Xue Wei and Hei Gou were not worried about a fifth layer Sky Warrior coming after them. They were not arrogant, but they were two against one, and Hei Gou had a physical strength that could rival a true blue Heavenly Warrior.
Unable to understand what was going on within the minds of these two experts, the young woman was puzzled and unsure of what to do. Should she continue urging them to leave, or should she step back?
She had already tried, so no one could blame her for not doing more. Eventually, after seeing how the two young men were leisurely eating the food, she was rather curious as to what exactly gave these two shabby-looking experts so much faith in their own strength.
Bowing and backing out of the room, the young woman did not go far but stayed close by to keep an eye out.
Not long after, the great sect experts appeared as expected. The three who had been thrown out of the restaurant were now brazenly walking in front, had their chests pushed out, and disdainfully glanced every which way at the people in the restaurant.
Murmurs appeared in the restaurant. The patrons were eager to see the drama that was unfolding, but they were also slightly upset.
Beat one, and someone stronger appears. Even though they were the ones at fault, they had no shame in using numbers and their sect to suppress others. This brought a bad taste to the observers' mouth.
The murmur was mainly in low whispering voices, but a few were clamoring out loud, complaining about how the Crimson Sunshine Sect could only bully others, but when others retaliated against them, they would use their background to bash them down.
The number of people voicing these concerns grew with increasing momentum, and the face of the fifth layer Sky Warrior on the Crimson Sunshine Sect’s side furrowed his brows. What were they talking about?
This was related to their sect’s reputation, so the young expert stopped in his tracks and looked at the entire second floor, trying to find out who had complained about his sect.
"I don't know what all of you are talking about; it was clearly my sect being bullied by others with far superior strength. It is only natural for us to take revenge." He stated this calmly, but his words caused many to choke on their drinks, some to laugh, and others to snort in disdain.
"Is that what your friends told you?" someone asked. It was a second layer Sky Warrior. He even stood up so that everyone could see who it was that was speaking.
His righteous behavior caused the fifth layer Sky Warrior to recoil. He narrowed his eyes and glanced at the three disciples who had asked for his assistance, and saw that they were all looking somewhat embarrassed and uncomfortable.
Then he closed his eyes and sighed. He was rather intelligent, and it did not require much for him to realize what exactly had transpired. These junior brothers of his had lied to him about the actual proceedings.
Sighing, he was unsure of what to do. But when riding a tiger, it was impossible to get off, and thus he had no other option than to go and get revenge for his junior brothers.
"The independent cultivator left no face for the Crimson Sunshine Sect," the fifth layer Sky Warrior said after a bit of consideration. "He threw out three of our sect members without considering what it would do to our reputation. It is only natural that I reclaim our lost face – that I make him pay for his behavior."
The man who had stood up to interject understood that it was impossible for the Crimson Sunshine Sect to back down, and nodded his head with a wry smile on his face.
He did not sit down again. Instead, he followed behind the group towards the upper floors where the private rooms were located.
Others understood this man's intention and also rose from their chairs to see the clash between the two sides.
Drama was always a welcome spice in the plain waiting time before the contest began.
Xue Wei and Hei Gou had finished their meal. They were aware that someone was coming for them, so instead of leaving the room, they stayed a bit longer, chatting with one another, until a loud voice shook the room.
"Country bumpkins, come out to accept justice!" someone yelled with his voice infused with Qi and shook the entire building.
"Country bumpkins?" Xue Wei grimaced. "Can they really not come up with a better name than that?"
"Perhaps they feared we would not know who they were talking about," Hei Gou argued, but neither of them was worried. They slowly stood up from their seats and left the room, stepping out into the hallway outside.
Not only them, but all the rooms had also been vacated. The guests were all eager to see the drama that would unfold.
Xue Wei and Hei Gou were both walking leisurely down the hallway. Their faces held no nervousness, and Hei Gou had his trademark smirk on his face, making him look even more devilishly handsome than usual.
The casual way they were behaving caught the crowd by surprise. No one had expected that this duo would so openly face a fifth layer Sky Warrior from the Crimson Sunshine Sect. It was a strong expert that could not be compared to ordinary fifth layer Sky Warriors.
"It's them!" a familiar voice shrieked. Xue Wei and Hei Gou both looked in the direction of the voice. There were four experts, with three that were familiar and one they had not seen before.
The one they had not seen before seemed to be around thirty-five years old. He looked at Xue Wei and furrowed his brows. Then he looked at Hei Gou, and the furrow turned deeper.
"You said it was a simple one layer Sky Warrior and a fifth layer Sky Warrior. Why am I looking at a third layer and a fifth layer Sky Warrior?" the expert asked with some annoyance. Furthermore, he was even more shocked by the two's appearances. They looked too young, yet they possessed such strength! Even in the Skyward Empire’s branch of the Crimson Sunshine Sect, they would be considered absolutely outstanding geniuses.
