Chapter 3924 — A Beating
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"A pack of useless trash!" Meng Zhou ground his teeth in fury. With no other choice, he had to take the field himself. Fortunately, the spirit-beast talisman had already been pressed onto the Blackback Staff Ape's forehead; all he had to do now was find a way to hold Qiao Hongcai back and keep him from interfering with the ape.
Thousand-Legs and Iron Cold Palm clashed head-on, and for a time neither could gain the upper hand. Though he had lost to Qiao Hongcai in the final match of the newcomer challenge tournament, strictly speaking Meng Zhou's strength was not much inferior to Qiao Hongcai's. If all he needed was to entangle Qiao Hongcai for a brief moment, that would be effortless for him.
"You worthless piece of crap! There's a road to heaven and you won't take it, but when hell has no gate you insist on barging in—today is the day you die!" Meng Zhou snarled, his face hideous.
But Qiao Hongcai only curled his lip in a wicked grin. "So, Senior Newcomer Meng, are you sure this is really such a good idea? Not even going to keep an eye on that spirit beast of yours? A friendly reminder—I'm not alone this time!"
Meng Zhou was startled. Qiao Hongcai's taunting charge had made him see red, and he had nearly forgotten that the other side still had a Xiao Che. He hurriedly shouted at the top of his voice, "Stop Xiao Che right now! Anyone who dares to slack off is a traitor colluding with the enemy—when we get back, I'll hand you over to Cousin Ninth to deal with personally!"
Traitor colluding with the enemy—that threat was far more effective than the generous rewards and inducements he had offered before. The newcomers might not believe in the rewards Meng Zhou had dangled, but this threat was real and concrete.
If Meng Zhou branded them traitors colluding with the enemy, Meng Jueming's side would certainly not let them off. And now that Meng Jueming's promotion to Third Pavilion Master was all but settled—word had long since spread—he was at the very zenith of his power, and they dared not offend him at a time like this.
After all, they were all Heaven-Rank Grand Perfection experts, and they had the advantage of numbers. Once the newcomers got serious, their combined strength was not to be underestimated; against someone like Qiao Hongcai, who only knew how to meet force head-on, they might well have had the upper hand.
Unfortunately, the one they faced now was not Qiao Hongcai, but Xiao Che.
The Phantom Step—when it came to twisting and turning within a single square inch, no one in the world could surpass it. Given Xiao Che's fighting style, so long as his own strength was not inferior to his opponents', he would never come off worse even against overwhelming numbers—and all the more so now that his strength surpassed everyone present.
The Phantom Step drifted like a phantom; in less than a single breath, Xiao Che had already slipped clean through the newcomers' encirclement, strolling at his ease, not a speck of dust on him.
By the time the crowd came back to their senses, Xiao Che was already standing beside the Blackback Staff Ape, utterly relaxed and pleased with himself.
Hearing the exclamations rising and falling around him, Meng Zhou immediately realized what had happened, and his eyes split with rage as he roared, "Xiao Che! If you dare touch a single hair on it, I'll hack you into ten thousand pieces!"
"Ten thousand pieces? Then come and try to kill me!" Xiao Che smiled faintly and raised an eyebrow, then reached out and with a flick of his hand tore the spirit-beast talisman from the Blackback Staff Ape's forehead.
With that, the Blackback Staff Ape quickly woke from its dazed, hypnotized trance, and everything Meng Zhou had schemed and schemed for was undone in an instant.
Watching this unfold before his eyes, Meng Zhou nearly spat out a mouthful of old blood.