“Don’t take it amiss. He is a straightforward person, who will say whatever is on his mind. My apologies. I haven’t even introduced them to you. These 3 men are my assistants, the guards in white clothing. The fat one is Qi Bohan, the slim one is Song Peilin, and the straightforward one is Li Zhongshu.” General Gao smiled at Xu Yi, as he was slightly embarrassed by Zhongshu’s straightforwardness.
“Yi Xu, I have informed the Black Dragon Palace, that they’ll only have three opportunities to invite you to a life and death battle in the arena. As long as you survive three rounds, I’ll give you a white guard uniform as a reward. At that point, if the Black Dragon Palace still comes after you, I’ll publicly support you.” General Gao added.
“General! Think twice!” His three assistants exclaimed in unison.
General Gao waved his hands, “I won’t change my mind. Look, it has been more than two years since I moved to Guanan. I haven’t seen any guard have the kind of courage to kill those lawless bastards in public. Nor have I seen any guards like Yi Xu, who take the ‘Laws and Decrees of Empire Yue’ so seriously. If Yi Xu manages to win three rounds against the Black Dragon Palace, I’ll promote him to the white guard ranking. He would be deserving of it.”
“General, I won’t let you down!” Xu Yi chuckled to himself, if he was given the white clothing, it would be a double jump in the ranking. Among the five official rankings – gold, purple, black, white and green, as a plain clothing guard, he was not even within the ranking. Once he got the white clothing, he would actually skip the green ranking and be of the same status as General Gao’s three assistants.
“Alright, your time is limited. You’d better store up your energy and prepare for the fight. Goodluck today, I’ll be cheering for you.” General Gao planted one of his hands on Xu Yi’s shoulder, as a sign of encouragement.
………
In the neighboring private room, Shaochuan walked to and fro, full of frustration.
With a long and squeaking sound, the luxurious and flower-engraved door opened. Two people stepped into his room. The left one was a tall guy with a stalwart build, wearing a set of gold armor, while his hair reached to his shoulders. He looked disdainfully at the surroundings. This was the second in command of the White Horse Palace – Gao Pao, Xu Yi’s opponent! The other guy was a slim and gentle-looking man, holding a folding fan in his hands and wearing a scarf on his head. This was the main adviser of the Black Dragon Palace – Ma Wensheng.
The moment both men stepped in, Shaochuan flew towards them, and shot a smile of gratitude at Wensheng. However, when he anchored his eyes on Gao Pan, his smile turned into a poker face, while his mouth tightened, “Why do you always keep a distance from me? If not for Wensheng, you wouldn’t be here, would you?”
It had been only two months, since Gao Pao had sworn loyalty to the White Horse Palace. However, because of his special background, he couldn’t care less about Shaochuan, even though the latter was his boss.
Originally, Shaochuan had planned to fight Xu Yi himself, in the hope that he could take the refined iron away in secret, without notifying the Black Dragon Palace. However, the warlike Gao Pan reported to the Black Dragon Palace directly and recommended himself for the life and death battle.
As a result, Shaochuan’s plan was disrupted by Gao Pan. Despite Shaochuan’s indignation towards Gao Pan, he had to cooperate with him to ensure that victory would be obtained. Since Shaochuan’s good-for-nothing son was killed by Xu Yi, the reputation of the Black Dragon Palace was damaged to a great degree. They were eager to win back their credibility through this fight. As a representative of the Black Dragon Palace, if Gao Pan lost this battle, the Black Dragon Palace would most likely become a laughingstock, and Shaochuan would surely be punished.
If Xu Yi was just a rough fellow with little intelligence, Gao Pan would definitely win the fight. Nevertheless, after yesterday’s humiliating experience at Xu Yi’s residence, Shaochuan became rather alert of Xu Yi. Though he had no clue about Xu Yi’s genuine strength, he was convinced that Xu Yi was resourceful and tricky. And he worried, that the powerful, yet brainless, Gao Pan would slip into the traps Xu Yi would orchestrate.
In order to discuss with Gao Pan and think out a countermeasure to crash Xu Yi’s possible tactics, Shaochuan had invited Gao Pan many times, yet the headstrong guy relentlessly declined. That was why Shaochuan asked Wensheng to mediate between them.
“Wensheng, I don’t think I can stay here any longer, only to watch Mr. Jiang’s authoritarian manner.” Gao Pan stared at Wensheng.
“As fellowmen, we should spare no efforts to fight our external enemies together, rather than quarrel internally. As you all know, the Black Dragon Palace is a place of hierarchy, we should respect our leaders. Gao Pan, you should be nicer to Shaochuan. Plus, Shaochuan just wants to help you out in the fight with that guard.” Wensheng folded the fan and smiled at Gao Pan.
As the most trusted man of the boss of the Black Dragon Palace, Wensheng enjoyed a high status and no one dared to disapprove his opinion, including Gao Pan.
Taking Wensheng’s advice, Gao Pan stepped closer to Shaochuan and urged him to spit out his words. Therefore, Shaochuan selectively narrated what happened to him yesterday, mainly focusing on Xu Yi’s tactful personality.
“Haha…I’m afraid you should blame yourself, rather than having a grudge against that guard. Man, you’re old and you’ve lost your enthusiasm as well as your aspirations. That’s why the White Horse Palace has been stagnant under your leadership. For me, I really don’t care who Yi Xu is. As long as he is in the realm of the forged body, I’m confident in defeating him. Besides, I still have my soul-splitting spear, if push comes to shove...” Gao Pan sneered.
“Oh, right, I almost forget to mention, look at this glittering gold cassock, it’s a reward from the big boss. Haha, I swear I’ll twist Yi Xu’s head off!” Gao Pan showed off the cassock, that was bestowed upon him by the boss of the Black Dragon Palace.
“Gao Pan, though I believe in you without a shadow of a doubt, we have to prepare for the worst, right? It has been several years since the last peak state fight in Guanan. You should be aware, that the popularity of this fight is unprecedented, as it has become the major conversational topic among the citizens of Guanan. The trigger of this fight was being hyped to the extent that the Black Dragon Palace almost became the laughingstock…” Wensheng took in a deep breath, before he let it out furiously.
Out of panic, Shaochuan kneeled down on one leg, “I know it’s all my fault. I’m not a qualified father. My son… He is the black sheep of our Black Dragon Palace. Please tell the big boss, that I’m prepared to accept any punishment.”
Looking at the frightened Shaochuan, Gao Pan chuckled to himself. But Wensheng stepped forward and helped Shaochuan up, “You’re right. Your son is the one to blame, but he’s already dead. Right now, we have to focus our attention on Yi Xu and make sure that he doesn’t leave the arena alive! Gao Pan, you’re bearing the heavy responsibility to regain our reputation. You must win! Otherwise…Hehe, the big boss has even betted 100,000 gold coins on you!”
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