The fifth layer Sky Warrior from the Crimson Sunshine Sect felt uncomfortable. This had spiraled out of control. How could he not understand that the whole ordeal had been started by his junior brothers? Now that he had decided to stand up for them, he had to do just that, but he could not help but swear at them.
"Honestly," Xue Wei smiled when he heard the first guy call them out, replying with a helpless tone. "You call us country bumpkins, but no one here would acknowledge such a title, right? Or were you just trying to test how many would come out to see the drama?" he asked curiously, with a friendly tone of voice. But every person that looked at them had to agree with the Crimson Sunshine Sect. The two of them truly looked like country bumpkins.
"Maybe they consider it praise around here?" Hei Gou instantly picked up where Xue Wei left off. "Maybe they are praising us by saying that we look as healthy as a pumpkin from the countryside. When it comes to it, all the country pumpkins are definitely the tastiest of all pumpkins."
The experts that had exited their private rooms to see the drama could not help but chuckle at Hei Gou's words, while the Crimson Sunshine Sect members' faces turned dark. It was clear they were being made fun off.
"Well, let us be straightforward here," Xue Wei said as he rubbed his nose a little embarrassedly.
"The whole incident was started by you. We were ruthlessly insulted and even told that we could not eat in the same restaurant as these weaklings, just because they were from the Crimson Sunshine Sect. Is it not natural that since they refuse to eat in the same restaurant as us, that we help them out?"
"But then they had to go and pick up a friend like you." Xue Wei sighed. "And I am quite sure that we will continue on like this all the way until the final boss appears."
"The final boss?" The Crimson Sunshine Sect's members did not understand what Xue Wei meant, but he just waved his hand and explained, "That leader of your group."
The face of the fifth layer Sky Warrior turned even darker than it was before. These two seriously thought they could defeat him? Was he trash in their eyes?
"It will be bad for both sides if he shows up," Xue Wei continued, completely ignoring the fact that the face of the fifth layer Sky Warrior was turning uglier and uglier.
"If he shows up, even if we can't beat him, we can without a doubt force him to reveal some of his hidden cards, and those he should want to save for the tournament. If he is forced to use them against us, it is clear that the Argent Moon Sect and the Cerulean Starlight Sect can make preparations and counter him in the tournament."
A member of the Crimson Sunshine Sect’s quartet snorted. "Don't overestimate yourself," he said with a sneer. "Our senior martial brother can easily handle the two of you without revealing any of his hidden cards!"
Hearing this, Xue Wei just shrugged his shoulders. He had faith in his and Hei Gou's strength, but he also knew that this oldest senior brother of the Crimson Sunshine Sect was not as simple as these four people who had come knocking on their door.
"Well then, what do you plan to do now?" Xue Wei asked curiously. "We can't really fight in the middle of this establishment, as that would cause problems not only for the restaurant itself but also for the Black Iron Fortress, which might even result in me being banned from the contest. I cannot afford that to happen."
"It is simple." The man from before smirked, "Just kowtow four times, telling us that you are a country bumpkin, and we will let you go."
"Kowtow four times?" Xue Wei's face finally turned dark. There was gold on the knee of a man, and he refused to kowtow to such people. Were they not in the middle of the Black Iron Fortress, then he would already have sliced them into bits with Tianyi, but this was not the case, so he had to be sensible with his behavior.
"Seems like we really have to take it all the way to the oldest senior brother then," Hei Gou muttered with a low voice. Xue Wei agreed. They would never kowtow to these experts that they considered idiots.
Xue Wei pondered on what to do, and then a sinister smile appeared on his face.
Mind Infestation!
"Since you like kowtowing so much, let us see you kowtow to us!" he sneered. The first person who had started the whole incident suddenly kowtowed in front of Xue Wei.
He was a third layer Sky Warrior, so Xue Wei did not fear failure in using Mind Infestation on him, but he was unsure as to whether or not it would work against the fifth layer Sky Warrior, which was why he had picked another target.
Xue Wei could not make the target speak while being mind controlled just yet, so although he wanted this expert to call himself a country bumpkin, he could not do it.
Instead, Xue Wei looked at them with cold eyes, when the rest of the group of Crimson Sunshine Sect disciples were puzzled, embarrassed, and angry at the one who was kowtowing.
"Cut it out!" the fifth layer Sky Warrior slapped the kowtowing expert, but he just flew across the floor before blacking out. Xue Wei saw that he was unconscious and released his Mind Infestation without shattering his soul.
"Seems like he has acknowledged responsibility for causing this farce," Xue Wei said, pronouncing every word loudly and clearly. "He felt guilty, but now that he has kowtowed, we can let bygones be bygones and end it here."
"To hell with you!" the fifth layer Sky Warrior was incredibly embarrassed and angry. He rushed at Xue Wei with Qi shrouding his hand, using a martial arts technique straight from the get-go.