Chapter 4457 — Have You All Lost Your Minds

In a life-or-death bout on the arena, the most important thing is morale. Once morale is gone, no matter how great one's strength, it cannot be brought to bear, and one can only be carved up at will. Look at the Qingtian Escort Agency now—what morale could they possibly have left? If not for fear of the agency's punishment, those five contestants on the arena would likely have raised their hands and surrendered long ago!

As Wu Conglong laughed in smug triumph, the five Wuma escort fighters on the arena seemed to draw some spiritual encouragement from it; every move they made grew more violent and ferocious. The Qingtian fighters, chased all over the arena, were like a small boat caught in towering waves, in danger of being swamped at any moment, and the sight made the onlookers tremble with fear and break out in a cold sweat for them.

"Heh heh, this match is already a sure win. It won't take half a stick of incense before the victor is decided!" Wu Conglong said with utter certainty, then turned to his deputy beside him. "Hurry and get the challenge list ready, and go wait by the panel of judges. The moment this is over, submit our challenge application at once!"

"Chief Escort, who are we challenging next?" the deputy asked.

"Fool, the Qingtian Escort Agency again, of course!" Wu Conglong shot him a glare, greed written across his face. "Such an obvious soft target—easy points and plenty of fame to be had. There will surely be a crowd of agencies fighting to challenge them later, and we can't let others snatch the bargain!"

"Yes, sir!" The deputy finally understood, and hurried off excitedly to make preparations.

"Haha. Challenging the Qingtian Escort Agency this time was a stroke of genius—we'll reap both fame and fortune. At this rate, we can start seriously looking ahead to the Big Five!" Wu Conglong said smugly.

Things were going so smoothly that even he could hardly believe it. To rank among the Big Five had been his cherished dream for many years, one he had long since given up as hopeless—and who would have thought the Qingtian Escort Agency would prove to be such a peerless stepping stone, delivered right to his doorstep!

Wu Conglong eagerly awaited the quick decision of the match, so he could seize the momentum and squeeze the other side for all it was worth. Yet a full half-stick of long incense passed. The arena was still a scene of chaos and flurry, but not a single one of the five Qingtian fighters had fallen.

Not only that—the crucial point was that these five bore hardly a scratch on them!

As chief escort of the Wuma Escort Agency, Wu Conglong might have been bent on climbing to the top over the Qingtian Escort Agency's back, but his powers of observation were still beyond the ordinary, and he had already sensed that something must be fishy here.

Though for the moment he could not yet make out what trick the other side was playing, one thing was certain: those five Qingtian fighters on the arena were not truly this cowardly—they were acting on someone's instructions.

"Stop wasting time. Concentrate our strength and kill one of them first!" Wu Conglong suddenly ordered in a low, grim voice.

"Yes, sir!" The Wuma fighters on the arena had already grown somewhat restless, and at these words they at once formed a killing encirclement. It was nothing sophisticated, but given the arena's constraints, it was enough to easily trap one opponent in a corner—provided, of course, that the other four were temporarily left alone.

No matter what, take one down first; that way, even if the entire stick of incense burned out, the Wuma Escort Agency would still win, and at least nothing would go wrong.

Five against one—and the one cornered was the weakest of the Qingtian Escort Agency's fighters, a late-Nascent Soul expert. The drowsy spectators below the arena were instantly excited; given the Wuma Escort Agency's一贯 iron-blooded style, no one could save this poor wretch!

The smug look returned to Wu Conglong's face. He did not know what devilish scheme the Qingtian Escort Agency was hatching, but brute force overcomes tenfold cleverness—before absolute strength, all plots and tricks were nothing but a joke.

Unfortunately, Wu Conglong had forgotten one thing: judged by the true strength of both sides on the arena, the Wuma Escort Agency held no advantage at all. It was only the Qingtian Escort Agency's earlier desperate flight that had given him this subconscious illusion.

Without any need for Wei Zhao's orders, the other four Qingtian fighters, who had been left unguarded on the arena, instantly abandoned their previous head-clutching scramble and joined forces without hesitation—so swift was the change that jaws dropped. Their target: the strongest of the Wuma fighters, the one at the peak of Nascent Soul!

A moment before it had been a farce, and then in an instant the situation on the arena turned utterly tense. Everyone below the arena widened their eyes, afraid to miss a single moment of this fine show.

What had begun as five against one had in a flash become four against one on each side, for the Wuma fighter who had been marked would surely have his hands full, and at a glance it looked to be a race to see who could trade pieces first.

But there was a difference: should the trade truly happen, the Qingtian Escort Agency would lose their weakest late-Nascent Soul fighter, while the Wuma Escort Agency would lose their strongest peak-Nascent Soul—by any reckoning, a staggering loss!

"Hmph, you think that will frighten us? What a joke—let's eat the meat in our mouths first and talk later!" Wu Conglong was neither alarmed nor afraid. This was a situation others might fear, but the Wuma Escort Agency did not—true to their一贯 iron-blooded style, they would absolutely hold their ground under pressure, first finish off that late-Nascent Soul opponent, then turn around and strike back.

The weakest late-Nascent Soul fighter could not withstand a combined blow from several men, but the strongest peak-Nascent Soul fighter had at least a fifty percent chance of preserving his life; even if gravely wounded, it would still be a five-against-four advantage.

Few would dare take such a fifty-fifty risk—but the fighters Wu Conglong had ceaselessly indoctrinated were absolutely the exception, for after all, they had been raised as expendable die-hards.

Unexpectedly, at these words of Wu Conglong's, Wei Zhao, not far across the arena, curled the corner of his mouth very slightly. "Is that so?"

"How pitifully ignorant..." Wu Conglong wanted to retort, but before he had gotten out more than a few words, the five Wuma fighters on the arena suddenly shrank back in unison. They had, for the moment, let the Qingtian fighter trapped in the corner go, and instead faced the four behind them in wary confrontation.

"Have you all lost your minds? Retreat at a time like this? Do you dare defy even your chief escort's orders?" Wu Conglong flew into a rage, and the spectators outside the arena broke into an uproar as well. Defying orders was something that never happened in the Wuma Escort Agency—so how was one to explain this scene that so plainly slapped Wu Conglong across the face?

Hearing Wu Conglong's roar, the five Wuma fighters on the arena, especially the peak-Nascent Soul leader, could not help but shrink their necks in dread and terror. Originally he too had meant to hold his ground under pressure, to take the opportunity first to finish off one of the opponent's late-Nascent Soul fighters—and not only he, but every fighter who came out of Wuma possessed such resolve. (To be continued)