Ju Zi felt her heart quiver as she bit down on her lower lip. Her beautiful eyes seemed to be pondering something…
------
The Tang Sect had returned to the hotel. They couldn’t be bothered with a postmortem this time, and everyone went back to their respective rooms to rest as soon as possible.
They had achieved their main goals in this battle. The Body Sect wasn’t their enemy, after all, and the Tang Sect had managed to win and progress into the semifinals without damaging their relationship. They had completed all their main tasks in this tournament.
Huo Yuhao sat opposite Wang Dong’er as they channeled their Haodong power together.
Color had returned to Huo Yuhao’s face, and he wasn’t as pale now. Today had been far too exhausting for him, and taken a toll on his physical and mental strength. Much of his soul power and spiritual power had been consumed.
Long Aotian had been right, the Body Sect’s entire team was too proud and arrogant, and they weren’t able to unleash their strongest individual abilities because of their teamwork, or rather, the lack thereof. But even so, Huo Yuhao was still overly spent as the Tang Sect’s team leader and commander.
Huo Yuhao was thinking back over the entire match as he sat on his wheelchair on the way back, and made his own evaluations about the Body Sect’s individual team members. He realized afterwards that if both teams’ battle strategies and tactics were in place and not problematic, there was only one way the Tang Sect could defeat the Body Sect: his body had to recover. It was only then that his fighting strength could be unleashed to the highest possible level, and he could cooperate better with Wang Dong’er. Only then would they have a chance of defeating the Body Sect.
They rested for nearly four hours before they headed to the canteen to eat. They were met with two guests in the canteen. More accurately put, they were met with two princesses!
---
After their meal, Bei Bei, Huo Yuhao, Wei Na, and Xu Jiujiu sat together in the living room on the Brilliant Delight Hotel’s top floor that belonged to the Snowdemon Sect.
Both princesses had lost their respective fights, and while the Star Luo National Academy was defeated straightforwardly, they managed to keep themselves in one piece. Xu Jiujiu’s expression was very normal and casual, as she had already foreseen today’s outcome when they drew the Holy Ghost Sect as their quarterfinal opponents.
“When do you guys plan to depart?” Bei Bei took the initiative and asked with a smile on his face.
Xu Jiujiu exchanged a look with Wei Na and said, “We’re not in a hurry. I think we’ll wait for the entire tournament to end before we’ll leave. If the Brilliant Delight Hotel refuses to continue providing their services to us, we’ll find a nearby hotel to stay in.”
“Oh? You don’t seem like you’re in a hurry to return home,” Bei Bei continued, with the same smile on his face.
Xu Jiujiu glanced in his direction. She had a strong impression of the Tang Sect’s eldest senior brother. This guy was handsome, and he always wore that faint smile on his face. He seemed scholarly and refreshed, and it was easy for others to have a favorable impression of him.
However, his fighting style was drastically different from how he typically carried himself when he wasn’t in combat. He was ferocious, and was as fearsome and intimidating as could be. Bei Bei and Xu Sanshi anchored the Shrek’s Seven Monsters’ vanguard!
“Yes! We’re not in a hurry. The semifinals and finals will be even more spectacular. Since we’re here, we should finish watching the tournament before we go,” Xu Jiujiu responded with a bright smile on her face.
Most of the teams who had been defeated chose to leave. The tournament spanned a very long period of time, and the Brilliant Delight Hotel turned away those who had been eliminated from the tournament. Some teams couldn’t find a place to stay in the city even if they wanted to.
Of course, some of these teams had arranged things for themselves beforehand so they could continue watching the tournament. Most of these teams were the Sun Moon Empire’s native teams, so it was relatively easier for them to stay behind. The teams that belonged to the Douluo Continent’s three native countries mostly didn’t choose to stay behind because they weren’t very friendly with the Sun Moon Empire. They didn’t want to stay for too long because they were afraid that the Sun Moon Empire would take action against them.
Xu Jiujiu turned towards Wei Na after she declared that she was staying behind. “How about the Snowdemon Sect, sister Wei Na? When are you guys leaving? Oh, that’s wrong... I should call you guys the Body Sect. I didn’t expect you to have so many secrets! You have twin martial souls, and you’re also one of the Body Set’s prodigy warriors! Whitesilver Second Awakening! Very impressive!”
Wei Na had returned to normal by now, and she still wore the same gentle and tender look as she always did. She smiled faintly, and dimples appeared on her cheeks like a fresh and pleasant lily flower.
“Since you aren’t in a hurry to leave, then we are even more reluctant to go. We’ll wait for the tournament to end before we leave.”
Xu Jiujiu smiled and said, “That’s great! We can accompany each other when we leave. I guess I’ll have a companion for my journey.”
Wei Na nodded. “That’s good! Bei Bei, Yuhao, why don’t we decide on a time and place so we can leave together after the tournament? You can call the others from Shrek Academy too! The more the merrier!”
Bei Bei heaved a faint sigh and shook his head. “We are very exhausted today, my dear princesses, and it isn’t very convenient for Huo Yuhao to move around. We’ve expended too much today, so we should stop beating around the bush and get straight to the point so that we can go back to rest after our discussion. Otherwise, the two of you can finish your discussions beforehand and find us afterwards.”
