Chapter 4413 — Wei Zhao Directs the Battle
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 3
So everyone simply turned a blind eye, looking thoroughly accustomed to it. As one of the Five Great Escort Agencies, a certain privilege was only to be expected, after all; in the Southern Continent's seas, where the strong devoured the weak, being able to achieve this much rough fairness was already remarkable. No one was foolish enough to demand so-called true fairness.
After waiting a while, Qi Mingyuan on the platform finally saw the Dragon Boat Escort Agency's roster. He shook his head at Qi Wenmo beside him, signaling that Wu Baoliang was nowhere to be seen, and only then did Qi Wenmo submit the eight-man roster he had prepared in advance.
Only then did the heads of the other Five Great Escort Agencies each submit their own rosters in turn. Compared with the Sky-Holding Escort Agency, which had only risen to prominence last time, their methods were plainly more seasoned.
Qi Wenmo had been waiting on the Dragon Boat Escort Agency's roster, while they had been waiting on the Sky-Holding Escort Agency's—and on one another's. The Five Great Escort Agencies' greatest rivals had always been each other; the threat posed by the other agencies paled beside what they posed to themselves.
Once all thirty-two agencies' rosters had been submitted, Zhao Bufan, on behalf of the panel of judges, gathered every agency head together. Under the watchful eyes of all present, the drawing of lots began in public.
Since ancient times, in any form of competition, the drawing of lots had always been the stage most susceptible to dirty tricks, the stage most prone to backroom manipulation. Hence everyone paid it particular heed and watched it with particular attention.
Thus those supervising the drawing at close quarters included not only the judges drawn from the Five Great Escort Agencies, but also the various other powers invited to observe the proceedings. With so many masters watching face to face, anyone still able to rig the draw would truly have to possess Wei Zhao's heaven-defying methods.
Soon, beneath the gaze of the multitudes, the results of the draw were announced. Never mind how the other agencies had fared—at least the lots the Sky-Holding Escort Agency had drawn were not too bad.
By the results of the two draws, their opponent in the escort-defense battle was the Noon Horse Escort Agency, and their opponent in the escort-seizure battle was the Ever-Rising Escort Agency.
Fortunately, neither the Noon Horse Escort Agency nor the Ever-Rising Escort Agency belonged to the Five Great Escort Agencies—not now, and not in the past either. So in terms of overall strength, the Sky-Holding Escort Agency was plainly a notch above.
Yet Qi Wenmo showed not the slightest joy at this draw, for although these two agencies could not match the Five Great, they were by no means weak. At the last Southern Continent Escort Gathering, these two had ranked eleventh and thirteenth respectively.
What was more, both agencies' strength was exceedingly stable. Not only at the last gathering, but at nearly every gathering before it, they had essentially held to those same ranks. In other words, looking across all thirty-two escort agencies, the Noon Horse and Ever-Rising Escort Agencies might not count as first-rate, but they fully deserved their reputation as solidly above average.
The more crucial point was this: unlike the Sky-Holding Escort Agency, they had no later main event to save themselves for. Qi Wenmo still had to consider conserving his strength so as not to run out of steam later, whereas neither the Noon Horse nor the Ever-Rising Escort Agency harbored any such notion. Their typical strategy was to fight to the death in every single match, never deliberately holding anything back.