Chapter 4436 — A Hidden Escort in Peril

With that comparison set before them, the three men's hearts were instantly thrown out of balance—though by now it was far too late for regret. The road was one they had chosen themselves; even if they had to crawl it on their knees, they could only keep going.

"Brilliant," Wei Zhao said, watching it all unfold, and could not help but give Qi Wenmo a thumbs-up. This young master of the agency was truly a man of nerve.

It was only one short sentence, yet it cost a full three hundred and fifty thousand spirit jades—but look at the faces of those escorts, look at the shock of the outsiders around them, and it was plain that not a single one of those jades had been spent in vain.

From this day on, the escorts under his command would trust the agency all the more, would serve it with redoubled loyalty; and once word of this got out, the outside world too would learn that the Skysupport Escort Agency treated its people generously and acted with uncommon boldness. Who could possibly worry about entrusting their goods to an agency like that?

For a mere three hundred and fifty thousand spirit jades, he had bought back the escorts' loyalty, bought back the agency's good name, and dissolved the shadow of defeat in this round into nothing. By any measure, that was a bargain that could not lose.

Perhaps when Qi Wenmo spoke those words, it was only out of a moment's anger—but in the days to come, he would realize just how wise, how sagacious, the decision he made today had been.

※6, ⊕. In the distance, Qi Mingyuan watched the scene, and far from faulting Qi Wenmo for acting on his own, he laughed aloud in glad approval; while at his side, Hai Wuliang and the others all changed countenance at once, and the little triumph they had just regained was wiped away in an instant.

Three rounds were done. The Skysupport Escort Agency had suffered a small setback, but it did not affect the larger picture—they still held the top of the rankings with three hundred and seventy points, while the Four Seas Escort Agency stood at two hundred and seventy, still second. As for the rest, none could pose any threat to Skysupport at all.

"For the fourth round, the event is the Hidden Escort in Peril," Hai Wuliang announced in a clear, ringing voice. "As they say, he who walks often by the river will sooner or later wet his shoes—on the road, one meets every kind of danger imaginable. But whatever the danger, guarding the escort goods comes first. Faced with robbers of overwhelming strength, if it is plain you cannot win by force, the first thing to do is hide the valuables so they cannot be found. That is a basic skill every escort ought to possess."

The crowd reacted variously to this—some nodded, some shook their heads. It was not that they objected to hiding the goods when danger came; the crux was that such a thing was easy to learn but hard to master. Nine times out of ten, hiding did no good at all.

Who cannot hide a thing? Even a three-year-old can manage it. But the question was this: once a thing was hidden, how many could keep it from being found by a Golden Core expert—or even a Nascent Soul one?

"The rules for this round are as follows: each agency sends one contestant, and they are given the time of one stick of incense. Each is placed in a sealed, perilous terrain, where they must use the surroundings to conceal their escort goods. Then a 'robber band' formed of the five great agencies and the various merchant guilds will search for them together. Conceal it successfully, and the round is won," Hai Wuliang continued.

"Conceal it successfully? However well it is hidden, it will be found sooner or later—so what counts as success?" someone called out loudly.

"Simple. It depends on when the goods are found. If they cannot last even one stick of incense, the concealment has failed and no points are awarded. Last a full stick, and you earn fifty points; two sticks, seventy; three sticks, one hundred—and that is victory. The maximum score for this round is one hundred points!" Hai Wuliang explained to the crowd.

Only then did the assembly understand, and they found the scoring rather reasonable. A perfect score of one hundred was not especially high, but this round truly carried no danger to speak of, so setting it higher would have been indefensible.

"One more thing. Beyond the regular competition, this round has a special challenge stage. Any agency that lasts the full three sticks and earns the perfect one hundred may, if it wishes a higher score, go further and accept the challenge—namely, to accept a search wager from any other agency of their choosing!" Hai Wuliang suddenly declared in ringing tones.

"A search wager?" Everyone was briefly startled, then their interest kindled at once. With the word 'wager' in it, it was bound to be rousing.

"Precisely. The two challengers each stake one hundred points. The limit is two sticks of incense. If the goods are found, the hundred points the agency previously earned go to the challenger; if they are not found, then the agency gains the challenger's hundred points as well—which is to say, this stage can yield two hundred points in total!" Hai Wuliang coaxed them along, step by step.

At that, the eyes of every agency head lit up. Without question, this final addition to the rules was the true crux of the round.

After the first three rounds, the gap between the agencies—above all between Skysupport at the head and the agencies trailing behind—had already grown considerable. Without such extra challenges, proceeding step by step as before, it would be hard to close that gap before the final showdown arrived.

But now they saw hope. Two hundred points at a single stroke meant that, with good play, to narrow the gap was the least of it—overturning Skysupport in one move would be no wonder at all!

Of course, the precondition was that one's own hidden goods could last the full three sticks of incense; otherwise one would not even qualify to accept a challenge, let alone speak of two hundred points.

"Very well. Those are the rules for this round. Each agency may now begin selecting its contestant and prepare to start," Hai Wuliang announced at last.

The moment the words fell, the agency heads—Qi Wenmo among them—once again found themselves in a quandary over whom to choose.

This round was neither as perilous as the first two, nor as much a trial of men's hearts as the third; yet choosing the right candidate was no less difficult for all that.

"Who among you is willing to volunteer?" Qi Wenmo asked, frowning, his gaze sweeping across each escort's face—and this time he did not, as before, lead off by speaking of rewards.

After all, this contest carried no danger whatsoever, and no reward was needed. Those with the ability would step forward of their own accord; those without it, no reward however great would help. He could hardly do as in the first two rounds and simply declare that anyone who entered the contest, win or lose, would receive fifty thousand spirit jades.

Doing so before had been called shouldering responsibility, showing nerve—it made the men more loyal, made them fight harder!