Novel Full Chapter 1098: Testing character
Chapter 1098: Testing character
Lu Bihai sat at his desk in his make shift office, working on some documentation - in addition to his regular work, he has been busy with formalities and paperwork ever since the competition of the three big Sects changed format into a tournament - when he heard a commotion outside.
His eyes went up to the door, without raising his head, without putting down the paper scroll he held slightly up to read, without moving his body at all. An unreadable expression appeared on his face.
Soon, the disturbance grew louder - its source was drawing near - and then the door burst open. The Inner Court Elder of the Ember Palm Pavilion barged into the room with a livid expression on his face, a few of Lu Bihai’s subordinates closely following, two of whom were trying to physically restrain the intruder but were no match for someone at the gate of Essence Ignition Realm.
"Elder Li! This is outrageous...!", one of the latter two exclaimed, half-indignant about the whole affair, half-apologetic to Lu Bihai; eager to show he was not to be blamed for this debacle as well as demonstrate his readiness to sort it out.
But halfway through his words, Lu Bihai stood up, and raised his hand with open palm in a calm and relaxed manner while looking at the intruding Sect Elder with an unchanged hard-to-read expression.
His subordinates instantly reacted, deeply bowing to him before swiftly retreating and closing the door behind them, all without a single word.
This reaction from the Head of the Administrative Affairs of the Wei Dynasty branch of the Martial Alliance, combined with the response of the subordinates, had a different effect on the Sect Elder, who suddenly regained a bit of clarity in his eyes and unconsciously took a step back.
"You must forgive my men for trying to keep you out, they were instructed that I was not to be disturbed - it didn’t have anything to do with you specifically", Lu Bihai walked to the side of the room, arriving in front of a small cabinet from which he took out a small tea set, as well as a spiritual treasure powered by spiritual stones that kept water hot, started brewing green tea.
"I... I understand... ,my apolo-..."
"Take a seat", Lu Bihai interrupted with the same calm, neutral tone without turning away from the tea set.
The Sect Elder awkwardly looked at his back for a few seconds, his mouth opening a bit and then closing without saying anything a few times, but then seemingly abandoned any attempts to continue the interrupted speech. And then with visible dismay, turned and took a step toward the low table with two sofas in the corner of the room.
"Not there, in front of the desk", Lu Bihai’s voice resounded from behind him, and he stopped, his hands balling into fists as he turned his gaze to the two rather uncomfortable and simple wooden chairs in front of Lu Bihai’s desk - the kind that the inn would keep around for servant rooms - and then to Lu Bihai who was still facing the tea cabinet, at which point he received a belated explanation, "... I still have a lot of work to do, you see..."
The explanation did nothing to improve the Sect Elder’s mood, or rather, did the opposite. Still, he reluctantly walked to the desk and sat down in one of the chairs, which squeaked a bit proving it was indeed an old chair borrowed from the inn the delegation of the Martial Alliance was staying at.
It did not take long for Lu Bihai to finally come with two teacups, covered with lids and on small plates, one of which he sent slowly flying through the air to the far end of his desk in front of the Sect Elder, and holding his own cup in his hand as he returned to sit down.
After setting the teacup on the desk top and comfortably settling in his chair, Lu Bihai first took a cursory look at the documents on his desk, ensuring he wasn’t forgetting something urgent, and only then his gaze finally settled on his uninvited visitor.
Sensing that it was finally time to talk, the Sect Elder started with a far less confident demeanor than when he came into the room, "I... I thought... I thought we had an understanding..."
"And there you have it", Lu Bihai interjected, and then seeing the confusion in the other’s eyes explained in a matter-of-fact tone, "...your mistake"
After a slight pause and seeing that the Sect Elder still didn’t catch on, Lu Bihai added, "You assumed something which wasn’t true, and then were surprised it wasn’t true"
"...", a flash of annoyance and anger appeared in Sect Elder’s eyes only for a moment, before quickly being suppressed, as he said in a slightly more forceful tone, "But why? Why betray us? I just don’t understand..."
"I did not betray you"
"Fine, let’s just say you rejected us", the Sect Elder sighed helplessly, finally conceding that Lu Bihai never agreed to their proposal to double-cross the Eternal Duality Valley, and only said that he needed time to think about it, "But why? We made that mistake of assuming - as you said - because it doesn’t make any sense for you to reject our proposal. There’s nothing that could be done now, but we have to at least know why..."
"I only did what I had to", Lu Bihai took his teacup, and, opening the porcelain lid, took in a deep breath, savoring the fragrance.
"... this is absurd...", the Sect Elder slumped back into the wooden chair which squeaked again.
Lu Bihai didn’t react to that, taking a sip and covering the teacup back with the lid as he set it back onto the small tea plate.
The Sect Elder’s head collapsed into his hands in despair, "It’s all ruined now. We were so close... If only you-..."
"Me?", Lu Bihai’s eyebrow twitched, as he looked at his visitor, tired of being blamed for the plight of the three Elders of the Ember Palm Pavilion, "It is not me who screwed everything up for you, it was you. It isn’t my fault that you three geniuses decided to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory"
"Wha-... what are you talking about?"
"I’m talking about your deal with the Eternal Duality Valley. That was your path to prosperity, that was your chance, and you blew it by trying to be clever and going behind their backs"
"Hah! Some victory it is, to partner up with some upstarts from a lower world!", the Sect Elder scoffed at the notion, "They were useful, yes, which is why we shook hands with them in the first place, but it’s not our fault they were dumb enough to give us everything they promised upfront. It would’ve been foolish to not go behind their backs instead! That way we could get both benefits they promised, and benefits from betraying them. And don’t make it sound like we would’ve failed if it wasn’t for you alerting them of our plans for some ridiculous unknown reason, they never would’ve seen it coming if it wasn’t for you!"
"You really think I went to them?"
"..."
"I told you, I only did what I had to. For my own survival", Lu Bihai stood up, and slowly went around the desk, until he was next to the still sitting Sect Elder, placing a hand on his shoulder, "It was you who miscalculated, it was you who didn’t understand who you were dealing with, it was you who could’ve prospered but ruined it instead. And I have no sympathy for you - it was your stupidity that almost dragged me down alongside you"
He then leaned in to whisper next to the Sect Elder’s ear, in a far less amicable tone, "I allowed this ’meeting’ to proceed despite the way you came in only because of courtesy and interest. Courtesy, because we did have previous arrangements so it only felt right to honor that with a last meeting at least. And interest, because I was curious what you could say, or if you had realized your mistake. Perhaps you wanted me to try and patch things up for you with the Eternal Duality Valley... but no, you came here to whine and blame me, to seek out reason for your failure without having realized it was your actions that led to it. Now, both the courtesy and interest have been exhausted, and I have no reasons to continue talking to you. So get out of my sight, I won’t be so nice if you try barging into my office the next time"
—
"Haa~, truly, you never know people until you give them a bit of power. I knew him for a couple thousands of years at least, and I genuinely thought he was a lot smarter than this...", Lu Bihai heavily sighed, standing by the window and looking at the receding figure of the Inner Court Elder of the Ember Palm Pavilion on the street below, but then his gaze shifted to the distance, outside the city, "Whatever, who cares about him... the biggest headache is that ’treasure from the Boundless Immortal World’ ruckus though. The idiots searching for it seemingly don’t understand that if they find it they’re dead"
"The universe is conspiring to give me more headaches to worry about I guess", he then chuckled, returning to his desk full of unfinished work.