"Next, the final battle will be between Yang Zhai and Jun Haru, please come up to the stage."
Yang Zhai and Jun Haru walked up the stage after hearing their names. Both stood on opposite sides of the stage, and in the middle stood Zing Ghe.
"Are you two ready? If you are, then begin" Zing Ghe asked the two and was about to begin the fight when he heard Jun Haru's voice.
"Wait,"
"What is it?" Zing Ghe stopped and asked.
"Yang Zhai, tell me, have you been happy in the Bai clan?" Said Jun Haru.
"Why suddenly ask that?" Yang Zhai asked with a calm face.
"Well, I have an offer for you, what do you say?"
"Hmm," Yang Zhai did not speak and just listened.
"Listen and think first before answering. And Zing Ghe, as this is the final battle, I hope you won't mind us wasting a little bit of time." Jun Haru said to Yang Zhai before turning to Zing Ghe and asking for time to speak.
"Go ahead, I don't mind at all."
"Thank you, Zing Ghe. Brother Yang, I don't know if you are strong enough to defeat me or not. But, it's like this, my clan is willing to take care of your cultivation until you reach rank 5, you won't even have to waste a single essence stone until then, we will provide you with whatever you need. Not just that, the Ma clan will also give you a thousand low-grade essence stones right now and will also give you a Kroy City's emblem, you can go there after you reach rank 5. You can also represent our clan in the Kroy City's Nomination battle when you reach rank 5 or even rank 4. Furthermore, you don't have to worry about the Bai clan, the Ma clan will give you full protection. So, what do you say? You only have to accept defeat and nothing else." Jun Haru spoke with confidence, with no fear of the Bai clan.
When Jun Haru said this, everyone on the spot was shocked. He was bribing his opponent in front of everyone, was this not shocking enough? Even Zing Ghe and the Bai clan elders were surprised.
Interesting, the Ma clan is willing to go so far. They are even willing to give Yang Zhai a Kroy City's emblem and representation spot for winning this competition. This competition has suddenly taken an interesting turn. What will Yang Zhai do now?: Zing Ghe pondered and looked at Yang Zhai.
"Did you hear that? The Ma clan is bribing Yang Zhai in front of everyone, they are not even afraid of the Bai clan."
"One thousand low-grade essence stones? If I was there instead of Yang Zhai, I would have accepted this offer right away."
"Not just that, they are even willing to protect Yang Zhai from the Bai clan after he accepts the Ma clan's offer."
"I am surprised by the Ma clan's guts, they are really daring to bribe Yang Zhai in front of the Bai clan."
"They are even willing to give Yang Zhai a Kroy City's emblem!"
"Not just the emblem, but also their nomination spot."
"They are even willing to provide him cultivation resources till he reaches rank 5. No cultivator would reject an offer like this. Especially a newly awakened cultivator."
"I wonder what Yang Zhai will do, if he accepts the offer, the Bai clan will be defeated before the fight even starts."
The whole crowd was in a clamor. The Ma clan had really made a big move here. They were really going all out.
"They are really despicable, bribing our participant in front of our own eyes, do they have no shame?!!"
"I am impressed by their bravery, they have the nerve to suborn¹ Yang Zhai right before us."
"They are detestable, I could not have thought that they would fall to such a level."
"We can't even do anything, even though they are bribing our participant in front of our eyes."
The Bai clan elders were also expressing their anger, but did not do anything. If they did attack the Ma clan or kill Jun Haru, they would be violating the pact they had formed with the Ma clan, giving them the opportunity to team up with other clans and attack the Bai clan together.
"And why is Yang Zhai standing there silently, don't tell me he is going to accept their offer." One of the Bai clan elders suddenly said this, attracting the other elders' attention.
"We have already given you a rank 3 Ka, even though you have won this Ka from the bet, we made sure to give you a top-level Ka. Our clan leader knew that the kid who had bet his life was sent by you, so the Clan leader made sure to give you a top-class Ka. Even though you can't use it yet, you should know its advantages, right? Brother Yang, think about it. You don't have to do anything, but say yes, you don't even have to do any physical effort and only need to say yes, to a few simple words and you can live a comfortable life. My clan knows that the Bai clan is not taking care of you properly, and you are unhappy with them, that's why we want to free you by giving you a generous offer." Said Jun Haru, acting as if he was doing charity or righteous work.
The Ma clan was bribing Yang Zhai in front of everyone, but they did not consider it a bribe even though everyone knew this was clearly bribing. No virtuous clan would accept it even if they were doing wrong in front of everyone, and would instead make it look like they were doing good.
