Chapter 4490 — Disqualified!
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
Unfortunately, there was no such crack in the ground. Even if Hai Wuliang had wanted to burrow into one, there was nowhere for him to burrow—though, given his nature, there was of course no chance he would give up so easily.
By the assembly's schedule, the next order of business should have been the chief judge's closing address. But now that the Four Seas Escort Agency could not even place among the Five Great Escort Agencies, the title of chief judge naturally could not remain in Hai Wuliang's hands. It was Qi Mingyuan, the new overlord, who should take the stage and speak—that was what the crowd expected.
Hai Wuliang, however, plainly had no intention of yielding the floor so easily. His face grave, he shifted tack and continued: "The assembly's contests are all concluded, but there remains one matter of the utmost importance that I must announce to you all!"
"Through my observations as chief judge, it has come to my attention that certain parties cheated in this assembly, competing by dishonorable means and bringing shame upon its fairness and justice. They must therefore be severely punished!" Hai Wuliang spoke each word with righteous solemnity, working up the crowd's emotions before announcing with ringing finality: "I now declare, in the name of the chief judge, that the contest scores of the Skypiercer Escort Agency and the Dragonboat Escort Agency are revoked, that both are expelled from the Southern Continent Escort Alliance, and that from this day forth they shall never again take part in this grand gathering!"
"What? The first- and second-place agencies, both disqualified?" Uproar swept the hall. The whole of the Demonic Frost Plaza erupted in an instant; those who had been nodding off over the contests were suddenly wide awake, all clamoring the same question. What in the world was going on?!
If even the spectators were in such an uproar, how much more so Qi Mingyuan and the others, the parties at the very center of it? The looks they fixed on Hai Wuliang all said the same thing: had this creature gone mad? A sore loser playing such a trick?
Who did he think he was? A beaten dog who had lost his place as overlord and could not even hold his ground among the Five Great Agencies—yet he had the gall to call himself the assembly's chief judge, and to threaten to strip the top two agencies of their right to compete, and expel them from the Southern Continent Escort Alliance for good?
Qi Mingyuan and the rest were merely shocked, but Long Kuiba and Cheng Haonan, though their faces were no less grim, felt their hearts lurch. Neither of them was a fool; from the tone of Hai Wuliang's words they had already begun to sense what the creature was about.
The hall was on the verge of spiraling out of control, yet Hai Wuliang was in no hurry at all—in fact, he was secretly delighted.
The more agitated these people became, the better, as far as he was concerned, for the more agitated they were, the easier they were to steer. And once the crowd was roused to fury, everyone present would become a spear in his hand, to be aimed wherever he wished—and neither the Skypiercer nor the Dragonboat would escape.
In his original plan, this trump card had been aimed solely at the Dragonboat Escort Agency. But as he reviewed the contests just past, an inspiration struck him, and he decided to go all the way and crush both agencies at once.
It was a move born of necessity. True, if he brought down the Dragonboat alone, his Four Seas Agency could rejoin the ranks of the Five Great Agencies, and he would at least not lose too much face. But that alone would not change the larger picture: the Skypiercer was still bound to become the overlord agency.