Chapter 3796 — I Yield to You
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"Xiao Che of Cave Dwelling Fifteen at the foot of the mountain challenges Zha Wu of Cave Dwelling Fourteen at the foot of the mountain!" Xiao Che announced in a ringing voice once he had stepped onto the platform.
At these words, another wave of uproar swept through the newcomers below, while Meng Jue Ming and Meng Zhou—who had just groggily regained consciousness—could not help but breathe a sigh of relief.
In the eyes of those people, Xiao Che, as Qiao Hongcai's comrade, had stood by and watched Qiao Hongcai get robbed by a crooked judgment. Surely, then, Xiao Che was stepping forward to vent Qiao Hongcai's grievance—so how had he ended up challenging the weakling Zha Wu? It made no sense at all!
Compared with everyone else, Zha Wu, the man in question, turned black as the bottom of a pot the instant he heard Xiao Che's words, a sight too ghastly to behold, and nearly let out a cry of dismay on the spot.
Before this, having watched Qiao Hongcai and Meng Zhou fight each other to mutual ruin—and especially having heard Pavilion Master Hu Yun Feng's unfair verdict—Zha Wu had, frankly speaking, felt rather pleased and fortunate.
Of course, he was not so foolish as to challenge Meng Zhou. Though Meng Zhou was now a gravely wounded man who could not truss a chicken, and a challenge would net him a full four points with less effort than blowing away a fleck of dust, if he truly dared to kick a man when he was down like that, he would be finished afterward, dead without even knowing how he died.
Still, though he had no intention of kicking Meng Zhou while he was down, Zha Wu had spotted an opportunity in all this—a chance to let Meng Zhou and Wei Zhao's lot tear each other to pieces like dogs, while he himself stood serenely on the sidelines.
Qiao Hongcai and Meng Zhou had ruined each other; Xiao Che, to vent Qiao Hongcai's grievance, would challenge Meng Zhou directly; and once Meng Zhou recovered, whether for the sake of face or for the practical matter of points, he would inevitably challenge Xiao Che and Qiao Hongcai in turn. Thus would they all tear at each other like dogs, while never once deigning to notice him. That was the ideal script in Zha Wu's mind.
After all, the challenge tournament had only eighteen rounds in total. If one were to remain endlessly bogged down among the low-ranked cave dwellings, it would clearly be a terrible bargain for powerful newcomers like Meng Zhou; they had to claw their way up to higher ranks as quickly as possible for any chance at more challenge points.
So in theory, Zha Wu's ideal script had every chance of coming true—only he had never expected Xiao Che to slap him hard across the face the moment he stepped up.
Looking at Xiao Che's air of a seasoned hand—condensed, restrained, immovable as a mountain—Zha Wu was very nearly in tears.
Heavens above! Could you show a little brotherly loyalty? Didn't you see what a grievance Qiao Hongcai just suffered? Hurry up and trample that wretch Meng Zhou to avenge him—that's the proper path! What the hell kind of nonsense is coming after a weakling like me supposed to be?
No matter how he cursed and swore in his belly, Zha Wu in the end could only drag himself up onto the platform with the greatest reluctance. He had no choice but to accept the challenge.
"Third round, second match of the Welcoming New Pavilion Newcomer Challenge—Xiao Che of Cave Dwelling Fifteen at the foot of the mountain challenges Zha Wu of Cave Dwelling Fourteen at the foot of the mountain. Begin!" the referee declared.
"After you," Xiao Che said without betraying the slightest emotion, making a gesture of invitation.
Zha Wu's scalp went numb at once. Rationally, he knew that as the bottommost dreg of the Welcoming New Pavilion's newcomers, he could certainly never beat Xiao Che, and that at a time like this it would be more reliable—and safer—to simply concede. But he was still, for all his weakness, a master at the great perfection of the Heaven Rank!