BaoLao step aside .
The guy called Bao Lao did as he was told, but he still kept on winking at me as he was pulled back by none other than Ti Tu, that guy was really unfortunate .
Nonetheless, Ti Tu stepped forward to finally check what was going on here, the second his eyes me mine, there was unmasked confusion, then bewilderment and finally it settled in shock .
" Aren't you going to open the door, 2nd boss Ti Tu? .
I addressed him with a smirk and only then did he finally woke up from his trance and it just so happens that Bao Lao was saying :
See, I told you that he was to be trusted boss, I Bao Lao had a discerning eyes when it come to people, I... .
He seemed to be about to continue saying something, but just as he was about to do it, Ti Tu slapped him up with enough strength to shatter his teeth and said sternly :
Open the damn door, you bastard .
2nd boss, why, cough, why did you hit me, I know that young master Lu matters are important but still, I..... .
Before he even say what's on his mind he was slapped once again and this time the strength of this slap was even stronger than the one before, it made him look quite pitiful, he curled in a corner and his face had already swelled beyond recognition .
2nd boss, don't hit, don't hit, if you hit me I will be sure to let this guy report it to the young master .
Here goes away me feeling sorry for him, even in such a situation he was still determined on conning people, will I guess what he about to suffer next was completely justified, Ti Tu after hearing this looked at the stupid guy on the floor pointing at him, then he turned to look at me behind the door and almost cursed out loud .
You won't for him to go and report it to Lu Chiang, no problem, but you still hadn't opened the door to him yet, damn you .
For 5 minutes straight, Ti Tu had done nothing but throw himself at Bao Lao and beat him into a pulp, after the 5 minutes, the door was opened finally and a person directly collapsed after he opened the door .
There was no need for me to inspect who he was, the screams and cries of agony from before was enough for me to grasp that on my own, Bao Lao was laying down on the floor right behind the door with Ti Tu directly bowing in a respectful greeting and addressing me as Senior Brother, then he said :
Sorry for the wait I had put senior brother through, this guy is the one who work on the door today and the only one who got the wooden key combination, normally we wouldn't use them to unlock the door, but I guess he wanted to show off, you can deal just say the word and I will have him detained on the spot .
As he said this he even spat at the already dying Bao Lao, just looking at this guy's face, I was able to imagine how hurt he was, eyes rolled, bruises everywhere, Ti Tu truly had gone to an extra length with this beating, but this guy completely deserved what was coming to him .
He really shot himself in the foot this time, after gaining entry, I couldn't help but take a look at the wooden keys he mentioned and they were already inserted in the special lock on the door frame, the three keys were all shaped differently, some were star shaped, others like a circle, a triangle and even monster limbs .
The key is inserted into the lock in a certain way that was only known for two people, the one standing behind the door, the person who in Ti Tu's words, the one who assigned this guy to this kind of duty, the wooden keys were like a key to unlock the mechanism, through some twists and turns, the door would safely be unlocked, if the combination were wrong, then the door will continue to remain sealed unless enough brute force was used .
As Ti Tu seemed to realize that I was interested in such a mechanism, he directly explained everything about it to me, I won't deny that dealing with that Bao Lao almost made me indeed use brute force to break-in, but then I thought about how this might look and convinced myself to forget about it .
Looking at the beaten up guy on the floor and how much accurate was he with the keys combination and couldn't help but applaud him in my heart, either he was talented in that regard or Ti Tu beating not only beat the drunkenness out of him but also made him a genius .
Should we go ahead inside ? .
He asked me this and I saw him get closer to the still like corpse guy on the floor, I nodded my head urgently afraid that he might really end up kicking him again and finishing him off, so I gave him my response and we both left the guy to be driven out of the place by the disciples acting like guards .
" You know, you are quite smart, I thought you would side with Lu Chiang not caring for your life and death ? .
As I said this, he paused slightly and his facial expression faltered, his strong demeanor before had completely cracked and he looked quite pitiful with a screaming of bitterness grin appearing on his face, he was moving in front of me so him stopping suddenly couldn't have been ignored .
