Chapter 4455 — All of Them Deathsworn

He was honestly a little unnerved by this mad, twitchy Wuma Escort Agency. They had won the first defensive bout, yes, but at the cost of three lives—a bitter victory at best. If they fought again, he truly could not guarantee a win.

To put it plainly, the Wuma Escort Agency was the classic case of strength outstripping reputation. Last tournament they had ranked eleventh, but in real terms they could comfortably sit within the top ten.

"They are doing this most likely to make a name for themselves in one stroke—and we are the stepping stone." Wei Zhao glanced at the agency points board. The Wuma Escort Agency now had one hundred and sixty points, thirteenth among all agencies—hardly impressive relative to their strength, barely respectable at best.

If things unfolded normally, the best the Wuma Escort Agency could hope for was to scrape into the top ten. As for joining the ranks of the five great agencies—that was pure fantasy.

All that strength, yet their points were underwhelming. With opportunities dwindling and time running short, rather than plod along step by step, why not challenge the Qingtian Escort Agency before all eyes—that was the shortcut to rapidly raising one's influence!

"Stepping stone? Let them dare!" Qi Wenmo's fury flared even hotter. To him the Wuma Escort Agency was a scar; at the mere thought of that bitter first-round victory, he could not suppress a surge of shame-fueled rage—especially since they now had the gall to climb all over him, treating the Qingtian Escort Agency as their stepping stone!

"Brother Qi, there's no need for anger. From where they stand, the notion is not unreasonable. For one, our points are high, but in everyone's eyes we are still merely a dark horse—our strength is not yet truly recognized. For another, our showing in the first round may have convinced them that our agency's strength is nothing more than that." Wei Zhao smiled faintly, unbothered.

"Hmph! A pack of curs who judge a man by his looks!" Qi Wenmo snorted coldly, then found himself choked speechless—who was it, after all, who had performed so poorly overseeing the defensive bout in the first round, making them think there was an opening to exploit?

Yet for all his anger, when it came to actually facing the Wuma Escort Agency, Qi Wenmo still felt a certain dread in his heart. They were like a hedgehog covered in spines—nowhere to sink your teeth. He had never had the slightest intention of challenging them. But now the other side had grown brazen, had come sticking to them of their own accord, and there was no avoiding it.

"Matters have come to this, so there's no point brooding over anything else. This battle is critical—win it well, and it will be enough to deter the other agencies and keep them from rash moves. But if we stumble by some mischance, the consequences are truly unthinkable." Wei Zhao addressed them all gravely.

The others nodded with solemn resolve. Their Qingtian Escort Agency had shone brilliantly in the first four rounds, but after all, they had no hard-won victories against strong foes to show for it. There were surely many who nursed private resentment—they simply had not yet taken the measure of them and for the moment dared not act rashly.

This time, if the Wuma Escort Agency opened a breach, then in the eyes of the other agencies the Qingtian Escort Agency—currently riding high as the sun at noon—would no longer be some invincible overlord of agencies, but a piece of rich, succulent meat. Any agency with even a shred of ambition would never let slip this prime chance at fame; they would surely charge in and take a vicious bite.

"Feed an army for a thousand days, use it for a single hour! Brothers of the Qingtian Escort Agency, the time to call on you has come! As before, every brother who enters the ring receives a reward of fifty thousand spirit jades. All who are willing to fight, step forward!" Qi Wenmo called out in loud encouragement.

"Aye!" the crowd answered in unison, stepping out at once without the slightest hesitation to form ranks. Never mind anything else—at least the sincerity the Qingtian Escort Agency showed its escort masters was second to none among any of the great houses' agencies. As for risking their lives for the agency, they were all of one mind: worth it!

Watching this, Wei Zhao raised an eyebrow slightly. Of the more than thirty escort masters present, every last one was willing to fight for the agency. Such morale was unmatched not only by the other agencies—even the Qingtian Escort Agency of a couple of days ago could not have matched it. Clearly the cohesion gained over these two days was no small thing.

"Excellent!" This too genuinely surprised Qi Wenmo, and he was overjoyed. Turning to Wei Zhao, he said, "Brother Ling, what comes next I leave entirely to you—myself included. Whoever you say goes in, goes in; however you say to fight, we fight!"

"Ha, Brother Qi, you had best sit this one out. If the honored young master of an agency must step into the ring himself, then win or lose, he will be held in contempt." Wei Zhao shook his head with a laugh, then swept his gaze one by one across the escort masters before him, at last selecting five.

One at the great perfection of the Golden Core, two at the peak of the late Golden Core, and two at the late Golden Core—this was the lineup Wei Zhao chose. Such strength could be counted among the Qingtian Escort Agency's first tier, but by no means their strongest roster.

Wei Zhao was deliberately conserving strength. This was only the first bout—he could not very well behave like a gambler and shove everything onto the table with no reserves. After all, these escort masters were not like Wei Zhao himself; often after a single bout, the true qi in their bodies was all but spent and could not be recovered for some time. They could only rest off the stage, unable to fight consecutive bouts.

"This... will this do?" Qi Wenmo asked in a small, uneasy voice. In his thinking, even a lion fighting a rabbit used its full strength—and their opponents, the Wuma Escort Agency, were no easy bone to gnaw. Slight the least bit, and one could capsize in a ditch.

"Whether it will do or not, I've already made my choice. Surely we can't change the lineup at the last moment—that is a cardinal taboo in warfare." Wei Zhao gave him an amused look.

"Oh, oh." Only then did Qi Wenmo catch himself; he hurriedly covered his mouth in apology. He had said before that everything was left to Wei Zhao's arrangement—to stick his own oar in now would be going back on his word, and whom were the men supposed to listen to then?

Just then, staff from the tournament came over to urge them onto the stage. Over there, the five competing escort masters of the Wuma Escort Agency were already standing on the platform, chests out and spirits high.

"Oh my—every one of them a deathsworn. Truly worthy of the famously mad agency—from top to bottom, a pack of lunatics who don't fear death!" Qi Wenmo's eyelid twitched at the sight.

The opposing lineup was one at the great perfection of the Golden Core, one at the peak of the late Golden Core, and three at the late Golden Core—on paper, about equal to their own side. But the aura emanating from those five was as though four words were plainly written across their faces: death without regret.

A deathsworn and an ordinary man—even with equal strength, in a real fight the deathsworn's odds of winning were far the greater. That much was certain! (To be continued)