Chapter 4504 — Not a Single One Came
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 3
Of course, the overload of the ultra-limit state was immense—once used, one would inevitably suffer internal injuries. Moreover, Wei Zhao had not yet mastered such extreme techniques with any real proficiency, so at this stage it was better to avoid them whenever possible.
"It's coming!" Wei Zhao's eyes suddenly flashed with a keen light. Just now, while working through top-tier and ultra-limit body techniques, he had once again felt that same stirring artistic conception from before—and when he thought of the ultra-limit Butterfly Microstep, that conception had grown incomparably intense, surging and turbulent.
The vast, silent true qi within his body began to circulate on its own, beyond his control, faster and faster, until every meridian in his body grew fiercely active and his dantian churned like a storm-tossed sea—the signs of an imminent breakthrough!
By now the sky outside was gradually brightening. Wei Zhao had spent the entire night building up to this, and at last the thrilling moment had arrived.
With the sky fully bright, Demon Cold Plaza grew lively once more. Unlike the South Continent Escort Guild gathering of the previous three days, however, far fewer people had gathered here today—after all, there were no matches and no spectacle to watch. Apart from escort guild and merchant association personnel, outsiders had no reason to come join the crowd.
Naturally, the entire perimeter of Demon Cold Plaza was now guarded by escorts dispatched by the new Five Great Escort Guilds. Unless one had received an invitation, even those eager for some excitement had no way to slip inside.
After all, a great many order contracts were to be signed on the spot at today's assembly, involving no small amount of commercial secrets—so of course outsiders could not be allowed in to watch.
The assembly had not yet formally begun, but the attendees had already arrived in near-full force. At the heart of the inner circle, Qi Mingyuan, the newly risen overlord of the escort world, was in high spirits, chatting and laughing with great ease.
And the figures standing around him now were none of them ordinary. There was Chai Laoshi, manager of the Weihu branch of the Hong Merchant Association; Zhao Shanying, chief escort of the Xuanying Escort Guild; and the rest were likewise heads of various escort guilds and magnates of the merchant associations—every one of them a heavyweight. With Qi Mingyuan at its center, a new core interest circle had unmistakably taken shape.
By contrast, Hai Wuliang, once so eagerly courted, now stood utterly deserted, without a single well-wisher. Though the Four Seas Escort Guild had barely managed to hold on to the last of the Five Great Escort Guild seats, everyone knew the awkward predicament it now faced—and businessmen are always the quickest to trim their sails to the wind. Expecting them to send coal in the snow was pure fantasy.
Watching Qi Mingyuan and his crowd, Hai Wuliang's face went from green to purple by turns. To be so cold-shouldered in full public view—how was he supposed to endure the humiliation?
To keep standing there alone, exposed to all eyes, was simply too embarrassing and would only make him a laughingstock. Gritting his teeth, Hai Wuliang had no choice but to go strike up a conversation himself—something unthinkable in the past, but now he had no other recourse.
Still, he was, after all, a magnate of the Five Great Escort Guilds; Hai Wuliang could not possibly stoop to chatting up ordinary folk. And as for that core interest circle around Qi Mingyuan, he could hardly go thrust himself in and invite a snub. After turning it over and over in his mind, he could only settle on Zhao Bufan, chief escort of the Divine Wind Escort Guild—they had worked together for many years, and there was at least some friendship between them.