Chapter 4234 — Wei Zhao Volunteers

But at the same time, one had to remember that high returns often came with high risks. A top-tier outfit like the Hong Clan Trading Company, even in a place like the Wei Arc Sea, had its own logistics channels.

Under normal circumstances, they had no need at all to seek help from an escort agency; and once they did come knocking, it meant this assignment had already exceeded what they themselves could handle. One could well imagine how difficult it must be.

And what made the crowd shrink back even more was that the destination of this run was none other than Xianpeng Island!

Geographically, Xianpeng Island, though likewise an island of the Wei Arc Sea, was in fact the one nearest to South Island among all the islets of the Wei Arc Sea.

South Island was the gathering ground of the spirit beast race, where savage spirit beasts abounded, every one of them ferociously aggressive. To ordinary human cultivators it was an absolute forbidden zone. Xianpeng Island lay too close to South Island; a single misstep, and one would easily draw the attacks of those spirit beasts.

Beyond the threat of the spirit beast race, Xianpeng Island held an even deadlier peril: the miasma fog.

The miasma fog was unique to South Island. In a sense it could be regarded as a union of pestilential qi and sea mist, never dispersing through all four seasons. To the spirit beast race, whose constitutions were fierce and whose senses far outstripped those of humans, it was nothing much; but to human cultivators it was utterly lethal.

Caught within the miasma fog, one suffered not only desperately poor visibility and a tendency to lose one's way—the crucial thing was that the pestilential qi was highly toxic. Even a powerful cultivator could not hold out for long once immersed in it.

Xianpeng Island lay too close to South Island, shrouded in miasma fog the whole year round. The locals who had dwelt on the island for years, soaked in medicinal baths since childhood, still possessed a degree of immunity to the fog; but for outsiders, it was a fearful headache.

So unless there was some special necessity, no sane person was willing to go to Xianpeng Island. That the assembled escorts should wear such daunted looks was hardly surprising.

"Every one of you is an escort of my Qingtian Escort Agency, and I have never stinted on your keep. As the saying goes, feed troops for a thousand days to use them for one hour. Now that the hour has come, and every last one of you is being so courteous—that is hardly fitting, is it?" Seeing this, Qi Wenmo's originally sunny, amiable countenance could no longer hold.

The Hong Clan Trading Company was not merely an old patron but a power of great reach; the bond between them was not a simple matter of business dealings but a strategic partnership of mutual support. By every measure of sentiment and reason, he could not turn Wei Zhaotong's commission away. However hard the road, the Qingtian Escort Agency must not only take this assignment but guarantee it went off without a single mishap.

Qi Wenmo knew well that this run would be a hard one, and that these nominal escorts should shrink back was still forgivable. But the trouble was that there were standing escorts present as well—men he kept on at great expense day in and day out, who now flinched at the critical moment. How could that stand!

Seeing Qi Wenmo's displeasure, the assembled escorts could not help looking sheepish, and those few standing escorts in particular dared not meet his eye. Yet even so, they were still unwilling to take this assignment.

"Young Master, it is not that we do not wish to take it, but we have already pledged ourselves to other runs. Surely we cannot simply abandon them," someone replied, steeling himself.

"That I can understand—but surely not every one of you here is in such a case?" Qi Wenmo said, frowning.

"Young Master, I will go." At last one escort stepped forward.

"I will go too." At the same moment another stepped out beside him.

But apart from these two, not another soul came forward. Both were standing escorts with no other assignments booked at present, relatively idle these days; had they not stepped out now, they would have lost face, and so they had done so reluctantly.

As for the rest present, even the standing escorts, so long as they had any halfway plausible excuse, were not about to take such work; and of the free-roaming nominal escorts, needless to say, whether they took a run depended entirely on their own whim—the Qingtian Escort Agency had no hold over them at all.

"Is there anyone else willing to go? There is a good deal of cargo this time, and we need at least four escorts to guard it," Qi Wenmo said. His expression had eased somewhat, but he was still hard pressed.

Four escorts at minimum—that was Wei Zhaotong's requirement and the bottom line for the cargo's safety. But this run went to Xianpeng Island after all; that two had stepped forward was already creditable. To expect four all at once was truly difficult.

Fortunately, those present were only a portion of the agency; many other escorts had not yet arrived. Qi Wenmo was confident that once the assignment was posted, gathering four would be no problem at all—it would merely take a couple more days.

Of course, that was a last resort born of necessity. For the illustrious Qingtian Escort Agency to need two days merely to muster four escorts—would that not invite contempt and make them a laughingstock?

Qi Wenmo swept his gaze over the hall, and at last it came to rest on Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao, with a hidden glimmer of hope.

After all, by the rules the Qingtian Escort Agency could not compel nominal escorts to take any work, and the rest of those present were thick-skinned old hands. Better to pin his hopes on these two newcomers than on them.

Seeing this, Wei Zhao could not help hesitating. Though he had no impression of Xianpeng Island and did not yet know exactly where the difficulty of this run lay, he could tell plainly enough from the others' manner that this was a scalding hot potato.

At any other time, cautious as he habitually was, he would never have rashly stepped forward to tread on such a mine. But on second thought, given the straits in which he and Huang Xiaotao now found themselves, seizing the chance of this run to get away for a while was in fact no bad choice at all!

That wretch Cheng Qitian had openly proclaimed that he would keep a deadly watch on the two of them; once they were found alone, he would surely come to make trouble. And with the strength he and Huang Xiaotao presently commanded, they were by no means a match for that peak early-Nascent Soul servant of his.

Rather than huddle passively in the Qingtian Escort Agency, unable to set foot outside, better to use this chance to leave Wei Arc City for a time. When that happened, even if Cheng Qitian wanted to find the two of them, it would not be so easy.

Only—how perilous this run to Xianpeng Island would truly be, and whether taking it merely to escape Cheng Qitian's watchful eye was worth it, Wei Zhao still had to weigh carefully.

"We will go too." After turning it over again and again, Wei Zhao at last decided to accept, and Huang Xiaotao followed wherever he led, approving unconditionally whatever decision he made. (To be continued..) R527