After Wang Qiang took the stage, a glimmer of hope suddenly appeared in the eyes of those guests who had been wearing gloomy expressions.
They had at least some idea of how powerful Wang Qiang was — after all, he was someone who could go toe-to-toe with Chu Feng.
While nobody expected him to surpass Zhou Long, they were hoping he could help the guests save at least a little face.
And so, under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Wang Qiang entered the ancient tower and stepped into the formation array.
At that moment, the people of the Seal Ancient Village looked completely relaxed — they didn't think highly of the foreign guests at all.
But the guests' hearts were beating faster, their nerves growing taut with tension.
How they wished Wang Qiang would finish quickly — quickly — and set a decent record. Even if he couldn't beat Zhou Long, even if he couldn't beat Zhou Hu, even if he fell short of Zhou Feng, at least he could post a result under ten points.
Whoosh — but just as everyone was silently praying, a figure shot out from the exit. Wang Qiang's silhouette had reappeared before the crowd once again.
One point. Wang Qiang had used only a mere single point of time to emerge from the formation array.
"Heavens — am I seeing this right? Wang Qiang only used one point?"
The crowd erupted. Every guest wore an expression of shock, yet inside they were thrilled, unable to hold back their cheers and shouts of celebration for Wang Qiang.
But compared to the guests' wild excitement, the people of the Seal Ancient Village stood there with their jaws on the floor, frozen in stunned silence.
Two points. That was the best record ever set by the current village chief of the Seal Ancient Village — and the best in the village's entire history.
Yet Wang Qiang had done it in just one point. This result would become the greatest record the Seal Ancient Village had ever seen.
But the person who achieved it wasn't from the Seal Ancient Village — he was an outsider. How could the villagers possibly accept that?
"Impossible! This is absolutely impossible! He cheated — he definitely cheated!"
"Speak! What tricks did you use?" Zhou Long roared in fury, unable to accept that someone had beaten him — and beaten him by such an enormous margin.
"C-c-c-cheat? Cheat my ass!"
"Your grandpa here has real, g-g-genuine skill! If you don't believe me, we can go again." Wang Qiang was no pushover either. Seeing that Zhou Long refused to accept the result, he fired back right in front of everyone.
"Fine, let's go! You think I'm scared of you? We'll both go in at the same time and see who's really faster," Zhou Long shot back.
"I'm going too! I'll supervise you and see exactly what cheating method you used," Zhou Hu added.
"I want in as well. Let's see if you can match my speed without cheating," Zhou Feng chimed in.
"C-come, all of you! Every last one! Watch how your grandpa here crushes, crushes, crushes, crushes you three little brats!" Wang Qiang had a fiery temper and didn't care one bit about the status of Zhou Long and the others — he hurled insults right to their faces.
"All of you, shut your mouths!" But just then, Zhou Sitian suddenly bellowed.
His roar silenced Wang Qiang, Zhou Long, and everyone else in an instant.
"You, get out first," Zhou Sitian said to Wang Qiang.
"Hmph!" Wang Qiang shot a triumphant smirk at the three Zhous, then swaggered out of the ancient tower with his shoulders swinging and his head held high, radiating an air of absolute arrogance.
"The competition continues," Zhou Sitian announced.
But when those words left his mouth, nobody responded for a long while. After Wang Qiang's performance, not a single guest was willing to step forward.
After all, the outcome was already decided. Going in now would only be humbling themselves, and nobody liked doing that.
"What's this? Don't any of you wish to compete?" Zhou Sitian asked, scanning the guests. Perhaps influenced by Wang Qiang, his tone was anything but pleasant.