“Heh, so this is the place where that stupid Hippo wants to duel? What a stupid looking sign board!”
Lan Ji Ao saw the shop sign from afar as he got out of the subway station. In fact, it was so eye-catching that the entire shopping district had been talking about it for a whole day.
“Flashy shop, dead Hippo…” Ji Ao took out his phone and called Ruo Ying.
“Where are you? I just got out of the station. Let’s quickly get this done with so that we can continue with what we were doing back home.” Ji Ao smirked at the thought of it. On the other hand, Ruo Ying only replied by saying that she was waiting for him at a nearby bus stop.
She felt stupid for the past few months. She felt really stupid to have listened to Ji Ao just because he had the money to pay for her father’s debts and bills. Ruo Ying did not want to burden Xiong Da because she sincerely liked him for what he was. She never wanted to give Xiong Da the impression that she was willing to go for Ji Ao.
All she desired was a life free of debt and she did not want to show Xiong Da that side of her family nor her desperate attempts to clear the debts her family owed. He was too considerate, almost to the point of being gullible. Ruo Ying could have used him but she did not expect that her heart was not willing to do so. But now, even with Ji Ao, she was not able to run away from the increasing debts since Ji Ao only paid off the interest so that she would stay with him.
He knew that if he cleared all of her family’s debt, Ruo Ying would just break away from him. No, he did not welcome that sort of notion since he l.u.s.ted after her beautiful body every day and night.
However, Ruo Ying did not give in to him and his money that easily. Her cultivation of the Esthetical Egret Style allowed her to struggle against Ji Ao’s advances, which was also why Ji Ao was always so frustrated. Due to this, he constantly beat her up since he was able to get into neither the mood nor the body.
But as time went by, it seemed that he began to take more enjoyment in beating her body to a pulp rather than attempting copulation with Ruo Ying. The beatings made his blood race, probably the other side of his cultivation, And now with Xiong Da interfering for the second time, he wanted nothing more than to feast on the fears of a scarred hippo once more.
“Shall we go grab a bite to eat first?” Ji Ao wrapped his arms around Ruo Ying when they met up and licked her tender but bruised neck as a show of his affection. Ruo Ying, on the other hand, struggled once more, though all this served was to make Ji Ao’s blood boil in anticipation.
“Ahhh, the spirit of the rebellious Egret is back again. Ohh, I have to thank that fat useless Hippo for this part of you.” Ji Ao backed away, giving the illusion to Ruo Ying that she had attained a small victory. He knew that once he had beaten Xiong Da, she would be devastated because her white knight would not able to save her.
“Lan Ji Ao. You came.” Xiong Da was standing in front of the shop and was waiting for them patiently while restraining himself from beating Ji Ao up straight away outside on the streets. He wanted to show Jin, the customers, as well as the random passer-bys that he was the greater man compared to this dirty sneaky fellow.
“My, my, would you look at the Hippo. Looks like you are confident that you will win this match. I am pleasantly surprised. Back then, you were nearly pissing your pants when you were about to duel with me.” Ji Ao tightened his grip over the girl with a cap, who Xiong Da identified as Ruo Ying. She looked up as she adjusted her cap, looking at Xiong Da in the process.
Their eyes connected from that one glance and both managed to pass their feelings to each other through mere eye contact. “I am sorry. I am sorry I was so foolish. Please save me!” Ruo Ying did not utter a sound but Xiong Da understood the meaning behind her gaze comforted her with one glance. However, the despair in her eyes was also as real as the hope. She knew that the odds of Xiong Da winning was extremely low… but the chance was not zero.
“I will.” Xiong Da nodded very slightly and only Ruo Ying managed to capture that gesture.
“So where is this arena you spoke of?” Ji Ao asked. He knew that Xiong Da purposely chose this place so that there would be no home ground advantage for him. But what did he have to be scared for? Xiong Da was just a measly Grade 1 Cultivator a few months ago. At most… very most, if you stretched it, He might just be a Grade 2 Cultivator, which was still something to scoff at.
In fact, there was nothing much to worry about. Xiong Da did not know that Ji Ao had increased his Grade to 4, allowing him to learn a new intermediate technique just a week ago. It wasn’t just Xiong Da who had been training. Ji Ao was looking forward to humiliating Xiong Da even more and he used that as his motivation.
