Chapter 4449 — The Final Duel
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"That could present a bit of trouble, though not much. From what I know, among the upper ranks of the Qingtian Escort Agency, only Qi Wenmo and Ling Yi are Golden Core cultivators—the rest are not. So once you issue your challenge, the one who steps forward will be either Qi Wenmo or Ling Yi." Hai Wuliang smiled.
Having suffered such a heavy loss at Ling Yi's hands, he had spent the past two days doing his homework on the Qingtian Escort Agency, and he now knew the entire outfit inside and out.
"Only those two? Then this is easy! Qi Wenmo is the young master who manages the agency's affairs—he can't very well take the field himself, so that leaves only Ling Yi!" Long Kuiba brightened at once, though inwardly he could not help feeling a pang of shame: an old rival of the Qingtian Escort Agency for so many years, and he understood them less thoroughly than Hai Wuliang did. The man truly deserved to be the overlord of the Southern Continent's escort world.
"Hmph, even if Qi Wenmo does step in himself, what of it? At worst we knock him down first and force Ling Yi out!" Wu Baoliang wore an expression of lordly contempt.
The likes of Qi Wenmo were not worth his notice at all, and even Ling Yi, who had crippled Old Kong face to face, had never truly weighed on his mind. Originally he had come only to avenge Cheng Haonan, but now that the man had offended him today, he was all the more determined to kill him.
At the thought of what tomorrow would bring, Cheng Haonan and the other two exchanged looks and burst into laughter, as elated as if they had already won a great victory.
Cheng Haonan wanted revenge, Wu Baoliang wanted to vent his spleen, and Long Kuiba wanted the rise of the Dragon Boat Escort Agency. So long as they followed the script laid out before them, the odds of all three getting what they wanted stood at ninety percent at least. Perhaps even higher!
"Well, this is all the help I can give you. Be sure to seize this opportunity—whatever you do, don't disappoint me." Hai Wuliang offered his instructions with a smile.
"Rest easy, Chief Escort Hai. So long as we follow the plan, Ling Yi is a dead man, and the Qingtian Escort Agency's days of glory are numbered!" The three nodded in unison, then took their leave. "It's getting late, so the three of us will be going. Chief Escort Hai, just sit back and enjoy the show tomorrow."
"Very well. I won't see you out." Smiling, Hai Wuliang escorted the three to the gate. Watching their triumphant backs recede, the corner of his mouth suddenly curved into a mocking arc. "A pack of bumpkins."
True enough—the special rule allowing an agency's helmsman to issue a challenge had been a spur-of-the-moment notion, one that had only occurred to him after meeting Cheng Haonan and the other two. And at first glance, apart from being aimed squarely at the Qingtian Escort Agency and Ling Yi, the greatest beneficiary of this rule was the Dragon Boat Escort Agency.
After all, Wu Baoliang was the rare sort whose outward strength was only Golden Core, yet whose true power could hold its own against a mid-Nascent Soul expert. Other agencies would be hard pressed to produce a second such man. In a tournament restricted to Golden Core cultivators, he was an unstoppable killing weapon—against whom the other agencies had no answer.
Under such circumstances, the Dragon Boat Escort Agency would naturally be the one laughing last. By then it would not merely trample the Qingtian Escort Agency underfoot—it might even vault to the heavens on the momentum, and drag the traditional powerhouses like the Four Seas Escort Agency down with it. That was no impossibility either.
But what sort of man was Hai Wuliang? This was the man who had built the Four Seas Escort Agency, step by step, into the overlord of the Southern Continent's escort world. Would he really be foolish enough to sew another's wedding dress? Least of all for three strangers who were so plainly crooked at heart?