Chapter 4206 — Against Xu Lingchong

Although Wei Zhao was their enemy as well, by comparison their hatred for Yu Jiang ran deeper. Humiliated at Yu Jiang's hands only yesterday, they now saw him suffer the very same fate today—what a thoroughly satisfying feeling!

Wei Zhao paid no mind to Yu Jiang's cursing and turned his attention to another match, one of whose protagonists was Huang Xiaotao. Her opponent today was Meng Zhou.

If coincidence were the word, Wei Zhao's own pairing against Yu Jiang was coincidence enough already; who would have thought Huang Xiaotao would end up facing Meng Zhou directly? This could no longer be explained by coincidence—and with Xu Yuanzheng presiding over this inner sect tournament to boot, if no one had tampered with the drawing of lots, then one might as well believe in ghosts.

Huang Xiaotao and Meng Zhou were both early Golden Core experts, and both of them perfect breakthroughs at that. Purely in terms of strength, they did indeed make a well-matched pair of rivals.

And yet, Huang Xiaotao's martial skills and weapons put her at far too great a disadvantage on the arena—especially since this was a singles match, with not even one person to cover for her.

Winning the first round against Wu Bufan yesterday had been no small feat. Now, meeting an opponent as formidable as Meng Zhou, another perfect Golden Core expert, her chances of victory were naturally slim. Even Wei Zhao did not hold out much hope for her.

Meng Zhou's strength was far beyond Wu Bufan's reach, and he excelled in the Thousand Legs, making him a speed-type powerhouse. Closing the distance to Huang Xiaotao would be far easier for him than for Wu Bufan. More crucially, Huang Xiaotao's move of turning arrows into spears after being closed in on had already been exposed yesterday. Once a technique like that was guarded against, it was very hard to make it work again.

And indeed, things turned out just as Wei Zhao had expected. After holding out for the time it takes to burn a stick of incense, Huang Xiaotao finally fell to Meng Zhou's Thousand Legs. Fortunately, Wei Zhao had long since instructed her that self-preservation came first.

This time, following Xu Lingchong's wishes, Meng Zhou had meant to simply kill Huang Xiaotao outright and leave Wei Zhao utterly stranded in the upcoming doubles match. To his surprise, once Huang Xiaotao knew she was no match, she chose to concede without the slightest hesitation, leaving him no chance to act.

"Hmph, consider yourself a fast runner!" Meng Zhou shot Huang Xiaotao a cold glance, then stepped off the arena and faced Xu Lingchong, delivering his appraisal in four words, his face full of disdain: "Nothing but ordinary."

"Good. Wei Zhao picks a trashy woman like that as his partner—he'll have no one but himself to blame when the time comes." Xu Lingchong laughed heartily and nodded in relief.

Huang Xiaotao's performance the day before had been remarkably striking, and he had harbored some misgivings about her; but now that Meng Zhou had sounded out her true depths, there was nothing left to worry about.

By the end of the morning, the second round of the singles matches was completely finished, and the list of the top fifty emerged. Wei Zhao, Meng Zhou, and Xu Lingchong—these few new faces of the inner sect tournament—still remained on the list.

Compared with the top hundred, the top fifty list was clearly a notch higher in true worth. Slipping into the top hundred might still rely on luck, but the top fifty required solid, genuine strength—of that there was no doubt.

The top fifty already counted as the upper echelon among all Golden Core disciples, worlds apart from those behind them. To say nothing else, at least they had already secured points—even if the last place among them got only one.

In the afternoon, the third round of the singles matches began, and the remaining fifty launched their assault on the top twenty-five.

Yet there were not twenty-five matches to be fought. Among the top fifty, some had won their morning bouts—but only narrowly, or at bitter cost. Even if they had not suffered serious injury, they had drained their stamina and true qi to the dregs, and could no longer take the field.

Such cases had already appeared in the second round that morning, but after a night's rest, the vast majority still had the strength for one more fight, so outright forfeits had been rather rare. Now, in the third round, at least ten of the top fifty were forced to forfeit.

They took no part in the drawing of lots; instead they were simply ranked jointly last among the top fifty, each receiving a single point.

As for the rest, they continued to draw lots and compete. A loss meant their journey ended there; a win did not necessarily mean advancing further, for in every round thereafter, some would be in no condition to fight on, and would withdraw after collecting their due points.

Fighting his way through round after round, Wei Zhao came through without real danger, and at last, after narrowly defeating a peak mid-stage Golden Core expert, he stood at the summit of the top fifty and entered the final match of the singles tournament.

Such a commanding performance left everyone present dumbstruck. He was still only an early Golden Core expert—and moreover a newcomer of the Welcoming Pavilion who had joined the Three-Layer Pavilion barely a year ago. And now he had actually fought his way through to the final match of the inner sect tournament's singles competition!

This was an unprecedented feat, a legend fit to be written into the annals of history. Even Zhang Lifeng in his day had never defied the heavens quite so outrageously!

Of course, Wei Zhao's ability to laugh last owed not only to his own formidable strength, but also to another important reason: the inner sect tournament rarely saw core disciples of late Golden Core or above take part, and even peak mid-stage Golden Core experts seldom appeared here.

Those who had reached that level were, in the vast majority of cases, already disciples of the various high-ranking magnates—some not even merely nominal disciples, but formal ones—and had no need at all to enter the inner sect tournament.

Their cultivation resources were prepared for them personally by those high-ranking magnates; they had no need to rely on the official resource allocations of the Three-Layer Pavilion. Naturally, then, there was no need for them to take part in the inner sect tournament. In fact, many core inner disciples stopped entering the tournament the very next year after becoming nominal disciples of a high-ranking magnate.

Of course, there were always exceptions—such as the peak mid-stage Golden Core expert Wei Zhao had faced earlier, or the late Golden Core expert Xu Lingchong had faced in the first round.

At the same time Wei Zhao secured his place in the final, the other side likewise produced a victor. The opponent Wei Zhao was about to face was none other than his old nemesis, Xu Lingchong.

By now it was evening. The two stood on the arena of the final match, the last rays of the setting sun falling upon them, seeming to dye them in a layer of crimson killing intent that made it impossible for the crowd below to look straight at them.

Before the battle had even begun, the atmosphere was already taut as a drawn bowstring. The crowd below grew keenly interested—Wei Zhao and Xu Lingchong alike were the talk of the town, and now that both had reached the final of the singles tournament at the same time, it was packed with explosive appeal.

"Grandfather, who do you think will win—our little junior brother or that loathsome fellow?" On Shangguan Lan'er's face, usually so carefree, there was for once a rare trace of worry. Beside her sat Huang Xiaotao, who had stopped at the top hundred, her face likewise clouded with concern. R1152