Chapter 4462 — A Golden Opportunity!

"Brother Ling, how should we fight this?" Qi Wenmo asked. The other four escort guards on the team all looked at Wei Zhao expectantly, their expressions more or less tense—after all, across from them stood five consummate Golden Core experts, and a straight clash would surely cost them dearly. The key to victory in this match, then, still lay in Wei Zhao's on-the-spot command.

"No need to be nervous, everyone. In this match, our strength really isn't inferior to theirs," Wei Zhao said with a reassuring smile, then laid out his analysis. "They may have five consummate Golden Core cultivators, but we have Brother Qi holding the line in person, so there's nothing to fear. Brother Qi's strength is famous throughout the entire Weihu Sea Region—ordinary consummate Golden Core experts must seem like nothing much in his eyes, wouldn't you say?"

"Heh, Brother Ling flatters me." Qi Wenmo pinched his nose, but he did not deny it. His strength might not be as heaven-defying as Wei Zhao, that madman who could thrash peak early Nascent Soul experts, but at the consummate Golden Core level he was still a force to be reckoned with—the universally acknowledged "Little Invincible of the Golden Core" of the Weihu Sea Region.

"Right, right! With the young master here, we can definitely give them a fight!" The other four escort guards relaxed considerably. Under normal circumstances, Qi Wenmo alone could tie down two consummate Golden Core experts, and so when the fight began, their side might not necessarily come off worse.

"Haha, so there's really no need to be tense. They're strong, but as long as we keep our composure, our chances of winning are still high." Wei Zhao smiled. Only after putting everyone at ease did he turn serious. "If I'm not mistaken, once the match begins, they'll likely concentrate their assault on Brother Qi. On that point, Brother Qi, you must be mentally prepared."

"Mm, I know. Catch the ringleader first if you want to catch them all!" Qi Wenmo answered in a low voice. He was the strongest point on the Qingtian Escort Agency's side—and at the same time the most obvious point of breakthrough. If anything happened to him, the young master, then everything would be over.

"Then we'll have to guard against that and protect the young master carefully, so the enemy's scheme doesn't succeed," the four escort guards said, exchanging glances. Qi Wenmo was strong, to be sure, but this was an escort agency championship match, not a one-on-one duel. The situation on the field shifted by the second, and if the enemy seized a chance to gang up on him, even Qi Wenmo would not hold out.

Unexpectedly, Wei Zhao shook his head again and again. "If that's really how you think, then we've lost. And we'll lose without the slightest doubt."

"Ah?" Everyone, Qi Wenmo included, was struck dumb. They had just been told their chances of winning were high—how had it turned into certain defeat in the blink of an eye?

"Brother Qi's presence is a double-edged sword for both sides. The longer he stays on the field, the more likely something goes wrong. For the Xuanying Escort Agency, the worst that happens is they lose this one match—they can afford to lose it completely. But we cannot!" Wei Zhao's gaze swept slowly across each face. "So to prevent any mishaps, in this match we must fight quick and decide quick!"

"Fight quick and decide quick?" Everyone's eyelids twitched, and they asked hurriedly, "How do you mean, quick?"

The enemy was no weakling—they were five consummate Golden Core experts in the flesh!

With their current strength, winning this life-and-death duel at all would already count as heaven's blessing. How could they possibly fight quick and decide quick? Unless—they resorted to desperate measures!

"Every word I say, you must engrave in your hearts. Whether we can laugh last in this battle, whether you—and Brother Qi above all—can walk away unscathed, all depends on whether you can do it." Wei Zhao's expression was rarely so grave, for the others had guessed right: in a sense, this strategy truly was a desperate gamble...

Under the eyes of the multitude, the clash between the Xuanying Escort Agency and the Qingtian Escort Agency finally opened amid the presiding referee's announcement.

The long incense at the edge of the arena had barely been lit when the five consummate Golden Core experts of the Xuanying Escort Agency, like tigers bursting from their cage, charged at their opponents without a word. There seemed to be no intricate formation among them, yet their pace was startlingly in unison—even each man's aura was strictly synchronized.

The result was that the five men's formidable momentum fused into a single whole, surging like a landslide and a tidal wave, bearing down on Qi Wenmo and the other four from every direction.

"No wonder they're no simple matter." Below the arena, Wei Zhao's eyes lit up. Synchronized movement and synchronized breath—it looked like nothing difficult, but in truth it was harder than climbing to heaven, especially once one's strength reached the consummate Golden Core level, where it became rarer still.

In battle or in anything else, every person has a rhythm he is accustomed to, and the stronger the practitioner, the more pronounced that rhythm becomes. Once torn away from his own rhythm, everything goes awry—strength that was ten-tenths might end up showing only six or seven, or even less.

In the common contests of the secular world, one often sees a fighter draw his opponent into his own rhythm and then defeat him—cases of the weak overcoming the strong are a dime a dozen, and this is precisely the reason.

Given that, making five consummate Golden Core experts move and breathe in perfect sync was a feat of obvious difficulty. Wei Zhao did not believe they would deliberately sacrifice a portion of their strength just to achieve it.

If they dared to do it, then there could be only one possibility: the rhythms of these five consummate Golden Core experts were naturally identical—or at least differed so little as to be negligible.

"Engage!" Facing the mountain-like pressure of the enemy, Qi Wenmo refused to show weakness. With a cold shout, the four Qingtian escort guards beside him swiftly formed a wedge formation, its point aimed straight at their opponents.

"What sharpness!" Zhao Shanying could not help praising at the sight. As expected of one of the five great escort agencies—though the Qingtian Escort Agency had risen only recently, the quality of these escort guards was in no way beneath the other five. That wedge formation in particular brimmed with a piercing edge, clear proof they had drilled it no small amount in peacetime.

Yet what slightly puzzled Zhao Shanying was that among the five opponents, the strongest was undoubtedly Qi Wenmo, and logically it should be him—the strongest—who served as the point of the wedge. Only so could the formation's power be brought out to the fullest. But the situation now was quite the opposite: Qi Wenmo was not only not at the point, he even seemed faintly out of step with the others.

What was going on here? Could it be that this young master, because he usually did not drill together with the escort guards, was simply unsuited to this wedge formation?

"A golden opportunity—cut them in two and split them apart!" The moment would flash by and be gone. Zhao Shanying wasted no time in hesitation and immediately gave the decisive order. (To be continued)