Chapter 2529 — Who's the Bigger Coward

"Oh... you meant the iron rod..." Zhong Yongliang let out a breath of relief. His first instinct had been to assume Wei Zhao was talking about his mid-grade Golden Cicada undergarment, and he dreaded the thought of Wei Zhao learning his secret. As long as it wasn't the Golden Cicada undergarment, all was well—clearly Wei Zhao still knew nothing of his secret.

As for the black iron fine-steel rod, there was no harm in staking it on a bet. After all, Zhong Yongliang did not believe Wei Zhao had what it took to beat him. So long as he set the rules himself, he had nothing to fear from Wei Zhao.

"What, too attached to it to part with?" Wei Zhao found Zhong Yongliang's expression rather amusing.

"Who said that? I'm just afraid you haven't got the skill to win it!" Zhong Yongliang waved his hand magnanimously. "Fine, then—the black iron fine-steel rod it is as the stake. Beat me and you take it. Lose, and you step aside like a good boy. Deal?"

"Deal. It's a promise." Wei Zhao nodded.

"Good. Yaoyao, Xiaoshu, you both heard that with your own ears, so you can serve as witnesses. This noon, on the same little training ground as the last arena match, we hold the close-protection bodyguard championship!" Zhong Yongliang declared.

"Oh, yeah! Little Liangzi, I've got high hopes for you—but... I've got high hopes for Arrow Brand Bro too!" Shen Yushu said something utterly pointless, leaving Zhong Yongliang thoroughly deflated. He had been quite pleased by the first half of her sentence, only to realize from the second half that Shen Yushu was backing neither side.

But on second thought, Zhong Yongliang decided this was a good thing. Shen Yushu had always favored Wei Zhao and treated him with hostility; now that she was being even-handed, that counted as progress. And so his spirits lifted again.

"Fine, noon it is," Wei Zhao answered.

"Yaoyao, is your cold any better?" With the match time settled and his confidence restored, Zhong Yongliang promptly steered the conversation back to Gu Mengyao.

"Much better. Nothing to worry about now." Gu Mengyao nodded.

"Then you absolutely must come watch my championship match with Wei Zhao at noon. When you see it with your own eyes, Yaoyao, you'll know who's really cut out to be a close bodyguard!" Zhong Yongliang said. "A close guard's most important quality is being able to take a beating—being tough enough to absorb the blows for your employer. Only then can you protect their safety!"

"Don't worry, Little Liangzi, I'll bring Sister Yaoyao to watch!" Shen Yushu gave Zhong Yongliang a look that said trust me, then lowered her voice. "But you'd better pull yourself together too. Don't drop the ball at the critical moment—because if you really lose, there'll be nothing I can do for you then."

"No problem, Sister Xiaoshu. Trust me, I won't let you down. I'm definitely going to win!" Shen Yushu's few words left Zhong Yongliang basking in bliss from head to toe, and he was instantly brimming with confidence.

The group parted ways in the parking lot. Wei Zhao headed toward the biology building with Han Jingyi and Wang Xinyan, while Gu Mengyao, Shen Yushu, and Han Xiaochao went off toward the economics building. As for Zhong Yongliang—though he had already registered at the school, a self-funded student like him was only here to pick up a diploma; attending class or not made no difference. He had no intention of going to class anyway, and went straight with Gao Xiaofu to the dormitory to prepare for the noon championship match.

"Jingjing, I've sold off all those pills. I've also contacted another supplier of medicinal herbs—if possible, we'll refine more pills to sell." Wei Zhao, making no attempt to hide anything in front of Wang Xinyan, spoke directly to Han Jingyi.

"All right, but Jingjing's pill-refining skills are limited. Without Brother Wei Zhao's help, there's no way I could refine that many pills," Han Jingyi said.

"That's no problem. I'll help you refine them together." Wei Zhao nodded.

The three of them said nothing more and went straight into the classroom. Right Panhu and Kang Zhaolong watched Wei Zhao enter together with Han Jingyi and Wang Xinyan, a flash of fury passing through their eyes—but both were clever enough not to go looking for trouble with Wei Zhao.

The two of them had now pinned their hopes of making trouble for Wei Zhao on Zhong Yongliang. Though Zhong Yongliang had not done anything to Wei Zhao yesterday, neither had Wei Zhao done anything to Zhong Yongliang—which proved that Wei Zhao was not invincible. So they thought highly of Zhong Yongliang and hoped he would bring them a pleasant surprise.

"This is just pathetic!" Kang Zhaolong fumed under his breath. "I, the own elder brother of the Xuan Dan Sect elder's heir, have to swallow this kind of indignity every day—watching my own fiancée walk around so close to another man, and there's not a thing I can do about it!"

"There's no help for it, Brother Kang. Just endure it a while longer. Pathetic? Don't talk to me about pathetic—we of the Hidden Right Family are far more pathetic than you!" Right Panhu said glumly. "When our Hidden Right Family went to the cultivators' market to buy goods, not only did Wei Zhao beat us to the purchase, but even the money from selling pills was snatched away by Wei Zhao!"

Right Panhu had already learned that Right Lao San had been robbed by Wei Zhao, and he found the whole affair deeply galling. Even the Right Patriarch had said nothing about it, but Right Panhu could not stomach the imbalance. Watching Wei Zhao grow more and more overbearing, his voice among the hidden families growing louder by the day, Right Panhu was secretly alarmed.

Not long ago, at the birthday banquet of the Tang Patriarch of the Hidden Tang Family, Wei Zhao had still needed the backing of the Ice Palace crowd just to secure a place among the hidden families. But now—in the blink of an eye, a few months had passed—Wei Zhao alone was enough to make the hidden families tremble with fear.

In particular, the Heaven-rank martial technique Wei Zhao had unleashed on the arena yesterday had left Right Panhu utterly dumbstruck. With that kind of power, to say nothing of Right Lao San, not a single Heaven-rank expert in the entire Hidden Right Family could withstand it. It was fair to say that whoever he struck, he crippled.

"So there's nothing we can do about this brat?" Kang Zhaolong was thoroughly resentful. He had never once gotten the better of Wei Zhao; the Kang family had been suppressed by Wei Zhao all along and had never managed to turn things around.

"We don't have to deal with him ourselves—someone else will do it for us. Why not sit back and enjoy it?" Right Panhu shook his head. "Since a disciple of the Tomorrow Upon Tomorrow Sect has gotten involved, let him handle it. The Tomorrow Upon Tomorrow Sect is no weaker than the Xuan Dan Sect—if anything, it's even more wicked."

"That's true enough. Let's hope Zhong Yongliang doesn't let us down." Kang Zhaolong nodded.

Wei Zhao spent the whole morning hastily in cultivation, while Zhong Yongliang had already posted a "challenge" on the school's BBS forum: at twelve-thirty sharp this noon, on the gymnastics platform of the school's little training ground, the "Zhong Yongliang vs. Wei Zhao: Battle for the Position of School Flower's Close Bodyguard" would be held. All students were welcome to come gawk if they had nothing better to do after lunch.

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