Chapter 2136 — Going Back on One's Word, Part 2
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
When he was at the Mystic Rank, he had crippled the strongest man below the Earth Rank; now that he was at the Earth Rank, could he not cripple the invincible existence below the Heaven Rank? And beyond that, Wei Zhao might still be concealing his true strength—he could well be a Heaven Rank expert!
At this thought, Zhuang Niaopao and Zhuang Niaoqiang exchanged a glance, and each saw in the other's eyes a deep, profound fear. All their earlier bluster collapsed in an instant, like drums falling silent.
It was one thing for a single man to be afraid—the other could still bolster his courage. But now both of them had lost their nerve, their spirit broken before the fight had even begun. That was the most fatal weakness one could bring to an arena.
"You two—so eager to die? The Ice Palace trial forbade killing, but this is a life-and-death arena!" Wei Zhao said, looking at the Zhuang brothers. "Since you've stepped up, don't step back down!"
"Lord Ling, don't strike yet!" Zhuang Niaopao cried, and as though his tail had been trodden on, he leapt down from the platform in a single bound. "I'm off the platform now—you can't touch me..."
"That's right, Lord Ling!" Zhuang Niaoqiang jumped down after him. "We concede! By the rules of the contest, once we've conceded, you can't hit us anymore!"
This turn of events left everyone present dumbfounded. No one had expected the Zhuang brothers to be so utterly brainless—boasting and swaggering on the platform moments before, and now that Wei Zhao had arrived, leaping straight off and conceding, as if terrified that Wei Zhao would kill them the instant he set foot on the stage!
Yet the Zhuang brothers showed not the slightest shame; on the contrary, they acted as though they had done something eminently sensible.
"Oh—so you concede. Then let it be," Wei Zhao said. "Old Master Zhao, you may announce the result!"
"In the contest between the two strong contenders, the hidden Han family wins and becomes one of the final two..." Old Master Zhao announced. What left him utterly speechless was that Wei Zhao had not fought a single match since yesterday—his opponents had done nothing but concede, concede, and concede again!
"Boss, you really are a terror! Those Zhuang brothers were shouting and posturing before, but the moment you showed up, they conceded outright. It's almost comical!" Han Xiaohu said.
"I crossed blades with their leader once before," Wei Zhao said mildly.
"Huh? They had a leader too? No wonder they were so arrogant. What happened to their leader afterward?" Han Xiaohu asked at once.
"Crippled," Wei Zhao said.
"Crippled? Boss, don't tell me you did it?" Han Xiaohu said in astonishment.
"If it wasn't me, why would they have begged for mercy?" Wei Zhao said with a smile.
"So that's it! I was wondering why those two loudmouths suddenly wilted!" Han Xiaohu nodded.
When the old master of the hidden Zhuang family learned that Wei Zhao was none other than Ling Yi from the trial, he had no objection whatsoever to Zhuang Niaopao and Zhuang Niaoqiang's concession—he wholly approved of their decision. Since this Wei Zhao was so powerful, there was truly no need to meet him head-on.
Meanwhile, the match between the hidden Yu family and the Qianshan Sect had also produced a result. The hidden Yu family had received Old Master Yu's instructions that preserving their strength came first. So after circling for a few rounds and finding no chance of victory, they too gave up and conceded, unwilling to fight to the death—they meant to save their strength for the contest with the Zhuang brothers!
Originally, the hidden Yu family's plan had been for the Zhuang brothers to expend a great deal of strength in their challenge against Wei Zhao—and ideally suffer some injuries—so that they could then seize an easy advantage and defeat the Zhuang brothers to take third place.