“Stop hiding behind your guards and fight me! One on one and I shall forgive your transgressions to this massacre.” Yang Rong came forward. The young master of the Royal Zodiac Tiger Clan was ready to see for himself how great this Jin actually was… unfortunately the other party was unwilling.
“No thanks. I don’t wish to waste my strength.” Jin even crossed his arms to stress that he refused to take any such offers. He sure as hell would not allow himself to be bullied into a stupid fight when he was surrounded by his allies. After all, not every general had to necessarily command from the front.
“Fine, then you leave me no choice but to call the police on you! This area has camera surveillance, so there will be no problem to arrest you on charges of manslaughter… and trust me, you won’t like it under the police custody, especially when you get me as your torturer.” Yang Rong threatened the dungeon supplier, hoping that would get him to change his mind.
“You honestly believe I’m scared of the police?” Jin sneered back. There were far too many possibilities Jin had at his disposal to make sure he would not stay long in custody. Not counting brute force methods like getting Kraft or the System involved, Jin could easily call in a favour from Xiong Da or Grandma Yuan. (Although that will entail some scoldings) Getting Kong Rong involved would also guarantee that he would be bailed in within five minutes.
Even if there was a magical barrier over them, it was possible for his minions to get him out. And worst come to worst, Jin now understood that a bargain with the spirits of the land could give the System full authority of the place, making the escape out of police custody a stroll in the park.
With the two of them bickering the entire garden appeared to have frozen in time. The remnant cultivators continued to stay on their knees happy for each passing second while Jin’s minion still hoped to see their big boss in action. Even the elder brother who had previously been brandishing his skills took a step back and observed the situation between his younger brother and the guy his younger sister had a crush on.
“The younger brother seems to be the impulsive type, whereas the elder one seems to be more on the thinking side… Argh, I knew I should have made up an excuse and just gotten to Grandma Yuan instead.” Jin thought to himself and massaged his temples.
“Big words for an HONORARY member of OUR Tiger Clan. The atrocity you’ve committed is reason enough to revoke your membership today.” Yang Rong stated his new threat.
“I might feel more threatened if those words came from your dad. From you? Not so much!” Jin said though he could not care less for the honourary membership. They could revoke it for all he cared.
“He still owes me. I could easily call in those favours, and he would have no choice but to do it. He already repaid his debt by making you an honorary tiger member. It would be your own fault for losing that status!” Yang Rong argued.
“Really? I didn’t feel that anything changed ever since I got that title.”Jin shrugged his shoulders. “Unless you want to count that dumb badge and those extra responsibilities I never asked for. Feels rather empty for a repayment. Then again, perhaps that is how much he valued his life. Rather useless.” From the corner of his eye, he could see Yuan Ba with a strained smile. The expression he harboured made it clear that saying anything else would cross his bottom line.
Unfortunately, Jin had merely stated the ugly truth. The dungeon supplier had found out about his worth from Kong Rong and with the heir to the Royal Zodiac Dragon Clan as his backing, he did not see any reason to pretend to be at the mercy of these tigers.
They might be a major Royal Zodiac Clan, yet as long as they wanted to control him from behind the scenes, Jin would not tolerate it. All he wanted to do was to create dungeons and supply them to his customers. (getting rich in the process wouldn’t hurt.)
With experience, power and knowledge on his side, nothing was stopping Jin to reciprocate the way they had treated him. Sure it might mean he would lose certain privileges like the protection from the Tiger Triad members and such, but now that his minions had access to this improved cosmetic inscriptions this issue could be easily fixed.
Albeit not as massive as the network from a Royal Zodiac Clan, his manpower rivalled that of a large clan, and in terms of firepower, his faction was like a nation with access to nuclear weapons. (Even the Royal Zodiac would not have this kind of firepower accessed to them!) Today he would use this event to display his stance to all powers interested in him.
‘I can be your friend, but if you try to mess with me, then I won’t give you any face.’
“Look, to be honest, I have no qualms with your clan members.” Jin made a genuine attempt to de-escalate the situation somewhat. “However, surely you’ve seen that they were rather rude from the moment I’ve shown myself. It was clear to see that they were not going to listen to a word I said. Do you want to tell me I was not courteous by trying times to avoid a direct confrontation, only for them to block my way and ridicule my companions and me?”
“Still, YOU were the first one who raised the sword against the Minor Clans. You’ve obviously proven your superiority to our members!” Hao Pei chimed in now. “You even had traps in place to prevent our people from getting away. Do you not think that to be overkill? ”
“You are not wrong,” Jin admitted freely. “Yet for some reason, I doubt any of you would have granted us such a treatment if my side had not been stronger.” Hao Pei was left speechless since arguing otherwise would just be lying.
“Then let’s put it this way. I, Hu Yang Hui, hereby issue a Royal Zodiac Clan Duel Challenge towards you, Xie Jin.” His elder brother finally stepped forward while taking out a wooden tiger statue piece and threw it right on the floor.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know the rules for such a duel and thus will no-.” Jin spoke, but before he could fully refuse, the System interrupted him in a rather jumpy manner.
“User NEEDS to accept the duel! System will be behind you all the way for this match.” And that sentence alone made Jin assume that there were things at stake that would fully benefit the System.
And he was absolutely right.
Yang Rong saw what his brother did and started laughing. “My god, Big Brother. For you to do this out openly. I shall invoke my right to participate in this challenge. If you accept the challenge from both of us together, we will double the stakes. Give us all you got! Use whatever weapons you have! However, only you can participate!” Yang Rong shouted as he threw his own wooden tiger statue piece out on the floor too.
In the meantime, Yuan Ba held on the railings even harder and mumbled with an evil grin. “Stupid kids. I swear you will be the death of me.”
