Going Through the Motions
Before coming to Wanping Province, Zhang Xuezhou had heard Wang Haoran and others introduce Zhao Tianhua.
Ignoring the rules of the Youth Challenge, Zhao Tianhua went straight to the quarterfinals to challenge the reigning champion without even entering the arena for a fight. This is what he did on his home turf.
"General Zhao's style of doing things is indeed straightforward!"
On the podium, Wang Haoran was not angered by this; instead, he clapped and praised him.
He adjusted the microphone in front of the podium and gestured for Zhao Tianhua to come and take a seat.
"Before the Youth Challenge was held in Wanping, we had already held seven matches, all of which followed the procedures arranged by the committee," Wang Haoran said. "Since General Zhao doesn't want to use the committee's procedures, he shouldn't be criticized for not having a legitimate position when he enters Western Capital City as a candidate member!"
"What a load of crap! As long as Western Capital City doesn't object, what can those good-for-nothings from Pingtan, Mengzhong, and Wuye provinces do?" Zhao Tianhua replied.
Wang Haoran used his usual methods to suppress Zhao Tianhua, and also used the youth challenge competitions held in various provinces to pressure him, but this approach had no effect on Zhao Tianhua.
He boasted that he had also watched the competition and pointed out that the alternate members from Pingtan, Mengzhong, and Wuye provinces were not up to par and could not compare with those from Wanping province.
Even when various provinces sent their commissioners to Western Capital City to perform their duties, Wanping Province never feared anyone.
After his chaotic flurry of punches, even Wang Haoran, a master of psychological warfare, was utterly helpless.
Zhao Meng and Zhou Bo couldn't make the decision, but Zhao Tianhua truly could, and his words carried weight.
"General Zhao directly selected eight people to participate. Don't the other heroes and valiant men of Wanping Province have any objections?"
Qin Wenhan covered his mouth to stifle the 'chu' sound he was about to make and quickly asked a question.
"The older I get, the worse my temper becomes. I welcome them to come and criticize me if they have any complaints. If they can't stand me, they can just kill me," Zhao Tianhua snorted.
He didn't care about external affairs, and he also directly ignored and suppressed internal forces. Zhao Tianhua's words were quick and impulsive, making them extremely offensive.
This caused Wang Haoran and Qin Wenhan to exchange glances.
Zhao Tianhua is extremely assertive, but behind this assertiveness, he seems somewhat eager to find a way out.
Arranging for relatives to enter Western Capital City as members of the official committee, and for descendants to become alternate members of the official committee, while blatantly mentioning that anyone who disagrees is welcome to come and challenge them, likely implies the implication of violence.
This style is almost unimaginable to some law-abiding people, but it is indeed the rule of Wanping Province.
Wang Haoran and his team quickly grasped Zhao Tianhua's mindset and understood that his strong decision was unlikely to be changed.
This is a youth challenge match where the champion of Western Capital City will be challenged right from the start, and there may even be a situation where seven teams protect one player.
Regardless of who the champion from Western Capital City is, Zhao Tianhua's arrangement gives him a 99% chance of securing the title.
"Dear audience, the Wanping Provincial Youth Challenge is about to enter its most intense phase. The people of Wanping are so eager to compete that they have already held the rounds of 64 to 32, 32 to 16, and then selected the top 8 contestants who will directly challenge our mysterious champion!"
Once Wang Haoran issued the order, Song Fengying, who was in charge of the event, immediately changed her words and read the announcement.
"Committee Member Wang is a straightforward person, I like him," Zhao Tianhua said, patting Wang Haoran on the shoulder.
"It's best if both sides are straightforward," Wang Haoran nodded and said, "A win is a win, and a loss is a loss. The sooner we have a result, the sooner we can arrange the next match!"
"That's how it should be," Zhao Tianhua nodded. "Where's the champion from your Western Capital City test?"
