Xu Taiping looked over and only then noticed that the matchup roster had already been posted.
"Then I look forward to your guidance, Senior Brother Gongsun."
Xu Taiping cupped his hands toward Gongsun Sheng, his expression unruffled.
He merely assumed his opponent had come to greet him ahead of time.
"Guidance?"
Gongsun Sheng smiled, then looked at Xu Taiping with undisguised mockery and said:
"Are you even worthy?"
Xu Taiping frowned at those words.
He did not quite understand why Gongsun Sheng was so hostile toward him.
"Do you know Lu Chen of the Five Peaks?"
Gongsun Sheng asked again.
At the name "Lu Chen," Xu Taiping's brows immediately knitted.
"I've heard of him, but I don't know him."
He answered.
"To tell you the truth, that former junior brother of mine dislikes you very much. So, just after the matchup roster came out, he made a point of asking me to leave you half crippled in our match."
Gongsun Sheng looked at Xu Taiping with a beaming smile.
Hearing that Lu Chen disliked him, Xu Taiping immediately thought of the sisters Liu Qingmei and Liu Zijin. But upon closer consideration, Lu Chen should have had no way of knowing he was the person in the Red Maple Forest that day.
Could he have held a grudge all this time simply because I talked back to him a few times that morning?
Xu Taiping speculated.
If that were truly the case, Lu Chen's narrow-mindedness was unlike anything he had ever encountered.
"You mean you want me to withdraw from the match voluntarily right now?"
Xu Taiping raised his eyes to meet Gongsun Sheng's gaze.
"If you know what's good for you, that would be best."
Gongsun Sheng sneered.
At last, the map had unrolled to reveal the dagger.
His deliberate