Chapter 5189 — I Protest!

Wei Zhao had in fact given instructions about this long beforehand. Their group was neither especially large nor especially small, and once the lots were drawn, an internal match was very likely. In such a case, they would naturally go through the motions and stop short of truly hurting each other, apportioning the victories sensibly to whoever needed them most.

Just as now: Yu Bing put on a show of going through the motions, then immediately conceded. Though she too had only recently succeeded in establishing her foundation, when it came to actual strength, Yu Bing was unquestionably far above Ying Ziyu.

With the counter-strategies and the techniques tailored against specific opponents that Wei Zhao had taught her, Yu Bing was confident enough to wring plenty of victories out of those Grand Antiquity Alliance disciples. So long as her luck was not too wretched, winning three of the next four bouts would be no difficult matter.

Ying Ziyu was a different case altogether. It would not be easy for her to win bouts against outsiders—especially with a malicious Xue Jianming lurking at the sidelines, eyeing them like a hawk. Securing the Grand Antiquity trial qualification would be even harder for her. That was why Yu Bing had voluntarily handed her the victory.

"Thanks, Brother Yu Bing." Back at the sidelines, Ying Ziyu was beaming. She wished she could draw one of her own people every single time—no need for many, just two more would do, and she would be guaranteed the Grand Antiquity trial qualification.

Wei Zhao and the others exchanged smiles. Truth be told, they were all thinking the same thing. Even with all their preparations, they still could not rest easy letting Ying Ziyu and the other girls take the risk. Unfortunately, the drawing of lots was left to heaven's will; if they had secretly rigged it, Xin Yi'an would have had no way to answer to those above him—and besides, so many eyes were watching.

"I protest!" Xue Jianming suddenly shouted.

The whole arena fell silent at once. Every gaze swung to him, and people looked at one another, baffled.

"What are you protesting?" Xin Yi'an asked with a frown.

"I protest their fixed match. In that last bout, that Yu Bing was obviously going easy on Ying Ziyu on purpose—a few perfunctory exchanges and then she wrapped it up in haste. Even a fool could see the trickery in it. Surely you are not going to tell me you could not see it either, Uncle Xin?" Xue Jianming snorted.

Everyone turned to look at Xin Yi'an, only to see him nod frankly and admit, "You are right. This old man saw it."

"Since you saw them pulling this sham, you, their leading uncle and the referee to boot, actually did nothing and let it pass—you connived at it and gave it your tacit blessing. Uncle Xin, is this not favoritism carried too far? Is this not treating the rules of our Grand Antiquity Alliance with utter contempt?" Xue Jianming pressed his advantage aggressively.

Yet Xin Yi'an showed not the slightest alarm. Instead he looked at him with a half-smile and said, "Forgive this old man's ignorance, but why don't you enlighten me, Xue Jianming—just which rule of the Grand Antiquity Alliance states that one may not pull one's punches during a bout?"

"This..." Xue Jianming, who had thought he had the man by the throat, was instantly struck dumb. If one encountered relatives or friends during a bout, going easy on them was only proper; the Grand Antiquity Alliance had indeed never had any compulsory rule on the matter.

"This old man has always treated everyone alike. If you go easy on someone else, or someone else goes easy on you, I will not stop it either. Any further questions?" Xin Yi'an said mildly.

Xue Jianming could only give a cold snort and say nothing, glaring venomously at Wei Zhao and the others as he waited for the next draw.

The next two bouts in a row featured no one from Wei Zhao's group. But by the fifth bout, it was finally Wu Chengtian's turn—and his opponent was Feng Pingxiu of the Righteous Qi Sect.

Xue Jianming was not well acquainted with this Feng Pingxiu, but the Righteous Qi Sect was also a minor sect of the Middle Island Alliance and had always enjoyed good relations with the Snow Sword Sect, so Xue Jianming's word still carried some weight with him. When he asked Feng Pingxiu to seize the chance and strike ruthlessly, Feng Pingxiu agreed at once.

Yet what made everyone's jaws drop was that Feng Pingxiu, who by all rights should have held the upper hand in strength, was sent reeling from the very first exchange by a rapid chain of attacks from Wu Chengtian. From beginning to end he had not the slightest power to fight back, and was simply carried off by one of Wu Chengtian's combination strikes.

"That man is formidable!" The crowd stared slack-jawed. Judging purely by what they saw, they assumed Wu Chengtian's strength was a whole tier above Feng Pingxiu's—never guessing that all of it was thanks to Wei Zhao's coaching.

The Righteous Qi Sect emphasized impartiality and gradual progress in both its mental cultivation methods and its techniques. Such a style was certainly very steady: so long as one held the advantage in strength, under normal circumstances one would essentially never be overcome by a weaker foe. But in Wei Zhao's view it had one enormous flaw—it was far too slow to warm up!

Because they warmed up slowly, Righteous Qi Sect disciples found it very hard to bring out their full strength at the very start. Especially in the first three moves, at best seven parts of their ten parts of strength could be displayed. Under such circumstances an ordinary opponent of the same level might not gain much advantage—after all, if one could settle an opponent within three moves, it would not be a match between equals.

But Wu Chengtian was no ordinary opponent. He had the counter-techniques Wei Zhao had specially taught him, which happened to hold Feng Pingxiu utterly in check. The scene was simply like a father beating his son. Once the first three moves had passed, Feng Pingxiu already showed signs of defeat; in his panic he had all his strength but simply could not bring it out, and being carried off by one of Wu Chengtian's combination strikes was really no surprise at all.

"Useless! Useless!" Xue Jianming was gnashing his teeth in fury again. Earlier, Luo Shasheng had at least let him see some hope before Qiu Lingshan turned defeat into victory at the last moment. But this Feng Pingxiu—he was nothing but a good-for-nothing lump of trash, utterly without use.

At least there were still chances! That was all Xue Jianming could tell himself. But to his infinite frustration, the bouts that followed either pitted Wei Zhao's people against one another, or ended with them smiling last, just like Qiu Lingshan and Wu Chengtian. Disciples of the various Grand Antiquity sects fell to them one after another, and several of them were overturned in come-from-behind victories that seemed divinely aided—it was enough to make one think he had seen a ghost.

Of course, Wei Zhao's group did not win everything. Lai the Fat and Kang Xiaofeng both suffered defeats—but the two of them were cunning devils. The moment they saw that the counter-techniques Wei Zhao had taught them failed to subdue their opponents outright, they did not entangle themselves at all, but simply shouted their surrender, leaving their foes no chance to do them harm even if they wanted to.

By the time all of them had finished their bouts, Xue Jianming was so depressed he wanted to spit blood, and wished he could take the field himself. Unfortunately, he was nominally at the great perfection of the Foundation Establishment stage—unless people foolishly challenged him across levels, how could such an opportunity ever arise? (To be continued.)