Within a large courtyard, a muscular young man was showing off his martial arts. He was topless, his exposed chest glistening with sweat, lending him an aura of seemingly limitless power. His forearms and hands had cloth bandages wrapped around them, giving him the dangerous look of an experienced fighter. He had cruel triangular eyes, snake-like eyebrows, and thin wide lips that looked like a slash in his face, which all combined to produce a mask of arrogance. He directed a look of sheer disdain, something between a smirk and a sneer, towards the opponents surrounding him.
"The first person who lands a blow on me will receive one gold piece! Now, fight me!" shouted the young man.
Hearing about the reward, his opponents seemingly perked up with enthusiasm, shouting their battle cries and charging forward.
However, those perceptive enough would see that most of the opponents were merely faking it. Punches and kicks were launched with great force at the young man, but they always missed their mark. The young man would dodge or deflect those forceful blows with energetic movements, then counter with an unavoidable strike, always leaving his opponent prone on the ground. One opponent, after managing to block the young man's kick aimed at his chest, still staggered many steps backward before falling to his knees, face on the ground while retching.
Right after that, the young man seemed to get even stronger. Some of his opponents were even launched several steps away from him, giving pitiful cries of despair and pain. Some even rolled on the ground, crying for their mothers.
By this point, even the slightly less observant onlooker might think that those opponents would need a remedial class to correct their blatant overacting.
All the opponents were down except for one. The last one standing was the youngest of all, a callow youth with uneven eyes and a potato nose. He looked scared, hopping up and down like a panicked rabbit. With a high-pitched scream, he charged directly towards the young man.
"No! Ah Tu, stop!" One of the opponents tried to warn the callow youth away, but it was too late.
Obviously not expecting such an unsophisticated attack, the young man was dumbfounded for a moment. It was enough for Ah Tu to grab him around his hips, knocking him down. Ah Tu straddled him, giving him an adrenaline-fueled punch on his head that made him see stars.
After that single punch, Ah Tu seemed to regain some clarity. Panic was slowly replaced with horror as he stared at his fist... until his sight was blocked by two thumbs gouging his eyes. Screaming, he rolled off the young man, hands over his injured eyes.
The young man jumped to his feet, his eyes bloodshot, his face contorted in rage. He gave a vicious kick to the area between Ah Tus legs, prompting even more high-pitched screaming. Not satisfied, it was the young man's turn to straddle Ah Tu, raining blows on his face. Each blow was accompanied with a shout.
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"How! Many! Times! Do! I! Have! To! Say! Respect! The! Rules! Of! Combat!". Mingled with the young man's angry words, Ah Tu's screams turned into gurgles, then, silence.
"HAHAHA! Very good! I'm glad to see there's at least one worthy opponent among you lot! Someone come and take his fellow to his reward! The rest of you, go collect your pay!" As he stood back up, the young man's face was back to its usual expression that said 'I'm the best! You're the worst!'.
"Thank you Young Master Gao!" The opponents helped each other up, shooting looks of resigned pity at Ah Tu. His reward was more likely to be a rack in the basement, rather than gold.
"Apologies to Elder Mu, Elder Jing, and... our esteemed guests, for making you wait. Welcome!" said Gao Lang, inclining his head at Trip and her group of fellow investigators, who had been there watching the fight from the very start.
His words were polite, but it couldn't disguise the sheer avarice in his gaze as he looked up and down at Trip.
"Young Master Gao, this is Trip and Wukong. They are here to investigate Gao Xin's death." said Elder Jing.
Gao Lang's eyelid twitched, as he spun towards Elder Jing. "Investigate? What's there to investigate? I've already said, it's Bajie. I saw him running away from her body!"
"Of course, of course. Everybody knows that your father is a fair and even-handed leader. We're just doing this to maintain that standard." said Elder Jing, while making calming motions with his hands.
A few servant girls came over to attend to Gao Lang. One dabbed at the sweat on his chest, another dabbed his face, while another reached for the bandages around his hands, which were stained with blood. Blood that seemed to be seeping from two crescent-shaped areas, one on his hand, the other on his forearm.
WHACK!
Gao Lang slapped away the servant girl's hands away from his bandages. The servant girl immediately retreated to a corner, crouching while whimpering, cradling her injured hand. Already, it was turning a dark shade of red, attesting to how hard she had been hit.
"Bring my robe!" Another servant girl hurried forward with a rich brocade robe. After wearing it, Gao Lang tugged the long sleeves over his hands repeatedly, as though trying to make the sleeves longer so that they could cover his hands completely.
It was a futile gesture. By then, Trip and the others had gotten a clear look at his fingers. His long and tapered fingers.
"We need to get going." said Trip.
"Yes, yes, let's. Please excuse us, Young Master Gao." said Elder Jing.
"Oh, leaving so soon? But I haven't had the chance to serve you tea yet." said Gao Lang, his eyes back to roving all over Trip.
Trip turned and left without a word.
Only Gao Cai and Elder Mu noticed Wukong staring at Gao Lang, upper lip twitching to reveal his sharp canines. His golden eyes looked ready to shoot fiery sabers at the young master.
"Wukong!"
"At once, mistress!" Wukong's expression instantly changed into a foolishly vacant one as he waddled off after Trip.
-- Chapter 29, End --