"What do you mean by that?!" Mu Rong Shu demanded, defensively covering her chest with both arms and glaring at me defiantly. "What do you intend to do to me?"
"Nothing much. But you lost to me, didn't you?"
"Just because I lost doesn't mean you can do anything. I concede defeat. I will not fight back if you take my life. I will not escape like a shamed dog and bring dishonor to my family. I tried to kill you and I failed, and thus I have no right to complain when you kill me."
Mu Rong Shu continued to stare at me defiantly.
"But that doesn't mean you can go too far and do whatever you want. I will not allow you to defile my body. I'll bite off my tongue and end my own life if you try."
She didn't seem to care. If she was going to die anyway, she would do so on her own terms.
"Oh, no. Seems like you're misunderstanding something." I wagged my finger at her in disapproval. "Stop jumping into conclusions. You said that I have the right to kill you. But I don't want to kill you. It'll be a waste. So I would rather your life belong to me now."
Unlike Du Wang, Mu Rong Shu appeared to have honor. She fought me fair and square, and when she lost, she surrendered to me without any tricks, without being a sore loser. Also, I sensed that she wasn't a bad person.
Despite trying to "assassinate" me, she hadn't actually tried to kill me at all. I didn't detect any killing intent at all, and her moves…yeah, what kind of killer tries to take somebody's life with Eight Trigrams Palm? I wasn't saying you couldn't kill anyone with martial arts, and in the right hands, Eight Trigrams Palm was perfectly capable of killing, but Mu Rong Shu didn't seem to want to kill me with it.
She used no weapons except that golden orb, which wasn't even much of a weapon in the first place. She didn't really aim for my vitals either, and that jab toward my solar plexus appeared more to incapacitate me instead of killing me.
No. Clearly Mu Rong Shu didn't have the intention to kill me. As such, I had no desire to take her life either.
"What makes you think I'll agree to that? I'd rather die!"
On the other hand, Mu Rong Shu appeared to be regretting here decision now. Not that she would have changed anything if she had known. She knew she was outmatched.
"Don't be so hasty." I scratched my head and studied her closely. "You don't seem like much of a killer, to be honest. Using Eight Trigrams Palm in a frontal martial arts duel? Where's your weapon? Most assassins don't use their bare fists to kill their targets."
Mu Rong Shu looked away, looking slightly embarrassed.
"It's not as if I want to kill anybody."
"What was that?"
"None of your business! Just kill me and be done with it already!" Mu Rong Shu glared at me. She then placed her teeth on her tongue. "Or I'll just…"
"Wait, don't be hasty. Are you sure you want to die? Don't you…have anything you want to do?" I held up a hand to stop her. Mu Rong Shu frowned and averted her eyes.
"So what? My life belongs to the Mu Rong family. I am but a weapon, a dagger in the dark. My life is not my own."
"Your life no longer belongs to the Mu Rong family. It now belongs to me." I pushed my glasses up my nose. "Well, actually, I don't need your life, so if you're that against it, you don't have to belong to me. But I have an offer."
"An offer?" Mu Rong Shu repeated incredulously. I nodded and grinned.
"What if I offer to free you from the Mu Rong family? I'll take you away and allow you to live the life you want. To do the things you wanted to do, but weren't allowed to by the Mu Rong family."
"You think they'll just let me go like that?" Mu Rong Shu laughed. "The Mu Rong family will never let me go. Even if I leave, they'll just hunt me down. It doesn't matter what you do how far away you bring me. They'll never stop coming after me. The moment I was born into the Mu Rong family, my destiny has been sealed."
"We'll see about that." I rose to my feet and offered her a hand to help her up. "Take me to your family. I'll negotiate with your father directly."
For a moment, Mu Rong Shu stared at me in disbelief. She shook her head slowly, still trying to digest what she had just heard.
"You want me to take you to the Mu Rong family?" she scoffed. "You'll never make it through. They'll kill you before you can get through the front gates. They know your grandmother has put out a bounty on your head."
"They can try," I replied with a grin.
Less than an hour later, we were both going toward the Mu Rong manor. While we approached, Mu Rong Shu revealed something.
"First of all, the person you should negotiate with is my grandfather, not my father. My father will obey my grandfather…he's the head of the Mu Rong family. Nobody can disobey him."
That reminded me of my own family. My grandmother being the current head of the family, nobody dared disobey her. Not even my parents. Apparently, even if she ordered my death, they could do little but stand aside and allow me to get killed.
"Secondly…my grandfather is at least Grand Master level. No matter how strong you are, you're no match for him. Walking into enemy territory like this…you're simply committing suicide."
"I'll worry about that myself," I assured her. Then I grinned. "Besides, aren't you assigned to assassinate me? Why are you so concerned about me? Shouldn't my death be your goal?"
"Who…who's concerned about you?!" Mu Rong Shu looked away, her arms folded. "I…I just can't stand the thought of the man who defeated me dying in such an absurd manner!"
"Nobody's going to die," I replied confidently.
