Chapter 3775 — I Surrender

Since Wei Zhao could not be dealt with directly for the moment, the logical move was to start with the lackeys at his side. Nothing could be simpler.

At Wei Zhao's warning, Xiao Che paused for a moment, then turned his head and smiled. "I understand. I will look after myself!"

With that, Xiao Che raised his head and strode onto the arena, not a trace of nerves about him. His expression was as calm as still water, and he gave the impression of being even more assured than Meng Zhou himself.

Oh, hell. Don't tell me this one is another one of those deep, unfathomable types like Wei Zhao!

Watching Xiao Che's bearing, Meng Zhou could not help muttering doubts to himself.

And indeed, just as Wei Zhao had surmised, Meng Jueming had given Meng Zhou certain instructions beforehand: when facing Wei Zhao's two lackeys, Xiao Che and Qiao Hongcai, he was to strike as ruthlessly as possible and show them no mercy whatsoever.

Yet at this moment, facing the situation before him, Meng Zhou could not help feeling a little uncertain. True, their attention had always been fixed on Wei Zhao, and they had overlooked these two lackeys, Xiao Che and Qiao Hongcai—but it would not do to forget that they had crossed hands with them before, back during the trial in the rear mountains.

At that time, Meng Zhou had not yet succeeded in establishing his foundation, and Xiao Che, harried by their superior numbers, had been run ragged until he was utterly spent. Yet his uncanny, bewildering footwork had left a deep impression on them all.

Could a man possessed of such movement arts be any ordinary sort?

Meng Zhou might be arrogant and conceited by nature, but he was not so blind as to lack even this much judgment of character. Otherwise he would never have come as far as he had.

Mounting the arena, Xiao Che's expression was as placid as an ancient well. He met Meng Zhou's gaze without flinching. Though the aura about him remained mild and unassuming, a closer sense of it would reveal the formidable fighting spirit hidden within.

For a moment, the other newcomers below the stage—who had been gloating over the impending spectacle—all fell silent.

Like Meng Zhou, they had witnessed a measure of Xiao Che's strength. At the very least, during that trial in the rear mountains, apart from being forced to flee when hopelessly outnumbered, he had never come off the worse in any clash with them—nothing at all like Qiao Hongcai, who had accompanied him and fared so wretchedly.

Xiao Che was a formidable man. He might not be a freak of nature or a madman who defied the heavens like Wei Zhao, but he was by no means a disposable, marginal figure. On that, they were all agreed.

Watching Xiao Che now, so calm and unruffled in the face of Meng Zhou, the assembled newcomers vaguely sensed something: perhaps Xiao Che's chances were not so hopeless after all!

"Tch. You're nothing but a pathetic weakling at the peak of the Heaven Tier, so what are you playing at, putting on such a grand act? Of all things to imitate, you copy those fools who don't know their own limits and put on airs—truly, you're tarred by the company you keep. Still, I'm in a good mood today, so I suppose I can show you a thing or two!" Meng Zhou suddenly sneered. "Though I can hardly blame you. After all, your boss is the newcomer king of putting on airs!"

He had already reasoned it out: no matter how extraordinary Xiao Che might be, so long as he had not established his foundation, he could never be Meng Zhou's match. The only difference was how much effort it would take to put him down.

Before Xiao Che could speak onstage, Qiao Hongcai below could not contain himself and leapt to his defense. "May I ask this esteemed newcomer, Senior Brother Meng—if you add color to pitch-black ink, what other pattern can you possibly paint besides black? I haven't had much schooling, so please, don't you go fooling me!"

As the words landed, the whole hall erupted in laughter, and when Meng Zhou grasped the meaning, his large face flushed instantly to the color of a pig's liver.

I haven't had much schooling, so please don't go fooling me? Damn it—if you've had so little schooling, how the hell did you claw your way up to the peak of the Heaven Tier? Do you mean to tell me you can't even read all your characters properly?

Had he not been standing on the arena at that moment, Meng Zhou would likely have charged straight over and trampled Qiao Hongcai underfoot. When your intelligence has already become a laughingstock, what use is it to be a fine hand at the early stage of foundation establishment?

Wei Zhao smiled faintly and nodded at Qiao Hongcai. This Qiao Hongcai had real mettle in him—he had dared to speak his mind from the very beginning, and he was doing so still.

As for Meng Jueming and his lot, they could only massage their foreheads in speechless exasperation. Meng Zhou really was a hopeless case—useless clay that would not hold up a wall. Small wonder they had never expected this creature to deal with Wei Zhao; otherwise they would truly have been blind.

Meng Zhou had no choice but to shoot Qiao Hongcai a venomous glare, then turned to the referee, who had been dispatched from within the Three-Tiered Pavilion specifically to oversee fairness, and, swallowing his fury, said, "Referee, sir—may we begin?"

The referee was no disciple of the Azure Cloud Pavilion, but a disciple of the Mystic Mechanism Pavilion assigned across pavilions precisely to prevent any backroom manipulation. At this, he smiled without much concern and announced, "Both parties are ready. The first round of the newcomer challenge tournament—begin now."

Meng Zhou bared his teeth in a savage grin, the aura of a fine hand at the early foundation stage fully unleashed. From the look of him, he intended to go all out from the very first move and strike Xiao Che dead—this was a man preparing to kill and vent his rage!

After all, there was an absolute suppression of levels between them. Even if Xiao Che was formidable, facing a fine hand at the early foundation stage who was going all out would still be perilous in the extreme. To say his chances were grim would not be an exaggeration.

Yet just as Meng Zhou gathered his sky-soaring momentum, before he could make his move, Xiao Che turned to the referee and said, plain and unhurried, three words: "I surrender."

Damn it! Meng Zhou nearly choked on his own breath. His qi veered wildly in an instant, and he came within a hair of spraying out a mouthful of blood. Below the stage, the crowd broke into an uproar, staring at one another in disbelief.

He had put on that calm, masterful air for so long, winding Meng Zhou up thoroughly and even filling the watching newcomers with anticipation—and in the end, you go and say "I surrender"?

Are you freaking kidding us?

At this, not only were Meng Zhou and his group stunned, but even Wei Zhao and the others had not expected it. Surrendering meant conceding defeat outright, and Xiao Che had never once said he would do such a thing!

"Wh-what? How can he do that? Isn't that just giving that bastard Meng Zhou a free ride?" Qiao Hongcai was struck dumb.

In his view, facing a piece of trash like Meng Zhou, even if one were outmatched, one absolutely must not let the other side off easy—even at the cost of mutual ruin, even at the cost of fighting to the death. To lose without a fight, as Xiao Che had done, was no different from defecting to the enemy!