Chapter 2146 — Demanding Compensation
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
"The final supplementary match of this Hidden World Family Summit will be jointly hosted by us, your hosts the Hidden Zhao Family, and Qianshan Sect!" Old Master Zhao announced. "Here, I wish to thank Qianshan Sect for its contribution to this match: it has provided one of its sect-guarding spirit beasts, the ancient spirit beast the Wind-Thunder Violet Lightning Beast, as the trial beast for this competition! So, to thank Qianshan Sect for its contribution, we have made an impromptu decision—led by my Hidden Zhao Family, every Hidden World Family shall each put forward one stake as compensation to Qianshan Sect. This is pure compensation, and cannot be won back!"
This decision had been agreed upon beforehand by Old Master Zhao and the other old masters. Originally it had been settled that only a few families—the Hidden Zhao Family, the Hidden Yu Family and the like—would each contribute a treasure. But the Hidden Han Family's repeated victories had left Old Master Zhao thoroughly displeased, and so he wanted to drag them into the water too and fleece them for some profit.
This amounted to Sect Master Wo of Qianshan Sect using the Hidden Han Family's own goods to destroy Wei Zhao. It sounded like an enormous joke, but that was exactly the fact of the matter! No one had any reason to object to such fleecing of the Hidden Han Family—after all, they would not really have to put up any stakes themselves, only make a show of it. The ones actually paying were still the Hidden Zhao Family and those few others.
All they had to do now was play along—why not? It also earned them a favor with Qianshan Sect. No one would complain about such an easy courtesy.
But Han Tianba frowned. Was this not plainly extortion? The Hidden Han Family could well afford one stake, but there was no such rule. So Han Tianba asked coolly: "Old Master Zhao, in all the Hidden World Family Summits of past years, has there ever been such compensation? If Qianshan Sect finds the arrangement unprofitable, it may simply cancel this supplementary match—there is no need to charge the fee to us. As it stands, we lose one stake before we have even competed, and even if we compete, we may not win—that makes three stakes lost. What manner of accounting is that?"
"This is the collective decision of the Hidden World Family Summit!" Old Master Zhao replied blandly. "For the sake of our Hidden World Family gathering, Qianshan Sect has contributed an ancient spirit beast carrying the bloodline of a divine beast. Does such a righteous act not deserve our respect? It is only one stake—a mere token of our gratitude."
"How is that a contribution? Once the match is over, the spirit beast will be returned to Qianshan Sect, won't it?" Han Xiaohu also felt this rule was something of a trap.
"Be that as it may, what if something happens to the spirit beast during the match? What if it dies or is injured? Would that not all fall on my Qianshan Sect?" Sect Master Wo of Qianshan Sect was naturally unwilling to suffer a loss. There was no reason to give up a stake already in his mouth—he had to make the Hidden Han Family hand something over.
"Oh, so what you're saying is, as long as we hand over one stake, then whatever happens to the spirit beast is borne entirely by Qianshan Sect, and has nothing to do with the participating families—is that right?" Something stirred in Wei Zhao's heart, and he looked at Sect Master Wo and asked.
"Naturally!" Sect Master Wo sneered. "Since I am providing this ancient spirit beast and have collected everyone's stakes as compensation, then whatever happens to the beast during the match has nothing to do with any of you!"