"Oh? You seem so sure of yourself."
I glanced up, catching sight of the rows and rows of Mu Rong family members circling me from all sides. At some point of time, they had shown up and surrounded me and Mu Rong Shu.
"Cousin Shu, you brought the target back to our home?!" One of them – Mu Rong Qiu – hissed. "You traitor!"
"Actually, she brought me back here so that you guys can try to kill me," I replied with a shrug. "So she didn't betray the Mu Rong family."
The Mu Rong family members exchanged a glance. Then Mu Rong Qiu snarled.
"Kill him!"
About a dozen of the Mu Rong family assassins launched themselves at me, black qi swirling around them. Some of them wielded specific elements. I saw a mountain crashing down on me, Mu Rong Shan keeping his distance in respect and refusing to underestimate me. Wind blades sliced toward me, unleashed by Mu Rong Feng.
But the majority of them were shadow techniques similar to those used by Mu Rong Qiu.
My divine dragon rose to the fore, bellowing ferociously and unleashing a tsunami of golden qi that swept across the area and disintegrating the attacks before they could reach me or Mu Rong Shu. With a roar, my divine dragon swung his tail and smashed the poor assassins to the ground.
Within an instant, about ten of the Mu Rong family assassins were lying on the ground, nursing broken bones and the like. Mu Rong Qiu was among them, groaning after being buried deep into the ground.
I didn't go easy on them because I could sense their murderous intent, unlike with Mu Rong Shu. But I didn't kill them either. I still needed to negotiate with Mu Rong Lao, the leader of the Mu Rong clan.
However, the battle was far from over. Mu Rong Shan and Mu Rong Lin had maintained their distance, watching me cautiously, and thus they weren't among the ones I smashed into the ground. Similar to Mu Rong Shu, I sensed no killing intent from them, so I watched them respectfully. Even if they had no intention of taking my life, they weren't going to simply let me stroll through the gates to their family's manor.
However, with my divine dragon staring at them, they didn't recklessly attack, knowing that any careless move on their part would result in them lying on the ground with their relatives.
"Enough!"
The main gate flew open, and much to my surprise, Mu Rong Lao strode out. At that time, I didn't recognize him, but when I heard Mu Rong Shu whisper, "Grandfather" under her breath, I knew that I was facing the patriarch of the Mu Rong family.
My divine dragon reared back, but a single palm strike from Mu Rong Lao dispersed him. I watched, frozen, as my spirit beast dissipated into droplets of golden qi, even as a massive eight trigrams formation glowed behind the old man. I adopted a defensive stance, getting ready to fight.
This man…he was at least Grand Master realm, like his granddaughter had told me. I was unlikely to survive on a head-on confrontation, but I was determined to sell my life dearly…
Actually…I would prefer to walk out of this alive. In the first place, I didn't come here to fight. I was here to overturn my grandmother's request for my head…perhaps turn around and hire them to assassinate my grandmother instead. After all, if she was dead, I would have access to the Zhao family's wealth and could use that to pay the Mu Rong family off.
With that old hag gone, I wouldn't have to worry about my pathetic brother or my spineless parents getting in my way. Now that I had seen the strength of Mu Rong Lao for myself, I was confident that he would be able to best even my grandmother.
"I've come to negotiate," I said carefully, watching Mu Rong Lao, but refusing to let my guard down. The moment he struck, I would do my best to evade, so I studied him closely, taking note of any sign of movement. A twitch of the muscle, a single swing of a hand toward me and I would jump away.
"Negotiate?!" Mu Rong Chun growled, struggling to stand up from the crater my divine dragon had smashed him into. He helped his son up, his face a mask of fury. "You will die here, you bastard…!"
"No one is going to die here today."
To everyone's surprise, Mu Rong Lao lowered his hands and called off his technique. The eight trigrams formation vanished, leaving no trace of its glowing splendor behind. He straightened up and placed his hands behind his back, regarding me.
"What?" Mu Rong Chun spluttered. "You can't be serious! Didn't the matriarch of the Zhao family hire us to…?"
"She called off the hit. I just received the call." Mu Rong Lao paused when another Mu Rong family member emerged from the manor, holding his smartphone. To have a servant whose exclusive role was to carry your smartphone…I never understood rich people. Despite being born into one, I had lived my life in poverty because of my pseudo-exile.
"Huh? Why?"
Mu Rong Lao ignored his astonished son and continued to look at me. The corner of his lips lifted slightly.
"It seems that this young man has something precious that Old Mrs. Zhao wants, something that will vanish with him if he dies."
Immediately I understood what it was that grandma wanted.
My divine dragon. That was the only plausible explanation. A summoned spirit will vanish if his summoner is killed. That was the incontrovertible law for summoners.
I had finally succeeded in cultivating my divine dragon, which was the revered spirit beast for the Zhao family…and if grandma killed me, she would be destroying all chances of the Zhao family ever of cementing their place at the top.
"Hah!" I chuckled darkly. "So it seems grandma still has some use for me, after all."