Chapter 4205 — Say What You Like

"Old dog, now you know what I'm made of, wahahaha!" Yu Jiang laughed in triumph atop the arena. This time, at long last, he had properly vented the grievance he had nursed since that day.

Nan Tianxiong and Nan Tianguan glared at him hatefully at these words, yet dared not—and had not the face to—answer back. They could only lower their heads and slink off the stage in disgrace.

Apart from those two, everyone present was at least a Golden Core expert. Yu Jiang, a man who had once been utterly unknown, actually dared to strut about so wantonly; naturally this rubbed people the wrong way. But Yu Jiang had defeated Nan Tianxiong in a single move, and that strength was plain for all to see. With no reason to do so, no one was willing to provoke such a person.

Among the crowd, Wei Zhao could not help frowning to himself. Yu Jiang's strength truly could not be underestimated, and instinct told him there must be some hidden connection between this fellow and Xu Lingchong—after all, the two behaved far too much alike.

Though among the outer disciples of the Three-Layer Pavilion a batch of new Golden Core experts emerged every year, and all of them took part in the inner sect tournament, because of the gap in depth of foundation, very few of them ever made the top hundred list.

After all, among early Golden Core experts, the core inner disciples were at least a notch above the outer disciples in depth of foundation; under normal circumstances, very few could prevail on such an occasion.

This time, however, outer disciples who advanced to the top hundred were everywhere to be seen—among them Wei Zhao and Meng Zhou, who were still newcomers of the Welcoming Pavilion. The Three-Layer Pavilion was bringing forth new talent in such abundance that it had quite the air of the new wave pushing the old.

The two faced each other from afar, and the aura Yu Jiang radiated made Wei Zhao's heart turn cold. Yesterday, standing far off below the stage, he had not felt it so distinctly; but now he realized that this fellow was in no way weaker than himself!

Barring the unexpected, this Yu Jiang should likewise be a perfect Golden Core expert! Wei Zhao reached this judgment silently. Amid his suspicion, he could not help growing ever more alarmed and doubtful—Xu Lingchong, Meng Zhou, and now this Yu Jiang; it always felt as though some invisible hand were manipulating everything from behind the scenes.

"Hehe, long time no see, Wei Zhao. Last time you caught me with your dirty tricks, but you won't be so lucky this time. Why not read the room and just beg me for mercy and concede? Maybe I'll be magnanimous and spare your life!" Yu Jiang sneered smugly.

"Beg for mercy? That's not entirely out of the question—but I think you've got it backwards. It's you who ought to be begging me, isn't it? Hehe, in all our clashes, which one didn't end with you fleeing in panic?" Wei Zhao countered with a faint smile.

"Hmph, just blind luck, and you have the nerve to bring up the past with me? Can't you see how things stand now? Don't tell me you actually think a newcomer king's title makes you invincible?" Yu Jiang's face turned cold in an instant.

"Invincible? I'm not that ignorant. But if it's just dealing with scum like you, I'd say I have more than enough to spare." Wei Zhao remained utterly composed.

"You—" Yu Jiang was about to fire back a taunt when his expression suddenly changed, for he noticed that Wei Zhao had deliberately hidden both hands behind his back and seemed to be doing something furtive.

A jolt shot through his mind, and Yu Jiang at once recalled how Wei Zhao had dealt with Nan Tianyong back then. Judging by this stance, the brat must be secretly gathering that so-called elixir-fire bomb again, and had deliberately baited him into trading taunts to stall for time!

That elixir-fire bomb had left a shadow in Yu Jiang's heart. Back then, with only a scrap of strength, Wei Zhao had left Nan Tianyong—a peak late Foundation Establishment expert—half dead. Now that the two of them were both early Golden Core, no matter how confident he was in his own strength, he dared not simply let Wei Zhao charge up a big move.

"Hmph, don't think you can stall for time and pull the same trick twice!" Yu Jiang dared not waste more words; he swiftly gathered sword qi at his fingertips and lunged straight at Wei Zhao, determined to cut short his buildup.

Seeing this, Wei Zhao neither dodged nor flinched; his figure flashed as he met Yu Jiang head-on, and once they were close enough, the hands hidden behind his back lashed out abruptly, as though he meant to slap Yu Jiang square in the face.

Just as I thought! Yu Jiang understood at once, certain that Wei Zhao held an elixir-fire bomb; he dared not meet it head-on, and with a flicker of his body made to dodge to the side.

This had been his intent all along—to lure out Wei Zhao's elixir-fire bomb, for once he dodged it cleanly he would have nothing left to worry about. A killer move of such heaven-defying power could hardly be controlled at will; this was the perfect chance to seize the flaw and strike a fatal blow!

But the next moment, Yu Jiang's expression turned wonderfully ugly—there was nothing at all in Wei Zhao's hands, not even much gathered true qi, let alone any elixir-fire bomb. The fellow had simply been toying with him.

Yu Jiang flew into a rage born of humiliation, but before he could make another move, Wei Zhao's Wildfire Thousand-Leg Sweep had already lashed into him. Caught utterly off guard, Yu Jiang was kicked clean off his feet and sent flying, straight off the arena.

"Wei Zhao wins!" the referee announced at once.

The whole hall was struck dumb—and then Yu Jiang, coming to his senses, stamped his feet below the stage and cursed furiously: "Despicable! Shameless! You cheating bastard!"

"Oh, say what you like, you fool." Wei Zhao shrugged indifferently, nodded to the referee, and stepped down from the arena as light as a cloud.

"You—you—" Yu Jiang was choked speechless for a long moment by that single sentence, grinding his teeth in fury, wishing he could devour the man on the spot.

This time he had returned, and yesterday's one-move defeat of Nan Tianxiong had been merely a small appetizer; he had meant to put on a grand display of his prowess. Yet to be toyed with so utterly in the palm of Wei Zhao's hand, to lose without even getting to show his true strength—how could anyone possibly swallow that?

Seeing that expression on his face, Wei Zhao merely curled his lip faintly, not even bothering to spare him a glance.

If it came to a true contest of strength, then although this Yu Jiang was likewise an expert of the early Golden Core stage who had broken through perfectly, Wei Zhao was still confident enough to crush his opponent head-on—but that would waste no small amount of stamina. So long as he won, who cared how he won?

Wei Zhao had no wish to squander too much effort on Yu Jiang for nothing. Today was not like yesterday, after all—yesterday he had only needed to fight one match, but today, the moment the second round was over, the third round of the individual battles would begin at once. Whether he could conserve enough stamina was of vital importance. R1152