Chapter 4487 — A Change of Opponent

But the question remained: even if Wei Zhao took the stage himself once more, what did he have to throw against an opponent this formidable?

Cheng Haonan was not Wu Baoliang. This man was not merely stronger—the crux was that he was far harder to counter. Against Wu Baoliang's Savage Sand Thousand-Blast Fist, Wei Zhao had been able to seize the technique for his own and turn it back on its master. That miraculous sleight had worked on Wu Baoliang, but to try it on Cheng Haonan would be nothing short of nonsense.

For one thing, Cheng Haonan's overwhelming physical technique was not confined to any single move or stance, and could not possibly be imitated in so short a time. And even if Wei Zhao truly could manage it, there would still be no hope of matching the man that way—the gap in their mastery was simply too vast. They were not on the same level at all.

To attack an enemy's strength with one's own weakness—what was that if not asking to be humiliated?

Yet he could not go on as he had. Past experience had already given Wei Zhao clear warning: a strategy of tangling with Cheng Haonan and wearing him down would not work. That left only one way—to settle the outcome in a single blow with the most devastating killing move he had. Since the Blazing Fire Thousand-Blast Fist would not serve, only the final trump card remained: a top-grade bomb fused from elixir fire and true qi.

That was the only counter Wei Zhao could think of, but time was short—a stick of incense at most—and part of it would have to be spent healing his injuries. Whether the little time left would be enough to condense a top-grade bomb of sufficient power, Wei Zhao had not the faintest confidence.

Still, feasible or not, it was the last option available. All he could do was wait until he was back on the platform and find some way to stall a while longer.

The situation hung by a thread, and below the platform Wei Zhao raced against the clock to prepare. Qi Wenmo and the others nearby were frantic, spinning in circles, yet they dared not disturb him and could only wait helplessly on the sidelines—if it truly came to the worst, the young master Qi Wenmo would have to risk his life and go up to hold the fort.

Meanwhile, every eye in the hall was fixed on Cheng Haonan. They had long since guessed what he would say, but in the end he had to say it with his own lips.

Cheng Haonan's gaze swept slowly over the crowd, heavy with meaning, lingering deliberately on Wei Zhao for a good long while. Only then did he finally speak: "I choose to challenge Zhenwei Escort Agency."

At those words, the entire hall froze. Qi Wenmo in particular had already begun striding toward the platform; hearing this, he stumbled and nearly fell, staring at Cheng Haonan in utter disbelief. As for Qi Mingyuan and the rest, their faces too were blank with shock, and for a long moment none could speak.

Zhenwei Escort Agency? Wei Zhao, sitting cross-legged on the ground healing his wounds, raised an eyebrow. Why would this fellow suddenly let him off and, for no apparent reason, go challenge Zhenwei Escort Agency? Could he have some deep grudge against them as well?

Of Zhenwei Escort Agency, Wei Zhao knew next to nothing—only that it was a mid-ranked agency, neither strong nor weak, neither showing nor hiding. It had no distinctive style of its own; it was the sort of existence easily forgotten in a corner.

Had Cheng Haonan not suddenly named it before the crowd, not only Wei Zhao—many a veteran of the Southern Continent Escort Alliance present would have been hard pressed to recall that such an obscure, invisible agency even existed.

Once named by Cheng Haonan, the chief head of Zhenwei Escort Agency took a long while to react, and then his face fell as though he had lost his parents. Why, when they had no old grudge and no recent grievance, should such calamity suddenly descend upon his house?

Seeing the chief head's look of utter shock and collapse, Wei Zhao knew this was likely no private feud. Cheng Haonan had simply changed his strategy.

On reflection, it made sense. Wei Zhao did not consider himself sure of beating Cheng Haonan—and Cheng Haonan, fresh off a victory, likewise could not claim with any confidence that he had Wei Zhao measured.

Of Wei Zhao's earlier showing against Wu Baoliang, what had impressed the crowd most, and what they most loved to recount, was that turning of a technique back upon its master. But Cheng Haonan had noticed another detail of vital importance: this creature possessed a cockroach-like deathless constitution, and an inexhaustible reserve of stamina and true qi.

Hard as it was to believe, this was indeed the conclusion Cheng Haonan had drawn from watching. After being defeated by Wu Baoliang the first time, the man had rested for merely the time of a stick of incense; yet when this Ling Yi took the stage again, not only was he entirely free of injury, his true qi was abundant as well.

The latter point especially had been brought out to the fullest, both in the two later duels with Wu Baoliang and in the bout with Cheng Haonan himself just now. The fellow gave one the impression of a monster with limitless true qi, utterly beyond the measure of common sense.

Injuries that healed in an instant, true qi without end—facing an opponent so heaven-defying and uncanny, even Cheng Haonan, victor though he had just been, still had not the slightest confidence. His foe did not fear attrition. He did.

For all that he was a master of physical technique, and the true qi spent in each punch and kick was minute, seemingly negligible, far more enduring than the average expert—once the fighting dragged on, his true qi would still run dry in the end.

In that exchange of heavy blows with Wei Zhao just now, especially at the last, when he had been forced to unleash his bottom-of-the-box full-body darkening, at least half his true qi had been spent.

Full-body darkening was the unique ultimate technique Cheng Haonan had painstakingly cultivated in recent years since turning to the evil path. By stimulating the meridians and acupoints throughout his body with evil qi, it made his already formidable physical technique more invincible and overbearing still, giving the impression of a cheat suddenly switched on. In the full-body darkened state, Cheng Haonan could crush the vast majority of peak mid-Nascent Soul experts.

A move so powerful naturally drained true qi at an extraordinary rate. So unless it came to a genuine fight, Cheng Haonan generally would not lightly enter this state—first, for fear that the evil qi about him might be noticed by the discerning; second, for fear that spending too much true qi would leave him feeble in the later going.

And now, less than half his true qi remained, and he was wounded besides. Were he to face Wei Zhao again at full strength, he would almost certainly suffer badly; even if he won in the end, he would surely be ruined along with his opponent, with consequences too dreadful to contemplate.

So though he knew full well what a rare chance this was, Cheng Haonan dared not press the pursuit of Wei Zhao at this moment. He could not afford to take that risk! (To be continued..) R527