Chapter 4428 — Beyond All Expectation
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 3
Fortunately, Jade Tablet No. 5 had remained safe and sound all along. Of the thirty-two jade tablets, only two were left, and one of them was No. 1, the other No. 5.
The man in charge of the Four Seas Escort Agency had worn a look of unshakable confidence from first to last, never once even glancing at the mother-and-child jade tablet formation, as though the outcome were already carved in stone. Having endured to this point, Qi Wenmo finally allowed himself a measure of relief.
It seemed his choice had not been wrong. Ling Yi never undertook anything he was not sure of; if he had dared to go, that meant he had complete confidence, and the present state of the jade tablet formation was proof enough of it.
Even so, until he saw Wei Zhao return safe and sound, Qi Wenmo still dared not let his heart rest entirely easy. He kept praying in nervous silence that nothing unexpected would happen next.
The time of one long stick of incense—not so very long, yet not so very short either. By the rules of the contest, anyone who could return within that span would earn the highest score of two hundred points.
But that was only in theory. In the first round, with so many escort agencies and so many lives spent, only the Four Seas Escort Agency had managed a score above one hundred. Points like that did not come easily.
So that lofty two hundred was fair to look at and nothing more—a castle in the air, a decoration no one could ever realistically attain.
None of them had personally sailed the contest route, but since it was put forward in a grand gathering where the finest were assembled, one could well imagine that this stretch of sea was anything but simple. The near-total death rate was proof enough of that, and the round trip was a full forty li. To return within one stick of incense—how could that be easy?
Any insider with even a little common sense would never believe anyone could make it back within a single stick. Especially now, when of the thirty-two escort agencies only two remained alive. Never mind one stick—it would already be remarkable for anyone to return before the third.
"A boat's coming!" Just as the first stick of incense was about to burn out, someone suddenly shouted. The docks erupted into commotion at once; everyone rose on tiptoe and craned their necks in anticipation. The experts and connoisseurs among them gaped in astonishment, exchanging looks of disbelief.
"Couldn't be an outside vessel, could it?" someone muttered doubtfully, and at once many around him echoed the sentiment. The docks had been sealed off temporarily for the contest, but foreign ships could not be entirely barred from entering the harbor. So if it were an outside vessel, there would be nothing strange about it.
But then, as the sailboat drew nearer and its outline grew clearer through the sea mist, the crowd abandoned that guess one after another—because this sailboat was unmistakably one of the standard vessels used for the contest.
"Heh heh, that rascal Wang Baitiao has really come along!" Hai Wuliang, seated with the other four judges, could not help saying with pleased surprise.
In the earlier special drills, Wang Baitiao's best time had been two sticks of incense, which by the rules earned exactly one hundred points—never in his wildest dreams had he expected the boy to deliver a surprise like this. This was a full hundred points for free.
"Congratulations, congratulations—looks like the Four Seas Escort Agency takes the crown again this year." Zhao Bufan and the others cupped their hands and offered congratulations to Hai Wuliang, while inwardly sighing in helpless resignation. With the Four Seas gaining two hundred extra points just like that, the rest of them truly had no chance at all.