Chapter 1126 — Guaranteed to Be Handled
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"An Liwen, you're not lying to me and shirking the blame, are you?" The Vice Helmsman frowned. He still found it rather hard to swallow that a single punch could kill Master Li, an external stylist at the peak of the mid-Xuan stage.
"Vice Helmsman, how would I dare lie to you? I have surveillance footage of the whole thing—I can send it straight to you for review!" An Liwen said hastily.
"All right, send it over then!" Hearing An Liwen sound so confident, the Vice Helmsman supposed he was probably not lying. He had no idea that An Liwen had larded the tale with embellishments, but none of that showed on the tape either—after all, Master Li was already dead, and the dead cannot testify.
"Done!" An Liwen said. "Vice Helmsman, what about my fighting arena? I can't be without a man to hold the fort. What if some opponent turns up that we can't handle?"
"Don't you worry about that. I'll report this to the Helmsman, have it looked into, and dispatch another expert to reinforce you as soon as possible," the Vice Helmsman said. "But do your best to investigate the man who killed Master Li—find out who he is and what strength he has."
"Vice Helmsman, if you send someone else, won't he be as overbearing and unruly as Master Li? If he starts trouble again, I shan't be able to do a thing about it!" A faint smile crossed An Liwen's lips. "You may not know it, but Songshan City is a place where hidden dragons and crouching tigers lie in wait—experts everywhere. If he goes looking for trouble, it will be easy enough for him to get himself killed."
"Mm... I'll take that into consideration. I will order the new expert to obey your commands and not run wild," the Vice Helmsman said.
"Then I'll be able to keep them in check!" An Liwen was overjoyed inwardly; this was precisely the effect he wanted. It was deeply unsatisfying to have capable men at your side who would not take your orders. Now, riding on Master Li's death, An Liwen had seized back the initiative. He went on: "Vice Helmsman, as for the man who killed Master Li, my advice is to drop the investigation. A man who can kill someone of Master Li's standing—one blow, at the peak of the mid-Xuan stage—his own strength goes without saying. Better not to make an enemy of such a person. Since he only came to settle accounts with Master Li, and Master Li is dead, he shouldn't come troubling the arena again. Why go out of our way to provoke him?"
"What you say has merit. If he truly did kill Master Li with a single blow, then he is at least at the late Xuan stage—perhaps even the peak of the late Xuan stage, or the Di stage... With that sort of man, unless there is some deep blood feud, it is best not to make an enemy of him. It's just a pity that Master Li died for nothing..." The Vice Helmsman turned it over and saw that An Liwen had a point.
"He brought it on himself. There's no need for us to avenge him! My main purpose is to make money. If we pick up a nuisance like that, how am I supposed to keep running this arena?" An Liwen did not care in the least about Master Li's death, nor had the thought of avenging him ever crossed his mind.
If anything, An Liwen felt it would be best if the affair never touched the arena at all.
"Let me discuss this with the Helmsman first," the Vice Helmsman said after a moment's thought. "After all, he was a brother of our Fire Wolf Gang. If he died for nothing, wouldn't it make us look as though we had grown afraid of the man? If word got out, it would do serious harm to the Fire Wolf Gang's reputation—and chill the hearts of the brothers who bleed for us."
"Mm... if you're going to investigate, Vice Helmsman, you had best send several experts to do it. I certainly wouldn't dare! As you know, I'm an ordinary man—I have no part in struggles between fighters of that caliber." An Liwen had no desire whatsoever to make some enemy over a mere Master Li.