Chapter 2238 — The Clever One?
"Ah!" Sun Jingyan was about to protest—how could she possibly flee and save her own skin? But seeing the resolve in Wei Zhao's eyes, she sighed and said nothing more. Her own heart was pounding with dread; who would have thought that, after they had finally found the thing, enemies would choose this very moment to arrive!
"So it really is you!" A deafening laugh rang out, grating on the ears of all who heard it. "You two have kept this old man waiting far too long—over ten years! I have stood guard here, waiting day after day, watching night after night, counting the stars and counting the moon, and at last I am not disappointed. In the end, someone has still appeared here!"
"Who are you?" Wei Zhao's cold gaze swept toward the source of the voice. No good visitor comes bearing good intent. Earlier, Wei Zhao had detected no one else on this mountain, which left only two possibilities: either this person had just arrived, or his strength far surpassed Wei Zhao's and he was skilled at concealing it—moreover, until Wei Zhao had found the thing, he had given off not the slightest trace of hostility.
If it were the second case, then this enemy before him would be a truly terrifying foe. But Wei Zhao also knew that the second possibility was far more likely than the first.
"Who I am is none of your concern." The newcomer's figure drifted over lightly and soon appeared ten zhang before Wei Zhao and Sun Jingyan. He wore a black Eight Trigrams robe, his attire as bizarre as could be, and he appeared to be around forty years old. From the aura radiating from every inch of him, Wei Zhao could discern his strength as well.
An early-stage Heaven-rank expert!
Yet though he was only an early-stage Heaven-rank expert, Wei Zhao could clearly sense that he differed from the early-stage Heaven-rank experts of those hidden clans. Compared with this early-stage Heaven-rank expert before him, the early-stage Heaven-rank experts of the hidden clans were simply pathetic.
Their rank was the same, but their momentum, their aura, the pressure emanating from every fiber of their being—utterly different!
This man was a formidable adversary!
Such a situation did not puzzle Wei Zhao in the least. Most of the Heaven-rank experts in the hidden clans had forced their advancement by consuming pills or rare natural treasures; those who had genuinely broken through by their own exploration were exceedingly few. This man before him, however, had absolutely broken through to Heaven-rank by his own strength.
It was like the difference between Wei Zhao and experts of the same rank. Wei Zhao could kill an Eighth Protector of the same rank in a single strike, yet that Eighth Protector could never do the same to Wei Zhao—the principle was the same.
"What power do you represent?" Wei Zhao asked indifferently. "Was it you people who wiped out the ancient sect on this mountain?"
If Wei Zhao's conjecture was correct, then he could roughly determine the identity of this early-stage Heaven-rank expert in the Eight Trigrams robe.
"Clever of you." The early-stage Heaven-rank expert in the Eight Trigrams robe spoke flatly. He was the Grand Protector of the Tarkan clan—and whether it was this identity or his true one, he would tell Wei Zhao nothing. Even though, in his eyes, Wei Zhao was already a dead man walking, he still could not casually speak of matters concerning that place...
"But clever people, many of them die young." The Grand Protector did not answer Wei Zhao's question. Instead he said, "Hand over all the fine things on your person, and I will leave you a whole corpse."
"Everyone can talk big. If you want the thing in my hands, you will have to get through me first." As Wei Zhao spoke, his confidence was noticeably lacking. Back at the hidden clans' assembly, he had bluffed and blustered those early-stage Heaven-rank old fellows into not daring to make a move, creating the illusion that he was invincible below Heaven-rank and could even hold his own against Heaven-rank experts.
But this man before him, Wei Zhao could sense, was not as timid or as burdened by gain and loss as those Heaven-rank old-timers. This man was absolutely a ruthless character!
"Get through you? An early-stage Earth-rank expert dares say such words before me—what sheer ignorance." The Grand Protector looked at Wei Zhao with some derision. "Hand over what you carry like a good boy, and I guarantee your woman will not die!"
The Grand Protector could now see Sun Jingyan clearly as well. At this moment he could conclude that this person was not the one they had sought all those years ago, merely someone who bore a slight resemblance—but even so, this person must surely be connected to the one from back then. Thus the Grand Protector could not make the decision himself; he must bring her back to that place and let those lords decide...
"In that case... then you can go to hell, old thing!" As Wei Zhao spoke, a true-energy bomb shot out, and then the fifth form of the Frenzied Fire Fist, paired with the Fireflow Divine Bullet, was unleashed as well!
"Boom!"
A thunderous roar erupted against the Grand Protector's chest, and then Wei Zhao's fifth form of the Frenzied Fire Fist struck out as well, attacking the Grand Protector's chest!
Since this thing had appeared before him, Wei Zhao could not avoid a battle with him, so Wei Zhao struck with killing moves from the very first blow, leaving no room whatsoever.
Flee? Wei Zhao certainly could not outrun a Heaven-rank expert. However exquisite his movement techniques, he was no match for a Heaven-rank expert. Against Earth-rank experts or those Heaven-rank old-timers of the hidden clans, Wei Zhao was confident he could escape—but against someone like the Grand Protector, Wei Zhao had not the slightest confidence!
Coming and going with a drift—much like Aunt Qing and the little冰糖 girl he had seen in the Ice Palace—these were "true" Heaven-rank experts, utterly different from those Heaven-rank experts who had been forced upward with pills and rare treasures and lacked any real combat experience.
Especially with Sun Jingyan at his side, Wei Zhao had even less means to flee alone, so he could only fight the Grand Protector head-on!
The Grand Protector had never imagined that an expert of Wei Zhao's rank would dare strike first against a Heaven-rank expert. This both startled and enraged him!
Though an attack of Wei Zhao's strength could not do him much harm, he was still furious! This was Wei Zhao's contempt for him!
The Grand Protector was already fully aware of what had happened earlier when they surrounded and hunted the fire lion at the foot of the mountain range. Though Wei Zhao had caught the Eighth Protector off guard and killed him, he had been beaten by the Fifth Protector until he was scrabbling on the ground like a ball being kicked about. Had the great fire lion not come to his rescue, Wei Zhao would by now surely have been kicked to death!
Moreover, by the Grand Protector's reckoning, Wei Zhao should still be nursing unhealed injuries. Even if he had taken pills like the Little Restoration Pill, he could not possibly have recovered so quickly—so the Grand Protector had never imagined that Wei Zhao would dare provoke him first! (To be continued.)