Chapter 4459 — Victorious Again
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 3
Yet no sooner had he finished speaking than his thoughts drifted to distant North Africa. Back then, fighting in the jungle, tactics had been everything, and these stratagems of Wei Zhao's were nothing more than tricks worn threadbare in those days, only that no one on Yunjie Island used them.
Thinking of North Africa inevitably brought Yuning to mind. He wondered whether she was faring well in the mortal world, whether the others were well too, and whether they had received his letters.
He shook his head and cast off these melancholy thoughts, for the match in the arena was still underway.
"To have Young Hero Ling's aid is a blessing my Qingtian Escort Agency earned over several lifetimes, and the young master's blessing as well," Steward Song said with feeling, at the same time casting a pointed glance at Qi Wenmo.
Qi Wenmo scratched his head in embarrassment. By comparison, his own earlier performance as the young master had seemed far too callow. It was not that he was weak; it was simply that this fellow Ling Yi was a freak of nature, absurdly formidable in every respect, and an ordinary man truly could not compare.
"What are you panicking for? There are still four of you, and only four on the other side—what is there to panic about? Take them down in one concerted effort!" Wu Conglong, still unwilling to accept his fate, kept bellowing from below the arena, still hoping to stir up morale, still hoping for a reversal.
Yet to everyone watching, this could only invite mockery. Any clear-eyed observer could see that the Wuma Escort Agency's cause was lost; to still be talking tough at this point was utterly pointless.
Four against four was true enough. But the other side had one Golden Core consummate cultivator, two at the peak of late Golden Core, and one at late Golden Core, while the Wuma Escort Agency had one at the peak of late Golden Core and three at late Golden Core. The gap between them was far more than a little.
Had their morale still been soaring as usual, that would have been one thing—perhaps they really could have fought out a miracle. But the crux was that morale had now sunk to freezing point. What did they have left to fight with?
The course of the match afterward unfolded exactly as everyone had expected. Lacking strength and lacking morale, the Wuma Escort Agency had utterly lost its edge and was simply pinned down and battered by the Qingtian Escort Agency on one side.
Only when the time of one stick of incense ran out did it end. The four escort fighters the Qingtian Escort Agency left on the arena were still wholly unscathed, while the Wuma Escort Agency, having come on so aggressively, lost two more fighters. In the end, at the grievous cost of three lives, they concluded the challenge they had initiated themselves.
Without losing a single soldier, the Qingtian Escort Agency, though it had begun in farce, had easily laughed last. This scene truly made every jaw in the hall drop, and the crowd could not help but talk among themselves.
To utterly crush the Wuma Escort Agency, famed for its hard, iron-blooded style—even a traditional powerhouse like the Sihai Escort Agency might not manage such a thing, or at least would be unlikely to do it without losing a single soldier. Yet the Qingtian Escort Agency had done exactly that.
This duel was less a gap in strength than an outright crushing victory of intellect. From first to last, Wu Conglong had been toyed with in the palm of Wei Zhao's hand, without the slightest power to resist.
Yet precisely because of this, the Qingtian Escort Agency was held in even higher regard by those merchant guilds. Not only did the guild leaders not look down on them for the Qitian escort fighters' flight at their entrance—on the contrary, they all nodded in approval.