Chapter 4211 — The Contest Is Decided!

Yet in the very next instant, Shangguan Tianxia gave a faint start—the situation on the arena had abruptly changed!

BOOM! Beneath the overwhelming, sky-covering lash-shadows of the Nine Heavens Venom Dragon Whip, two spheres of crimson firelight suddenly erupted, and Xu Lingchong's prized Nine Heavens Venom Dragon Whip was shattered on the spot. The sheer, appalling force of it was enough to strike terror into any heart!

Amid a chorus of gasps, the Golden Core experts below finally recognized those two crimson firelights for what they were—phantom fire palms, one small and one large, with the hazy outline of a bagua diagram between them, roaring outward in two separate directions: the smaller striking Meng Zhou, the larger heading straight for Xu Lingchong.

At this moment, Xu Lingchong and Meng Zhou were still mired in disbelief, and before either could react, two dull thuds rang out, accompanied by the sickening crack of breaking bone. Then, like kites with their strings cut, they were blasted clean off the arena, without the slightest chance to hit back.

A single improvised strike—the Fury Fire Bagua Joint Palm—and its power was as formidable as this!

A wave of sharply indrawn breaths swept through the crowd, and everyone stared at one another, speechless for a long while.

And what shocked people even more than the one-blow rout of two fighters was the condition the two of them were in. Meng Zhou was the luckier of the two, since it was Huang Xiaotao who had been his main attacker. Though it was the same Fury Fire Bagua Joint Palm from the same source, its power was plainly far weaker, so Meng Zhou was battered and bedraggled, but not too badly hurt.

The truly pitiful one was Xu Lingchong. The Fury Fire Bagua Joint Palm that struck him had come from Wei Zhao's own hand, its power at the very least on the order of a peak late Foundation Establishment, and it had caught him square in the chest with no warning at all. This Young Master Xu, so insufferably high and mighty since his triumphant return, now lay flat on the ground with his eyes bulging, breathing far more out than in—plainly at death's door.

"Chongchong!" Meng Zhou howled in grief and fury at the sight, and heedless of his own injuries, scrambled and stumbled his way to the dying Xu Lingchong's side.

At the same moment, a figure abruptly arrived on his heels—none other than Xu Yuanzheng, the man in charge of this inner-sect tournament.

"He's still got one breath left in him—quick, get him to treatment!" Xu Yuanzheng said urgently after a hurried check of Xu Lingchong's condition.

Anxious as he was, he was the host of this inner-sect tournament and could not simply abandon his post, so he had no choice but to let Meng Zhou carry the boy off and find someone to save him.

Meng Zhou nodded hurriedly, and without so much as another glance at Wei Zhao on the arena, gritted his teeth against the pain, gathered Xu Lingchong into his arms, and rushed off. The Threefold Pavilion had its own medical ward, where healers gathered in numbers; and for Xu Yuanzheng's sake, whoever was there would do their utmost. Xu Lingchong's condition was desperately weak now, but perhaps—just perhaps—there was still a thread of hope.

Yet no sooner had he carried Xu Lingchong off the North Island arena and reached a deserted, quiet spot than the black-clad mystery man suddenly appeared before him. A gust of clear wind swept past—and the black-clad mystery man, together with Meng Zhou and Xu Lingchong, vanished without a trace, gone no one knew where.

Now, on the arena, after a long stretch of stunned silence, the referee finally declared Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao the winners—and the way everyone below looked at Wei Zhao was utterly different from before.

"Th-this Wei Zhao is really something else..." someone muttered, the corner of his mouth twitching.

"Obviously—what kind of eyes do you have, to only figure that out now? I knew this newcomer king was formidable all along. In the singles final he was obviously throwing the match on purpose—anyone could see that!"

"Exactly. He probably couldn't even be bothered to fight Xu Lingchong one-on-one—he was saving it for the doubles, so he could take care of them both at once and save himself the trouble!"

"That does sound about right... Huh? Wait a minute! You two weren't singing that tune before—didn't you say Wei Zhao couldn't possibly be a match for Xu Lingchong? What changed?"

"..."

"Grandfather, see how formidable little junior brother and Senior Sister Xiaotao are? This joint palm of theirs is a killer move I've been practicing with them for the past few days!" The worry on Shangguan Lan'er's face had vanished completely, and as she rejoiced for Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao, she boasted to Shangguan Tianxia.

"Heh heh, Little Lan'er, you only went to watch them practice, didn't you?" Shangguan Tianxia teased with a smile.

"That still counts as being together, so I get a share of the credit!" Shangguan Lan'er stuck out her tongue cutely.

Shangguan Tianxia burst into hearty laughter, patted Shangguan Lan'er lightly on the head, and as he looked far off toward Wei Zhao, his gaze held visibly more admiration than before.

Truth be told, even he had not expected Wei Zhao's counterattack from the brink of defeat to come so ferociously and so violently. Plainly only at the early Golden Core stage, yet facing the insufferable Xu Lingchong, he had killed him in a single move—such a showing was truly appalling to hear of!

If Xu Lingchong had merely been an ordinary mid Golden Core expert, that would have been one thing—but the trouble was, he too was a perfect-breakthrough Golden Core expert!

Two perfect Golden Core experts, equals in that regard—and Wei Zhao's sudden reversal in this match had, by his actual deeds, made one thing plain to all: even among geniuses, there are grades and tiers!

Xu Lingchong and Meng Zhou had been the pair most favored to take the doubles championship, yet they were cut down in a single move by Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao—and after that, the doubles matches simply became the stage for those two alone.

Whatever opponents they faced, it was a one-move kill from first to last, with no variation whatsoever—the same Fury Fire Bagua Joint Palm from beginning to end.

By the final stages, everyone present could even work out the pattern of their moves—yet even so, nothing changed the outcome. It was one move, the Fury Fire Bagua Joint Palm; so what if you saw the pattern coming? Unsolvable at the start, still unsolvable at the end—that was the gap of absolute strength!

Cutting down one opponent after another, Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao gave the whole crowd a fine demonstration of what it meant to be an invincible presence at the Golden Core stage!

In several rounds, their opponents, facing such a domineering pair, could not muster even a shred of fighting spirit and hurriedly conceded the moment they stepped up. Wei Zhao's team was invincible for all to see; there was no shame in conceding, and it spared them injury besides—so why cling stubbornly on?

It is worth noting that among these were Yu Jiang and Nan Tianxiong's pair. They had dreamed of grinding Wei Zhao underfoot, but circumstances overmatched the men—Xu Lingchong had nearly been beaten to death, so for them to come blundering up now would have been courting death outright, no?

In the end, Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao locked in the top spot of the doubles tournament beyond any doubt, and their glory and dominance far outshone Xu Lingchong's first place in the singles. R1152