Chapter 4423 — The Race Sets Sail
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"I can't speak for anyone else, but Brother Ling—if he says he can handle it, then he can handle it. He's not the type to put on a brave face and play the hero," Qi Wenmo said, shaking his head.
"Good heavens, child, why must you be so pigheaded? Ling Yi is not only a great benefactor to our agency, he is a vital ally. Even if he says he's confident, we can't let him take a risk like this!" Qi Mingyuan was on the verge of losing his temper with his own flesh and blood.
With extraordinary innate talent, an honorary vice-chairmanship of the Hong Merchant Guild, and close ties to the personal disciple of the East Sea Divine Nun—all those halos together made Wei Zhao a prospect of limitless potential. Qi Mingyuan had not brought the Sky-Bearing Escort Agency to where it was today without seeing that crystal clear.
"Whatever Brother Ling says, I believe. If you're worried, Dad, go talk him out of it yourself. I don't have that kind of skill." Qi Wenmo simply washed his hands of the matter.
"I—" Qi Mingyuan's belly was suddenly full of curses. Only out of deference to the great personages standing around did he swallow them back, and he jabbed a finger hard at Qi Wenmo's head. Pacing back and forth with an anxious face, he was a veritable ant on a hot pan.
Qi Wenmo spread his hands and stood to one side with the air of a dead pig that no longer feared boiling water. No matter how earnestly his father pleaded, he would not budge, because he knew that budging was useless. Once a man like Wei Zhao set his mind on something, no one could talk him out of it, and pressing the matter further would only be a waste of breath.
After a long while, Qi Mingyuan ran out of options, and the two could only stare at each other. Just as Qi Wenmo knew he could not persuade Wei Zhao, so too he could not be persuaded. What was to be done?
As one of the five judges, Qi Mingyuan could not leave the stage and step out of public view except under special circumstances, or it would be taken for backroom dealings. And his relationship with Wei Zhao was far less intimate than his son's; there were many things Qi Wenmo could say that he could not, and even if he said them, they might not work.
There was no help for it. In the end Qi Mingyuan could only steel himself and enter Ling Yi's name. Still, he could not refrain from pulling Qi Wenmo aside for a round of instructions: when he went back, he was to remind Wei Zhao that under no circumstances should he force himself in a contest like this, and that the moment he found the situation hopeless, he was to turn back at once.
Turning back midway earned no points, and was essentially the same as forfeiting, but at least it was not as grave as openly forfeiting before the race, and would not get one struck from the Southern Continent Escort Alliance's rolls. It merely cost three hundred thousand spirit jade.
Three hundred thousand spirit jade was no small sum for any escort agency. Had an ordinary escort dared such a thing, he would have been beaten to death on the spot. But if three hundred thousand spirit jade could buy Wei Zhao's safe return, then neither Qi Mingyuan nor Qi Wenmo would consider it the slightest loss—they would count it a tremendous bargain.
Compared with the escort-ambush round, the registration for this second round, the Perilous Seas Voyage, dragged on conspicuously longer. Only one contestant was needed per agency, yet each agency's roster came forth like a difficult birth, long in coming. Only after an extra wait of a full half-hour, amid the repeated urgings of the assembly's staff, were all thirty-two rosters grudgingly submitted.
Under the staff's direction, the whole crowd shifted grounds and swept in a mighty procession to the Demon Cold Wharf.