Chapter 4433 — So It Was Spirit Jade

At first glance, this third round seemed far less brutal than the previous two, which had demanded lives at every turn. In truth, it was the opposite. This one hundred points would be anything but easy to claim. After all, the human heart is the hardest thing of all to grasp. A single misstep, and the hundred points you thought were already in your hand might slip away between your fingers.

And since this was a trial of hearts, anyone hoping to take the full hundred had to do his homework in picking his men. Threats were out of the question, so the only way was to carefully select the ten most trustworthy men and promise them lavish rewards, thus ensuring nothing went wrong.

Yet before they could even set about it, two men had appeared at the side of every escort agency chief—no one knew when. One was a staff member of the assembly; the other had nothing to do with the assembly at all, being an overseer from one of the merchant guilds.

"To ensure fairness, before the contest officially begins, no escort agency may use threats or promised bounties to exert psychological influence on its own escorts. They must face this trial with their own ordinary hearts and minds," the pair of overseers said in unison.

Qi Wenmo started at the words, then turned and looked around. Every other escort agency chief now had an identical pair of overseers standing beside him as well. The assembly had clearly prepared for this long in advance.

"Very well," Qi Wenmo could only nod to the two men, swallowing the bounty that had been on the tip of his tongue. He would have to rely solely on his own knowledge of his people to pick out the ten most dependable escorts. Fortunately, he spent his days among them and knew his men fairly well; if it came down to selecting ten from their number, he was still reasonably confident.

But before Qi Wenmo could begin his selection, the pair of overseers spoke again. "In order to truly reflect the circumstances of each escort agency, all participants in this round must be chosen at random."

"Ha? And how exactly does this random selection work?" Qi Wenmo was dumbfounded.

"Simple. You provide a list of escorts, from which all head escorts, deputy head escorts, and relatives connected to the head escorts are struck out. Then the two of us will randomly select ten from among the remaining escorts," the pair explained.

Head escorts, deputy head escorts, and relatives—these people were bound to the agency by a thousand threads. There was no chance they would yield to temptation on the field. If they were sent up, a contest meant specifically to test loyalty would be utterly meaningless. It could not reflect the true condition of an agency at all.

After all, in ordinary escort runs, how often was it the head escort himself who took the field?

The rank-and-file escorts were the mainstay of any escort job. Only if they could withstand the test could an agency be said to withstand the test. Anyone else appearing in their place would only rob the trial of its meaning.

"This..." Qi Wenmo smiled bitterly. This method of random selection truly left him not a single opening. Though he had faith in his escorts, there were so many of them up and down the agency, and even their skills were uneven. How much less could one count on the human heart, the hardest thing of all to grasp?

"Please, Young Master Qi, give us the list as soon as possible. Do not put us in a difficult position," the pair of overseers urged.

"Fine, I will give it to you now." Qi Wenmo nodded helplessly and, under the watchful eyes of the two, filled in the names of his escorts one by one on a form.

This so-called escort loyalty trial was the first of its kind in history. He had never encountered a contest like it, and its rules were so tightly drawn that for the moment he could think of no loophole to exploit. He could only honestly follow the rules.

A short while later, a list of escorts was delivered into the hands of the overseers. Just as they had required, it contained only ordinary escorts of the agency—no head escorts, no deputy head escorts, no relatives.

Even Wei Zhao was not on the list, for he was an honorary head escort, and by no reckoning could his status fall into the ranks of ordinary escorts.

Qi Wenmo expected the two to begin the random selection then and there. Instead, after receiving the list, the overseers produced another list from their own bosoms and, before the eyes of Qi Wenmo and the others, began checking the two against each other, item by item.

At this sight, Qi Wenmo was caught between laughing and crying—and could not help breaking into a cold sweat. He could plainly see that on the list the other side had produced, every name was followed by a note of status, making it immediately clear whether the man was an ordinary escort or had some special background as a head escort or deputy head escort.

Qi Wenmo drew a sharp breath and secretly counted himself lucky. Thank goodness he had not tried to be clever just now—otherwise he would have been exposed on the spot!

Every session of the Southern Continent Escort Assembly had always prided itself on fairness and justice, and it investigated cheating in the contests with the utmost severity. If he were truly caught red-handed, he could forget about scoring points this round—he would even be docked points, and the agency would suffer heavy punishment besides.

Once the overseers finished checking the list and found it compliant and complete, they numbered each name in turn and drew a small basket from behind them, filled with prepared number slips. Whichever slip was drawn was the one that counted, until the full roster of ten participating escorts was produced.

Meanwhile, the other thirty-one escort agencies were going through the same process. In but a brief moment, the participant rosters of all thirty-two agencies were in place, and the third round—the escort loyalty trial—officially began.

Thirty-two agencies, ten escorts apiece—three hundred and twenty escorts in all—formed a great circle in the Demon Cold Plaza. Directly before them, neatly stacked, stood a pile of enormous treasure chests prepared in advance. Each was nearly as tall as a man, and even without knowing what lay hidden inside, their sheer size made mouths water.

Not only the participating escorts, but even the spectators gathered at the edge of the grounds could not help craning their necks at the sight of those chests. Although Hai Wuliang had said earlier that each chest was worth a city, just how it was worth a city remained unknown.

Under the gaze of the multitude, the five judges and arbiters, headed by Hai Wuliang, slowly walked to the side of the chests and casually pulled one of them forward, instantly drawing every eye.

"You are all dying to know what fine things are hidden in these chests, aren't you? I can tell you right now—what lies within is nothing other than spirit jade!" Hai Wuliang announced loudly.

"Spirit jade!" Everyone's eyes lit up at the words. Rare treasures of heaven and earth were certainly worth cities, but even at equal value, the impact such treasures had on the crowd was nothing compared to the sheer, tangible force of spirit jade—enough to leave a person's throat dry with longing! (To be continued)