Chapter 4488 — Too Greedy for His Own Good

As for taking revenge on Wei Zhao, so long as the boy remained with the Qingtian Escort Agency and stayed within the Weihu Sea, it would be no trouble at all for Cheng Haonan to find an opportunity later. There was simply no need to take the risk now.

What followed came as no surprise at all. The situation rested entirely in Cheng Haonan's hands. The ranking Gold Core senior members of the other agencies might each be no pushover, but before a monster like Cheng Haonan they were no different from ordinary passersby. Usually a single exchange was enough to settle them—easy as could be, and a joy to watch.

Moreover, to make his point-farming more convenient, Cheng Haonan deliberately held back his force. He used just one move to blast his opponent off the platform, without the slightest intent to kill.

After all, under the rules of the tournament, if these Gold Core senior members were all killed off, the agencies would become unable to accept challenges, just like the others—and then Cheng Haonan would have no way to farm points off them at all.

Watching Cheng Haonan rack up win after win as the Dragon Boat Agency's points rose with the tide, shoving the Four Seas Agency out of the top five once again, Hai Wuliang now wore the look of a man who had swallowed filth whole, wishing he could hack the bastard to pieces!

They had agreed to crush the Qingtian Escort Agency in one breath, and now, halfway through the crushing, he had simply stopped—obsessed with farming points instead, which had made the Four Seas Agency the biggest victim of all. Why was it that these people only ever knew how to ruin their own fathers?!

Yet for all that his belly was about to burst with fury, Hai Wuliang truly had no recourse at this moment. Even as the foremost of the five adjudicating judges, bearing the halo of chief judge for the Southern Continent Escort Gathering, he could not simply step forward and interrupt the course of the matches—unless he had a reasonable excuse.

Unfortunately for him, Cheng Haonan was challenging and farming points in the most methodical fashion imaginable, doing everything strictly according to the rules Hai Wuliang himself had announced. Even if Hai Wuliang squeezed his brains dry, what excuse could he possibly find? He could hardly claim a loophole in the rules—would that not be slapping his own face?

On Hai Wuliang's side, regret was so acute he looked ready to tear the hair from his scalp. Yet looking at Wei Zhao and the others, they were rather pleased that Cheng Haonan was doing this. After all, however easy his point-farming might be, it still inevitably drained his true qi—the only question was how much.

The more points he farmed, the greater his true qi consumption, and the more time Wei Zhao, sitting in meditation below the platform all the while, had to condense his top-grade bomb. As one waned, the other waxed. If Cheng Haonan had the sense not to challenge the Qingtian Escort Agency next, well and good—but once his head grew hot, the outcome was easy to imagine.

And so, in this way, Wei Zhao, Qi Wenmo, and the rest were instead able to rest easy, sitting calm as fishermen on the bank. After all, following those two wins and two losses, the Qingtian Escort Agency's score still stood as high as one thousand and seventy points. Even with Cheng Haonan farming at this rate, catching up would not be so easy.

After all, under the current challenge rules, farming points was not as simple as it looked. It was, in truth, a technical problem.

To be sure, Cheng Haonan could choose not to kill his opponents and then repeat his challenges with hardly any effort at all. But the trouble was that the agencies he had marked as targets did not themselves have many points to speak of—most had only one or two hundred, and some did not even reach a hundred. And once their points hit zero, they were eliminated outright, unconditionally.

That meant Cheng Haonan could farm at most two hundred points off any single agency. The weaker ones yielded only a hundred, after which he had to shift targets and challenge a fresh Gold Core senior member in full form.

Strong as he was, Cheng Haonan was not made of iron, and these Gold Core experts who had risen to senior positions in their agencies—was there a single one among them who was easy to deal with?

At the start, Cheng Haonan's point-farming had indeed been light and pleasant, but as his true qi drained away more and more—especially carrying the injuries Wei Zhao had left on him—each fresh opponent in full form clearly became harder and harder to handle.

At first, a single exchange was enough to settle his man with ease, but later he needed a full stick of incense's time just to scrape out a win.

For a while the mood in the hall turned rather strange. Everyone could see that Cheng Haonan was plainly exhausted, that he could not hold out much longer—yet no one knew how long the fellow could still keep it up.

Having trampled four agencies in a row, the Dragon Boat Agency's score now stood at a striking eight hundred and sixty points. Never mind the Four Seas Agency—even the Divine Wind Agency, originally ranked second, had been left far behind. The only suspense remaining was whether Cheng Haonan could hold out long enough to overtake the Qingtian Escort Agency!

If he could manage it, the Dragon Boat Agency would replace the Qingtian Escort Agency as the greatest dark horse of this Southern Continent Escort Gathering, lock in the position of escort overlord, and open a new chapter from there. If he could not, the outcome would be rather intriguing...

For Cheng Haonan was nearing the end of his strength, and once he could no longer sustain his relentless winning streak, he would likely become a target for whichever agency next obtained the right to challenge. When that time came, all the points the Dragon Boat Agency had farmed might well be vomited back out, bit by bit!

"Haha, now Cheng Haonan's stuck riding a tiger—serves him right!" Qi Wenmo, having worked this out, felt his mood brighten at once and said to Wei Zhao with an easy grin.

"Mm, he has indeed been a bit too greedy. If he had stopped in time after farming his way to second place, he would not have fallen into such a passive position," Wei Zhao said with a faint nod.

"Exactly. Had he quit early, he could have preserved ample stamina and true qi. With the terrifying strength he showed before, even if the right to challenge fell to another agency, they would never dare move against the Dragon Boat Agency—he could have rested completely secure. But now, heh heh..." Qi Wenmo sneered.

They had suffered no small loss at the hands of the Dragon Boat Agency this time. If there was a chance to turn the tables, he would absolutely not let it slip—if he did not find a way to do this Cheng Haonan in, the harm would echo for ages to come.

As the two spoke, Cheng Haonan once again named a new agency to challenge. Facing its Gold Core senior member in full form, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and keep holding on.

By now night had fallen. Torches blazed bright all across the Demon Cold Plaza, and quantities of fluorite had been laid out in advance besides, so that the light, far from dimming with the approach of evening, had instead grown brighter still—in no way hindering the progress of the matches.

According to the gathering's schedule, today was the final day. Barring any accidents, the matches would continue all the way to the hour of Hai before the end was finally declared! (To be continued..) R527