Chapter 173 - 100: Zhao Ci: Lao Mo, Listen Up, the Demon Monarch Is a Scumbag

Chapter 173: Chapter 100: Zhao Ci: Lao Mo, Listen Up, the Demon Monarch Is a Scumbag

The corner of Zhao Ci’s mouth twitched. Shaking his head, he said, "It’s fine! Just doing your best is enough. Your fundamentals are solid. Once we get the Ten Thousand Wood Roots, you’ll have great potential!"

"You know it!"

Feng Kucha nodded confidently. He wasn’t the least bit discouraged, even though he hadn’t scored any points.

Zhao Ci was also quite surprised. He hadn’t expected his brother-in-arms to be so resilient.

He took out the list. "Next match: Gongshu Cuo versus Yang Mo."

Feng Kucha asked, "Lao Mo, can you win?"

"I can!"

Yang Mo cracked a smile. "Don’t worry!"

With that, he and Gongshu Cuo stepped onto the arena platform.

And then...

SPLASH! SPLASH! SPLASH!

He doused himself with several bottles of potions.

He swiftly hugged his head and curled into a ball. "Brother Gongshu, let’s begin!"

He was clad in iron armor.

Curled up into a ball.

He looked just like an armored turtle.

Gongshu Cuo: "..."

Zhao Ci was floored. "Lao Mo! He’s practically disabled! Just grab your spear and fight him!"

"No! That’s not a safe bet!"

Yang Mo’s voice came from inside the metal ball. "I have experience with this. It’s harder to lose points this way!"

Zhao Ci was completely dumbfounded.

Zhu Li rubbed her temples in exasperation.

In truth, Yang Mo’s fundamentals weren’t bad at all, but he had absolutely no self-confidence. He didn’t dare use any tactic besides his "either you succumb to my poison or I succumb to your beating" strategy.

In Yang Mo’s own words: ’My spearmanship is terrible. Even my parents said I’m no good at it, so it must be true, right? I’d rather not risk the points.’

Faced with this metal ball that was completely impervious to hidden weapons, Gongshu Cuo finally lost his composure.

He had no choice but to go up and unleash a furious barrage of kicks.

After kicking for quite some time,

Yang Mo couldn’t take it anymore. He spat out a mouthful of blood and staggered off the arena platform.

Then, at lightning speed, he sat down cross-legged and immediately began circulating his energy to heal his wounds.

Gongshu Cuo’s face turned shades of green and purple. He cupped his hands and said, "Your Highness, my match is over. I’m going home to deal with this poison!"

With that,

he staggered out of the Tenth Prince’s Mansion.

The subsequent matches were a decent back-and-forth.

Even though Zhao Ci had crippled most of their combat strength.

But with Feng Kucha missing his mop and Yang Mo’s heavy injuries greatly reducing his ability to take a beating, their win rate remained about the same as before.

Zhu Li, however, had a blast in her three matches. Her Yu Xin Flame burned her opponents so badly they were crying for their mothers and fathers.

When it was all over,

The Tenth Prince’s Mansion fell quiet once more.

The four of them were dead tired, each slumped in a chair with barely enough energy to breathe.

After a long moment,

Zhao Ci finally sat up. "Lao Mo! You can’t keep doing this! You have to actually fight them!"

Yang Mo grunted, his voice pained. "I can’t! I’m too awful right now. It’s safer to just use poison."

Zhao Ci asked, "What about your injuries..."

Yang Mo retorted, "Forget about my injuries! I’m telling you, this is the strategy with my highest win rate. Just tell me if I’m wrong!"

Zhao Ci: "..."

’To be fair, he’s right.’

’But that’s not the point!’

He was truly at a loss.

’What in the world happened to a perfectly good person to make him this insecure?’

’Yang Mo’s Heart Demon...’

’...probably won’t be easy to resolve.’

He glanced at his Rash Man Talisman and felt a massive headache coming on.

’This kind of Talisman Paper, which grants limitless courage, would naturally be perfect for Yang Mo.’

’The only problem is, the talisman has a time limit.’

’Once it wears off, he’ll go right back to how he was.’

’So frustrating!’

Zhu Li glanced at Yang Mo, her expression one of someone disappointed in a person with wasted potential. Her lips moved, but she stopped herself from lashing out at him.

She’d already chewed him out before.

But it was useless. Whenever she did, Yang Mo would just hang his head in silence, not letting a single word get through to him.

Besides... though the guy was completely stubborn, he really was trying his best. Not just anyone could endure the beatings he took time and time again.

"Sigh!"

She sighed. "Zhao Ci! I did the math. It seems like it’ll be really hard for us to place in the top three!"

She wasn’t wrong.

The current standings had the Crown Prince Faction’s Ninth Prince’s Mansion and the Fourth Prince Faction’s Prince Ying’s Mansion neck and neck.

Prince Lie’s Mansion, which had clearly stated they were only focused on military achievements, followed close behind.

Although the other mansions had capable members, their overall performance was far worse. The points had mostly been consolidated among the top three.

"Don’t worry!"

Zhao Ci smiled. "I have a plan!"

Zhu Li couldn’t help but ask, "Really? The challengers today weren’t that strong. There are still a lot of unaffiliated people who weren’t chosen as Mansion Officials. How are we supposed to defend tomorrow?"

"Defend?"

Zhao Ci scoffed. "Defend my ass! What’s the point of letting people challenge us day after day? Tomorrow, the four of us attack together. Let them see what it feels like to be on the receiving end of a gauntlet.

I’ll cripple them, you incinerate them, and Old Feng and Lao Mo can pick off as many stragglers as they can!

Even if we can’t take the top three, we’ll make sure they learn their lesson."

Hearing this,

Zhu Li’s face flushed with excitement. "Yes, yes, yes! You’re my boss, all right! I can’t believe you’ve already learned my best qualities—bravery and cunning."

Zhao Ci was taken aback. "...Feeling confident now?"

"I am!"

Zhu Li was brimming with confidence. "The two of us together are militarily invincible!"

’That sounded familiar,’ Zhao Ci thought. ’Wasn’t it just a few days ago she was saying that she and Kan Luotang were an unparalleled strategic duo...’

He waved his hand. "Everyone’s exhausted! Get a good night’s rest. The next few days are going to be tough fights!"

"Okay! I’ll be staying in your mansion these next few days. Off to take a bath!"

Zhu Li skipped away happily.

"Lao Mo and I are heading home!"

Feng Kucha slung an arm around Yang Mo’s neck, getting ready to leave.

Zhao Ci went after them. "I’ll walk you out!"

And so,

he and Feng Kucha helped support Yang Mo as they walked outside.

Feng Kucha kept murmuring, trying to counsel Yang Mo.

The general meaning was simple: that Yang Mo was actually great, he just didn’t realize it himself.