What's worse, was the fact that while he was looking at me, one of two of the least people that I currently genuinely didn't want to see them was whispering something in his ears while he also looked at me and his mouth was curved in a smile .
The two people were Lu Tu from yesterday and the one who seemed to have taken notice of my existence and was now telling Lu Chiang all about everything that happened was none other than that damn Lu Sun, I saw Lu Chiang looking at me and his mouth curved into a smile as well .
I already understood that I was in a crisis, if Lu Chiang were to target me directly later on, I wouldn't have actually cared much, after all, I now had more than enough strength to repell him and anyone that might come to threaten me in the same Martial Realm, at least I'm certain that even if I won't make it out, I will be able to kill him before I die at least .
But here things were quite different, not to mention his high status in here, at worst, I might finish him and just hide with the young master Lu Jian, but here with us, there were elders, guards, all sorts of strong people that I had no chance in winning against even if I had ten more lives and used them all in fighting against one of them .
Fighting across small realms was something, but fighting against experts across major Martial Realm for the current me was something unimaginable and all those guys were at his beck and call, so any struggle here, it might end up with me losing my life, the odds were completely against me here, so it was better for me to act clueless as possible .
That indeed was what I did, even though we glanced at each other in the eyes, the exchange was quite brief, so I decided to act as if I hadn't seen him clearly and tried to regroup with the other servants who were heading to the room we had changed clothes in before and go back to the outer courtyard .
But just as I was implementing this plan, I suddenly heard a voice that exuded confidence, saying :
If it's not my new junior brother at the Dojo, Tian Long, why will you go away like that without saying anything to your senior brother ? .
I got called out by none other than Lu Chiang, the person I didn't want to have anything to do with him .
The moment those words were said, the whole scene turned quiet and I sensed over ton of gazes locking into me and scanning me from head to toe, normally I would have been still able to be unrecognizable, after all, why would the higher-ups and people of high status and strength knew of a pauper like me, not to mention them knowing my name or not, how would they be able to point me out from the other servants .
But they were able to do this now, the reason was quite simple actually, I was betrayed, betrayed by the other servants, the moment my name was spouted, they instantly moved away from me like I was with the plague or something like, I was standing alone in a circle, if this wasn't standing out enough, I don't know what was .
That made it quite easy for everyone to recognize who was Lu Chiang talking to, his grieving mode seemed to be quite short-lived too, people should be still burning incense for his father, yet he was here already smiling and squinting his eyes at me .
I was certain that he wasn't calling me out with a good intention in mind, but what can I currently do, if I were to deal with him coldly, I might be the only one receiving punishment, so even though, I felt that boy harboring ill intentions towards me, I still began taking a few steps forward towards him, each step I took was quite heavy due to the accompanying pressure due to being under the eyes of so many people .
He was standing in the center of the spacious courtyard, so I was forced to travels quite a distance just to be standing in a safe and close to him, then I cupped my fist and bowed my head and said :
" Hope that Senior Brother Lu had to not let his heart wither in grieve and hope you live a long and a happy life .
I tried to both be respectful and considerate and it seemed that it was indeed working, since after I said this, he said while clapping his hand :
Good, good junior brother, the Dojo might really have gained a polite and a brilliant talent to join its ranks, even though, I don't know much about how potential do you have, since you sneaked your way into the Dojo using money that is, hope you still able to keep that position after the next month .
Humiliation, his words were blatantly humiliating to me, especially with him emphasizing more than needed on the words ' sneaking my way through money ', how and why paying money to learn Martial Arts was called sneaking my way in now .
There was also the last words of his, those were what really made me become fully aware that either he was threatening me or something was really going to happen to mt statue in the next month, understanding his intention of wanting to make me angry, I instead lowered my head a bit lower and said :
" I junior brother, thanks senior brother for his praise and guidance, I really hope to be even half of what expectations Senior Brother Lu have for me .
I didn't raise my head to look at how he currently looked like, but only guessed that he wasn't probably looking good especially not with me spoiling his fun like this, at my response the boy seemed to be quite dissatisfied as he snorted and said :
I heard that Senior Brother Fu seemed to be holding you in high regards, so that should suffice to call you a promising talent, didn't he tell you that you had a senior brother in the Lu family ? .
I didn't know where was he going suddenly asking about this, but not wanting to make him more suspicious of me, not more than he already was at least, I said :
" Senior Brother Fu did mention the name of senior brother Lu and showered your name with praises that after seeing you here, I was certain that these praises didn't give you your due .
Then why after you were aware that you had a Senior Brother in the family, you still didn't come to great me yesterday or today then ? .
Even though, I still weren't able to understand what was he going in circles about, I determined that it was certainly nothing good, but him plotting something was indeed an undeniable fact, but even though I knew of this, I still have to replay to him in a polite manner and say :
" Well, I don't believe that the guards would have allowed me to come and greet you yesterday and today, I just felt that it was better to leave you taking your time in grieving, if I had offended you in anyway, I ask you to forgive me .
I said this and lowered my head even more acting as if not daring to meet his eyes, he seeing me like this, he said in bewilderment :
Why would the guards have not allowed you to gain entry to the Inner Courtyard yesterday ? .
He knew exactly why, but he was still asking, he was really trying to humiliate me in front of all this crowd, even though it was our first meeting, what would he have done, if he were to know that I was the one who killed his father, I wonder .
" Replying to senior brother, this junior brother here is nothing but a mere family's slave, the guards would have treated me as such and didn't allow me to enter, so I hope senior brother can be lenient .
Luckily, I was already a person with a big self-esteem, or greatly low one, I can't really tell, the point was that I really had no problem on saying such humiliating things with a straight and clear conscience, so confessing this in front of this whole crowd of people was no problem to me, my voice hadn't even quivered even a little while I said this, even with facing the gaping voices that I heard .
