Chapter 4415 — Cutting Sarcasm

"Understood!" The four exchanged a glance and nodded firmly, then turned and strode onto the field with the momentum of a rainbow—success or failure would be decided in this single stroke.

As soon as the four from the Qingtian Escort Agency took the field, the four from the Yongxing Escort Agency, who had been waiting in readiness, exchanged looks and grew all the more tense. They had no idea what all that muttering on the other side had been about, but at the very least they could sense one thing: these opponents had certainly not come with good intentions!

"So the Qingtian Escort Agency is nothing more than this, after all!" At the far edge of the opposite side, a woman suddenly called out deliberately loud. Judging by her attire and the way the crowd around her deferred to her, she must be the person in charge of the Yongxing Escort Agency.

Wei Zhao glanced at her with a touch of surprise. In the chaotic waters of the Southern Continent, female cultivators naturally found it hard to gain a foothold, and yet this woman had risen to become the head of the Yongxing Escort Agency—quite an uncommon feat.

"Only a desperate, all-out bloodbath, one that overwhelms everything in its path, can win it in the end. Every scheme and trick apart from that is nothing but laughable self-deception. Hmph—not even grasping a principle this crude, it seems the Qingtian Escort Agency truly cannot produce a single person capable of holding the stage. Last time they merely stumbled by luck into a round of the five great agencies—a hollow reputation, nothing more." The woman mocked them to their faces without the slightest concealment.

The crowd around them was instantly drawn to her, and Wei Zhao's gaze fell upon her too, but he only curved the corners of his mouth slightly, showing not the least intention of arguing back. On an occasion like this, he was in no mood for a war of words with a woman.

Quite apart from anything else, her words had at least achieved one effect. The four escorts of the Yongxing Escort Agency were plainly not as nervous as before. Deliberately belittling one's opponent might carry side effects, but at least it built confidence—and when two sides were evenly matched, confidence mattered more than anything.

By now the contestants on both sides had taken their positions, and as the assembly's staff lit the long incense at the edge of the field, the first round—Qingtian Escort Agency versus Yongxing Escort Agency—the escort-raid battle formally began.

A person's name casts a shadow, as the saying goes. The Qingtian Escort Agency was, after all, one of the five great agencies; naturally, whether in mind or in momentum, they held an inherent advantage.

In such a situation, everyone on the Yongxing side had expected their opponents to waste no words and simply sweep over them like autumn wind scattering fallen leaves. In reality, however, the four from the Qingtian Escort Agency moved with great caution, keeping a tight formation in which each could support the others. They faced off at a distance, watching and waiting, showing not the slightest intent of a forceful assault.

"See that? That is your opponent—muttering away for the longest time, without a shred of manhood among them, a pack of cowards. To be the raiding side and yet act like a bunch of turtles, knowing nothing but to huddle inside their shells and not dare move—could scum like that possibly be a match for our Yongxing Escort Agency? If we cannot even handle trash like this, we might as well eat shit!" Seeing this, the woman began shouting wantonly again.

The onlookers burst into laughter at the spectacle. Though this head escort of the Yongxing Escort Agency was but a woman, her tongue was far fouler than any man's. And unlike men, she was not bound to maintain any dignity—she could say whatever she pleased and no one would blame her. She could vex a person to death and never have to pay for it.

Provoked so recklessly by the woman, the four from the Qingtian Escort Agency visibly began to lose their composure. They had come onto the field to fight for their lives, not to listen to this woman's wanton mockery; with so many eyes upon them, they could not afford to lose face.

Besides, before a woman, a man is by nature an extremely competitive creature—even if it means slapping his own face swollen to look plump, he must put up a front. This is an inborn instinct, written into the genetic code before one even leaves the womb.

Unable to contain their anger any longer, the four finally launched their first attack. The strongest among them, the Golden Core Great Perfection cultivator, struck first—yet he had not been entirely blinded by rage. Though he struck in anger, he consciously picked the one among the four opponents who seemed weakest, a late Golden Core, as his breakthrough point.

Wei Zhao watched this scene from the sidelines and did not speak to stop it. Though he had told the four to deliberately hold back during the first half stick of incense, a probing attack like this was not unacceptable.

On the other side, by contrast, the woman head escort of the Yongxing Escort Agency suddenly wore a pleased, cold smile of a scheme brought to fruition. Fierce and sharp-tongued she may have been by nature, she would not have gone so far as to heap such cutting sarcasm on them before so many people, heedless of her own image—she had done it deliberately, all to goad her opponents into charging in rashly.

The defending side held the natural advantage: as long as they lasted out the full stick of incense while keeping the escort goods intact, they were assured of their points. But this woman head escort of the Yongxing Escort Agency was not one to be so easily satisfied.

She had placed her four strongest escorts in this escort-defense battle. As for the escort-raid battle, she held no hope for it at all, for their opponent was the Four Seas Escort Agency, the mightiest of the thirty-two agencies—to try to score against them was no different from a fool's dream.

This escort-defense battle was crucial to the entire Yongxing Escort Agency. They had to score, and score as much as possible—only thus could they avoid being left behind by the other agencies.

So merely holding the goods was not enough; she also had to find a way to make their opponents charge in rashly and blunder of their own accord. Only then could they reap the head-count points from the Qingtian Escort Agency. And as things stood, her provocative strategy had plainly worked.

This Golden Core Great Perfection expert of the Qingtian Escort Agency was, in individual strength, the highest among the eight on the field, and the breakthrough point he had chosen was the weakest of the eight, a late Golden Core. At first glance this seemed very wise—but if the Yongxing Escort Agency dared to use such a provocative strategy, how could they possibly have no countermeasures prepared at all?

"Blazing Fire Burns the City!" The four from the Yongxing Escort Agency suddenly formed hand seals in unison, and four walls of fire surged skyward without the slightest warning, instantly trapping the lone, deep-penetrating Golden Core Great Perfection cultivator within. From the look of it, they meant to seize this chance and annihilate him in one stroke!

"No good—save him, quickly!" Fortunately, these escorts of the Qingtian Escort Agency still kept Wei Zhao's instructions firmly in mind and had not entirely left the Golden Core Great Perfection cultivator to venture forth alone. The other three, though a step behind, could at least provide support.

At that thought, the three at once struck out together with all their might...(to be continued...)

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