Divine Level Witch Doctor

The training ground was utterly silent.

The atmosphere was unbearably awkward.

Zhao Dezhu’s expression was also exceedingly grim.

What a disgrace!

Since its founding, the Jinling Zhao Family had never suffered such a disgrace!

One person!

Just one person had cowed the several hundred members of the Jinling Zhao Family, leaving none who dared to accept his challenge! If this wasn’t a disgrace, what was?

Zhao Dezhu trembled with rage, pointing at his clan members and berating them. ”Look at yourselves! Cowering and spineless, with no fighting spirit at all! You’ve completely disgraced the Jinling Zhao Family! If our ancestors knew of this in the underworld, they’d be so furious they’d climb out of their graves just to point at your noses and curse you out!”

The clan members remained silent, their heads bowed as they endured his tirade, having adopted an attitude of shameless indifference.

Li Heping, standing to the side, couldn’t watch anymore and reminded him, ”Little Brother Zhao, you can scold your clan members after the Medical Skill competition is over. The urgent task at hand is to quickly select someone to compete with Zhao Yuan in the Acupuncture Technique. Everyone is waiting.”

Zhao Dezhu had to stop his scolding, his gaze sweeping quickly through the crowd, searching for a suitable candidate.

Just at that moment, Zhao Yuan’s phone received a message. He took it out and glanced at it. A cold glint flashed in his eyes, but he quickly reined it in, impassively tucking the phone back into his pocket.

A moment later, Zhao Dezhu’s gaze landed on his fourth cousin, Zhao Dekai. ”Fourth Brother, your Acupuncture Technique isn’t bad. For this round, you will represent our Jinling Zhao Family!”

”Ah? Me?”

Zhao Dekai looked up, his face a mask of panic, and waved his hands frantically in refusal.

”No, no way! My Acupuncture Technique is mediocre at best! There’s no way I can compete with this kid! He’s the one who defeated Kobayashi Haruo. When Kobayashi Haruo challenged the Huashang Acupuncture Association, I was there. I was one of the people he defeated. My skills aren’t even in the same league as this Zhao Yuan’s. If you really make me represent the family, there can only be one outcome—a crushing defeat!”

The Jinling Zhao Family hadn’t been idle over the past three days. They had activated their network to gather intelligence on Zhao Yuan, and they had even managed to obtain the livestream video of him turning the tide against Kobayashi Haruo.

Although Zhao Yuan hadn’t directly used his Acupuncture Technique in that video, the insight, Finger Power, and breadth of knowledge he displayed had left the entire Jinling Zhao Family utterly shocked!

The fact that Zhao Yuan had taught the complete Spiritual Snake Nine Probing Needle Technique to He Chengwei to help him defeat Kobayashi Haruo was particularly telling. It led the Jinling Zhao Clan Members to unanimously conclude that even though Zhao Yuan hadn’t made a move himself, his mastery of Acupuncture Technique had to be incredibly high. Furthermore, they believed this was likely his strongest Medical Skill.

Zhao Yuan had already demonstrated Demon Level strength in the previous rounds of pulse diagnosis and Prescription Medicine! So, as his strongest Medical Skill, just how monstrous would his Acupuncture Technique be?

It was precisely this line of thought that made everyone in the Jinling Zhao Family so terrified of the Acupuncture competition!

Zhao Dekai’s reply greatly displeased Zhao Dezhu. His face instantly darkened several shades, and he opened his mouth to berate him.

But before the words could leave his mouth, Zhao Dekai beat him to it. ”Big Brother, your Acupuncture Technique is far superior to mine! Especially your penetrating acupoint technique, which you’ve practiced to the sublime Great Perfection Realm. Even Uncle Qi and the others praise you endlessly. In my opinion, you’re the most fitting person to represent our Jinling Zhao Family!”

Unexpectedly, Zhao Dekai’s words earned the immediate and unanimous support of all the other Jinling Zhao Clan Members.

”Fourth Brother is right! Big Brother, your Acupuncture Technique is unmatched, save for a few elders like Uncle Qi and Fourth Uncle. Since those elders can’t fight for various reasons, it’s only right that you step up!”

”Dezhu, your Acupuncture Technique is the best among all of us. Don’t be so modest. Go on, teach that kid a lesson and show him what the Jinling Zhao Family is made of!”

”Go, Clan Leader! If you go personally, you’ll definitely scare that kid so bad he pisses his pants!”

Zhao Dezhu’s face was as black as the soot on a pot’s bottom.

He knew exactly what his clan members were up to.

’These bastards sold me out just to avoid facing Zhao Yuan... A classic case of better you than me!’

Zhao Dezhu didn’t want to fight; his courage and fighting spirit had long been shattered by Zhao Yuan. But as the Clan Leader, he couldn’t fake an injury to get out of it like Zhao Chengwen and Zhao Chengshan had.

Just as Zhao Dezhu was feeling conflicted, unsure of what to say, a clan member suggested, ”Clan Leader, why don’t we just forfeit?”

”Forfeit?” Zhao Dezhu raised an eyebrow.

Although it was a solution, he didn’t dare to agree so easily.

The clan member seemed to see the conflict in his heart and said in a low voice, ”Look, in today’s Medical Skill competition, we’ve already lost two rounds in a row. For this final round of Acupuncture, winning or losing won’t change the overall outcome. That being the case, why should we go up there and embarrass ourselves... no, I mean, why waste time? Why not just forfeit? It could even make our Jinling Zhao Family look magnanimous and willing to accept a loss! We might even score some points for presentation, make people think we’re glorious even in defeat!”

”Hmm...” Zhao Dezhu was tempted.

He also wanted to forfeit; after all, it would save him from the disgrace of fighting and losing. He had only hesitated because he couldn’t bring himself to lose face. But now, this clan member’s words had given him an out, a fig leaf to hide behind.

It didn’t matter if the fig leaf was effective or not, as long as he believed it was.

But Zhao Dezhu didn’t rush to state his position. Instead, he turned to the other clan members and asked, ”What do you all think?”

Without the slightest hesitation, the clan members said in one voice, ”We support forfeiting!”

”Alright.” Zhao Dezhu sighed. ”I’m a very democratic person. Since you all support forfeiting, then even though I’m unwilling, I can only bow to the will of the people.”

The Jinling Zhao Clan Members all rolled their eyes, a single thought running through all their minds: ’Keep pretending. Just keep it up. You want to forfeit more than anyone, yet you’re trying to pin the blame on us. How shameless!’

Zhao Dezhu could guess what they were thinking from their expressions. His face flushed red, and dropping the act, he strode over to Li Heping’s side and said, ”Brother Heping, after a discussion among our clan members, we have decided not to compete in the acupuncture round. We forfeit!”

A moment ago, the Jinling Zhao Clan Members had huddled together, their discussion so quiet that no one knew what they were talking about. So now, upon hearing Zhao Dezhu’s words, the entire venue first fell silent, then erupted into a wave of shocked gasps.

Forfeited?

The imperious Jinling Zhao Family, with its hundreds of years of history, had actually forfeited without even daring to compete?

And what’s more, to a junior?

Holy shit, now I’ve seen everything!