"Kaiser, don't push it. It's already enough that I went down on my knees to apologize to you, now you want me to crawl in between your legs? Dream on!" Laycon spat in anger, wondering what gave Kaiser the audacity to act like he owned the place. Even if he was born with a superior bloodline, so what? Soon, they will take back control of the family from their branch and Kaiser won't be able to act arrogant then. However, it was just their wishful thinking. They needed to be strong enough to incite a coup, and Kaiser was no push over. Now, there was Anthony too. Unknown to them, the overwhelming power they feel from Kaiser was not even half of his true abilities.
"How rich Laycon. You made it seem as if you willingly knelt because you knew you were wrong. If I didn't have a superior strength today, would the situation still be the same? Will you even agree you were wrong if you were not forced to kneel?" Kaiser asked, smirking like a handsome devil. It baffled everyone how a nineteen years old boy could set off a reign of terror in such a powerful clan. What did his mother eat while pregnant with him? His sister was also powerful, but there were others in the clan that could easily match her in combat. However, Kaiser was a strange one, single handedly beating up his bully of a cousin while just nine, half the cousin's age.
"Kaiser, just let it go. We are all family here. Why are you taking a joke so serious? Besides, someone is watching, you're making the family look bad before him." Laycon's father said, trying to rescue his son.
"A joke? If my brother had lost, would you have treated it as such? Wouldn't you be gloating right now? And what do you mean by someone watching? That someone is my brother, a part of the family. What do you mean by making the family look bad? Isn't he part of the family? If we look bad, isn't he the one looking bad too? Do you care about the dignity of the family more than its future patriarch?" Kaiser asked, emphasising the patriarch part with a smirk.
"Laycon, are you crawling or should I make you? If I could make you look like a drenched chicken, I can make you crawl like a cockroach too." Kaiser said with a broad smile and spread his legs, inviting the furious Laycon to crawl through.
Laycon hissed and tried to stop but Kaiser pressed his palm down, making him scream out in pain.
"Stop it now!" A young woman in her twenties screamed and rushed out holding a whip which she lashed out at Kaiser.
Kaiser casually caught the whip with his other hand while still putting pressure on Laycon with his free hand. He pulled hard on the whip, coiling it on his palm. The girl immediately found herself in the air, making her scream out in shock.
Before she could hit the floor, Kaiser whipped her mercilessly with her weapon, making a hideous, bloody line appear on her back, causing her to scream even louder. He whipped her again, sending her crashing before their grandfather.
"What just happened now? Did he just disarm Amber and use her whip to hit her? I thought her weapon officially recognized her and formed a blood bond; a weapon with spirit. How come he was able to use it to hurt the owner?" Someone muttered, voicing out the thoughts in the minds of everyone present.
"That's right, how did he do it? Even if he managed to disarm her, he should have suffered a backlash when he hit her. But the whip didn't resist even though it was being used to whip the owner. Did the serpent spirit turn traitorous?"
"It's not that it turned traitorous, the power disparity was too much. There's an uncrossable chasm between them, causing such a huge disparity between their strength. It was not that the whip didn't want to resist, it was simply unable to resist and subdued with brute force."
"How did that happen? Even if Kaiser's cultivation is higher, it shouldn't be this much. Especially since he was unarmed."
"I'm afraid the gap between Kaiser and Amber has gotten too wide. Kaiser levels up too quickly, even a genius like Amber couldn't match his strength. He must have improved a lot since their last face off, and the disparity became wider. And Amber, not knowing, underestimated him and rushed forward. Normally, even though defeating him was always impossible, she shouldn't have lost so sorely since she was holding a weapon."
"No wonder Kaiser no longer bothers to come for the quarterly tournament. He must be looking down on the rest. This is really terrifying."
"We need to work harder from now on. If even a genius like Amber suffered like that, our case would be even worse."
"Are you crazy? Why will you engage such a heartless beast in frontal combat?"