Xu Jiujiu’s expression didn’t change as she listened to Bei Bei calling her out on her tongue-in-cheek. Wei Na blushed, but she was still smiling pleasantly as she stared at Xu Jiujiu in amusement.
The two princesses looked at each other, but neither of them seemed willing to speak first, and the room instantly descended into silence.
Bei Bei waited for a little while before he heaved a faint sigh and walked behind Huo Yuhao. He began to push Yuhao’s wheelchair, and they started to leave.
“Wait.” Xu Jiujiu couldn’t hold herself back anymore, and spoke first. Xu Jiujiu didn’t have the same confidence and strength that Wei Na did. Even though she had faith that she was better than Wei Na at managing and handling things, Wei Na had the Body Sect behind her, and there were probably many powerful individuals from the Body Sect in the area. Wei Na had reason to be confident, and she had reason to feel safe. But what about her? Would her company be able to ensure her safe passage back home?
Bei Bei pressed his hands on the Golden Tree wheelchair’s handles and turned towards Xu Jiujiu.
Xu Jiujiu paused for a moment and said solemnly, “Alright, I’m not going to beat around the bush anymore. You guys have seen what the tournament is like. The Sun Moon Empire is becoming stronger and more dominant, and according to our analysis, the Sun Moon Empire has a malicious plan that they will execute after the tournament! We’re not sure what their plan is, but the Sun Moon Empire’s strength combined with the Holy Ghost Sect is a big threat to everyone! We will have a hard time defending ourselves if they make a move against us, as this is their territory, after all. Therefore, I want my people to leave together with you guys. Together we stand, and divided we fall. It’s easier for us to take care of one another when we’re together.”
Bei Bei tilted his head. Xu Jiujiu had portrayed her sincerity relatively well with her words, and this was probably what she had meant from the start. Perhaps her words weren’t complete, but they were enough to express her anxiety and worries.
Wei Na nodded and continued, “I agree with Jiujiu. Together we stand, and divided we fall. The Sun Moon Empire is too calm and quiet, to the point where I feel afraid. It would be a lot safer for everyone, and we will find ourselves in a better situation if we all leave together after the competition. At least, they’ll have to try a lot harder if they want to deal with us.”
Bei Bei glanced at both princesses and said, “Either one of you can represent a country, but the Tang Sect is just a tiny sect. We’ll probably not participate in this.”
Both Xu Jiujiu and Wei Na were astonished by Bei Bei’s response. From their perspective, the Tang Sect had no reason to reject their proposal, but Bei Bei did so directly and straightforwardly.
Huo Yuhao said nothing at all in his chair. He was being a patient listener, Bei Bei was the Tang Sect’s eldest senior brother, and was also the Tang Sect’s real director. Huo Yuhao would always hold himself back when Bei Bei was around so that his eldest senior brother could decide everything. This wasn’t just because of his respect for Bei Bei, it was also because he had absolute faith in his senior brother!
“Alright. It’s getting late, princesses. We’ll take our leave first. We can continue this discussion afterwards.” With that, Bei Bei pushed Huo Yuhao’s wheelchair and left the room.
---
Xu Jiujiu and Wei Na glanced at each other, both of them temporarily rendered speechless.
Wei Na forced a laugh after a long while and said, “I thought Huo Yuhao was difficult to deal with, little did I expect that the Tang Sect’s eldest senior brother was even more difficult to deal with. It’s apparent that he thinks we’re not sincere enough.”
Xu Jiujiu also wore a black face as she turned towards Wei Na and said, “Wei Na, I know that you have the Body Sect behind you. But you should also understand that the Sun Moon Empire hates the Body Sect more than they do us. If they really have some evil plan to execute, the Body Sect will be their first target, Shrek Academy will come next, and then they will target us. Let’s have a heart to heart talk... what do you think?”
Wei Na tilted her head and said, “Alright, then I won’t hide anything any more. We are not just here to participate in the tournament, we also have to execute other tasks and duties…”
---
Bei Bei pushed Huo Yuhao and walked down the hotel corridor. He shook his head in exasperation and said, “These princesses are so sly and cunning. They don’t wish to give anything, yet they want to drag us onto the war chariot. They’ve calculated this well... but what do we have? We represent the Tang Sect, not Shrek Academy. We don’t know who they have and how many people they have backing them up, and we don’t even know how Shrek Academy has arranged things. Our advantage is that our company is small, and the Sun Moon Empire can’t do anything against us if we really want to leave because we have you around. It’s better for us to avoid getting involved in this.”
Huo Yuhao laughed bitterly and said, “We will be much smaller targets if we lose the next round. However, if we win, the Holy Ghost Church will surely come after us whether or not the Sun Moon Empire targets us.”
Bei Bei nodded and said, “There are still many things that are blurry and unclear. The princesses are in more of a hurry than we are, while everything will be clear after the tournament’s next round. At the very least, we can be sure that the Sun Moon Empire will not make a move against us within Radiant City even if they want to...”