Chapter 5

Unable to hold his laughter in any longer, Shi Heng finally burst out laughing. This caused Ren Tian's mood to worsen even more. This was a more common occurrence than either would want to admit and there was good reason for it.

They were teaming up in order to make sure that they could build up their forces and power in a more peaceful setting, but as top rated families backing them, there was still a level of competition between the two.

The competition was in fact a more friendly one, but both had quite the high level of ego, making it so that as long as it wouldn't hurt the overall strength of their collective alliance, they would try to one up each other whenever possible.

"And what do you think is so funny? If she is taken, it would mean that you would also be at a loss, unless I am missing something here?" Ren Tian told Shi Heng as he slapped his hand once more unto the table, causing small cracks to appear on it.

"How about we make a small bet? If the report you received is the same as the one my men are finding for me now, I will not only apologize, but help you plan out how we can act next?" Shi Heng replied with a smirk on his face, in a baiting like way towards Ren Tian.

"That not only will make this more interesting, but at least we can have some fun waiting. However, what exactly will we be betting on?" he responded as Ghost Face's demeanor changed slightly.

Ghost Face was of course under some form of pressure because he felt that Shi Heng would be going too far with the bet. And if he even mentioned Ren Tian's sister once more during this, it would be possible for this alliance to possibly be destroyed.

The alliance between the three, was together because each of them had common goals and could protect themselves easier by combining forces. The only issue was, that realistically, there was no reason other than that for them to be teaming up as such.

Shi Heng was known as someone in the younger generation who was very good at planning out his next move. However, what turned others off from him even with such a strong ability like this, was that he loved poking even crazed bears like Ren Tian until they would burst and finally act.

Even if Ren Tian's reputation was rather poor due to his lofty personality, Shi Heng's reputation could be said to be poor as well due to him always wanting to mess with others, whether ally or foe. However, many would look past these small flaws simply because of their upbringing.

"I think we both know what I want if that is the case, but I am just wondering what you would want if I lost this bet?" Shi Heng told Ren Tian as his eyes narrowed. It was as if he was throwing out some bait to see if Ren Tian would take it.

"Since you are interested in my sister so much, how about I go ahead and covet one of yours as well?" responding with an angered tone, Ren Tian could only force himself forward by hitting Shi Heng verbally back.

"Oh? If I knew that you wanted to wed one of my sisters, I would have already set it up with my family. It is agreed then, if the report given to me matches yours, you will be able to wed one of my sisters." Shi Heng hastily told Ren Tian as he clapped his hands.

Ghost Face was the first to understand what had just happened. If Ren Tian were to wed one of the Shi family's young women, it would create an unbreakable bond between two top rated powers in the Flower Continent!

This has happened in the past, but this would be a little more drastic because the Ren family and the Shi family were both not just top rated powers, but the alliances and friendships they had were completely different as well.

If such a marriage between families were to occur, there would be very little resistance and even those powers on friendly terms with them would help celebrate and quickly shift their attention onto anyone else remaining outside of the large circle.

Even if the Peng family could also accomplish this if they were to marry into either of the families, it did not mean that they actually wanted to do this. The Peng family had always made it clear to others that they cared more about survival compared to anything else.

Suddenly the door opened once more and the bodyguard who originally left to gather a report actually escorted a strange looking man with a burned up face into the room.

The man looked extremely hideous which almost made Ghost Face feel sorry for the little fellow. However, since he was born, Ghost Face was given special training and deep down was still extremely cold towards others.

If anyone else were to see this strange looking young man for the first time, they might have been shaken from the horrid scars all over not just his face, but also the rest of his body. In the corner of his eye, Shi Heng saw Ghost Face keeping a straight face and the tiniest of smiles appeared on his as he looked back over.

"Master Shi Heng, I was told by this bodyguard of yours that you wanted to see me? It is to be expected since I recently received some news that I was going to report to you tomorrow. I hope my delay will not upset you?"

Kowtowing in solute, the burned face young man couldn't help but to start tearing up visually. Ren Tian could only look away because he felt so bad for this young man because there was no way such a person could exist in a cruel world such as this with no level of self dignity.

"Do not worry, if it was bad news, it is good that you waited. That just means you care about my mood and knew I was here celebrating with our group's friends tonight." seeing this young man tear up, Shi Heng stood up and helped lift the fellow up as he smiled towards him.

"Please tell me and our friends your report and I will have some of our new recruits make you a new mask tonight, so that you can go out shopping tomorrow without needing to worry about people giving you mean looks." Shi Heng told him before returning to his seat.

It was very clear that although Shi Heng was someone who showed very little concern for his followers, doted very much on this young man. He would never let others find out, but this young man sacrificed himself, in order to carry him out of a burning building when they were just a few years younger.

Since then, because this young man was too physically weak and had a scary face, Shi Heng couldn't give him a very high position in his group. So instead, Shi Heng gave this young man the responsibility for delivering completed reports to him, allowing the young man to still live a fairly decent life among friends.