Chapter 1710 — The Consequences of Disbelief

Though Wei Zhao had the gift of fighting foes above his own grade, the crux of the matter was that he was now doing two things at once: the true qi inside him had been split into two streams, one to compress and one to hold Yu Shuixing at bay. Naturally, he came off the worse for it.

Thus he was, as it were, a shade weaker than Yu Shuixing once again. Had he not let the force carry him back three steps and blunted the edge of Yu Shuixing's true qi, the harm done to him might have been far graver.

As it was, Wei Zhao had in fact already taken internal injuries, neither light nor grave.

"Hahahaha! And here I thought you were something formidable — barely into the early Earth Stage and you come strutting before this old man. Why aren't you putting on that act now? Nothing left to show?" Seeing Wei Zhao in such a state, Yu Shuixing was overjoyed. It meant that after swallowing the pill he was the stronger of the two, and so the pill had been well worth taking.

"You actually reached the great accomplishment of the early Earth Stage?" Wei Zhao said, feigning astonishment.

"Naturally. Did you think this old man swallowed his pill for nothing?" Yu Shuixing said, eyeing Wei Zhao with satisfaction. Victory was already secure in his grasp, and his mood had turned pleasant.

"I think you really are an idiot. Past forty and still calling yourself 'this old man' — everyone else pretends to be young, and you pretend to be old," Wei Zhao said with a sneer.

"Say what you like — this old man has you in the palm of his hand now!" Yu Shuixing swept his gaze around the conference room. "Why has no one any words left? Afraid? If you knew enough to be afraid, why did you go and entangle yourselves with Wei Zhao? Song Xiangwen, Wu Gonggao — call off the juniors of your houses this instant, and this old man will spare their lives!"

In truth, Yu Shuixing also feared that a cornered beast would turn and bite: three at the peak of the late Mystic Stage plus one in the early Earth Stage, all attacking him at once. He was formidable enough that four peak late Mystic Stage masters did not frighten him, but there was still Wei Zhao, an Earth Stage cultivator, whom he could not quite reckon with. So he spoke first, to break up Wei Zhao's alliance.

"What? Are you afraid? Afraid the four of us will join hands against you?" Wei Zhao countered.

"Afraid? This old man simply remembers so many years of friendship and is unwilling to do things too cruelly! As for you — even if you knelt and begged for mercy, this old man would still put you to death!" Yu Shuixing stared at Wei Zhao as though he could devour him.

And so it was with Chen Yutian. He had killed Yu Feng, and there could be no room left for reconciliation with the Yu family.

"Oh, that is exactly what I was thinking of doing as well!" Wei Zhao said. "I am about to use a martial technique, and this time I intend to try a different one. Prepare to receive it!"

"Ha? A different one? You haven't even mastered one technique, and you want to switch?" Yu Shuixing could not help but be amused by this. Wei Zhao really was a comic and stubborn fellow — three failures already, and still he came back for more?

And he meant to switch to a brand-new technique? Did he think martial techniques were so easy to pick up? Yu Shuixing had never practiced one himself, but he knew well enough how hard it was to create a martial technique of one's own. His elder brother Yu Huoxing, an Earth Stage master, had still not found a suitable technique to cultivate — let alone Wei Zhao, attempting two at once!

"Yes. The technique is called the Wave-Motion Fist," Wei Zhao said. "Come, receive it!"

"This old man will stand right here and take it. Let us see what you can do to me!" Yu Shuixing laughed aloud, not taking Wei Zhao seriously in the least. It was not arrogance on his part; he simply did not believe Wei Zhao could produce any martial technique at all.

If he could have used it, he would have used it long ago — why wait until now? In the normal way of things, who would go into battle with a half-baked technique first and only bring out the one he had mastered at the very end? Would that not be madness?

So in Yu Shuixing's eyes, this so-called second technique of Wei Zhao's was either a lie or something even less practiced than the first — a dud that could never go off.

Wei Zhao's true qi bombs had always been used to win by surprise. Facing an opponent squarely, especially a prepared master of the same grade, he could not achieve that surprise. After all, his true qi bombs compressed slowly and were troublesome to release; he had to take aim at his foe, and if the foe so much as dodged, all his labor was wasted.

One could say that every one of Wei Zhao's earlier true qi bombs had been a surprise strike, unleashed when the enemy was wholly unprepared.

Yu Shuixing was different. From the several failures of the Raging Fire Fist, it was clear that Yu Shuixing was a cautious man — something of the Yu family head's temperament — so when Wei Zhao used his true qi bomb, he too had to employ a little guile. If Yu Shuixing dodged it, things would become difficult.

As matters stood, Yu Shuixing and Wei Zhao were both early Earth Stage masters, and Yu Shuixing was a shade the stronger. In a straight contest of strength Wei Zhao's chances were not great, so he could only resort to cunning.

"An Earth Stage self-created martial technique — the Wave-Motion Fist!" As he spoke, Wei Zhao brought his palms together and slowly pushed them toward Yu Shuixing...

Of course, this time Wei Zhao did not truly send the energy bomb flying. Time was too short; the compression was not yet complete. And he also wanted to see whether Yu Shuixing would genuinely neither dodge nor hide but stand there and take the blow, or whether it was only talk.

The result proved that Yu Shuixing truly did not dodge. He stood where he was, watching Wei Zhao with mockery in his eyes: "A self-created technique, is it? Who do you think you are — some Heaven-path master from the ancient era, able to create martial techniques of your own? Doesn't saying such a thing make your face burn? Don't tell me you thought of it on a whim just now, and then, being unpracticed, failed again?"

"It wasn't created today. It was a few days ago," Wei Zhao answered honestly. "The failure was real enough, but as you said yourself, I'm unpracticed. I'll just try once more."

"..." Yu Shuixing was caught between laughter and tears. "Don't tell me you're trying to stall for time? Try once more, is it? Are you waiting for the effects of my pill to wear off before you come at me again?"

"Uh... no." Wei Zhao shook his head.

"Whether you are or not, I don't mind telling you: the power of this pill of mine will take a full month to dissipate. If you have it in you, then stand here and work your technique for a month — let's see whether you can pull it off," Yu Shuixing said with a cold laugh. He seemed to have seen right through Wei Zhao's design.

"It really isn't that!" Wei Zhao shook his head, then, with the same gesture as before, pushed out the true qi bomb he had just finished condensing: "Earth Stage martial technique — Wave-Motion Fist..."

Yu Shuixing curled his lip and was just about to mock Wei Zhao when, the next instant, he felt a force like mountains toppling and seas overturning come crashing against his chest!

Baidu search — read the newest and most complete novels.