Chapter 205: True Enemy Invasion! (1/2)
In the end, the assault of the tigers was more of a test than a murder attempt. Zhao Qianqiu had distributed the tigers according to the prowess of the individuals in each room.
As such, Zhao Jingdian’s room was distributed the least tigers, allowing him to be the first one to end the battle.
“Gongzi!”
Fresh blood was dripping from Zhao Jingdian’s body. It was impossible to distinguish whether it was human blood or tiger blood. As soon as the battle ended, Zhao Jingdian immediately rushed out of his room and darted for Wang Chong’s.
Halfway through, ‘ROAR!’, a death throe sounded from Zhuang Zhengping and Chi Weisi’s room, and a massive tiger was jolted out forcefully. Crashing heavily onto the floor, it twitched for a moment before falling completely motionless.
“Go! Let’s take a look!”
Zhuang Zhengping and Chi Weisi’s voices sounded. The two of them immediately dashed out of the room and followed behind Zhao Jingdian.
Even though the entire area was shrouded in the shadows of the night, beneath the lush Chinese scholar tree, Zhao Qianqiu still clearly saw the unkempt state of the duo. Their faces were ghastly pale, and there were many claws marks on their clothes, arms, chests, abdomens… In fact, their bones could even vaguely be seen if one focused their sight.
——Zhao Qianqiu had specially prepared a sizeable gift for them, even though it wasn’t as generous as what he had prepared for Wang Chong and Su Hanshan.
“Not bad. As expected of members of prestigious clans, their martial arts are indeed incredible.”
Zhao Qianqiu nodded in satisfaction.
The injuries of the duo were lighter than he expected. He thought that at least one of the two would be severely injured from this encounter, but their injuries ended up to be mainly superficial. Zhao Qianqiu was rather contented with this result.
Even though he had recruited more people than he had expected, every single one of them was extraordinary.
“Now, only the two of them are left!”
Zhao Qianqiu turned his sight toward Wang Chong and Su Hanshan’s room. To the two students whom he had the highest evaluations of, he made sure to express his ‘affection’ thoroughly, providing them with ‘additional service’.
In fact, in order to deal with Wang Chong, he even obtained three tigers who, enlightened by a martial art expert, were capable of utilizing martial arts and equipped them with heavy armor.
——Good students do deserve to be ‘taken care’ of after all!
When he discovered his top students, Su Hanshan and Wang Chong, were in the same room he couldn’t help but have a huge headache initially. If these two experts were to work together, his ploy could be discounted.
However, Zhao Qianqiu soon realized that he was worried for nothing.
It was impossible for the duo to work together. It wasn’t that Wang Chong was unwilling but given Su Hanshan’s character, even when facing death, he would very much rather die alone than to be helped by another.
The current circumstances proved to be a much greater challenge as the nine tigers could switch targets whenever they pleased, thus increasing the effectiveness of the test.
“Now, let’s see which of them is able to ward off more damage.”
Zhao Qianqiu pricked his ears up to listen closely, and he noticed that the sounds within Wang Chong and Su Hanshan’s room was slowly getting sparser. It seemed like fight was reaching its conclusion already.
“That should be about it!”
Thinking so, Zhao Qianqiu began walking over to Wang Chong and Su Hanshan’s room. Roar! A ferocious roar of a tiger suddenly echoed, causing the air to tremor. The room shook for an instant before everything calmed down.
Amidst the darkness, a dim light suddenly appeared, tracing the outlines of the window and the young silhouettes within.
Zhao Qianqiu hastened his footsteps and hurried over.
By the time Zhao Qianqiu walked in, the battle inside had already ended. The wretched state of the room was particularly striking. Tables, chairs, beds, blinds, door; nothing was intact. Even the walls and floors were pocked with holes all over. The various marks from swords and the tiger claws filled the area, presenting a terrifying sight.
Blood was splattered throughout, and the ground was dyed red. More than ten massive tigers, each reminiscent of a small hill, were piled up within the room. Every single one of these tigers had the size equivalent to around four grown men so the sight of it was particularly stunning.
The three armored tigers that Zhao Qianqiu specially prepared for Wang Chong lay amidst the pile. The armor and body of those tigers had been sliced in two. Taking a closer look at where the metal was divided, it was as smooth as a mirror, indicating that it was all done in a single cut.
“Sharp!”
Zhao Qianqiu blinked in shock. He realized that he had underestimated the weapon in Wang Chong’s hands. The Wootz steel sword seemed to be much sharper than he had expected.
The armor he had prepared for these tigers were crafted of Xuan metal, which was known for its sturdiness. On the battlefield, only the most elite of troops were equipped with it. Yet, it was still unable to withstand the weapon in Wang Chong’s hand.
Scanning the room, Zhao Qianqiu soon realized that even though he had ‘specially taken care’ of Wang Chong and Su Hanshan, the two of them were still the least injured of the group.
Or to be more exact, other than their pale faces and significant depletion of their Origin Energy, they weren’t injured at all.
This wasn’t what Zhao Qianqiu expected to see.
“Ten ferocious tigers in such a confined space… and yet, they aren’t injured at all!”
His eyebrows shot up in surprise.
Wang Chong and Su Hanshan fared way better than his estimates. It seemed like brute strength and mere quantity didn’t have a decisive effect on them.
“Instructor Zhao!”
Just as Zhao Qianqiu was scanning the room, a voice broke the silence. The recuperating Wang Chong was the first to notice Zhao Qianqiu standing by the door, and soon, everyone turned to look at the latter with malicious intent in their gazes.
The air in the room seemed to have suddenly frozen.
Even Su Hanshan lifted his head to look at Zhao Qianqiu. His face was still impassive, but it could be seen that he wasn’t in a good mood.
To send tigers over in the middle of the night was going way beyond the boundary of a mere test. Just the death of Zhao Jingdian’s roommate reflected much about tonight’s matter.
The death quota that Zhao Qianqiu mentioned previously didn’t seem like a joke. If they failed to survive this ordeal, they would have truly died for nothing.
Wang Chong, Su Hanshan, Zhuang Zhengping, Chi Weisi, and Zhao Jingdian glared at Zhao Qianqiu furiously but no one said a single word.
The entire room was bizarrely silent for a moment. Pressure gathered in the air.
“Why? Do you all intend to rebel?”
Zhao Qianqiu could see the rage seething in the eyes of the crowd, but he was indifferent to it.