But isn't you acting like this, might result in being bad for the face of us your Senior Brothers and Sisters in the Dojo, won't you agree with me .
" Senior Brother's words are indeed correct and I will be apologizing to the other Senior Brothers and Sisters later when I have the pleasure to meet them .
Knowing better than to argue with such a crazy guy, I just acted submissive just as he wanted me to act, I already lowered my head almost to the point of having my head directly on the floor, so I really couldn't go any more lower than this, unless I was asked to kneel in front of him and kowtowed ..
Well, that might indeed make the older senior brothers and sisters forgive you, but I won't, it wasn't me wanting to be harsh on you or anything of that sort, but I just want you to understand how grave was was what you did, what do you think we should do to get you understand this .
So him circling around like this was all for the sake of wanting to teach me a lesson, wanting to punish me, he even wanted me to be the one who wanted to be taught a lesson by him and accepting willingly, he wasn't trying to guide me or anything, he was properly just trying to take revenge on me, on behalf of his dog father and dog of an uncle .
But even though I became aware of the plot, I have no way out, but to accept it, I just hoped that he wouldn't at least ask me to cripple or kill myself or nothing of these sorts, so even though I resented him and this whole situation from the deepest part in my soul, I still said :
" I will listen to the instructions of Senior Brother .
Since you are so cooperative, I won't ask you to do something dangerous, all that I would ask you, is to to regain the face, you made our Dojo lost, what do you say .
" Senior Brother Lu seemed to already have an idea on how I could be able to do so, so please enlighten me and everyone present .
I said this and began to raise my head up while scanning everyone, searching for somone in the audience that might be of help in solving this situation, the young master Lu Jian, but even though he was still present and was looking at me as well, he stared at me with a troubled expression as if understanding my current predicament, but he seemed to be unable to intervene for some reason, so that was why he had such a troubled expression on his face .
Me raising my head without his permission, seemed to have ticked him off, not to mention him seemingly aware of me staring at Lu Jian for help, he snorted coldly then said :
I will task you with something that should be quite easy for you to do and it's quite simple too, I will help you regain the face you had made us in the Dojo lost, you will be showing how superior the Martial Artists that train in the Dojo, compared to those who don't, a small friendly competition, to add a few more meanings to this sad occasion, don't you think so, Young Master Lu Jian .
Him asking for his opinion, left no doubt in me that he was aware of the thing I did just now or at least trying to, but even though he was asking for his opinion, his mild tone seemed to be just informing him of what was going to happen, not asking for his permission or anything like that, a slap to the face and a direct one too .
Hmph, my father the family head taught me not to meddle in other people businesses, especially if the business were between two brothers to the same Dojo, so whatever you are trying to teach that junior of you have nothing to do with me .
But since you said it will be a competition to show the superiority of your Dojo, then we from the Lu Family of course would welcome such an opportunity to spar against someone with so much talent, but I will still need to remind you and everyone present to not overdo it, we already have enough tragedies on our hands .
His words were polite and quite logical, he seemed to be neither agreeing nor disagreeing with Lu Chiang's words, the guy had a good head on his shoulder, one that allowed him when to advance and when it was better to retreat, he didn't seem to be getting out of his way to help me out, I understood that and the reason he gave, actually made quite sense .
He would be frowned upon if he were to try and meddle between two brothers in training, whether was that what he truly believed or not, had nothing to do with me, the reason I believed him to be quick-witted, was actually related to the last jab he took at Lu Chiang, reminding him of the cold corpse that was laying in the Family's Ancestral Hall .
I almost laughed seeing the cold and dark expression on the boy's face, but I composed myself, but even though I stopped myself from laughing, it didn't mean that others did the same, I noticed not a few grins from the people on the young master's side, all seemed to be gloating at those who were on the side of Lu Chiang .
Now that I was able to take a close look on that young master Lu, I was finally able to get a closer look on what he looked like .
The young master Lu Jian was a tall guy with long, flowing hair and a serious expression, has sharp facial features, including high cheekbones and a narrow jawline, his skin appeared to be smooth, he currently had a determined expression, with narrow eyes and slightly arched eyebrows, he wore a traditional outfit that features a distinctive white and black color scheme, complete with oriented details .
The guy's appearance seemed to be exuding a great amount of dignity, his words from before, made me believe that he wasn't also a narrow-minded person, so it was safe to presume that he won't be coming for me later on .
Good, then ask all the elders today to bear witness on my junior brother's triumph, junior brother Tian, I will counting on you to regain the face you made the Dojo lost by making those guys understand the disparity between our abilities and theirs, teach those guys that no matter how hard they trained, in front of us, they will always be frogs in the bottom of the well .
I saw the evil smile that appeared on his face as he looked at the young master, not even caring to look at me directly when he was saying this and I already sniffed trouble, but to think that he would go that far with his words was still a bit shocking to me, those words of his made all the people present look at me in unkindly fashion, some even began to show killing intent directly at me .
I felt that those dangerous stares were crawling on my skin, making my hair stood to an end and my heart to be heavy with an intense sense of crisis, but all I was currently able to do was to nod my head and stare into the empty air absent-mindedly .
Wondering why did it seeme that every and each one of them seemed to be trying to deal with the other through me, Lu Sun with the words he said had Lu Chiang targeting me to take revenge at me .
Lu Chiang was trying to deal with the young master Lu Jian through me, he also wanted to humiliate me for what he heard from Lu Sun's mouth, what's worse was the fact that it seemed that Lu Jian wanted to implement the same move against Lu Chiang, wanting to make him lose more and more face .
They wanted to deal with their grievances with one another through me, I on the other hand was thoroughly lost on how to treade my way through this muddled waters and this huge crisis .