Chapter 1886 — Safe and Sound

Never mind that Wei Zhao's car had an obvious advantage in sheer size—it was a special modification by the Mysterious Investigation Bureau, and its front bumper was no ordinary piece of steel. So in this collision Wei Zhao came off without a scratch, while the car before him took the worst of it, its front end crumpled.

The blond kid had been standing on his seat cursing when the car ahead of him suddenly rammed him, sending him flying head over heels off the vehicle. Fortunately, he was a Mystic-rank expert and escaped injury.

"Young Master You, safe and sound, I see!" Wei Zhao got out of the car and gave the people in the sports car a cold look. Apart from the blond kid he had knocked flying, there were actually three more people sitting in the back seat!

Wei Zhao was astonished. A two-door, four-seat sports car, and it could fit five people—these fellows really knew how to cram themselves in.

You Panhu had just finished drinking and was not quite sober, but as a **, it naturally did not affect his driving. The moment he heard Wei Zhao's voice, though, the alcohol burned right out of him!

"Wei Zhao!" A flicker of terror crossed You Panhu's face! Much as he loathed Wei Zhao—the man had humiliated him time and again—You Panhu was no fool. Someone who could kill You Shisan in a single blow was not an opponent anyone at his side could face.

Zhuang Niaodao and Li Biaohan had been furious. Here on campus, someone actually dared to slight them! Though it was You Panhu's car that had been hit, it was the two of them—the local big shots—sitting inside.

So whoever this person was, they meant to stand with You Panhu and settle the score! Especially since they had discovered, to their delight, that this was the very freshman who had competed with them for girls. Would Zhuang Niaodao and Li Biaohan let him off so easily?

But when they heard You Panhu cry out "Wei Zhao," the two of them stopped dead in the middle of getting out of the car!

Wei Zhao's name was thunder in their ears! Both Zhuang Niaodao and Li Biaohan had heard it! The might of a single move that killed three Earth-rank experts in an instant, and a late-stage Earth-rank expert besides—such power left them pale with shock.

Of course, they did not for a moment think it was a case of two people sharing a name. If it were, You Panhu would not have cried out in alarm, his face so ashen.

Wei Zhao's gaze swept coldly over Zhuang Niaodao and Li Biaohan. He had not expected to run into these two here, and that they would be mixed up with You Panhu! But then he thought of their identities as **, and he was no longer surprised. Only the sons of these hidden clans possessed such strength.

"Since we're schoolmates now, we'll let today's matter go. Best not to appear before my eyes again." With that, Wei Zhao turned and got back in the car, and amid a dead silence, drove away...

Only after Wei Zhao had gone did Li Biaohan ask in a low voice, "Brother You, that man—that was the Wei Zhao?"

"It was him..." You Panhu smiled bitterly, a venomous look flashing through his eyes. If not for that Wei Zhao, how would the second young master of the You family ever fear a rootless, self-made rogue cultivator with no backing to speak of?

As for the Ice Palace's influence, You Panhu did not believe for a moment that Wei Zhao could call upon it. The sons of these hidden clans saw things clearly: though Wei Zhao was well acquainted with the Ice Palace, there was simply no chance of Bingtang stepping forward on his behalf. To say nothing of the ancient sects' pact—so long as no one crossed the other's bottom line, or touched someone the other had publicly declared under its protection within its sphere of influence, these Heaven-rank experts generally would not step out at will.

After all, every Heaven-rank expert had, in the secular world, more or less a circle of friends and distant kin. If every Heaven-rank expert came and went through the secular world freely on account of such people, the rules would descend into chaos!

This was precisely why the ancient sects had agreed that Heaven-rank experts must not come and go through the secular world at will!

The exception was someone whom an ancient sect had openly proclaimed it would shelter and protect. Touch such a person, and it was a fight to the death with that ancient sect. But generally, the ancient sects would not lightly issue such a writ of protection!

What truly made You Panhu wary, however, was not the Ice Palace's influence but Wei Zhao's own strength! As for the Ice Palace—the You family had the even more formidable Xuandan Sect watching over it. But Wei Zhao's own strength could be called the foremost beneath the heavens: three Earth-rank experts killed in an instant. The very thought made one's blood run cold!

"One move, and three Earth-rank experts are dead—surely that's not just rumor?" Zhuang Niaodao frowned. He simply could not fathom how Wei Zhao could possess such power.

"It's no rumor..." You Panhu sighed. "Our family's You Shisan was a mid-stage Earth-rank expert. Before, Wei Zhao was no match for him. But now, he doesn't even have room to fight back! And from what I know, Yu Liu of the hidden Yu family is also a mid-stage Earth-rank expert, while Zhao Guang'er of the hidden Zhao family is a late-stage Heaven-rank—and to be left with no power to resist before him says enough about this man's strength!"

Zhuang Niaodao and Li Biaohan exchanged a silent glance, each seeing in the other's eyes a trace of dread and of narrow escape! Earlier, they had not pressed the matter of dealing with Wei Zhao—and so they had kept their lives. One at the peak of late-stage Yellow-rank, the other at early-stage Mystic-rank—neither was enough to give the man a warm-up.

"That much I can vouch for. Our Fire Wolf Gang... received word as well..." Li Biaohan smiled bitterly. That the ** of the Fire Wolf Gang had gone to rescue An Jianwen and come away thwarted by Wei Zhao was no secret within the gang.

"Wei Zhao... hm. Sooner or later, I'll cripple you!" A flash of indignation crossed You Panhu's eyes.

Zhuang Niaodao and Li Biaohan did not dare respond. Only You Panhu could speak with such swagger—the foremost beneath the heavens. What manner of expert would it take to match him?

Wei Zhao got back in the car and drove Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu toward the Xueshang residential compound.

"Arrow-Brand Bro, that man was You Panhu?" Shen Yushu asked suddenly.

"That's right. You even hit him with a bowling ball once," Wei Zhao said. "What, don't remember?"

"I remember..." Shen Yushu was a little puzzled. Wei Zhao seemed to remember everything—only his memories of Tang Yun were gone. So her plan of pointing at a deer and calling it a horse, claiming Gu Mengyao was his girlfriend, could never come to anything. "But I didn't expect him to recover so quickly..."

"An alchemical clan of physicians—it's only natural they'd have miracle pills on hand." Wei Zhao saw nothing amiss in Shen Yushu's words.

The three returned to the villa in the Xueshang compound, where Grandma Sun had long since finished cooking and was waiting for them. The Grandma Sun of this moment was nothing like the despondent old scavenger of before; dressed in new clothes from head to toe, she carried about her a natural, effortless dignity.