Chapter 4465 — I'm Fine

The Vulture was a speed specialist, and both men were at Gold Core consummate—even if he could not beat Qi Wenmo one-on-one, holding him off for a short while should pose no great problem. And if the Falcon turned to help, they could form a three-against-three; slightly superior in strength, finishing off the enemy's peak late-stage Gold Core first would be no hard task—it would merely require a little risk.

Zhao Shanying had not wanted to take any risk at all; his plan had been simply to use his superior strength and crush the opponent head-on. But now it was plain he no longer had that confidence.

Sensing their intent, Qi Wenmo was briefly taken aback, then at once moved to intercept the Xuanying escort known as the Falcon. But the man would not entangle himself with him at all; with the Vulture covering at his side, Qi Wenmo had no way to stop him unless he were willing to trade wounds with him in a fight to the death.

A flicker passed through Qi Wenmo's eyes, tinged with hesitation and struggle. By his hard-natured temperament, in any other circumstances he would never have let the Falcon slip away so easily—but this was the Escort Agency Gathering, and he himself was the single most crucial link deciding victory or defeat. Risking himself was all very well at other times, but at this moment it must not be done.

"Brother Qi, hold nothing back!" At that moment Wei Zhao spoke in a soft, sharp voice from below the arena.

Qi Wenmo was briefly startled, then his spirit flared at once. Heedless of everything else, he sprang after the Falcon and, raising his hand, delivered a Soul-Severing Palm at its fullest power—his ultimate trump card!

This sudden strike left the whole crowd clicking their tongues in astonishment, and the Xuanying escorts on the arena—above all the Falcon, who felt that savage killing intent at his back—were thrown into utter shock.

"A fine chance—join forces and strike back!" Zhao Shanying, entirely unruffled, bellowed. He seemed to have foreseen it all along. Sending the Falcon to help on the other side had indeed been his intention—but at the same time it had carried another meaning: luring the snake from its hole.

And now it appeared this move had clearly succeeded.

The moment Zhao Shanying's voice fell, the two Xuanying escorts nearest Qi Wenmo on the arena—the Vulture and the Falcon—struck at once, each unleashing his strongest martial technique upon him.

The Falcon, locked onto by Qi Wenmo's Soul-Severing Palm, was executing Zhao Shanying's order at the absolute risk of his life. That palm would bring him not merely grave injury but quite possibly death on the spot—yet still he did it, so great was Zhao Shanying's prestige in their hearts.

No simple opponent indeed! Wei Zhao cast Zhao Shanying an admiring glance. At this moment Qi Wenmo's situation on the arena was desperately dangerous—he faced the full counterattack of two experts of his own level, and at this rate there was nearly a nine-in-ten chance he would be beaten to death where he stood.

Yet Wei Zhao showed no sign of anxiety, still calm as ever.

Amid a gasp from the whole crowd, Qi Wenmo and his two opponents had already completed their exchange of killing blows—neither side offsetting the other in the slightest, every strike landing squarely upon its target!

Bang! The Falcon took Qi Wenmo's Soul-Severing Palm and did not even manage a groan; like a kite with its string cut he was blasted clean off the arena, not a sound escaping him, his life or death unknown.

But at the same time Qi Wenmo was scarcely better off. After all, he had not only taken the Falcon's killing blow; a ferociously savage claw had also struck him from behind—the Vulture's strike, seizing his moment.

Taking the killing blows of two Gold Core consummate experts at once—even with Qi Wenmo's long-standing name as the "Little Invincible of the Gold Core," he could not have borne it. Though he was not blasted straight off the arena like the Falcon, he spat out a great mouthful of fresh blood on the spot, a sight no less shocking to behold.

"Wenhan!" Far off, Qi Mingyuan cried out in alarm, his heart in flames. A moment ago he had thought the situation secure, and in the blink of an eye it had come to this—and this was his only son. How could he stay seated?

At that very moment, without need of any order from Zhao Shanying, the Vulture—close enough to Qi Wenmo to touch—struck again without the slightest hesitation. Kick a man when he's down; finish him while he's weak!

Qi Mingyuan was frightened clean out of his seat. Qi Wenmo was already gravely wounded; one more claw and would that not be the end of him?

Yet the opponent had still underestimated Qi Wenmo's strength. The "Little Invincible of the Gold Core" was no empty name after all—even gravely wounded, he would never be a lamb waiting for the slaughter.

Before the Vulture's claw shadow could land again, Qi Wenmo, without so much as turning his head, swept a Soul-Severing Palm behind him—one long held in reserve!

He had been prepared for this all along. Had he not been saving his strength for this very strike, the Falcon he had just struck would not have kept even an intact corpse, let alone any chance of being saved.

This sudden strike caught the Vulture wholly unprepared. In his eyes Qi Wenmo was already a dead man walking—how could he have imagined the wretch still had strength enough to turn and kill him!

Two muffled thuds—Qi Wenmo and the Vulture were both flung backward at once, tumbling together off the arena.

The whole hall erupted in uproar, every voice chattering at once. The young master of the Qingtian Escort Agency was truly hard as iron—by his own strength alone he had traded himself for two Gold Core consummate experts of the enemy. Little short of ferocious.

"Wenhan!" Qi Mingyuan shouted and came charging down from the judges' platform. Seeing Qi Wenmo now, his face gold as paper, barely breathing, on the verge of death, he felt his five viscera burned to ash and his eyes near starting from his head with blood.

And at this moment Wei Zhao was not idle. The instant Qi Wenmo was struck off the arena, he caught him in one motion, one hand braced against Qi Wenmo's back, his head bowed in silence.

To outsiders it seemed Wei Zhao was merely reproaching himself in remorse over Qi Wenmo's wretched fate. But no one could have guessed that at this very moment true qi was pouring ceaselessly through Wei Zhao's palm into Qi Wenmo's body, swiftly healing his wounds.

Healing by true qi was always Wei Zhao's specialty, and now that his strength had risen to mid-stage Gold Core, the effect was not what it once had been. An injury as near-fatal as Qi Wenmo's would formerly have taken at least the better part of a day to bring him roughly back to health; now it did not take even the time to steep a cup of tea.

"Wenhan!! How are you?" Qi Mingyuan could no longer mind his identity as judge; he parted the crowd and came straight over—but when he reached them he stopped dead: "Son, you..."

"Dad, I'm fine." Qi Wenmo rose to his feet with an easy, composed air—and behind him, Wei Zhao quietly drew back his hand without a trace.

"Uh..." Qi Mingyuan was speechless on the spot, unable for a long moment to string a whole sentence together. A breath ago his heart had been in flames—and now he had nearly been choked to death by his own son! (To be continued)