Chapter 167: Guest of Honour.

The whole room fell silent as all of the people within looked on in shock. One of the leaders of the crimson spiders was just defeated in a duel. This was something unheard of. Only a handful of people had fought publicly with the crimson spiders and even less survived the aftermath of fighting against them.

Haru's victory fell upon cold eyes as the rest of the leaders who were stood next to Han and Meng all looked at each other before getting ready to draw their weapons. Everyone else froze with fear. They knew they were about to wittiness a bloodbath. After all, the crimson spiders would never let themselves be embarrassed like this especially in front of so many people.

Or so they thought. Until clapping of hands drew the attention from Haru with his sword to Leung's throat and directed it towards Han who stood smiling at Haru's victory. Soon the clapping was followed by Meng and then one by one the rest of the leaders clapped in confusion until everyone in the room joined in.

They all felt like since the most powerful person in the room is clapping they should too and followed the sheep mentality out of fear. Haru and Leung were the only people who weren't clapping and then Leung turned around to look at the other leaders.

"What's this about!? Is this some kind of set up?" Leung demanded an explanation from the confused looking people who all once again turned to look at each other before Han took the lead.

"No, Not at all. I didn't expect you would want to fight my guest of honour that's all. The duel just impressed me. To say that an eighteen-year-old boy bested someone who has been cultivating for over forty years is something unheard of." Han reassured Leung that there wasn't some ulterior motive. But that made him worry even more.

"Guest of honour!? You mean the man who is supposed to be taking over this resort is this kid?!" Leung was outraged by what he had just heard. Why in the world was his boss gifting a whole resort to a kid. But what was even stranger was how the kid was able to defeat him.

'I didn't even see him move. Yet he managed to disarm me so easily… Just where in the world did this guy come from? Is he the bosses illegitimate son or something?' Leung asked himself and then looked back at Haru to see if he could find any resemblance in their appearance but they looked nothing alike.

'Wait… He's this young yet so powerful… Don't tell me that Hong family have produced another genius…' he asked himself again just before Han stepped up on to the stage to address everyone present.

"Hello, my friends. I'm guessing a lot of you are feeling a little scared or anxious about what you have seen today. But let me put your worries at rest. Everything that happened was the result of someone not knowing the strength of my friend Haru over there.

I recently made a mistake and Haru fixed it for me so I decided to give him this resort as a way to say thank you for clearing up my mess. But I knew that a lot of people here wouldn't be willing to accept a sudden change in ownership. It would make you all worried about your memberships being revoked since you don't have a good relationship with him.

It just so happened to turn out that he decided to show you all his strength before I could even ask him to demonstrate it.

And I know. I can feel your uneasiness from up here. He might have seemed ruthless or even brutal in punishing Lord Leung's son. But I am sure that all of you have noticed Leung's lack of success in teaching his son the correct way so we will all have to thank Haru on Leung's behalf.

Hopefully, all of the people here who were wronged by Leung's son can rest easy knowing that if you encounter any further problems they can be solved by Mr, Kitagawa here." Han finished his speech and then looked over at Leung who seemed to be in a state of disbelief and simply nodded his head.

Leung seemed to understand what it meant as when he saw it he lowered his guard and bowed down to Haru.

"Thank you, Mr Kitagawa. My son has always been a little reckless and I haven't had much time to instruct him on proper mannerisms so I hope your lesson today will make him remember how to act in future." Leung bit his tongue as he spoke.

He didn't like submitting like this but his boss had ordered it. He knew that he couldn't stand up to the boss and if he wanted to keep his position he would need to follow every order given to him. But either way, he didn't want to accept defeat this easily.

"See this was just a misunderstanding and I hope that you don't take this too seriously and let it ruin your night. Because tonight as a way to celebrate Haru becoming the owner of this resort all of the drink will be free of charge. I have already paid for everything so feel free to drink to your heart's content." Han addressed everyone present once again causing greater applause than earlier to erupt but that was mainly from the news of free alcohol which was made obvious by the crowd of people that gathered at the bar soon after he announced it.

"Haru come over here. We need to talk." Han shouted as the party-goers went back to their previous joy and drunkenness. Leung and another leader of the crimson spiders picked up the young man that was still lying on the floor and took him to be treated while he walked over to the front of the stage were the other leaders stood with Han.

"Those were some quick moves. I could barely keep up with your speed. Now I understand how Meng lost to you." One of the leaders complimented Haru as he walked over and then laughed at Meng's expense.

"Oh, Shut up! I didn't lose I just made a tactical retreat that's all." Meng protested against him but it just made him sound even weaker and the rest of the group laughed as well.

"Cut it out and act your age. I understand you are all giddy because you haven't fought anyone in a while but make sure you keep up appearances. Haru come with me please." Han scolded the seven men stood by his side that ranged from the ages of late twenties to early fifties. But one thing they all has in common was their strength. Every single one of them was at the manifestation stage.

As Haru followed Han into the corridor outside he heard another protest from Meng and then the door closed behind them both.

"What is it?" Haru asked with a look of confusion. He wondered what it could have been. He could have said what he had to say in front of the others if he truly trusted them but he chose not to and instead go outside for a private conversation.

"It's about your little duel. I just want to warn you to keep an eye open for Leung's counter-attack. Although I am his boss the power structure of the crimson spiders has been shaky for quite a while.

Ever since I told them all that I will be leaving this world soon they have all been trying to prove themselves to be a strong leader in hopes that I will pass the leadership down to one of them before I go… I tried to explain it to them that I don't need them to prove anything to me but a few of our leaders have been constantly fighting among each other in secret.

I fear like since you have beaten Leung. He will feel like he has to defeat you before he can even start fighting against the others. I'm sorry. It's all my fault that you got involved in this trouble but I hope you can still do what we agreed on…" Han said with worry. He thought Haru would go back on his word now that he had been targeted by one of the leaders but that wasn't the case.

He knew that there was no chance that Leung could defeat him since he had just felt the strength that he had. Although he did choose to trick him by acting weak it was all so he could feel out his strength without him realising. And in reality, to counter his attack Haru only used a third of his strength. Although that was still different from a fight to the death, he still felt confident that he could beat him.

"You don't need to worry. I told you that I was going to compete in the tournament. As long as you keep up your end of the deal then I will keep up my end." Haru reassured him that he wasn't going to hold the actions of his subordinates against him.

"That's great! Thank you. I thought you would change your mind since that just happened. But I promise you that I'll try my best to keep the others from targeting you too. Although if Leung does target you I won't be able to stop him from doing so. I hope you can understand that it would look bad for me if I reprimand the people I put in power…" Han said with the same worried look.

"It's fine. I understand. I don't want to force your back against a wall over a small matter like this. Although it's a little late. Could I trouble you to have someone drop me back off at home?" Haru asked as he looked up at the clock hanging from the wall. It was almost eleven o'clock and he still had classes in the morning.

"No trouble at all. I will have Meng drop you off. He was about to leave soon anyway. Let me get him for you." Han said and then walked back into the main banquet hall and called Meng over.