Chapter 4207 — Conceding as the End
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
And so it was. In his previous match against the peak mid-Golden Core expert, Wei Zhao had already won with great difficulty, expending no small amount of stamina and true qi, and had even taken a slight injury. The wound had been healed by the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art, and his true qi had largely recovered with the replenishment of the jade pendant's space—but the wear on his spirit was not so easily dispelled.
In such a state, facing a Xu Lingchong at the height of his powers, it was not that he had no chance of winning, but at the very least it would be bitterly hard, requiring a great price for even a slim opportunity.
To know his own condition was poor and still force himself to put on a brave front and charge in—that was the act of a brainless hothead, and Wei Zhao had not yet grown that fond of posturing.
One had to understand: even by conceding outright, Wei Zhao still placed second in the singles, and could still claim forty-nine points—only one short of Xu Lingchong's fifty. The doubles match was still to come, and that single point of difference could hardly count as a gap at all.
After all, the final ranking was decided by the sum of points from both events; as for whether one had placed first or second in the singles, hardly anyone would care.
"Conceded just like that? You show-off newbie—weren't you always so good at showing off? What, lost your nerve today?" Once Xu Lingchong recovered his wits, he seized the moment to heap on the mockery, sneering, "Seems this newbie king of yours knows his times well enough! I let you caper about before only because this young master couldn't be bothered with you. Now the perfect chance has come to put you in your place, and you don't say a word—you just tuck your head in like a turtle. 'Bully the weak, fear the strong'—you've carried out those four words to perfection..."
As Xu Lingchong took the opportunity to jeer and deride him on the platform, the crowd below began pointing and whispering as well; the looks cast at Wei Zhao now plainly held a few more measures of contempt than before. So this so-called newbie king who had burst onto the scene from nowhere was nothing more than this—a man of empty reputation after all.
Wei Zhao smiled faintly, not bothering in the least to pay heed to Xu Lingchong or the crowd below. As if nothing were the matter, he turned and walked down off the platform of his own accord, his expression serene and unruffled from first to last, without the slightest sign of caring.
With that, the first phase of the inner sect tournament—the singles—came to a complete end, leaving behind a heap of talking points. Summed up in four words, it was this: a new generation rises.
Such a result was absolutely unprecedented. People could already foresee that this generation of inner sect newcomers was destined to be remembered as a golden generation fit for the annals, one that would furnish endless after-dinner conversation and go on to command the future of the Threefold Pavilion of the Northern Isle.
After the singles concluded, there would be three days of rest, followed immediately by the doubles. Because the number of matchups was halved, the schedule would be even tighter than the singles—all of it finished within a single day, with no further chance for rest.
Those three days were therefore especially important to every Threefold Pavilion disciple taking part in the inner sect tournament. The singles results could no longer be changed, and some rejoiced while others grieved—yet this was only the halfway mark. Whether one could ultimately achieve a satisfactory placing in this tournament depended entirely on one's performance three days hence. (This book has no stockpiled chapters; resuming three updates a day from today.) (To be continued...) R527