Chapter 1996 — Just As Expected

Wei Zhao drew a deep breath, and a quiet wariness began to stir in his heart.

Only, along the road that followed, that feeling came and went, faint and elusive, and the jade pendant never once gave warning. It left Wei Zhao deeply puzzled: was someone truly following him, or harboring ill intent toward him—or was there no one at all?

So it went thereafter as well. Wei Zhao still could not find whoever was tailing him. Either the man was an absolute master, capable of tracking him from a great distance, or he himself had simply grown too vigilant because of what had happened that day.

"Huh? They have beef banmian here too?" Cheng Yiyi pointed at the signboard at the mouth of a small alley beside the pedestrian street, her voice full of surprise.

"What, Yiyi, you like eating that?" Xu Shilan asked, a little puzzled.

"I do! I've loved it since I was little, and it's been ages since I last had any." Cheng Yiyi said. "No, no—today we absolutely have to go eat some!"

"Oh, right, I'd forgotten—I think they do have that kind of banmian where you're from." Xu Shilan nodded. "Well, since we're here, shall we go have a bowl?"

"Yes, yes!" Cheng Yiyi nodded, beaming with delight.

"But the alley looks filthy, and there's no one around. Is this street food even fit to eat?" Xu Shilan took a couple of steps, glanced at the pitch-dark alley strewn with garbage, and hesitated.

"It's fine, really! I ate there all the time when I was little!" Cheng Yiyi said.

"All right, then let's give it a try!" Xu Shilan hesitated a moment, then resolved to keep her friend company, come what may.

Seeing the two of them about to enter the alley, Wei Zhao felt by instinct that something was off, yet he could not think how to stop them. In that moment of hesitation, Xu Shilan and Cheng Yiyi had already walked into the alley.

There was nothing for it; Wei Zhao could only follow them in with Feng Sanhuang.

The alley was very dark—no people, no light—and it had a sinister, gloomy feel to it. Xu Shilan grew a little nervous; after all, such a dark and eerie scene brought back some unpleasant memories...

Xu Shilan frowned unconsciously and pressed both hands to her temples...

"Sister Han, what's wrong?" Seeing the tension in Xu Shilan's expression, Cheng Yiyi asked hurriedly, "Is your headache acting up again?"

"Mm..." Xu Shilan nodded, quickly took a bottle of Dr. Guan's painkiller from her bag, opened it, and poured some into her mouth...

Cheng Yiyi also helped massage Xu Shilan's temples, saying with great concern, "Sister Han, why don't we skip the noodles and just go back..."

"We've come all this way, so let's eat. Don't spoil the fun!" Xu Shilan forced a smile. "I'm fine, don't worry about me..."

"But..." Looking at Xu Shilan's furrowed brow, Cheng Yiyi was still worried...

Yet just as the two were arguing, Wei Zhao gave a cold laugh and said, "Since you've come, come on out. What's the point of hiding? Is this how an expert of the middle Earth rank behaves?"

"What! There's an enemy?" Feng Sanhuang was startled half out of his wits by Wei Zhao's words, and Xu Shilan and Cheng Yiyi were equally shocked!

Two men in black flitted swiftly out from the darkness ahead in the alley, though black masks still covered their faces, making their features impossible to discern.

"Not bad—you actually sensed my presence and named my strength in one breath. Which road do you walk, friend? I'd advise you not to wade into these waters. There's nothing here that concerns you!" One of the men in black clearly felt some wariness toward Wei Zhao, which was why he spoke such formal words.

Of course, he had originally intended to launch a sneak attack, only to have Wei Zhao expose his whereabouts outright. He was quite furious with Wei Zhao; it was merely that he had other important business to attend to today, and he could not gauge Wei Zhao's strength, so he did not want to stir up trouble.

Nor, naturally, did he think Wei Zhao was bluffing him out. After all, the man had named his strength exactly—that meant he had already discovered him.

In fact, Wei Zhao had not truly detected the whereabouts of this middle-Earth-rank man in black. It was through the jade pendant's warning that he had noticed the movements of the other man in black—an expert at the peak of the late Mystic rank. And through that man, Wei Zhao had caught a faint wisp of aura beside him, and thus discovered his trail.

"If nothing here concerned me, why would I be standing here?" Wei Zhao looked at the man in black before him as though he were an idiot. "If nothing concerned me, could I have spotted your trail and named your strength? You think I've got nothing better to do?"

"You deal with Xu Shilan. I'll hold him off here!" The Earth-rank man in black turned cold of face and ordered the Mystic-rank man beside him.

"Yes!" The Mystic-rank man in black nodded, then flew at Xu Shilan, a fist already swinging—clearly intending to kill her with a single blow!

Wei Zhao had been watching the two men's every reaction. Seeing the Mystic-rank man move, he gave a cold laugh and sprang into action as well. With a slight push of his feet, he shot forward to meet the Mystic-rank man at Xu Shilan's side.

To deceive the Mystic-rank man before him, Wei Zhao had kept his strength suppressed, making it appear to be only around the peak of the middle Mystic rank. His aim was to kill the late-stage-peak Mystic-rank man in a single strike, and only then devote himself wholly to dealing with that middle-Earth-rank expert.

Against an expert two ranks above his own, Wei Zhao had not the slightest confidence of victory, and his heart was uneasy as well. So he had to strangle every unstable factor in the cradle.

This expert at the peak of the late Mystic rank, Wei Zhao did not fear; but with him present, if Feng Sanhuang failed to hold him and he struck at Xu Shilan, Wei Zhao would certainly have to split his attention to save her—and since he had no confidence of winning to begin with, that would leave him with even less.

Though Wei Zhao had crossed hands with several Earth-rank experts before, Leader Yu had only just advanced to Earth rank and had not yet learned any martial techniques, so Wei Zhao could overawe him even at the Mystic rank. As for the follower at You Panhu's side, Wei Zhao had found himself hard-pressed; had he not used true-qi bombs, he likely would not have finished the man so easily.

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