Dual Cultivation God Returns - Chapter 1021 - 1021: A quiet transformation

“Please forgive our Young Master, he has no experience dealing with anyone outside our small continent”, Chief Go Ritian spoke in an apologetic, conciliatory voice and a wry smile.

“Haa~, we can understand, of course. But what about others? I must warn you that our Elders might not be so accommodating. Not to mention that this attitude might make your visit problematic not just with our Sect, but with other people in the city, especially in front of people of the Imperial Family”, the Inner Court Disciple of the Crystal Wood Sect heavily sighed.

“I will talk to him. It is just the stress of journey and arriving in an unfamiliar place having its effect, making him more irritable and acting out. It won’t be a problem going forward”, the Chief nodded.

While the tone was still apologetic and seeking to mend things, the Inner Court Disciple suddenly felt a signal not to push things further from the look in the Chief’s eyes.

“Khe-khum… good. Now, I was instructed to escort you to the inn that was reserved for Young Master Tiezhu and everyone with him. If you need to contact the Sect, we took up a few rooms in the inn next door, and were told to act as liaisons”

“Excellent. Please lead the way”, Chief Go turned to the Beast of Burden and made a beckoning gesture, causing Tiezhu Bo and the rest of the entourage to come down, following the Crystal Wood Sect.

“Have you finished damage assessment from last night?”, Go Ritian asked as they began walking.

A harsh look appeared in the Inner Court Disciple’s eyes as he replied with a clenched jaw, “Those Seven Swords Bastards… couldn’t handle getting disgraced yesterday…”

He then proceeded to answer, “Yes, the damage is minimal, a few Elders from each of our allied Sects and about a few dozen Sect Protectors lost collectively, there’s far more injured but nothing severe that wouldn’t be fixed with just a few Recovery Pills and maybe some recuperation for a few… the most hit were the Outer Court Disciples, it seems the attack was aimed at them, all others were just collateral. The attackers hit them hard, unleashed a massacre, and then retreated as soon as the Sect Protectors and Elders arrived to put up a meaningful fight”

Tiezhu Bo whistled since for this continent’s small Sects this ‘minimal’ damage was catastrophic.

However, the next words from the Inner Court Disciple containing more emotion than the mundane tone with which he talked about the casualties revealed his priorities, “But the problem is our reputation was hit! And it is even worse since the Ember Palm scumbags got off scot-free… how the hell they managed it is not the issue, but the fact they did, made us look like the incompetent ones!”

Meanwhile Chief Go frowned, “Hmm, putting the issue of Ember Palm Pavilion aside, it’s too well-executed of an attack to be planned, prepared and executed overnight, it’s been long in the making. Perhaps yesterday’s matter accelerated the plans a bit, but this is certainly more than a few weeks old. You didn’t pick up on any signs?”

“You think the Elders don’t know that? And no, we didn’t pick up on any signs. If we had, we wouldn’t have been so caught off-guard”, Inner Court Disciple spoke with some irritation.

‘What are you acting like you’re here to fix things for? You think you’re in charge or something? You’re just here to show you stand with our Sect and shut up the mouths of locals who are intimidated by you’, he thought, still irked by the fact he was pressured to not act arrogant in front of this Iron Claw Group Chief simply by the sheer intimidation of higher Cultivation Realm in their first interaction.

He then added, feeling the gaze of the Chief on himself, but still acting like he was just throwing that information in, not that he was urged to talk more, “The Elders suspect we are dealing with a plan prepared by the City Lord”

“Heh, it really does sound like it got Ko Zhumen’s hand prints all over it”, Go Ritian chuckled, nodding, “In fact that was the first thing Group Leader said, that it was Ko Zhumen”

“Heh, I guess the guy still has useless dreams of returning old glory”, Tiezhu Bo snorted, “That’s why I like Gunwen. He might act like we’re equals, but deep down he knows he’ll always have to bow his head to me a little”

And then, seemingly being reminded, added, “Speaking of, let’s go visit the guy”

“Young Master, how about we settle in an inn first to shed the dust of the journey?”, Chief Go asked, “I will ask someone to send for Ko Gunwen. It’s not good to barge into the City Lord’s Manor without notice”

“Umm~…”, Tiezhu Bo narrowed his eyes, thinking, but eventually nodded with a slightly disappointed look, “Fine, if Uncle Ritian says so. I also want to go look what that Chicken Feather or something Trading Company looks like, but you’re right that it can wait”

“Hahaha, Young Master Bo is very perceptive, that is an apt name for those upstarts, because we’re going to pluck them like a chicken once they’re done with their little auction stunt, hahahaha!”, the thin mustache man twirled the end of his mustache again and laughed, causing the Crystal Wood Sect’s member to wince with displeasure at the sound.

—

“Pfft! Bahahaha! Ahahahaha!!!”, Tiezhu Bo began laughing when he finally wrestled away a mask covering half of Ko Gunwen’s face, holding it in his outstretched hand and staring at the bright red, slightly indented palm print, “What the…? Ahahaha! How the hell does someone even do that?! Ahahaha!”

