Dual Cultivation God Returns-Chapter 996: You just had to ask

"Th-that’s the Grim Reaper of the Arena?"

"No way~? Look at him, he looks way too ordinary..."

"Yeah, and that cheap-ass mask..."

"But... don’t you feel he’s kind of... I don’t know~ powerful? Just from how he stands and acts"

"Hmm, now that I look at it..."

"But why would he wear that ugly cheap-looking mask though? Wasn’t the rumor that he was rich? You’d think he’d pick something much better..."

"Maybe that was just bogus? You know how rumors are..."

"Or...is that a disguise to not show his wealth?"

"Totally a disguise! A hundred percent! I mean, if you think about it, it’s genius! Wear the ugliest most ordinary cheapest crap of a mask, and no one suspects you have money - we’re in a market, black market or not, the sellers always try to skim the most out of anyone, just try showing off you have money around here, the prices for you instantly skyrocket. The other time I had some mo-..."

"Ah~ that’s true! Still... there’s still limits though... that’s a dirt poor mountain bandit from the boonies kind of mask..."

"Yeah, there’s no way around that... but it’s still lucky for us to see the infamous Grim Reaper of the Arena in person..." 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Murmurs went through the crowds around, while the bodyguards changed in face color as they looked at the masked man whose impression completely changed in their eyes as soon as they learned his identity.

Just standing there without doing absolutely anything, it seemed that he was pressuring them with his gaze.

Ko Gunwen, with bloodied lips, chin and clothes, his face from the left side beginning to swell around the still red and indented palm imprint, also turned a shocked look to the Titan Slayer, the mysterious stranger who recently achieved a meteoric rise in fame that shook the entire continent.

The raging flames of uncontrolled anger in his eyes were extinguished by shock and fear, as well as a profound feeling of despair.

His father sent him here for the arrival of the important guest, but he also separately and specifically mentioned the so-called Grim Reaper of the Arena. If given a chance to meet him, Ko Gunwen was to extend the Death God Token holder a heartfelt invitation from the City Lord along with a congratulatory gift - "a token of sincerity" were the exact words Ko Zhumen used.

Ko Gunwen’s Spiritual Sense instinctively located and lingered on the gift hidden within his Spatial Ring.

The Silver Wing City’s eldest young master, forgetting even the intense levels of pain he was in, felt like the world was crumbling beneath his feet as his eyes swam around, as if searching for any kind of salvation while his mind became numb.

His standing among the sons in his father’s eyes was already shaken. And it happened in a blink of an eye, he still wasn’t fully able to process it.

He didn’t know how it happened, or when exactly, but the youngest that he always considered a weakling and a sissy, a target to sometimes release his frustration on, as well as a pushover to order about, recently began acting out.

First he created his own separate force, helping in keeping the City’s order. That force began racking up achievements, earning a silent approval of their father. Then even the Elders of big clans of the city began dropping approving remarks about it. Suddenly his image became that of competence, especially in comparison to them.

And after that night when they dumped on him the duty of attending to their father who was in extremely foul mood, something changed completely. Ko Fuan refused to play ball like he always had, he openly rebelled against his brothers, against him.

This, Ko Gunwen couldn’t let go, so he decided to teach him a painful lesson. It was about time anyway. It seemed the youngest forgot his place. But in a stunning turn of events, Ko Fuan fought him off. What’s more, the youngest was visibly surprised and frustrated at the fact he only managed to fight evenly and didn’t win.

For the eldest, however, there was no bigger embarrassment than that fight ending in a draw. When did this little bastard raise his cultivation? Where did he find such powerful Battle Skills? And then, to his horror and utter humiliation, they realized that their father was watching.

That fight changed everything. Ko Fuan was suddenly a favorite, a chosen son. He even dined with their father while the other brothers were not allowed since they had ’things to discuss’. Their relationship suddenly grew warmer.

To add insult to injury, the second brother who always acted like his sidekick immediately switched sides. Not that Ko Fuan accepted him, but it didn’t matter. It was Ko Gunwen who was now the target of ridicule. Him, the eldest son, the one who was the king of the hill just a few moments ago, was looked down on.

Just in a span of a couple of days, he turned from the glorious firstborn to a joke.

Even this mission. It was almost given to the youngest. It was almost taken away from Ko Gunwen.

It was always his role to travel to the Iron Claw City on behalf of his father. It was a point of his pride. It was a symbol of his father’s trust. And it was a sign to the leadership in the Iron Claw City of who was the successor among the sons. To everyone important, he was the face representing his father’s will and intentions.

This time, he had to beg and plead with his father. And it did not matter. For some unknown reason Ko Fuan expressed the opinion that it should be Ko Gunwen who went on the mission. That was when their father gave it to him. Not when he asked, but when Ko Fuan weighed in.

Suddenly, Ko Fuan’s support felt like a ridicule, a way to humiliate him. No, perhaps worse than ridicule, it felt like pity.

