Chapter 4483 — He Had the Same Tone
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 3
The strange, tense atmosphere lingered for the space of a breath or more. Only after it was confirmed that Wu Baoliang was truly dead did the presiding judge finally declare Wei Zhao the victor, and only then did the arena erupt with the astounded cries that had been pent up so long.
Whatever awe the crowd had once held for Wu Baoliang had now been transferred wholesale to Wei Zhao—and then some.
Winning one match could have been chalked up to luck, but now he had won two in a row, and even Wu Baoliang had been beaten to death—killed, no less, by his own technique. There was nothing left to say.
Among all the experts present, not to mention the many Gold Core-stage escort masters, even among those Nascent Soul-stage higher-ups, very few could truly overpower Wu Baoliang—and as for finishing him off with his own moves, that was utterly impossible. Yet this outrageous, heaven-defying feat had been accomplished by Wei Zhao before everyone's eyes.
Whew! Looking down at Wu Baoliang's corpse, Wei Zhao let out a long, soft breath. At last, his journey to the Southern Continent had come to a satisfactory close.
Much had happened along the way, and there had been no small number of unexpected gains and fortuitous encounters, but there was no denying that this assignment had dragged on far too long. Simply to hunt down one heretic cultivator, Wu Baoliang, it had taken months from start to finish—even Wei Zhao could not help feeling a little worn out.
Still, if he had not grown considerably stronger over those months, he would truly have been at a loss against a fighter comparable to a mid-Nascent Soul expert like Wu Baoliang. As things stood, it had all come together naturally. Not only was the mission completed smoothly, but mastering the Fury-Fire Thousand-Blast Fist had sent his strength surging yet again—a cause for celebration indeed.
Wu Baoliang's head had been taken, the purpose of this trip to the Southern Continent Escort Gathering had been achieved, and Wei Zhao could now retire with his honors. Besides, he had fought Wu Baoliang three times in succession. Even having won, in the eyes of onlookers his true qi must surely be severely depleted, and he should have little fighting strength left.
Yet Wei Zhao remained standing motionless amid the ruins of the platform, gazing at Cheng Haonan from afar, and said mildly, "I continue my challenge against the Dragon Boat Escort Agency."
The whole crowd was struck speechless. The looks directed at Wei Zhao could not help but turn somewhat peculiar. This fellow was not only outrageously powerful, but his temperament, it turned out, was just as domineering and overbearing. He had suffered a single loss at Wu Baoliang's hands, and now, not content with having beaten Wu Baoliang to death, his stance made plain that he meant to vent his wrath on the entire Dragon Boat Escort Agency!
What they did not know was that Wei Zhao had no interest whatsoever in going after the Dragon Boat Escort Agency. He merely wanted to use this opportunity to pull the weeds out by the roots and strangle this hidden danger, Cheng Haonan, along with them.
"Haha! Young Hero Ling is truly a man who repays both kindness and grievance in kind—what spirit!" Qi Mingyuan laughed heartily from his seat on the judges' panel. Had it been anyone else watching Wei Zhao act so willfully, they might have felt some private resentment in his position—but not Qi Mingyuan. He had always been blunt and straightforward by nature, and Wei Zhao's display was exactly to his taste.
A true man ought to strike decisively, to answer a grudge with a grudge. In this situation, were he in Wei Zhao's place, he too would inevitably choose to root out the danger entirely—so long as no one came to harm, it did not matter even if he lost points in defeat. That was the bearing the Sky-Pillar Escort Agency ought to have.