Chapter 1748 — No Choice

Of course, a lock of this caliber was no obstacle at all to Wei Zhao. He had an uncle in the same sect who specialized in cracking locks, and so Wei Zhao had picked up a smattering of the craft—though lock-picking was not his specialty, and he had never studied that notebook on the art of thievery his uncle had left him with any real dedication.

It was enough for everyday purposes; Wei Zhao had no ambitions of becoming a master thief.

The lock opened without a hitch, and Wei Zhao stepped into the underground fight hall. The place no longer blazed with the lights of its glory days; long abandonment had left it a wreck. The leaking roof and the shattered seats made the whole arena look utterly derelict.

Wei Zhao's objective was the rooms within the fight hall—the kidnappers had to be hidden in one of them.

In the silent arena, the slightest sound would have been easy for Wei Zhao to detect. The trouble was, just as he could sense the enemy's movements, the enemy could sense his! Even though Wei Zhao had reined in his aura as a martial artist, not even an ordinary man could have slipped in unnoticed by Right Thirteen, a peak mid-stage Earth-rank expert.

What was more, Right Thirteen outranked Wei Zhao by two full tiers—sensing Wei Zhao's approach was no difficult feat for him.

At that moment, Kang Zhaoming sat smugly before a computer, waiting for Doctor Guan's reply. In his mind he was already painting a beautiful blueprint of the future—his standing in the Kang family would one day rival that of the old master himself...

The thought made Kang Zhaoming laugh aloud. But just then, Right Thirteen suddenly emerged from the inner room and said, "Young Master Kang, someone's coming!"

"Someone's coming?" Kang Zhaoming was stunned. Who on earth would come to this godforsaken dump?

"I don't know, but I sense he's heading straight for us. Probably someone coming to rescue the hostage—be careful!" Right Thirteen said. "Leave this place to me. You just keep an eye on the hostage!"

"Fine, I'll leave it to you!" Kang Zhaoming was alarmed as well. He scooped up the laptop and made to dash into the inner room—but at that very moment, the door was kicked open with a thunderous crash!

Right Thirteen had long anticipated someone's arrival, so his face showed no expression—but it gave Kang Zhaoming a violent start. He blurted instinctively, "Who is it!"

"Just as I thought—it's you, Kang Zhaoming..." Wei Zhao stepped into the room. At the sight of Kang Zhaoming, a flash of cold fury crossed his eyes.

"Wei Zhao... you certainly found this place quickly!" Seeing that Wei Zhao had come alone, Kang Zhaoming actually stopped being afraid—because here stood a peak mid-stage Earth-rank expert who could crush Wei Zhao completely.

"Your opponent is me. Young Master Kang, watch the hostage," Right Thirteen said flatly.

"Mid-stage Earth-rank?" Wei Zhao now took notice of Right Thirteen, and the man's strength sent a chill through his heart. He had never imagined the Kang family could still summon a peak mid-stage Earth-rank expert to hold the fort!

Then again, it made sense—the Kang family had dared to pluck the tiger's whiskers knowing full well he was only an early-stage Earth-rank fighter. That plainly meant they had backing, and that backing was surely this mid-stage Earth-rank expert standing before him!

Wei Zhao dared not be careless in the slightest. When he had fought Yu Shui Xing back then, it had been pure luck—and even luck had not come easily. Now he faced an opponent two tiers above him, and he had no choice but to channel the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art from the very start and begin condensing a true-qi bomb!

"Prepare to die." Right Thirteen did not answer Wei Zhao's words at all; instead he suddenly raised both hands, poised to strike.

Wei Zhao was alarmed. He hurriedly fell back and demanded urgently, "Just which faction are you from? Why meddle in the affairs here?"

But Right Thirteen seemed to have no intention of wasting words on Wei Zhao. He turned a deaf ear to the question; with a flick of his wrist, he seemed to be circulating his inner-energy technique, preparing to unleash a martial skill!

"You... where are you from?" Wei Zhao frowned. In the past, when he faced experts of this caliber, they were usually haughty—if Wei Zhao spoke to them, they would always answer a few words to show off how formidable they were. But this man before him had thrown all his calculations off.

He would not waste words, and Wei Zhao had no time at all to condense his true-qi bomb!

In truth, on any ordinary day, Right Thirteen would naturally have put on airs and tossed a few contemptuous remarks at Wei Zhao—after all, experts who had reached his level were rare, and when meeting an opponent, it was only natural to dress him down a few times to satisfy one's own ego.

But the crux of the matter was that Right Thirteen had come this time under orders. Right Zhentian had sternly commanded him to say as little as possible, lest in talking too much he give away the identity of the Right family. With Right Zhentian's order standing before him, how would Right Thirteen dare speak freely with Wei Zhao?

And if he could not speak, then he could hardly stand here staring at Wei Zhao, could he? That left only one option—get straight to fighting!

Right Thirteen's manner sent cold sweat pouring down Wei Zhao's back. All along, Wei Zhao had been rather conceited; even facing experts one or two tiers above him, he never showed weakness, because he held a trump card—the true-qi bomb, a trump card that could wound enemies above his level!

But now Wei Zhao realized just how weak he truly was when that trump card could not be used! The other man's martial skills were clearly honed to perfection, while his own were only half-baked...

While Wei Zhao was still turning this over, Right Thirteen had already unleashed his martial skill! Both palms spread left and right, and as his true qi circulated, one could faintly see his hands wreathed in a pale blue mist!

This was surely not the true qi's natural color but an effect conjured by the martial skill! As the pale blue mist burst forth, Right Thirteen's whole body leapt up like a spring, becoming a blurred afterimage that pounced at Wei Zhao with the force of a thunderbolt!

"Earth-rank martial skill—Thunderstorm Tempest Palms!" With that roar, Right Thirteen's figure was already upon him!

Cold sweat instantly streamed down Wei Zhao's forehead. The sheer force of Right Thirteen left him gasping for air—this was a true Earth-rank martial skill! When he had faced Blue Hair before, that creature had also been an early-stage Earth-rank expert, but it had probably only just begun to touch martial skills like Wei Zhao himself, and so before it could unleash anything, Wei Zhao had beaten it into idiocy. This man was different—this was a genuine, bona fide mid-stage Earth-rank expert!

His cultivation was inferior to Right Thirteen's, but in his present straits Wei Zhao had nowhere to dodge. Only by employing agile qinggong to flee was there a sliver of hope; there was no other choice! But could Wei Zhao run now?

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