After turning towards me, he shook his head and with the weak grin he had, he started to say :
In fact, I do know of a few people in this place who would never dare to oppose Lu Chiang, well to phrase it more accurately, they no longer can nor they have the willpower to do so, so yeah I'm not like them .
Hearing what he said, I couldn't help but recall that red pill that Master have completely tried to hid its existence from me, the incident with Lu Chiang's uncle, the encounter I had with that shady Evil Tigers group leader, all these events were suddenly recalled in my mind, one by one .
After a second, I was able to come up with only one viable conclusion, with the help of Ti Tu, there was a big chance that Lu Chiang was using that weird pill or something similar to lure other Disciples into joining him and most likely the Evil Tigers group's cause as well .
This was still unconfirmed, but I'm 60 to 70 percent certain of that being correct or at least close to the truth, but him sharing such a sinistive piece of information in such a blunt way like this, made me only suspect him to be a Lu Chiang accomplice even more, so wanting to test the water, I said :
" You are already dropping his title like that, not even caring to address him as a fellow Senior Brother due to him being Master's disciple, you could get into a lot of troubles for saying that .
I wanted to alarm him with my words to the fact that I may not be an alley to Lu Chiang, but I wasn't necessarily his enemies, just as I finished setting this small game of wits that I believed could allow me to read his thoughts more clearly through the observation of his expression .
No matter how many times I stimulated the situation in my mind, I was so confident in discovering what is on his mind and confirm whether he was trying to trick or was he truly telling the truth, but his response caught me completely off guard .
He chuckled slightly then said right after :
I don't think that Lu Chiang share the same idea as you though, from what I knew and observed, I can very much tell that both of you are actually at odd with one another, I also do think that the feud between you two is and I hope that you would forgive me for being blunt, a life-death feud that could only be resolved when one of you two perish, at least that was Lu Chiang's thinking one hundred percent .
I was still stunned speechless at his unexpected reaction when he dropped yet another surprise that left me completely shocked and bewildered, I wasn't surprised at Lu Chiang's thoughts about killing me, him not giving me even the slightest bit of trouble over his uncle's death already meant that in his mind I was already a dead man .
I was surprised at the fact that this guy in front of me seemed to know about it too well, in fact his confident tone let me think that he might have heard Lu Chiang declare it openly, so I couldn't help but say :
" How exactly did you become this certain that Lu Chiang indeed wanted to kill me ? .
His grin widened slightly as he took a deep breath then said :
You remember the incident with Bu Fan, who do you think was the one to instigate it, you might think that you were the one who instigate it, but in fact Lu Chiang was the one who was pulling the threads, he had already planned to bury you in the Fighting Ring, but the strength you have shown forced him to abandon the plan of swarming you with the subordinates under him right there and then .
You can't go and report that you witnessed a fight of this caliper to the Dojo Master, not when the casualties are this much, it would have looked suspicious and might even led to completely unexpected problems and troubles, so after he already told us that the plan to get rid of you was already in motion, the second Bu Fan lost, was also the same second he gave the order to stop the already being implemented plan.
So that what he planned back then, no wonder his expression was quite pale at that time, so that what he had in mind for me that day, if I were to have lost and dealt with by Bu Fan, I might have been forced to use my authority as a Core Disciple, then I will gain dissatisfaction from all the disciples there .
Then without no one willing to offer me a hand, I would be like a deer walking directly into the den of wolves, even if I were to be swarmed and killed, they may still have enough means to make it look like an accident, or they could all even agree to dispose of my body discreetly without anyone knowing about what occurred here .
After all those who dared to spit a word, would doom themselves together with the others, I couldn't help but suck a long breath of relief after everything got cleared up, while also becoming more cautious and guarded against Lu Chiang .
That wretched guy still hadn't even grown up, yet he was this vicious already, leaving him to grow up might indeed not be a good thing for me, if possible I need to finish him off while he still in the bud as to not carry on living while knowing that he will always be a dagger on my throat or back .
Looking at the strange guy named Ti Tu, I did indeed find his way of thinking was genuine and he was aware of what was going on between me and Lu Chiang, he might indeed be a good asset to me, if and only if he were to share his true thoughts regarding who was he willing to support with me .
I don't want to have Lu Chiang's existence continue to act as a looming threat, but I also don't want to raise a dark hearted snake like guy who might actually act more like a dagger aiming at my waist by my own planning .
