Chapter 2145 — A Breakthrough to the Mid Earth Rank! So There Is Utterly No Possibility of Anything Developing Between Wei Zhao and Yu Ning

To say nothing else, that single condition alone was as good as shutting Wei Zhao out entirely! And on top of that, Wei Zhao had seized the Qi Condensation Pill, the very pill that could have raised Yu Xiaochen into the Heaven rank, the hope of the entire hidden Yu family, shattered outright.

By comparison, the destruction of the secular Yu family was the grievance the hidden Yu family held lightest. Old Master Yu had once been driven out of the secular Yu family; the people of that place had valued him, taught him martial arts, and after he had trained to mastery he had founded the hidden Yu family. Only then had the secular Yu family come shamelessly fawning to claim the connection, so in his heart Old Master Yu had always looked down on them.

Therefore, after turning it over and over, he could swallow the grudge of the secular Yu family's destruction; as for the Qi Condensation Pill, if Wei Zhao were willing to return it, that too could be let bygones be bygones. But the word of that place—the hidden Yu family could not choose to disobey it!

Old Master Yu knew very well just how formidable that place's power was; to bring the hidden Yu family to ruin would take it but a matter of minutes.

Thus, to cut off Yu Ning's hopes once and for all, Old Master Yu did in fact support doing away with Wei Zhao—only, the whereabouts of the Qi Condensation Pill...

"Hmph. In the final match, Wei Zhao is a dead man!" Sect Master Wo gave a cold snort. "My disciple Woking Dao did not die for nothing!"

Even as these people murmured low about Wei Zhao's affairs, Wei Zhao on the arena had broken through as well, becoming a mid Earth-rank expert!

Though Tang Yuyi had said he was there to stand guard for Wei Zhao, Han Xiaopo and Han Tianba remained deeply wary of the man, afraid he might secretly do something to Wei Zhao's detriment—which left Tang Yuyi not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

Yet there were things he could not say plainly. He had already shown Wei Zhao considerable favor; if he were openly and bluntly to claim the connection, to say Wei Zhao was his brother-in-law, where would that leave the hidden You family? After all, the hidden You family and his own hidden Tang family were both families at odds with Wei Zhao!

So Tang Yuyi could only quietly back Wei Zhao in this fashion. Once Wei Zhao had broken through, Tang Yuyi silently cupped his fists to Han Xiaopo and Han Tianba, then strode quickly down from the arena and returned to Old Master Tang's side.

Because Tang Yuyi was Old Master You's grandson on his daughter's side, Old Master You, though none too pleased, still said nothing.

And since Old Master You said nothing, Old Master Tang naturally had even less reason to speak.

"At last I've broken through the barrier. I feel I should be able to one-shot a Heaven-rank expert now!" Wei Zhao gave a long whistle, rose to his feet, and said mildly.

"Eh?" Han Xiaopo was taken aback, never expecting that to be the first thing Wei Zhao said after his breakthrough. She was so startled that the congratulations she had meant to offer somehow would not come out.

And Wei Zhao's words startled Han Tianba as well—though more startled still were Old Master Zhao, Old Master Yu, Old Master Tang, Old Master You, Sect Master Wo, Sect Master Jin, and the rest below the arena...

Had any other mid Earth-rank expert said he felt he could one-shot a Heaven-rank expert, they would have treated it as a colossal joke and mocked him to his face! But coming from Wei Zhao, the words carried an indescribable eeriness!

At the peak of the early Earth rank, Wei Zhao had already one-shotted three Earth-rank experts, one of them a late Earth-rank! And on the arena he had one-shotted a Golden Bell Cover expert of the Golden Bell Sect! In the endurance contest he had withstood a blow from an early Heaven-rank expert! And in the final clash with the Qian Mountain Sect, not even Woking Dao in his man-beast unity, nor the spirit wolf, had been his match!

After trading blows with man-beast unity, Wei Zhao had not died of his injuries—he had broken through instead!

All these uncanny things really did leave people unable to doubt that Wei Zhao was not merely boasting.

Of course, it was also possible that Wei Zhao, having just broken through, had let his confidence swell and spoken such domineering words. But if Wei Zhao did not have the goods, he could not have said it—and his saying it proved that his former strength had already been not far from one-shotting a Heaven-rank expert...

By now, basically no one believed that Wei Zhao had sat down cross-legged after being struck by Woking Dao and the spirit wolf in order to heal. In everyone's eyes, Wei Zhao had likely grasped the opportunity for breakthrough in the midst of battle, then cultivated with all his might and shattered the barrier!

After all, how could healing be finished so quickly? Nor had anyone seen Wei Zhao take any pill. As for injuries, it was probably no more than a bit of disordered qi that needed smoothing out—he could not have been badly hurt.

Earlier, the blows of an early Heaven-rank expert had done nothing to Wei Zhao; once the fight was over he had caught his breath and stood right up. So in the crowd's view, Woking Dao and the spirit wolf's man-beast unity had likewise brought Wei Zhao no great harm—it had merely thrown his true qi into disarray.

For other cultivators, so short a time would hardly suffice to catch one's breath—not even that.

"Haha, since Wei Zhao is fine, let us all disperse. The champion of this two-person arena challenge is beyond doubt the hidden Han family; there is no need to wait for any other possibility!" Old Master Zhao said with a hearty laugh, though his heart was chilled.

However formidable Wei Zhao was, he was still only a mid Earth-rank expert. To one-shot a Heaven-rank, perhaps he had some hidden trump—but what set Old Master Zhao's mind most at ease was that he now knew Wei Zhao's true strength!

Now the most important thing was not to rush to deal with Wei Zhao, but for everyone to discuss together how exactly to deal with him! To pool their wisdom and see whether there was any way to surround and annihilate Wei Zhao.

"Time to eat—let's go back for lunch!" Old Master Tang said as well.

Everyone nodded, and the crowd dispersed from the arena grounds...

Watching the crowd scatter, Wei Zhao breathed a sigh of relief. That talk of one-shotting a Heaven-rank had been said offhand, its purpose merely to test the reactions of those old masters and sect leaders—and these people clearly did harbor designs!

But in the end they had chosen to leave, which set Wei Zhao's mind at ease for the moment. At the Hidden World Family Summit, force could not be used in conflict—so it seemed that rule was no lie. Otherwise, these family elders and sect masters could simply have used force to crush and extort the hidden Han family; there would have been no need for the superfluous business of staging a Hidden World Family Summit tournament to target the hidden Han family through the competition.

Having reasoned this out, Wei Zhao was for the time being no longer tense. The key question was: after the Hidden World Family Summit ended, how was he to leave the hidden Zhao family in safety! Han Xiaopo had said force could not be used in conflict at the Summit—but what about after it ended?

Did "after it ended" include the time before Wei Zhao safely left the hidden Zhao family? If the hidden Zhao family meant to exploit some loophole in the wording, then Wei Zhao would have to guard against it.

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