The latter turned to the side, trying to hide the palm print from view but his ‘drinking buddy’ just moved around a bit, clearly interested in looking more, which made Ko Gunwen give up and simply stand with a sour expression.

He could see amusement and ridicule appearing in the eyes of people who came with Tiezhu Bo, but they did not dare to openly laugh or mock him.

“Ahaha… haha~ oof~”, the Iron Claw City’s Young Master finally seemed to have enough of laughing, casually handing back the half-face mask to Ko Gunwen, “Man~ that Grim Reaper has some tricks. I’d like to see him, but I hope I don’t. As your friend, and the host in whose city it happened, I’d have to make him pay. The problem is that my Father is interested in him”

“Young Mas-…”, Huo Bai carefully tried to interject.

“Shut up! I’m not exactly revealing any secrets here. You think this guy doesn’t know my Father’s interested in the Grim Reaper? You think his Father doesn’t know that? Shit, his Father’s probably also interested in that guy, everyone is! I dare you to butt in when I’m talking again to say some stupid idiotic shit I already know!!!”, Tiezhu Bo came closer to Huo Bai and pointed a finger in his face with an enraged expression.

“Y-yes, of cou-…”

“Shut up~”, Tiezhu Bo waved his hand dismissively while turning around, “Gunwen, you’ve been in my city a lot. Now, I’m in yours… and I must say…”

He spread his arms wide with open palms while tilting his head a bit, “… not impressed”

A wry smile appeared on Ko Gunwen’s half of face visible as he once again wore the mask, “Heh, I told you already that it’s nothing special, what did you expect? It’s still better than that shithole that your friend calls the ‘Northern Outskirts’ or something”

“Hahaha, believe it or not it makes about as much income as your entire city, his shithole”, Tiezhu Bo laughed.

“Still a shithole”

“Heh, that I agree with, it’s the only reason I allow him to brag that it’s ‘his’ even though it’s also mine”

The two Young Masters laughed, coming out of the room.

As the inn was downtown, and wasn’t very high, there wasn’t much that could be called a view, which made him completely disinterested in staying in the ‘dreadful’ as he called it room. Not to mention it was already evening, as he spent most of the day waiting for Ko Gunwen who arrived late.

They went out to the evening streets, followed by the few elite members of the Iron Claw Group that Chief Go left behind while going to pay respects to the City Lord and then meet up with the Crystal Wood Sect, and Huo Bai who was brought here because he was the most familiar with the Silver Wing City among the Iron Claw Group, but was rendered useless with the arrival of this city’s Young Master.

“Come on, I’ll show you around”, the latter spoke, “There might not be much to see, but since you’re here I’ll treat you well in our version of entertainment district. There are some babes there you might find to your taste”

“Haha, I highly doubt that”, Tiezhu Bo chuckled, “Though I did hear it’s gotten more exciting here now… that Trading Company doing you favors it seems”

“Heh, they’re the ones conspiring with the Ember Palm Pavilion, so it’s not like their success is very welcome, it’s rather the opposite”, Ko Gunwen made a grimace, but noticing a big banner, added, “Though I got to say, the tournament is the one thing I’m a bit excited about”

“Oh, I heard about that, they just announced it, right?”, Tiezhu Bo also turned his eyes to the banner announcing the tournament that would happen a whole month after the main auction, “Looks like that’ll prolong the excitement around here past that auction of theirs…”

“Yeah, they reached the deal with the arena owner today. Though it seems like they were confident in succeeding, because they’ve prepared the announcements and advertisement ahead. These things went up all around the city with Spiritual Qi voice amplified announcement and fanfare, and as our intel tells it, it was just minutes after they shook hands on it since the arena owner was still on his way out of their territory at that moment”

“Heh, with such reach and pomp, it sounds as if it’s the city that is the organizers and not some Trading Company. You sure you’re not in cahoots with them?”

“Father did want to bring them under him, but the stupid fucks played tough”

“You got to crush such bugs, to show strength”, Tiezhu Bo said in a confident tone, “Don’t let them walk all over you or they and others will start to get ideas”

“That’s what Father’s planning, but after their usefulness is done. We’ll strip away what’s useful beforehand though, so we have to give them a chance to properly build it up first”

“We’ll see what my Father has to say about that”, Tiezhu Bo chuckled, “You think we’ll let you keep it? We’ll at least have a bite ourselves if we do”

Ko Gunwen didn’t answer, but there wasn’t much objection on the half of face that was visible. His ‘friend’ didn’t notice it, but there was a slightly different expression in his eyes. It wasn’t apathetic or broken, but something resembling a quiet contemplation.

His eyes weren’t laughing when he was laughing, and his responses to this drinking buddy were instinctive and habitual. It was like a quiet transformation was happening within him.