He doesn't want to lie down and submit just yet. So he wants to fight and defeat Arthur while he can.
Of course, if he knew that Arthur was at the sixth transformation when they fought three years ago, he won't have any thoughts of challenging Arthur again.
Master Owl Claw accepted the fact that Skylar will challenge Arthur. He began looking on the bright side.
He said, "If you win, we will have the moral high ground to pressure him in public. We might be able to get him to close down his dojo, which will help our dojo recover. We will also be able to stop your disgruntled uncles from gaining power and trying to usurp the dojo from you."
Skylar snorted when he heard the last part of what his father said. He said in disdain, "Those people are not a threat. Even if they manage to reach the seventh transformation in the future, they are too weak to do anything worthwhile. And I'll reach the second mortal coil soon. At that point, they will beg to return to our dojo even if they reach the seventh transformation."
Master Owl Claw said, "Be that as it may, it is always best to remove weeds before they grow."
Skylar nodded. He asked, "Should we punish them when they return?"
Master Owl Claw's eyes glinted sharply as he replied, "Of course we must punish them. We must punish them for betraying this dojo. It doesn't matter if they return or not. They must be punished for being ungrateful."
"But we can't do it so soon. Even if you defeat Master Red, we will let them relax for a while before we strike."
The father and son looked at each other and laughed. They drank their tea and cheered each other. The fact that they only had one maid to serve them didn't feel so bad now that things were about to change.
The following day, he went to the Red Dojo early in the morning. He went there publicly in view of everyone and challenged Arthur to a fight.
He said a lot of things to goad Arthur to accept his challenge. But all he received in return was a beating.
It wasn't Arthur who beat him. It was Arthur's students who beat him up. They swarmed him and beat him with their stools until he was battered and bruised.
Arthur didn't ask them to beat him. In fact, Arthur was still wondering if he should accept the challenge or not or just beat Skylar here because he was in a bad mood.
He didn't say anything before one of his students rose up, pointed at Skylar, and said, "Beat him up."
Arthur's students wouldn't have cared if the challenge was a personal fight between Arthur and Skylar. But they cared a lot because Skylar had asked Arthur to disband the Red Dojo if Arthur lost.
They cared about the Red Dojo a lot. Because they cared a lot about it, they weren't willing to risk Arthur losing. So they ganged up on Skylar and beat him up.
There were a lot of stools to use. Each stool was heavy but capable of being wielded into a weapon. The stools also didn't break as they used it to smash Skylar.
Skylar tried to resist. But he was quickly surrounded. Some jumped on him and grabbed his neck, while others grabbed his feet and arms. They dragged him to the ground and held him down for others to smash stools in him.
It was a painful sight. Arthur winced when he saw Skylar's lips broken and his jaw dislocated.
The sight was all the more worse when he heard Skylar's scream of pain. Skylar screamed for his dear life. He screamed a lot and loud enough to wake up the dead.
It was Arthur that rushed over to save him. If he hadn't, they would have killed Skylar.
He had to save the poor man's life and not let his death tarnish the reputation of his dojo. Then he handed the unconscious Skylar to his father, who was waiting some distance away from the field.
Master Owl Claw came to support Skylar in case Arthur decides to beat him up there instead of accepting a challenge.
Skylar had said a lot of bad things about how Arthur was weak, but Master Owl Claw was still afraid of Arthur. So he came to support in hopes that the two of them will be able to defeat Arthur.
What the old man didn't expect was that the greatest danger that he should be worried about wasn't Arthur. Arthur is still the greatest danger, but he shouldn't worry about Arthur because there is nothing he can do against Arthur.
If Arthur had chosen to attack Skylar, there was nothing he could do about it. His presence would change nothing.
But Arthur didn't attack. It was his students that did.
Master Owl Claw could have saved Skylar by stepping forward to fight the students. But he didn't because Arthur gave him a stern look of warning.
Arthur didn't plan to attack Skylar. But now that his students were beating the troublemaker on his behalf, there was no way that he was going to stand and watch while someone intervenes and beats his students.
Master Owl Claw could only watch with his teeth grinding in frustration and anger. Then he received Skylar and a lot of apologies from Arthur after everything was over.
Arthur watched them go while wondering to himself, "Did he think he could take me now that he has reached the ninth transformation? What a joke."
He chuckled for a while. His good mood didn't last long because he remembered that he had to attend a party in the Dyson family in the evening.
He sighed and said, "I don't like how the regional sect examination is causing trouble for me."
Then he resumed teaching his class. It wasn't easy because he had to calm his excited and emotional students down first.