Priest: Then how come the last challenger could dismiss all the threats and put up a good fight to become the new champion?
Old friend: The last challenger is deaf. That explains his apparent ignorance of the bully's intimidation, and his smashing success in smashing the crown of the undeserving champion to smithereens.
Priest: It seems that you know the last challenger very well.
Old friend: For many years after my apparent defeat, I suffered from depression and anxiety. Then I decided to exact revenge against the big bully. But I could not find any way to deal with him until I saw a busker performing acrobat jumping in a street. He is the best person to teach that big bully a lesson for the following reasons:
Firstly, his kung fu fighting techniques were superb. Actually that so-called unbeaten champion's martial arts system is not that superior. If not for his underhand tactics, the big bully could have been vanquished long ago by any challenger.
Secondly, he is an orphan without any family or relative, and a vagabond without a home. If the tribal chief wants to revenge his son's defeat, the only way is after the new champion’s blood.
Thirdly, and most important of all, he is deaf so he would be immune to the undeserving champion's taunts and intimidation.
Using sign language, I persuaded him to compete in the championship.
Priest: Did you inform him of the big bully's psychological manipulation techniques?
Old friend: No, I want to ensure that both his sanity and his will to fight will not be undermined by the enemy.
Priest: But he will be executed by the tribal chief if he stays behind to receive the prize money and be crowned the new champion.
Old friend: Although I did not inform him of the big bully's underhanded tactics, I had warned him of what might happen if he won the fight. Hence he would run for his life immediately after the fight. I had asked my old servant to wait for him with two horses -- one for each rider -- some distance ahead on the main road. I had given both of them more than enough money to last for the rest of their lives. By now, they should be heading towards a neighbouring tribal region on their horses. Down there, in my old servant's birthplace, they will live happily ever after.
Priest: Capitalism exists everywhere, even in the most unlikely places. Is there any betting on the championship?
Old friend: There was betting during in the first few years on the championships. But after five or six years, when the people found out that the same person always won the championship, they stopped betting altogether. I could have won a huge fortune if I place my bet on the new champion.
Priest: Why didn't you do so?
Old friend: I don't want to be the prime suspect of the big bully's defeat. I don't want the tribal chief to exact revenge on me.
Narrator: The spectators were awestruck at first when they saw the so-called unbeaten champion of 9 successive years kicked off the stage by a newcomer. Then the dead silence was broken by a huge applause. However, when they tried to look for the new champion, he was nowhere to be seen.
After bidding farewell to his old friend, the priest continued his journey, knowing somewhere in front of him two men were speeding on their horses toward the border of a neighbouring tribal land.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lei_tai
