understand how he made that connection, but I didn't lie to him, I indeed had a message to Ti Tu from the one running this place, myself and I was here to personally deliver it .
Here he is .
The peephole was unsealed and the first face that came to my sight was the drunkard who leaned too close into the peephole almost as if wanting to kiss it and then he said in a whispering voice :
Brother, do put a good word for me in front of Young Master, I would be willing to eat a mountain of swords with a simple gesture from him, I Bao Lao is a decent person .