The discussion going on between the youths of their age grade made Amber vomit blood due to anger. Their disparaging comments added salt to her injury, giving her more pain than the whip from Kaiser. Her little attempt at chivalry ended in disgrace, and she was beaten back like a mangy dog, filling her belly with the most bitter bile and an truck load of regret. If she knew that Kaiser had crossed so many thresholds since their last encounter, she wouldn't have rushed in to show off her new technique. She just broke through to a new realm, and added a new technique. So, she had been itching to teach Kaiser a lesson to relieve the hatred in her heart for all the times he defeated her, rehearsing her intended attack in her mind as he insulted Laycon. And when she was convinced that her plan was perfect and foolproof, and even a saint realm master can't avoid it if it came too suddenly, she quickly rushed in like a hero to teach her long time enemy a lesson. Only to get beaten like a mangy dog, messed up like a drenched chicken, and finally flung away like a sack of potatoes where she now lay like a lowly cripple. Tears came to her eyes and she cursed Kaiser a million times. The comments weren't making things any better causing her to become very bitter.
Kaiser ignored the discussions going on around him and slapped his palm downward, making Laycon scream in pain. Even though his palm didn't touch Laycon, the pressure alone was enough to make him vomit blood. Kaiser made a sweeping motion with his palm and Laycon found himself crawling against his will. Once he crawled between Kaiser's legs, he kicked him away and dispelled the pressure, turning to grin at him.
"That was not so difficult now was it, my dear cousin. See? It's not that hard, you should have done it all along and saved us both from the unwanted stress and drama. A man must always keep his words, remember that." Kaiser said and squat down, patting Laycon's shoulder with a 'warm, brotherly' smile on his face. Laycon clenched his fists and hissed, feeling angry at himself for being unable to put the arrogant little young master in his place. Kaiser rubbed his hair like one petting a puppy and stood to his full length.
Anthony stood at the corner watching them without saying a word. Even a blind man would have realized the reason for the little scuffle by now. And he was obviously the reason for the bet.
'This place is indeed a den of crouching tigers and coiling dragons. All of them have powerful cultivations and the really strong ones kept quiet, not wanting to interfere. Even this girl whose whip was just used has a very deep cultivation. No wonder Joyce was unhappy with me. And this brother of mine is definitely not simple, truly interesting. Staying in this clan will be one hell of a rough ride. And it's also a lawless jungle where only the powerful, talented and the competent survive. Kaiser is beating those who offended him while leveraging on his superior cultivation and brute strength. While the elders just looked on without intervening or trying to stop him. And the so-called grandpa, even though it's obvious he doesn't like Joyce, lets Kaiser act as he pleases because of his strength. I guess the only way to enter his good books was to become a competent genius who others can't challenge. Or could it be that it's not that the rest doesn't want to intervene but that they do not dare to? Awesome! Could it be that the reason they all looked on helplessly was because they don't have the confidence to defeat Kaiser? Is he really that strong? But he doesn't look past twenty. I, myself, am just twenty three this year. Things are getting really interesting.' Anthony mused, watching the drama before him.
Laycon quickly got up and tried to leave, but Kaiser drew him back with a 'magnanimous' smile.
"Aren't you forgetting something?" He asked and motioned towards Anthony with his chin.
"What?" Laycon barked.
"Alright, as expected, dummies have short memories. So, let me remind you. You said if my brother survives the dagger and manages to tame it, you will call him ancestor. Why are you trying to leave without doing it? It can't be that you're trying to go back on your words again right?"
Everyone immediately became outraged, most especially Laycon. He could stomach the insult of crawling between Kaiser's legs. After all, the power disparity was too much and everyone below the age of forty has been defeated by Kaiser at one time or the other, even the geniuses in the clan. The only reason the older generation were spared from his fist was out of respect and filial piety. So, losing to him was not that shameful since it was a general predicament. But now he wanted him to bow before a mongrel, a sewer rat who was just picked up from the gutters and even call him ancestor?
"Ridiculous!" Laycon shouted, his eyes blazing with anger.
"Oh? I guess you need a little help to keep your own end of the bet then." Kaiser said with a smile and took one step towards him.