Yang Kai waited for the right time to speak out. His disciple was now giving that Feng Clan girl a good beating, his master was quite okay with the tough handling of the lady. He didn't see anything wrong with it as he only cared about things related to him, other people that got in the way could be used and abused.
"There they go..."
The Feng Matriarch finally got involved in the fight, throwing in the towel to stop it her aura filling the whole colosseum. The guards that were keeping watch were alerted to the spike in spiritual Qi, and it was a lot of it. The woman was already at the great circle of core formation, so even the people from the Dark Palm sect would have some troubles of handling her without someone at the nascent soul to totally overpower her.
"It's time..."
The man smirked and moved his finger out. His spatial ring glowing faintly as a mirror appeared in front of him. He moved his face to one side and then to the other. He grinned widely so that he could see those pearly whites of his, and he made sure not to have any pieces of food stuck there. Yes, he was mostly just checking if he looked presentable.
"Mmm, no woman could resist this smile!"
He nodded to his reflection in the mirror and put it back into his spatial ring. His VIP room had a window that blocked prying eyes from seeing inside. This one-way glass started slowly sliding down as it revealed the Dark Palm lord inside the VIP room. The people didn't notice it yet as this room was positioned above the audience. Yang Kai then cleared his throat and took in a good amount of air before shouting out.
"HALT, THIS MATCH WILL NOT END!"
His intentions were made clear and the Feng Matriarch's eyes went bloodshot. The judge that was overseeing the whole thing just bowed and returned to his seat, not wanting to get involved in this young master's scheme.
"It would be rude to stop a match between two youths just yet, look at that girl she is still standing, she has yet to show us her true potential."
The man said in a calm voice, but it was backed by his cultivation so everyone in the area could clearly hear him. Feng Liena and the rest of the people that were in her VIP booth were taken aback. The man clearly had way more pull here than they could ever have, this was his home turf and they were just some country bumpkins. Still, the young Matriarch couldn't just let her sister be brutally mutilated or maybe even worse, die.
She bowed slightly while cupping her fists and bowing towards the man that shouted out. She might be able to get out of this predicament if the man called Yang Kai could be reasoned with.
"The Matriarch from the Fang Clan greets senior from the Dark Palm Sect."
The man just nodded while trying not to grin too much. This was more or less a signal as he allowed the woman to speak.
"My foolish sister is beneath the junior she is fighting and has clearly lost, please allow us to end this match senior..."
The man looked at his disciple that was holding on to the girl's hair, he had the impromptu rock blade in his hand and was ready to start cutting. He had stopped for the time being as the aura that Feng Liena released had caught him off guard. He was still only in the foundation establishment so he could handle someone at the core formation level.
The shield that was protecting the ring only partially held the aura attack at bay. Now he was just watching the show, his rage had subsided slightly but he would still like to carve out something on this girl's face. His cover of a wholesome young master was already out of the window, so he didn't care anymore.
"Yes indeed, she was a foolish child... but she managed to injure my cute disciple and I'm not sure he is willing to let things go that easily..."
He looked at Deng Cai that just nodded and moved his blade to the girl's face, inching it closer and closer.
"P-please wait... I'm sure we could work something out, show mercy oh great senior!"
This time Feng Maling moved in, bowing her head while almost hitting the railing in the process. To Cai's surprise, he saw his Master moving his hand upwards that indicated him to stop before he could touch the girl's skin.
"Hmm... work something out you say... yes we could do that... how about..."
The man paused for a moment, making it look as if he was contemplating this matter very seriously. His eyes were closed and he was even rubbing his chin with his own thumb for a dramatic effect. His eyes then shot up and he did a little clap, indicating that he had some kind of idea.
"How about we have a small wager? If you win my disciple will leave your clan member be and the match will be over."
He then licked his lips and continued to talk, no one brave enough to interrupt his speech.
"But if you lose, you'll have to give me something ... something substantively more valuable than that little girl's life..."
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
The Feng Matriarch went quiet. She didn't know what the wager would be or what the thing that this man wanted was, but she had a hunch about what it was.
"How would we go about this wager..."
She asked, quite curious. The man swished his long robe sleeve and just looked back with a sneer.
"Oh, nothing too serious. This whole thing started as a squabble between the junior generation, so it would be best if they handled it."
The woman still didn't know where this man was going with it, so she just stayed quiet and listened to the explanation.
"What I mean is, have another from your members fight my disciple. They just need to win against my disciple, anyone is fine if you can get them to fight for you."
The man moved his hand outward making it look as if he was trying to hug someone as he finished talking. The gist of it was that he wanted the Feng Clan to get someone to face his disciple in battle, if that person won they would all be free to go. He didn't think that anyone from these clans could actually beat his disciple, so in his eyes, this was a sure-fire win.