All these thoughts were happening in Ji Ao’s head while the conflicted trio were walking into the store.
“How about we draw up a contract?” Ji Ao wished to play the same ‘game’ with Xiong Da as he had done with Ruo Ying.
“No! Ah-” Ruo Ying felt a powerful grip pressed down on her bruised arm, which was obviously Ji Ao in an attempt to silence her. Xiong Da was extremely uncomfortable but Jin was sending him a voice transmission. “Do not do anything rash. Control that anger and only release it when the time is right.”
“No need. I already have one prepared here.” Xiong Da took out a doc.u.ment file from his storage ring and slammed it down upon the table. “If you win. You will gain all of my material possessions.” Xiong Da purposely did not tell him the losing conditions because they were all in the contract. He took out a suitcase from his storage ring and opened it, revealing thousands upon thousands of USD notes right in front of Ji Ao.
“If you lose, Ruo Ying returns to me. Now, sign the contract.” Xiong Da demanded as he opened the first page of the contract while he shoved a pen at him. Ruo Ying was extremely shocked by this turn of events. How did Xiong Da have so much money in his hands? Did he loan it all out just to get her back? Was he really that confident in winning or it was all just a ruse?
Meanwhile, Ji Ao was delighted, no, he was exhilarated to see that suitcase. “HA HA HA HA! This is like striking the lottery prematurely!” Ji Ao could not imagine what kind of possessions Xiong Da had as he turned the doc.u.ment file page by page to see stocks, some more cash, and even a couple properties. The doc.u.ments were legitimate and the contract was definitely a lucky break for Ji Ao.
Without any hesitation, he signed the contract with Xiong Da on the impulse of greed, which made Xiong Da smirk, but only for a second. He immediately reverted to his desperate face as he continued acting desperate for Ruo Ying. Jin then realised why Xiong Da had said that the reputation method from the fight was a small thing. It was because he had already prepared something that would cause Ji Ao’s immediate downfall.
“This is Boss Jin. We will be going to the third floor to enter an instance, where we will have our match.” Xiong Da explained to Ji Ao as calmly as he could. “What instance? A Dungeon Instance?”
“That does not matter. It is just a dimensional space similar to that of a dungeon instance. It has a boxing ring inside. You and I can fight to our hearts’ content there. All of this will be telecasted on the TVs here as a sign of proof and witness.” Xiong Da introduced the Panda Muscles. Jin had eventually settled on creating a bigger match ring to stage the fight, which Xiong Da requested. No Monsters, No Powers up or anything… just lots of witnesses.
Convenient witnesses.
“I see. Then you mister. You shall be our judge.” Ji Ao knew that in dungeon instances there would be no deaths, which meant that he could choose anyone to be the judge. It also meant that he could go all out against Xiong Da. Although he usually increased his chances of winning by inserting a person he knew to be the judge, he did not care much about that since he was fighting against a Grade 2 Hippo.
“Me?” The man in the middle of the store pointed at himself, confused about why he was selected. He had slightly long unkempt hair that was tied into a short ponytail, wore a red cheapish jacket along with a simple black shirt that had a white skull printed on it
“Yes, you.” Ji Ao nodded his head as he beckoned the perplexed man to follow them up onto the stage. The customer also followed them as Ji Ao tried to buddy up with the chosen judge when they went up the stairs.
“Big Brother, you looked like someone who needs money and I feel a connection between the two of us. If you find anything that can tip the match in my favour, it would be appreciated. Also, how about letting me win and I give you some of this sweet sweet cash?” Ji Ao whispered to the customer when Xiong Da was going up the stairs.
“Ooo.. Sure.” Mei Shi Zuo replied as he gave Ji Ao a cheeky thumbs up.
“So that bastard really did choose him! That’s exactly what Jin’s little assistant predicted.” Luo Bo said as she ordered a cheesecake and asked Peppers to join her.
“When searching for someone in a crowd, individual neurons tuned to different visual spaces shift their selectivity to colour and direction depending on the task at hand.” Peppers tried to flaunt her knowledge regarding Xiong Da’s plan while she excitedly waited for her cheesecake.
“Well at least part 1 of the plan has been executed perfectly.” Jia Le held tightly onto Bin Yong as she was anxious regarding how things would unfold.
“Don’t worry. Xiong Da will have his revenge.” Jin said as he was privy to Xiong Da’s personal plan.
