護花近衛 - 第4467章 挑戰四海 - 翰墨軒

"Chief Zhao, you're too generous with your words. Your Xuanying Escort Agency is no slouch either," Wei Zhao said, exchanging a glance with Qi Wenmo.

And that was the plain truth. Had Wei Zhao's strategy not been so well laid, it was hard to say who would have come out on top; the odds of the Xuanying Escort Agency laughing last would certainly have been no lower than those of the Qingtian Escort Agency.

"Next time, we won't lose again." Zhao Shanying smiled with confidence, cupped his hands to Wei Zhao and Qi Wenmo, then turned and walked back into the Xuanying camp, where he began preparing for the match to come.

"Ha, now that is a real warlord—he can win, and he can bear to lose." Watching the man's retreating back, Wei Zhao nodded to himself. The world had no shortage of people who could win, but those who could lose with grace were few and far between. This Zhao Shanying was not to be underestimated.

"True enough, he's no simple man. He may have lost to us this time, but in the Southern Continent Escort Alliance of years to come, he will surely have a place," Qi Wenmo agreed, sharing the sentiment.

Unless he had close ties to a person, Wei Zhao generally paid little attention to those who did not concern him, but this time he made an exception. He had developed a certain interest in the Xuanying Escort Agency—and in Zhao Shanying in particular.

Barely a moment later, a declaration from the panel of judges and referees shook everyone once more: "Xuanying Escort Agency challenges the Four Seas Escort Agency by name!"

The whole hall erupted. Even a man as composed as Wei Zhao could not help but be briefly taken aback.

All eyes snapped to Zhao Shanying. He had first challenged the Qingtian Escort Agency, that brilliant top-tier dark horse, only to lose by a single man's margin. In one single arena duel he had lost five Gold Core consummate experts. Whether they died or not, those five were certainly finished so far as this grand gathering of the Southern Continent Escort Agencies was concerned.

Even the old established houses could hardly bear such a cost, to say nothing of the Xuanying Escort Agency, which had only recently been rebuilt. Everyone had assumed Zhao Shanying would lie low for a while, then pick a soft target later to claw back the points he had just lost.

No one had imagined the man could be so unyielding, not even taking a moment to catch his breath before issuing another challenge—and against none other than the Four Seas Escort Agency, that traditional overlord!

At that moment, nearly everyone had the same question in mind: where did Zhao Shanying get such confidence?

The Qingtian Escort Agency might be the toast of this gathering, but if one spoke of absolute strength, the Four Seas Escort Agency, that traditional overlord, was unquestionably the stronger—a fact universally acknowledged. And the Xuanying Escort Agency could not even beat the Qingtian Escort Agency, yet dared to challenge the Four Seas Escort Agency of its own accord. Was that not giving up on itself?

"So he means to burn his boats? Ha, there really is a warlord's bearing in him after all," Wei Zhao remarked, a note of appreciation in his voice.

After the earlier loss to the Qingtian Escort Agency, the Xuanying Escort Agency's points had already plunged from two hundred twenty to one hundred twenty. Lose again to the Four Seas Escort Agency, and twenty would be all they had left. Even if they were not directly eliminated, there would be no practical difference.

For an agency bent on riding a single surge of momentum back into the ranks of the five great agencies, and for Zhao Shanying above all, such an outcome would be a catastrophe—perhaps they would not even last until the next grand gathering before the whole agency collapsed.

Under such circumstances, even Wei Zhao himself, placed in Zhao Shanying's position, might not have mustered the resolve to challenge the Four Seas Escort Agency.