"How about I give you an incense stick of time to make your arrangements? "
The man grinned once more, not really caring if the other side could coax someone to fight for them. The Feng Clan didn't possess anyone stronger than Feng Nuana, so they would have to seek help elsewhere.
The old Feng Maling looked to her Matriarch and then to the other two elders from the triforce alliance. Zhang Jin and Huo Qiang were the only two people that could help them out. The problem was if they would offer their help and potentially get themselves in trouble with the Dark Palm Sect master.
They didn't know how strong the juniors from their allies camps were and even if they won, would that Yang Kai keep his promise? The two men were being quiet as they were thinking about what to do. They heard the whole conversation and both of them had an able fighter for this task.
The Huo Clan had the young master that was also the son of Huo Qiang. The man wasn't really too eager to exchange his son's life for this Feng Nuana that he didn't know too well. The Zhang Clan had both Zhang Tai and Zhang Liu that would probably be the only ones capable of giving the Dark Palm Sect young master a good fight.
The problem was the same for the Zhang Clan though, were they willing to potentially give up the life of one of their promising youths. If you thought about it rationally there wasn't. The Feng Clan was weaker than the Huo clan and had fewer resources, the Zhang Clan was on the rise and would probably overtake both of these clans in no time. The only thing stopping them from growing, would be a strong sect like this one that Master belonged too.
Still, these three clans had an alliance. This would probably doom their contract to fail and soil their future relationships if they didn't do anything at all. Before any of the two men could voice their worries, the Feng Matriarch spoke out.
"You two don't need to trouble yourselves, this is something that the Feng Clan has to resolve."
The two men looked at each other and then back to the young woman. She might have sounded resolute, but the two knew that she was shaken. She couldn't hide that quivering lip and her saddened tone from these two. The woman turned to face the grinning man and asked.
"What would the senior want to exchange for the wager, the Feng Clan doesn't really have many things to offer to someone from a distinguished sect like yours."
The two Feng elders kind of knew what the man wanted, but was he really that kind of person to still demand it?
Yang Kai stopped smiling, the question was asked and people were looking at him with curious gazes. Everyone was wondering what this man wanted, why was he bothering someone from a weak clan out in the open and making a huge scene. Were people at high positions just strange and eccentric like this?
"The thing that I want is..."
The man cleared his throat and pointed at the Feng Clan women, he was quite far away but everyone knew at who he was pointing out as his sentence ended.
"You!"
Feng Liena didn't move back, as the finger was pointing right at her. Her granny just shook her head side to side while thinking back to that strange marriage proposal the man made two years ago.
"Well, the time is up let me hear your decision... I also might be willing to forget about the whole thing if you just offer yourself up to me..."
"I..."
"I will face him!"
Before Feng Liena could reply she heard a voice from the audience. The person that the voice belonged to sounded resolute and young. Everyone looked to the person shouting out, it was a certain youth with mostly white hair and a patch of black strands in the front. Yes this was Zhang Liu that was calling out to the VIP booth.
"Let me fight elders, I'll be sure to win this wager for you! I bet my Master would agree with me if he was here!"
Zhang Jin almost got a heart attack as the thing that he wanted to avoid was now out in the open. His young grandson was probably the only one from the bunch that had a realistic chance to win this fight. The problem was not the winning part, but the actions that strange Yang Kai would take if his disciple actually lost.
The Dark Palm Master in question just looked at the youth with a raised brow. Zhang Liu shivered as he could feel the man's oppressive aura wash over him. He was getting probed by the man, Yang Kai just smiled after noticing the low level that this youth was at.
"Well, well. I see that we have someone that is willing, think we can get this over with now."
The man was quick to react as things were going his way. His disciple would defeat this wannabe white knight and he would go home with the prize. He wouldn't take no for an answer now and was hoping for a good show from his disciple.
"P-please wait, this..."
Feng Liena panicked, this was Zhang Dong's disciple. She couldn't let him get harmed while she was around, this wasn't going her way at all.
"I-I'll go with you... let us just stop this..."
The woman trembled and was ready to give up, she didn't want to get any more people involved in her private matters. She felt that it was more important to get these juniors home safely now, than her own life. She didn't feel like the man would harm her, at most she would have to become his concubine. This was something she was willing to do, her sister's life was more important.
"You?... I think you are misunderstanding something here..."
Yang Kai spoke out while sighing. This making Liena and the people around here even more confused.
"But you said that you wanted me?"
The woman pointed to herself while question marks appeared over her head.
"No... I was clearly pointing to that lovely lady... why would I want someone like you?"
The people in the audience went silent, the same thing happened to the elders in the VIP booth. Everyone looked to the person that was standing next to the Feng Matriarch. She was the only other woman there and was standing next to Feng Liena when Yang Kai was pointing out with his finger. The only person that wasn't surprised was Deng Cai, he knew his Master's 'tastes' quite well now. Yes, he was a man that liked his women a bit older...