Chapter 4423 — The Race Sets Sail

"I can't speak for anyone else, but Brother Ling—if he says he can handle it, then he can handle it. He's not the type to put on a brave face and play the hero," Qi Wenmo said, shaking his head.

"Good heavens, child, why must you be so pigheaded? Ling Yi is not only a great benefactor to our agency, he is a vital ally. Even if he says he's confident, we can't let him take a risk like this!" Qi Mingyuan was on the verge of losing his temper with his own flesh and blood.

With extraordinary innate talent, an honorary vice-chairmanship of the Hong Merchant Guild, and close ties to the personal disciple of the East Sea Divine Nun—all those halos together made Wei Zhao a prospect of limitless potential. Qi Mingyuan had not brought the Sky-Bearing Escort Agency to where it was today without seeing that crystal clear.

"Whatever Brother Ling says, I believe. If you're worried, Dad, go talk him out of it yourself. I don't have that kind of skill." Qi Wenmo simply washed his hands of the matter.

"I—" Qi Mingyuan's belly was suddenly full of curses. Only out of deference to the great personages standing around did he swallow them back, and he jabbed a finger hard at Qi Wenmo's head. Pacing back and forth with an anxious face, he was a veritable ant on a hot pan.

Qi Wenmo spread his hands and stood to one side with the air of a dead pig that no longer feared boiling water. No matter how earnestly his father pleaded, he would not budge, because he knew that budging was useless. Once a man like Wei Zhao set his mind on something, no one could talk him out of it, and pressing the matter further would only be a waste of breath.

After a long while, Qi Mingyuan ran out of options, and the two could only stare at each other. Just as Qi Wenmo knew he could not persuade Wei Zhao, so too he could not be persuaded. What was to be done?

As one of the five judges, Qi Mingyuan could not leave the stage and step out of public view except under special circumstances, or it would be taken for backroom dealings. And his relationship with Wei Zhao was far less intimate than his son's; there were many things Qi Wenmo could say that he could not, and even if he said them, they might not work.

There was no help for it. In the end Qi Mingyuan could only steel himself and enter Ling Yi's name. Still, he could not refrain from pulling Qi Wenmo aside for a round of instructions: when he went back, he was to remind Wei Zhao that under no circumstances should he force himself in a contest like this, and that the moment he found the situation hopeless, he was to turn back at once.

Turning back midway earned no points, and was essentially the same as forfeiting, but at least it was not as grave as openly forfeiting before the race, and would not get one struck from the Southern Continent Escort Alliance's rolls. It merely cost three hundred thousand spirit jade.

Three hundred thousand spirit jade was no small sum for any escort agency. Had an ordinary escort dared such a thing, he would have been beaten to death on the spot. But if three hundred thousand spirit jade could buy Wei Zhao's safe return, then neither Qi Mingyuan nor Qi Wenmo would consider it the slightest loss—they would count it a tremendous bargain.

Compared with the escort-ambush round, the registration for this second round, the Perilous Seas Voyage, dragged on conspicuously longer. Only one contestant was needed per agency, yet each agency's roster came forth like a difficult birth, long in coming. Only after an extra wait of a full half-hour, amid the repeated urgings of the assembly's staff, were all thirty-two rosters grudgingly submitted.

Under the staff's direction, the whole crowd shifted grounds and swept in a mighty procession to the Demon Cold Wharf.

By then the wharf had long since been cleared. The boats that ordinarily thronged the harbor had all been held back to one side, and only thirty-two sailboats lay ranged in a single line along the wharf, twenty meters apart. To ensure fairness, all thirty-two were of the commonest model found in every sea region of the Southern Continent, uniform new vessels of identical make.

Watched by the Sky-Bearing Escort Agency contingent led by Qi Wenmo, Wei Zhao boarded sailboat number five. The contestants of the other thirty-one agencies likewise took their places aboard their own vessels, in the order of their agencies' rankings at the previous grand gathering.

Stepping into the wheelhouse, Wei Zhao looked around. The layout was essentially identical to the sailboat he had used on his last escort run, so he need not worry about being unable to sail her—at worst he might be a little rusty.

Within the wheelhouse, besides the compass, the route charts, and the other standard necessities, there was one item added specially for this gathering: a small jade-token array, marked with a number matching the sailboat's—number five.

After more than a year knocking about Cloud Terrace Island, from North Island to Central Island and now to the Southern Continent, Wei Zhao had broadened his horizons considerably. In particular, his friendship with the widely traveled Di Xingdao and Hong Zhong had taught him much; even things he had never seen, he could guess at.

This little jade-token array with its number was, unless he missed his guess, one half of a mother-and-child array. The one before him was the child; the mother would be somewhere in Demon Cold City, its numbers corresponding one to one.

If sailboat number five met with disaster—especially if the boat were destroyed and its crew killed—the little jade-token array would be destroyed with it. The mother array would receive word at once, and the people waiting in Demon Cold City would know exactly what had happened.

A stirring bugle call rang out. The thirty-two sailboats at Demon Cold Wharf hoisted sail as one and set forth along the prescribed course, departing together with no order of precedence.

"Nothing must go wrong!" Qi Wenmo prayed silently as he watched Wei Zhao's sailboat number five. He truly did believe Wei Zhao would not attempt anything he could not handle, but even so he could not keep his heart from quaking. Better safe than sorry—if anything did happen to Wei Zhao, he would never be able to atone for it even with ten thousand deaths.

Qi Wenmo was beside himself with nerves, but the heads of the other agencies showed no sign of worry, only an attitude of complete indifference. The ones sent into the field were all old, weak, sick, and crippled; everyone knew that once they set out, they would not be coming back, so no one harbored the slightest hope.

The sole exception was the Four Seas Escort Agency. They were not worried at all—they looked smug and certain of victory, as though the points for this second round were already a cooked duck in their eyes, unable even to fly away.

Never mind the myriad expressions of the crowd waiting at the wharf—once the thirty-two sailboats set out, since all were new vessels of the same model, they ran neck and neck through the opening stretch of the ordinary sea route. Even if slight gaps opened up, they were too small to be worth noticing. (A windfall event—cool phones for the taking! Follow Qi~Dian/Chinese Web's official account (WeChat: Add Contacts—Add Official Account—enter qdread) and join now! Prizes for everyone—follow the qdread WeChat official account today!) (To be continued)