"Champion, oh, Xuezhou, would you like to come up and play a round now?"
Wang Haoran his head, and Zhao Tianhua then noticed Zhang Xuezhou standing not far away beside him.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
The person who was able to stand next to Wang Haoran Wang Haoran and the others was clearly very close to them.
He needed to protect his own people, and Wang Haoran and others obviously also needed to protect their own.
By having Wang Haoran and others send their close associates to compete in Wanping Province, it was not only to ensure that the other party would become a candidate for the committee, but also because Wang Haoran and others firmly believed that the other party could suppress the top eight contestants from Wanping.
Wang Haoran and the others appeared calm and even agreed to Zhao Wang Haoran's arrangement to maximize his own interests, but they were absolutely ruthless when they took action.
Words like "forceful suppression" and "repression" flashed into Zhao Tianhua's mind, reminding him of Zhou Xin, whom he had previously avoided.
"This young man seems to have some skills," Zhao Tianhua said, frowning.
"I'm just here to have some fun, just going through the motions," Zhang Xuezhou replied.
"Just going through the motions?" Zhao Tianhua asked doubtfully.
"If you lose, go home early!"
Zhang Xuezhou replied.
His words were so disjointed that Zhao Tianhua was unsure whether Zhang Xuezhou was just there to make a show of losing the game or if he had something else in mind.
He wanted to ask a couple more questions, but Zhang Xuezhou had already hopped off towards the competition area.
Judging from the opponent's agility, Zhao Tianhua felt that his strength seemed average.
"Is this just a formality?"
Zhao Tianhua read it aloud, still somewhat incredulous.
"Committee Member Wang, what is your relationship with this Xuezhou? Your son doesn't seem to be named Xuezhou?" Zhao Tianhua asked Wang Haoran.
"He and I are both members of the Western Capital Social Psychology Alliance," Wang Haoran replied casually.
"Western Capital City Social Psychology Alliance?"
The group Wang Haoran mentioned sounded like a social research group, but Zhao Tianhua felt that such a group was useless and could not possibly establish any significant interests.
He couldn't figure it out for a moment, so he simply stopped thinking about it.
In short, people who study psychology are unlikely to be very capable.
In all his years of life, Zhao Tianhua has never seen a truly skilled serial sequence master emerge from the field of psychology.
His gaze swept across the area, and he saw that the young man had already leaped into the arena area to select serving utensils and weapons.
Wanping is a vast area, and decades ago, it relied on horses for combat and communication. Only in recent years have motorcycles and other vehicles been added as mounts.
Upon arriving in Wanping's territory, Zhao Tianhua also set up obstacles and provided a selection of vehicles and weapons.
Their mounts were the spirited horses and motorcycles of Wan Binh province, while their weapons included long clubs, lassos, bows and arrows, blank-shot guns, ironwood sabers, and leather armor.
Playing at home, with the home advantage firmly in Wanping's favor, Zhao Tianhua didn't believe Western Capital City could turn the tide.
"They're actually choosing horses!"
Seeing Zhang Xuezhou wearing leather armor, picking out blank muskets, and then choosing the spirited horses of Wanping Province, Zhao Tianhua couldn't help but feel curious.
The horses in Wanping Province are not ordinary domesticated horses. These horses are powerful and temperamental, requiring extremely strong horse training skills to tame. Moreover, these are the exclusive or backup mounts of the contestants, and are very difficult for outsiders to tame.
"He seems to be talking to the horse?" Zhao Tianhua asked. "Could you have Xuanxuan show the camera more of Xuezhou? I want to see how he tames the Wanping horse!"
"That's easy, just give Xuanxuan a tip in her live stream, and she'll adjust the camera angle!"
Wang Haoran replied casually.
Zhang Xuezhou was currently using the psychology of exotic beasts to tame his mount, so he didn't need to listen. Wang Haoran also knew very well that Zhang Xuezhou was probably cursing quite harshly at this moment.