Divine Level Witch Doctor Chapter 213 213: A Full House of Big Shots

Zhao Yuan declared in a resonant voice, "The courage I have to challenge the Jinling Zhao Family stems from my need to prove my own innocence! I made this perfectly clear when I first issued the challenge. Since the Jinling Zhao Family has slandered by claiming I'm an imposter, I will compete against them fair and square. Then everyone can see my skills and judge whether I have any need to impersonate them!"

"As for whether I'm overestimating my abilities or just being arrogant by challenging the Jinling Zhao Family, it's too early to say. Wait until the dical skills competition is over and a winner is decided. Then you can judge whether I'm arrogant or just don't know my own limits!"

At this, Zhao Yuan's gaze fell upon the portly reporter. He continued, "This reporter is correct. The Jinling Zhao Family, with its heritage of several hundred years, has indeed made contributions to the history of dicine. But those were the contributions of their ancestors; it has nothing to do with the current generation. We can't possibly tolerate their mistakes and refuse to hold them accountable just because their forebears accomplished great things, can we?"

The portly reporter had taken money and promised to give Zhao Yuan a hard ti today. Unwilling to let him off the hook so easily, he tried to ask another question. But before he could get a word out, Zhao Yuan waved a hand and cut in first. "Alright, that's the end of the interview. If you have any more questions, I will answer them one by one after the dical skills competition. I'll do my best to satisfy all of you."

With that, Zhao Yuan, escorted by Liu Zhu and the others, squeezed through the crowd and walked toward the manor gate.

"No, you have to answer a few more of my questions..." the portly reporter grew frantic, but before he could finish, he let out a blood-curdling scream.

The surrounding reporters had no idea what was wrong with him and quickly backed away.

The portly reporter collapsed to the ground, clutching his foot, his face twisted in agony.

He had no idea what happened. A piercing pain had suddenly shot up from his foot, as if he'd been viciously bitten by so kind of ferocious beast. The agony was so intense he couldn't even stand.

Instinctively, the portly reporter blad Zhao Yuan for his plight. "What did you do to ?"

Zhao Yuan glanced back at him and said coldly, "What's this, trying to fake an injury for a payout? At least be a little more professional, would you? I never touched you, and there are several people between us. What could I possibly have done to you? What exactly did the Jinling Zhao Family promise you that makes you oppose at every turn, even stooping to saring my na like this?"

A flash of panic flickered in the portly reporter's eyes as he hastily denied it. "I'm not faking an injury, and I didn't take any money…"

Zhao Yuan couldn't be bothered with him and turned to leave.

The other reporters nearby shook their heads at the sight, finding his act unbearable.

"Co on, drop the act and get up. Your attempt at a shakedown is just pathetic."

"You call that acting? You have the nerve to try and fra soone? Aren't you just making a fool of yourself?"

"You didn't actually take money from the Jinling Zhao Family, did you? Why else would you pull a stunt like this?"

The portly reporter grew even more flustered. Taking bribes was the kind of thing you could do, but never admit to. If this got out and beca public knowledge, his career in this industry would be over.

He said hurriedly, "I'm not faking it! My foot really hurts! I'm actually injured!"

While speaking, he hiked up his pant leg, revealing two rows of teeth marks on his ankle. As if grasping a lifeline, he shouted, "Quick, look! I have a wound!"

"A wound? Where?" A few reporters nearby crowded over.

Then, sothing strange happened.

The two rows of teeth marks on the portly reporter's ankle, which had been clearly visible just a mont before, had bizarrely vanished!

The reporters who had gathered around saw nothing.

"What wound? Are you kidding us?"

"Alright, just ignore him. There's definitely sothing wrong with this guy!"

"He almost certainly took money to deliberately cause trouble here. Ugh... what a disgrace to our profession!"

Muttering amongst themselves, the reporters cast disdainful looks at their portly colleague. Ignoring him completely now, they all hurried after Zhao Yuan's group into the manor.

The portly reporter frantically felt his ankle, his face a mask of bewildernt and disbelief. "The wound? How did it just disappear? Wha... what's going on?"

anwhile, the White Cat, which had been hidden in the crowd, darted back to Zhao Yuan's side. With a nimble leap, it landed on his shoulder.

When Zhao Yuan and his group reached the manor gate, one of the Jinling Zhao Clan mbers finally made a gesture to invite them in. His tone, however, was anything but polite. "The Clan Leader has been waiting for you," he said coldly. "Follow us."

The Jinling Zhao Clan mbers were well aware that Zhao Yuan's group was here to challenge them on their own turf today; it would have been a miracle if they'd been shown a friendly face. If not for the presence of so many reporters, they probably wouldn't have even bothered with the gesture of invitation.

Zhao Yuan smiled. 'These people are just small fry, not worth getting angry over. Besides, the ruder the Jinling Zhao Family is, the more fired up I get. It just makes want to wipe the floor with them even more!'

Led by the Jinling Zhao Clan mbers, Zhao Yuan's party and the hundred-odd reporters with them passed through a beautiful garden and arrived at a training ground.

This was where the Jinling Zhao Clan mbers normally practiced their Martial Arts. Thanks to its ample space, it had been repurposed as the venue for the dical skills competition.

A long row of people was seated across the training ground. Behind them stood an even larger crowd.

Ma Guotao, Qiu Haogu, and the other professors were shocked when they saw who was seated on the training ground.

Without exception, every single one of them was a highly prestigious and influential figure in the world of Traditional Chinese dicine.

"Isn't that Academician Li Heping from the Chinese Academy of Sciences? Why is he here too?"

"Elder Qiao, Qiao Zhixue from Capital City dical University, is here as well!"

"My heavens, isn't that the Nobel Prize-winning Professor Tu? I can't believe she's here too!"

After their initial shock, Ma Guotao and Qiu Haogu understood. These experts and professors must have been invited to serve as judges and arbiters for the competition.

Ma Guotao's group had great faith in the integrity of these individuals. The Jinling Zhao Family couldn't possibly bribe people like them, even if they wanted to!

Yang Jingbo stood beside Zhao Yuan, quietly introducing the assembled dignitaries to him.

Zhao Yuan was a little surprised. "I didn't expect the Jinling Zhao Family to actually invite these renowned figures from the world of Traditional Chinese dicine to be judges. I thought they would try to pull so tricks, but it seems they're being quite open and aboveboard."

Little did he know, Zhao Dezhu was currently suffering in silence.

He hadn't invited these people.

The judges Zhao Dezhu had originally invited were all experts and professors with whom he had private ties—people who would have, to so extent, been biased in their favor during the competition.

But this morning, Li Heping, Qiao Zhixue, and their cohort had arrived uninvited, throwing his entire plan into disarray.

Li Heping and his peers far surpassed the people Zhao Dezhu had originally invited in terms of both reputation and status. The roles of judges and arbiters for the competition naturally fell to them. Any hope of a favorable bias was now out of the question.

What truly baffled Zhao Dezhu, however, was why the nation's top dical experts would show up to spectate this particular competition.

Although the Jinling Zhao Family was a Noble Family of dicine with a history spanning hundreds of years, they still didn't have the prestige to gather all of these titans of the field.