Ko Gunwen had to show everyone he was not a joke. He had to regain his status. He had to show his father that he was a worthy son, the only worthy son, his firstborn who would inherit his kingdom.

That very thing was right now crumbling in front of his very eyes. He picked a fight with someone his father told him to honor and entice.

No, his father didn’t even trust him with that. It was clear Ko Zhumen was interested in recruiting this promising talent, but he didn’t even give him instructions to do it. He only told him to extend an invitation so he could do it himself or give the opportunity to do it to that sneaky little disgusting worm Ko Fuan.

’Do I beg? Do I fall to my knees?’, went through his mind but was instantly rejected. It was too humiliating. Even if he thought it would work, even if that was guaranteed to remedy the situation completely. He couldn’t bring himself to do it.

As he was hesitating, his bodyguard turned to Dead Fish again, "E-Even so... you know who Young Master is... if this continues..."

The latter heavily sighed with genuine exhaustion, his vacant, dead fish-like eyes expressed a level of annoyance people would find impressive, as in - most people wouldn’t think that amount of it is even possible to have, "Why is it always... always when and where I’m on duty?"

He turned a gaze tinged with hatred at Wu Long. Yes, it was this guy. He made his life miserable twice already, in a short span of days, both times with incredibly annoying situations he hadn’t encountered in years, perhaps decades, before that.

But Dead Fish seemed to also think this situation was really bad, and he couldn’t allow City Lord Ko’s son to bleed out in front of him without doing anything, especially now, so he tried really hard, unsuccessfully, to give his voice a more amicable tone, "I hate to ask, but this really is a bad timing. We cannot deal with this now, we have to clear up this mess, preferably right away. I won’t ask you to back down or anything. I will even back you up against them. But... can you please..."

He didn’t finish, but the implication was obvious as he tilted his head to point at the Silver Wing City’s young master who once again vomited blood, this time it seemed from a high level of anxiety rather than anger.

"Eeyy~ why are you acting like a stranger?", Wu Long spread his hands making the miracle of causing the annoyance in the eyes of Dead Fish double from its already impossible levels before, "You just had to ask. You helped me before, I’ll help you in return. You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours"

"That wasn’t me helping you...", Dead Fish tried to insert a word clarifying he was helping Drinking King on behalf of him having the favor of the Right Guardian, not specifically siding with Wu Long, but it didn’t seem that Wu Long, or anyone really, was listening as Wu Long was already dealing with the situation, the words lost in overall noise around.

As Wu Long subtly moved his already lightly stretched out left hand, and Spiritual Qi appeared around it. In view of everyone around, a few strands of thin thread became visible between his fingers, wrapped in his Spiritual Qi, and then the Qi slid along the threads that turned out to be stretching beyond his hand toward the Silver Wing City’s young master.

Under the shocked gazes since no one here saw it before, everyone saw that it connected straight to Ko Gunwen’s chest, and the left wrist that Wu Long grabbed with his own left hand before.

As Wu Long lightly pulled, three thin needles, so thin it was almost impossible to see them without the Spiritual Qi wrapped around them, were pulled out of the young master’s chest, and two shorter ones were pulled out of the wrist.

The latter’s complexion immediately became a bit better. He was still pale on one side of his face, and with an indented red palm imprint and swelling around it, almost completely closing his left eye, that also began the process of discoloration in swelled parts, on the other. But the spasms that caused internal bleeding stopped.

"I have no interest in escalating this further. My dear and close friend Dead Fish here seems to be troubled by this whole mess as well", Wu Long then spoke up, and ignoring the words of his ’friend’ who tried to once again voice some kind of objection to his statement, added, "How about we end this here and go our separate way. If we cause more trouble now, this might really turn out bad"

The bodyguards looked at their Young Master, but with horror noticed he was dazed, and rapidly falling unconscious, prompting Wu Long to waive dismissively, "Don’t ask him, he’s going to be asleep for an hour at the very least. And it’s better not to forcefully awake him. I had to pass the needle through a certain acupuncture point to reach the other one I wanted, now that the pressure’s been released, the effects are going in. But he’s not in any kind of danger, just forced sleep. If you feed him a standard recovery pill he should have no long-term consequences to his health"

’Aside from that face... that one’s going to be forever there’, he added inwardly.

One of the bodyguards supporting the young master quickly placed his hand on his inner wrist, reading pulse and sending in Spiritual Qi, and then nodded to the others.

They didn’t say much, just collected him and retreated as fast as possible.

Dead Fish sighed with relief that the situation didn’t turn any worse, and ignoring Wu Long who was aggressively waving to him in a friendly manner, began instructing people to clean up the mess.

Xiu was silent for some time as she and Wu Long turned to proceed on their way, glancing at him from time to time with a pondering expression.

"I have a very serious and important question to ask you", he then suddenly said, which surprised her, and made her focus with a serious face.

"Does this mask really look that cheap and ugly?"