Good and evil were formed by a society. Changing words would only change the opinion, not the concept or deed. The Ma clan was bribing Yang Zhai, but they made it seem like they were making an offer or were freeing Yang Zhai.
In fact, they are making it look like the Bai clan is evil here and the Ma clan is freeing me from this evil. A single reality with different opinions. One with a negative view while the other one with a positive view, but the deed is the same. One view makes it seem like they are doing good, while the other one makes it look like they are doing evil. Let's take advantage of the situation: Yang Zhai was contemplating with complete silence.
After a while, he smiled, but was still silent. He then looked at Zing Ghe and said,
"Please, begin the fight."
"Hmm," Zing Ghe was confused by Yang Zhai's reaction. Did Yang Zhai agree or not? He didn't understand.
We will know in a while: He thought and began to shout loudly,
"So, let us begin the fight, you two get ready!"
"Wait a minute!!" A loud voice was heard and Zing Ghe stopped.
There it is: Yang Zhai thought inwardly and smiled in his mind.
"Yang Zhai, don't listen to the Ma clan. After thinking for a while, the Bai clan thought that in addition to the rewards of the competition, we will give you five thousand low-grade essence stones, a Kroy City emblem, our Kroy City's nomination spot, the cultivation resources until you reach rank 5 and will also make you an elder. Don't accept defeat and fight with all your might. " The one who spoke was the third elder of the Bai clan, Zihao De.
Even though Yang Zhai had not accepted the Ma clan's offer, the Bai clan still made an offer.
We can't take a chance. Even though Yang Zhai did not accept the Ma clan's offer, he smiled. If he has by any chance been swayed by their offer —which is highly possible— we will lose the inheritance. After all, he is still a kid and needs cultivation resources to cultivate, so there's a high possibility that he will accept the defeat right after the fight begins: Tai Qi pondered. The same were the other elders' thoughts.
Yang Zhai had to only confuse the elders and leave everything else to their own imagination. The more a person thinks, the more confused they get, and they slowly start to become desperate in situations like this by thinking even the things which are not possible. Yang Zhai's silence had done exactly that; after all, even though he had not accepted the Ma clan's offer, he had also not rejected their offer.
"Huh… is the Bai clan serious? They are bribing their own participant, seriously?"
"I can't control myself anymore, hahahahaha, now the Bai clan is bribing their own participant to fight and not accept the defeat right away, they want him to fight." Someone from the crowd said.
The crowd:"..."
Zing Ghe:"..."
The Bai clan:"..."
"Yang Zhai, here, in addition to what I said before, the Ma clan will give you ten thousand low-grade essence stones, and will also make you an elder." Jun Haru looked at Ma Wan Liu before saying.
Jun Haru had been instructed by the Ma clan before coming onto the stage on what to do if a situation like this occurs.
"Yang Zhai, we will give you twenty thousand low-grade essence stones in addition to everything I said before." Zihao De increased the essence stones limit after hearing Jun Haru's offer.
"The Ma clan will give you forty thousand essence stones."
The limit of the essence stones kept on increasing until it finally reached eighty thousand by the Bai clan.
"We will give you eighty thousand low-grade essence stones."
"Brother Yang, we will give you a thousand mid-grade essence stones right now."² Jun Haru increased the limit again, shocking everyone.
"Wow! One thousand mid-grade essence stones, am I dreaming?"
"Even after putting our lives as a bet, we can only get ten thousand low-grade essence stones, but the Ma clan is willing to give him a thousand mid-grade essence stones on the spot in addition to the other rewards."
"Not just that, he can even become an elder with his rank 2 cultivation. No matter if he accepts the Bai clan's offer or the Ma clan's offer, he is going to benefit just by saying yes or no."
The entire audience was envious of Yang Zhai. They could not believe or rather accept that someone was going to benefit from doing nothing. They were flabbergasted by only this, what was coming next would leave their jaws wide open.
After all, what they were fighting for was an inheritance that produced an earthquake strong enough to shake the surrounding mountains. How could they let this inheritance go? Even if one of the two clans obtained this inheritance, they were sure to get stronger.
Nobody on the spot knew if Yang Zhai was strong enough to defeat Jun Haru or not, but the Ma clan and the Bai clan still put forward one offer after another, leaving the whole audience in the venue wondering what were the rewards that made the two clans so desperate.
!*****!*****!
1-Suborn:to persuade someone, for example by offering them money, to commit an illegal act, a bribe.
2- 100 low-grade essence stones = 1 mid-grade essence stone. You can do the rest.