"He actually found himself another good dog!"
Xu Yang marveled inwardly. It was as though he were seeing the old Luo Dehu again.
Lu Ren and Zhao Hui played off each other, elevating Lu Ren to the same level as Jiang Ping and the others, demanding that everyone concede if they faced him too.
Lu Ren did not merely want to flatter Jiang Ping and the others. He wanted the same preferential treatment for himself.
Of course, this scheme probably was not Lu Ren's alone. Jiang Ping, Zhao Zhifei, and the others had likely had a hand in it.
Even if the others understood all this and saw through their calculations, they dared not offend Lu Ren, Jiang Ping, or Gu Fang. They could only hold their noses and agree.
As for whether Sun Tao and Lin Wei were involved, Xu Yang could not tell. Neither had explicitly said that people need not concede against them, but neither had risen to offer a hypocritical toast like Jiang Ping and the others.
"Junior Brother Zhao Hui, we mustn't force this. It should be entirely voluntary."
Lu Ren said, "Perhaps Xu Yang believes he has a chance at dragon ascension too. It's only natural that he would refuse. If we're unlucky enough to meet, we'll settle it with our own abilities. At worst, people will laugh at us fellow disciples of the Mighty Far Hall for slaughtering one another and letting outsiders reap the benefits."
His words sounded as though he were helping Xu Yang out of a predicament, but with "slaughtering one another" thrown in, the threat was all but explicit.
So they've made me the chicken!
Understanding dawned on Xu Yang. Lu Ren and the others were probably afraid that people would pay lip service to their demands, agreeing here