Chapter 10 – Tests & Trials (II)

Chapter 10

Tests & Trials (II)

“Then… want to bet?” I suggested in the spur of the moment.

“Hm? A bet? With you?” Oh God, I want to punch him so badly… but I have to endure.

“Why not?”

“Ha ha, indeed, why not? The only question is–do you even have anything to bet?”

“What do you want?” That was the easiest way, undoubtedly, because whatever he asked… I’d offer. There was no way to lose this unless my disciple decided to throw me under the bus and not try.

Hey. Isn’t that a real possibility, actually?!

“Hmm, very well,” Daoist Mu grinned. “If you lose, you have to cripple your cultivation and leave the Sect.”

…

And just like that, all my confidence was sapped out of me. If I knew Long Tao would try, I’d take it in a heartbeat. But who knew what stray thoughts filled the brain of that old monster?!

“What? You scared?”

“Khm, of–of course not,” I quickly said. “Very well. However, if I win,” I just need to ask something equivalently insane and get him to step back. “Right. If I win, I get to choose any one of your Disciples and make them mine.”

“You!!!” The man’s face darkened, and a surge of Qi temporarily escaped him.

Okay, that was an overreaction… likely to this body’s original occupant’s reputation.

“How dare you?! I’d sooner kill you on the spot than let you defile a Disciple of mine!” Yup, there it was. I truly, really, desperately wanted to cry! What was this?! I wasn’t a bad person! I’m almost forty years old, for crying out loud! I have no interest in these kids!!

“Khm, you, you misunderstand, Daoist Mu,” I quickly said, scrying the depths of the memories for a solution. Ah! There it was. “In fact, I swear a Blood-Oath that my intentions would not be impure, lest I be smitten by the Heavenly Retribution!”

“Hmm? Really?”

“Really, really! I have seen the errors of my ways,” despondently, despite this jackass being, well, a jackass, he was still quite devoted to both the Sect as well as his disciples. “But the bet, are you unwilling?”

“Unwilling? Heh,” he grinned yet again; ah, these lunatics… of course they’d bet! “Very well, let the Heavens be our witness! Let’s see… right. In six months’ time, the first competition for this year’s Disciples will be held to determine the future distribution of resources. How about this–if your Disciple beats any one of mine, you win. However, if he cannot achieve even a single victory against anyone, you lose. Do you dare?”