Yan Bao stared fixedly at Li Chonglou.
Since the time his attack had been dodged, though Li Chonglou’s movements were quite comical, he had received much reprimand from his superiors. Liu Qiang, his employer, had directly expressed his dissatisfaction.
It was known that Liu Qiang had previously been famous in the industry for having the strongest bodyguard. It was Yan Bao’s missed strike that made others doubt the strength of the bodyguards around him.
If it weren’t for Yan Bao having followed him for a long time and having made considerable contributions, Liu Qiang would have likely replaced him long ago!
Therefore, Yan Bao had not had a good few days. Liu Qiang almost always brought this up whenever he encountered any troublesome matters, and his tone of blame made Yan Bao feel extremely displeased.
But he blamed all of this on Li Chonglou. If he hadn't dodged that punch, none of this would have happened!
Li Chonglou, unaware of the reason, gave him a puzzled look, unable to understand the obvious hostility.
Ya Lili, having experienced these few banquets, had clearly grown. Faced with Liu Qiang’s taunts, she directly put on a cold expression.
"It’s not decided who wins or loses yet, don’t end up too embarrassed."
After speaking, Ya Lili brought Li Chonglou and walked into the villa without looking back. Liu Qiang was stunned on the spot. He never expected that the prey, who had seemed like a docile sheep before, had now learned to talk back.
"Interesting, interesting."
Liu Qiang smiled. Having seen countless women, he wouldn't get angry at a beautiful woman over a single sentence. On the contrary, Ya Lili’s actions further piqued his interest.
In Shangjing, besides the eight great families, there were also sixteen prominent families. Although these sixteen prominent families did not all share the same sixteen surnames, the top five among them were Li, Hua, Feng, Liu, and Ya. Liu and Ya were Liu Qiang’s grandfather and Ya Lili’s father, respectively.
This was also the confidence Ya Lili had in her attitude towards Liu Qiang. Although the rankings of their two groups differed by one, their strengths were actually not significantly different. She was not worried that Liu Qiang would retaliate against her group because of this.
If it were someone from the eight great families, she might have endured it.
After passing the identity verification by the staff, the two soon entered the villa.
From the outside, the villa appeared to have only three floors, but the internal space was far more than that. These three floors were also not in the conventional sense of three floors. Li Chonglou estimated that if calculated by ordinary floor height, there were at least six or seven floors.
The space on the first floor alone was exaggeratedly large, with a ground area equivalent to half a football field, and a ceiling as high as those in concert halls. This single floor had the spatial volume of three floors of an ordinary building.
Moreover, the facilities inside were incredibly luxurious, with leather upholstery, golden support columns, and the most dazzling sight was a crystal chandelier hanging more than three meters above, sparkling and inlaid with real diamonds!
And there wasn't just one such crystal chandelier; five or six were hung, making the entire hall appear incredibly ostentatious!
However, the most eye-catching object was a fighting ring set up in the middle of the hall.
It was of regular ring size but designed in an octagon cage style. The edges of the platform were adorned with several golden threads, some shaped like dragons, others like tigers, all made of 999 pure gold!
For a moment, what was merely an ordinary fighting ring, when complemented by the platform, appeared extremely imposing!
Around the ring, several rows of chairs were arranged, and in the best central position, a raised platform was built with four distinct positions.
As Li Chonglou was carefully observing the interior, a staff member suddenly walked towards them and handed them a piece of paper.
"Dear esteemed guest, here is some basic information about this joint observation match."
Li Chonglou took the paper, and five large characters immediately caught his attention.
The Strongest Bodyguard Competition.
"Didn't you say it was just a friendly match?"
Li Chonglou’s brow furrowed immediately. Although it was just a difference in name, for him, the nature of the event was entirely different. If it were just a friendly match, even if he garnered attention, it wouldn’t matter much, as it was within this circle.
But this name clearly indicated it was not a simple competition; the scope of its influence had unknowingly expanded immensely!
Ya Lili also did not expect such a result, her expression turning troubled.
"Brother Li, why don't we just leave?"
Li Chonglou scanned his surroundings and found that indeed, everyone entering was accompanied by bodyguards, and they all looked formidable. His gaze then fell on the four positions on the raised platform.
With such special seating, the identities of those who could occupy them were definitely not ordinary. If he were to gain attention or be noticed on this stage, the potential trouble would be immeasurable.
Therefore, after careful consideration, he decided to leave directly.
"Let’s go."
As for the impact this would have on Ya Lili, both of them understood. At most, it would offend Liu Qiang and cause the loss of some potential networking opportunities. Other than that, the problems were not significant.
However, just as the two were preparing to leave, the soul bottle that Li Chonglou had been hiding in his embrace suddenly trembled. At the same time, a voice echoed in his mind.
"Little Li, don't go, there are my descendants here!"
It was Stone’s voice, and Li Chonglou’s footsteps immediately stopped.
"You say your descendants are here, how do you know?"
"It’s my bloodline, I can feel it, it’s nearby! Little Li, help me, I want to say a few words to him!"
Stone’s wish back then was for Li Chonglou to bring him back to his hometown, and the purpose of this wish was actually to find his descendants. Stone had explicitly stated this at the time.
Li Chonglou’s brow furrowed tightly, and at this moment, another voice echoed in his mind.
It was Old An.
"Little Li, agree to it. This is Stone’s wish. Aren't you worried about encountering an insurmountable enemy on the stage? You can directly choose to possess Stone then, wouldn't that be killing two birds with one stone?"
Li Chonglou’s expression froze. He thought about it, and it truly made sense. With the soul bottle, he could choose to help a soul find release, and the method of release was naturally through the unsealing function.
This meant that before Stone’s reincarnation, he could first help Li Chonglou fight for a while.
However, this also gave Li Chonglou another concern.
"What will the strength be like after possession? The people here might not be ordinary."
"Don't worry about that. Soul possession can also offset some of the curse’s power. You should be able to unseal one to two tenths of your original strength, plus Stone’s soul power, which should be enough."
Old An’s explanation made his eyes light up.