" So tell me Ti Tu, why are you doing all this and what exactly do you want me to do with the information you gave me ? .
His grin disappeared and he swallowed slightly, then after silence had reigned between us for three to five seconds, his expression suddenly hardened as he said while again bowing down slightly :
Young Master, to tell you the truth, I'm a person who is aware of my mediocrity, so the only thing I could do is to find myself a powerful person to leech into, like a cockroach, I was indeed one, whether it was you or Lu Chiang, you two could squish the like of me amidst your battle without even trying to .
You asked me what I want to do, well to tell you the truth, I would like for you to accept me as your subordinate, I know that I'm quite looking like a shady person currently in your opinion, but as I told young master before, this was my way to survive, I'm not strong, but I can always depend on striking a deal with those stronger than me and share some of their accomplishments .
That's why between you and Lu Chiang, I would still lean toward choosing your side than Lu Chiang, as for what you want to do with that piece of information, well, I'm sorry but I have no clue of they having any considerable value in the current situation, I hope that you could forgive me .
After hearing what he had to say, I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at my prediction being actually correct, he was truly picking a side between us two, whoever who he picked, he demanded nothing but to survive, like a cockroach or a leech .
" Forget about the matters between me and Lu Chiang and answer this question of mine, can I predict that at some point in the future and if someone were to be stronger than me were to offer you an olive branch, you would recognize that guy and betray me .
He stayed silent for a while, then he simply nodded his head as if not thinking for the slightest about how outrageous his response was, I couldn't help but once again suck a deep breath and wondered if I should truly trust this guy, my mind was inclined to refuse his proposal, but in the end I said :
" Do you know who killed Bu Fan ? .
I was testing the water, wanting to make sure that he will be of any value to me, I also tried to make him feel that he was a bit lacking in term of value, but I hadn't expected him to actually nod his head, indicating that he did actually know, without wasting a second more, he directly led me towards the arena .
Cheers were being so loud, almost deafening me, the whole scene was bustling, even though the number was quite fewer than the last time I came here, then without saying another word, he waved at someone in the crowd .
Instantly after that, someone stood up from his chair and headed towards us, that guy was a bald guy with robust build, hooked nose and his skin was bronze in color, his eyes were black and they have some shrewdness as they gave me a sinister feeling, as the person finally arrived before us, he greeted me enthusiastically and even though this was the first time we met he seemed to actually know me beforehand .
He is Su Niu .
On the side Ti Tu said this and completely fell silent, I understood what he meant, but even if he hadn't told me, I would have already recognized him, his smell was unique, it was the small Fa Shi had told me about, this guy in front of me was the culprit behind Bu Fan's death .
Forcing my unsettled heart to calm down, I then looked at the guy named Su Niu and wondered if I should directly confront him here and now, but after a few seconds, I dropped this thought .
Not only did I have no clue how will me confronting him right now might end, there was also the fact that other than Fa Shi's help and Ti Tu own testimony and both were of no use to bring him down, there was currently little to nothing that I can do about him, even with what he did to Liu'er and what he did for the Evil Tigers group .
" Ti Tu, stop the match, I have something important to announce .
Senior Brother shouldn't be like this, this fight was already bet on, stopping it now might cause some dissatisfaction among the fellow disciples, I urge Senior Brother to consider .
He held Ti Tu's hand as the latter was already heading to do as he was told, seeing this, I looked at the ring without replying to him, his eyebrows were knitted together at me ignoring him like this, but giving him no mind, I focused on the battle going on in the ring and felt a bit of deja vu .
In the Ring, two guys were fighting one another, just like last time, there was a disparity in the strength between the two opponents, one was at the 6th Layer of Flesh Tempering, while the other one was a dyed red with blood person who was only at the 3rd layer and was desperately fighting while putting everything on the line .
" Stop fighting this instant .
As I shouted like this and used my Blood Qi to amplify my sound to the maximum, a few guys screamed from how high my voice was, some were already unable to wake up from their shock, then a person suddenly yelled back at me from the Ring, saying :
Who the hell are you and why should we do as you say, go to hell .
A DEJA VU INDEED .