Chapter 4461 — A Truly Bold Move

"Old Song, even you..." Qi Mingyuan frowned, then heaved a sigh. "It's not that I don't understand the reasoning, but these things have to be done step by step. You can't just throw him into such peril all at once, can you? The Xuanying Escort Agency is no easy foe!"

"Chief, the way I see it, dangerous as this match may be, Wenhan will come to no harm. After all, Young Hero Ling is with him, and you've seen the young man's talent for command on the spot. Nothing will go wrong." Steward Song was utterly confident.

"That... that is true..." Qi Mingyuan hesitated. Wei Zhao's presence did set his heart at ease—even without stepping into the arena himself, mere command from the sidelines ought to be enough to guarantee Qi Wenmo's safety. At last he nodded. "This world belongs to the young in the end. Old Song, you and I have grown old..."

"Just so. Our Qingtian Escort Agency will soon turn a new page—a future beyond measure." Steward Song nodded.

"Well said—a future beyond measure!" A flash of keen light came into Qi Mingyuan's eyes, and only then did he at last make up his mind and publish the roster of Qingtian Escort Agency's competing escorts.

The moment the crowd saw that the very first name on the roster was Qi Wenmo, the young master of the Qingtian Escort Agency, an uproar broke out and everyone fell to discussing it.

Given all the wondrous displays before—especially their having just crushed the onrushing Wuma Escort Agency without losing a single man—few in the crowd truly looked down on the Qingtian Escort Agency now. They were not fools, after all. Even if the Qingtian Escort Agency had not yet shown overwhelming strength, the plain record of victories lay before their eyes, and one could not help but concede.

And now, at the sudden sight of Qi Wenmo leading the team into the field in person, the crowd was not as contemptuous as Wei Zhao had anticipated. Instead, every one of them was roused to high spirits—facing so weighty and powerful an opponent as the Xuanying Escort Agency, the Qingtian Escort Agency was finally going to play for real!

"Qi Wenmo?" In the Xuanying Escort Agency's camp at that moment, a middle-aged man in a black greatcoat, a striking saber scar across his face, could not help but pause slightly at the sight. This man was none other than Zhao Shanying, chief of the Xuanying Escort Agency.

Five years ago, the Yuantong Escort Agency had crumbled to pieces overnight; then, within a single year, Zhao Shanying—who had been but an ordinary escort under Yuantong—rose on the tide of chaos. Not only did he swallow up the various factions left in Yuantong's wake and reorganize them into the Xuanying Escort Agency, but after three further years of expansion he was now stronger than ever before. This was a formidable figure of the ruthless-hero mold.

"They've been forced to bring out even their young master—plainly the Qingtian Escort Agency is nothing more than this. Last time they were lucky enough to win one of the five great escort seats, but alas, an upstart is an upstart, and will never amount to anything." An escort beside him curled his lip.

"The Qingtian Escort Agency has at least held a place among the five great agencies for five years. If even they are mere upstarts in your eyes, then what does that make our own Xuanying Escort Agency?" Zhao Shanying glanced at him.

"Uh..." The escort was struck speechless at once. Though their own agency had been reorganized from the Yuantong Escort Agency, strictly speaking it was still an agency newly founded only a few years ago. To insist on feeling superior before the Qingtian Escort Agency would be somewhat self-deluding...

"The greatest difference between a noble house and an upstart lies not in strength but in depth—in bearing. After a mere five years of settling, this Qingtian Escort Agency has already quietly acquired the bearing of a noble house: able to gather and able to release, capable of defeating foes by stratagem and of fighting to the death in close array. Truly no simple matter!" Zhao Shanying said with feeling.

For years he had set his heart on forging that noble bearing. To others, perhaps, the Xuanying Escort Agency was already strong enough, but in his eyes it fell far short—and now, seeing the Qingtian Escort Agency, that gap seemed all the more glaring.

"Chief, since the Qingtian Escort Agency is stronger than expected, shall we still proceed with the original plan for this match?" asked the escort beside him, who was in charge of on-the-spot command.

"No. This time I will command in person. If our Xuanying Escort Agency is to rise, we must put the Qingtian Escort Agency down—this match we may win, but we may not lose!" Zhao Shanying's whole bearing turned grim.

The present Qingtian Escort Agency did earn a measure of his admiration, but admiration was admiration; he could not go easy on that account. The more so, the more he must strike them down. Such an opponent was worthy of Zhao Shanying taking the field to command in person!

Even as Zhao Shanying observed the Qingtian Escort Agency, Wei Zhao, Qi Wenmo, and the others were all closely studying the Xuanying Escort Agency—know the enemy and know yourself, and a hundred battles will bring no peril.

"That man is the chief of the Xuanying Escort Agency?" Wei Zhao sized Zhao Shanying up from head to toe. Whether against the Wuma Escort Agency earlier or against the Yongxing Escort Agency in the first round of the escort-defending battle, he had only ever watched the opposing escorts and never the one directing them from the sidelines. This time, however, was an exception.

"Just so. His name is Zhao Shanying, and my father rates him very highly—higher even than Hai Wuliang. He is a ruthless-hero figure of immense ambition and daring." Qi Wenmo nodded, his face full of vigilance.

"Mm. He does look far from simple." Wei Zhao nodded. Having weathered so many storms and seen so many sorts of people from every walk of life, he had in fact gained considerable insight into reading faces and characters.

The face, as the saying goes, springs from the heart—and that "face" is not mere features but also a person's air and bearing. This Zhao Shanying across the way gave an impression of uncommon dignity, and he bore both the righteous and the wicked in him—the very countenance of a ruthless hero.

As the two spoke, the competing escorts of the Xuanying Escort Agency across the way, urged on by the presiding judge, had already filed onto the field. The five of them lined up shoulder to shoulder and took their stand upon the arena, and at once a gasp swept through the whole crowd.

All five competing escorts were consummate Golden Core cultivators!

"A truly bold move!" Even Qi Wenmo could not help drawing a sharp breath.

In the South Continent Escort Assembly, where by rule only Golden Core cultivators may compete, to field five consummate Golden Core cultivators at once was an absolute dream lineup. In times past, only an overlord agency like the Sihai Escort Agency could marshal such a formation—and who would have thought the Xuanying Escort Agency's strength had grown to such a degree!

By comparison, the Qingtian Escort Agency had only three consummate Golden Core cultivators on its side. Setting all else aside, on the strength of the roster alone they had already fallen at a disadvantage. (To be continued..) R527