Chapter 40

  Betting & Competing (V)

  "... you've hidden well, Elder Lu."

  Yeah, I'm Bond in his prime--oh, shut up...

  I was already annoyed with these scrooges, and now that guy also decided to do his thing. Haah, at least I still have Dai Xiu on my side--yeah, I just jinxed the shit out of that, didn't I?

  If there's one good thing, though, it's that Long Tao didn't reveal high cultivation--just the first stage. His beating of the tall boy wouldn't really rouse any suspicion; at that level, strength between kids could be as minimal as the Sahara's yearly rainfall or as massive as Nashville's.

  The rounds continued, and though they eyed me with rage and suspicion... what was I to do? Well, mainly try and make myself as small as possible; prey, when cornered, either exploded in the last hurrah or played dead. I can't do either since I'm not prey, technically, but I can mimic some of the behaviors. Being small, for instance, so they just leave me alone.

  It wasn't long before it was Dai Xiu's turn. She seemed nervous as she stepped onto the stage, and all eyes turned toward her. There were other ongoing battles, some that were even quite close, yet none of it seemed to matter. Elders, disciples, deacons... forget it, even critters and bugs hanging around turned toward her.

  Her opponent was... a hulking boy standing at six-six.

  Hm.

  Hmm.

  I really need to beat the shit out of these old geezers at least once in my life; otherwise, my heartburn will never settle. It'd be one thing to orchestrate something for Long Tao, but Dai was twelve.

  Haah.

  Should I say something?

  No. Nope. Enough with my bravery.

  I'm already being eyed slantingly by these skin-wearers; drawing any more animosity toward me would be far too moronic, even for me. Thus, I stayed silent and watched as the judge announced the start of the battle and prayed Dai would take it easy.

  Perhaps inspired by Long Tao, perhaps overcome by her nervousness, Dai Xiu elected to do the opposite of my expectations--she stepped into the tall boy's shadow and did a literal Superman punch... and thus the boy flew back even more aggressively than Long Tao's opponent did, ragdolling across the arena like a combo of bad physics and collisions in a game.

  He careened off the arena's edge and stumbled back into unconsciousness as everyone froze, even those still dueling.

  She likely realized she screwed up because, by the time she spun her head and faced me, her eyes were already teary. Haah, I mean... isn't this normal? Isn't this how these stories would go?

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  Both Long Tao and Dai Xiu exude your everyday protagonist aura--it's practically oozing from every inch of their being. Trying to artificially stifle them is like trying to cool fuel rods in a reactor by blowing on them.

  Maybe I'm the idiot for even trying? I mean, yeah, being low-key would be preferable... but didn't I jinx us outright by even thinking that? Haah.

  Whatever.

  No, seriously, whatever.

  Maybe their protag aura shields me? Maybe their plot armor transfers over to me?

  Only time will tell, I guess.

  Speaking of guessing, it was as I guessed--they seemed... hurt that my disciples won, and there was no way in hell they'd bet any more, not after that display. The means by which they won were so overwhelming that everyone here already knew that the two of them would take first and second place.

  Among the many sour and dour expressions, however, there was a joyous one--that of Elder Qin. I mean, technically speaking, he lost too, but it seems he was quite happy to not have to shell out ten thousand stones to the others. Maybe he forgot that he has to pay more than that to me?

  Hm.

  No, no way. He's 'Just'. Even if he occasionally seems to skirt that line a little bit like a nimble gazelle, he wouldn't just outright renege on the bet.

  The tournament continued, though with much less fanfare than before. Both Long Tao and Dai Xiu got challenged once more in the second round, after which their opponents just outright surrendered.

  Even if the sect would heal them, nobody wanted to pointlessly get beaten an inch away from death, so they simply resigned.

  I was getting a bit embarrassed toward the end, honestly, as the way they looked at me... it evolved. It was clear they were attributing all of this to me, but--okay, fine, some of it was because of me... maybe even most of it, FINE! But--a big BUT!

  Tao and Xiu are just... special. I'm 100% sure that even if Long Tao showed up here immediately after entering the sect, he would have easily swept through the entire competition. Dai Xiu wouldn't have, I don't think, but given time, her protag aura would have propelled her into stardom.

  Which begged the question--how'd she end up in the slums?

  No, no, nope. I don't want to know; I don't need to know until she's strong enough to resolve whatever hell she lived through all by herself, with me being the cheerleader in the background.

  "You've indeed hidden yourself deeply, Elder Lu," was the sentiment, apparently. "I've taken notice."

  "Hah. A putrid roach dares to dream of becoming a swan," they started getting up, one after another, and leaving. Wow. The weird thing is... Spirit Sage didn't stop them.

  "I'll be sure to visit the Lonesome Peak to congratulate you, Elder Lu..."

  "I shall see you at the next Elder Council, Elder Lu..."

  Yada-yada, you get the gist. They all left behind one or another word of threat or warning or whatever nonsense they thought saved them some face. Because, and I can't stress this enough, they lost all of it today. All of them.

  Well, I don't care because my sentence was the same to all of them.

  "My payment."

  And its variations.

  "I appreciate Elder's Spirit Stones to support my weak disciples..."

  Okay, yes, I went out of my way just a tad to annoy them, but they deserved it. The bastards jumped on me like hyenas from the onset, and now that I've shorn their faces a bit, they wanna keep some moral high ground? Fat chance, skin-wearers.

  By the end, there were only three of us left--no, seriously, every other Elder left. It was kind of... amazing, if you think about it.

  "You have an interesting pair of disciples, kid." It was the Spirit Sage who broke the silence, prompting my heart to churn yet again with anxiety; I feared that man the most, as he seemed to know Lu Qi the best and held all authority within the sect.

  "Just a pair of rugrats, Sect Master." I quickly said.

  "Hm. Elder Qin informed me of your bet with him," the old man said. "Bring them to my peak in two days' time; I'll have the chamber prepared."

  "... yes, Sect Master." Lu Qi visited the Sage Peak only once in his life--on the day he was first brought in here.

  "You'll get the bulk of the Foundation-level resources this time around," he said. "But you only have two disciples. Do you plan on taking in any more than that?"

  Ah.

  Right.

  My bet with Daoist Mu.

  ... what the hell should I do about that?