Chapter 2146 — Demanding Compensation

"I'm fine." Wei Zhao nodded. "Woking Dao's fusion of man and beast is truly formidable. I have to admit, Qianshan Sect has some real tricks up its sleeve!"

"He's right, but you were still a cut above, chief. Standing on that arena, I was so scared I nearly lost my wits—I didn't dare move a hand or foot, didn't know what to do with myself." Han Xiaopo spoke with deep guilt. "Not only was I no help to you, chief—I was a burden."

"That's not your fault. You had only just broken through to the early Earth rank, and you couldn't even channel your martial techniques smoothly, let alone face an enemy." Wei Zhao waved a hand, without a word of blame for Han Xiaopo. He still remembered his own first clash with Blue Hair, back when he had just broken through to the Earth rank and his opponent could already channel martial techniques—that same helplessness and awkwardness.

"Chief, let's go back and have lunch. There's still the final supplementary match this afternoon—the highlight of every Hidden World Family Summit..." Han Xiaopo said.

"The supplementary match—what is it testing, exactly? Hasn't there been even a whisper?" Wei Zhao nodded and asked.

"Nothing." Han Xiaopo shook his head helplessly. "We've been doing our best to dig around, but when it comes to connections among the Hidden World Families, the Hidden Han Family stands alone. I'm afraid the other Hidden World Families and sects learned the format and content of the supplementary match long ago, while we have no news at all."

"Never mind. We'll take it one step at a time—if it comes to it, we forfeit." Wei Zhao said. "Two stakes—we can afford to lose them."

"True enough!" Han Xiaopo said. "That last match was harrowing enough as it was. Winning those stakes hardly seems worth it... Oh, right—while you were breaking through earlier, Tang Yuyi of the Hidden Tang Family came by, saying he wanted to stand guard for you... But he didn't try anything underhanded. I can't figure out what he meant by it...

"Mm, I know." Wei Zhao was also puzzled by Tang Yuyi's strange behavior, but he could not work out what purpose lay behind it. At this Hidden World Family Summit, Tang Yuyi had seemed friendly throughout—but since the matter could not be clarified for now, he had no choice but to set it aside.

Together with Han Xiaopo and Han Tianba, he returned to their temporary lodging. After lunch and a short rest, a disciple of the Hidden Zhao Family came to the courtyard and called out loudly: "Is the Old Master Han of the Hidden Han Family present? The final supplementary match of this Hidden World Family Summit is about to begin. The content of the match remains confidential for now. Old Master Han, please bring your participating disciples and your two stakes to the council hall..."

"Very well, I'll be right there!" Han Tianba nodded, though inwardly he was deeply unimpressed. Confidential for now? Doubtless it was confidential only from the Hidden Han Family—to everyone else, the content of this match was surely no secret at all.

But Han Tianba was under another's roof and had to bow his head. He could only keep a low profile and go with Wei Zhao and Han Xiaopo to the council hall of the Hidden Zhao Family.

In the council hall, the old masters of the other families and the sect masters had all arrived. After Han Tianba registered the stakes and Wei Zhao's name, he took his seat—and to his surprise, this time the head seat of the council hall was occupied not only by Old Master Zhao, but also by Sect Master Wo of Qianshan Sect!

"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 Xiaopo 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!"

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