Chapter 2248 — Deeply Unwilling
"Hmph!" The Grand Protector paid Wei Zhao no mind whatsoever. He had already tasted Wei Zhao's strongest move, and it was nothing much—it could only inflict minor injuries at best, never anything serious. This time, when he struck, he was determined to finish off the Heaven-Rank Madman once and for all!
One strike was all it would take to leave the Heaven-Rank Madman with no chance to turn things around. So after a moment's hesitation, he did not stop; the soft whip still lashed toward the Heaven-Rank Madman, while he left his back exposed to Wei Zhao, ready to take that blow head-on!
He might suffer another minor wound from Wei Zhao, but compared to wiping out the Heaven-Rank Madman in one fell swoop, it was worth it. What delighted the Grand Protector most was that the little brat Wei Zhao had not run—he actually dared to seize the moment and ambush him. Did the boy not know what it meant to be a mantis trying to stop a chariot?
Watching the soft whip lash toward the Heaven-Rank Madman, Wei Zhao sighed. It seemed the Grand Protector's mind could not be changed now. Still, it was just as well—let him send the Heaven-Rank Madman flying, or else when the energy bomb went off, the blast might catch the Madman too.
And so long as the Heaven-Rank Madman did not die, so long as a breath remained in him, Wei Zhao was confident he could bring him back. After all, an expert at the peak of the late Heaven-Rank surely would not be so easy to kill, would he?
With that thought, Wei Zhao's body shot toward the Grand Protector at breakneck speed. But to avoid wasting any energy and to produce the greatest possible blast, Wei Zhao was risking everything to detonate the energy bomb at close range!
Seeing the Heaven-Rank Madman sent flying far away by the whip, Wei Zhao released the energy bomb in his hand: "Old dog, you were right—pay your debts late or soon, but you always pay. I'll send you on your way right now. Die!"
The moment Wei Zhao shouted, his figure began to hurtle backward at tremendous speed. And where he had stood a heartbeat before, a deafening explosion erupted!
"Boom!"
A thunderous roar crashed through the great hall atop the mountain. In that instant, the entire Ulanhot Mountain Range trembled violently!
A full-fledged true qi bomb—this was the second one Wei Zhao had ever made, and unexpectedly its effect was even more tremendous than the last!
The booming explosion was like the detonation of an atomic bomb, unleashing a colossal, terrifying energy in an instant. A mushroom cloud rose straight up from the blast site. Grey bricks, earth, and shattered walls were all swept up, and sand and stones flew whirling through the air.
The entire great hall all but ceased to exist in that moment, shattered into fragments that flew into the sky. Where the Grand Protector had stood, the dust was so thick that nothing could be seen at all, and there was no telling how he fared.
Wei Zhao's body, though outside the epicenter of the blast, had been through a massive explosion once before, and he was more experienced than he had been back at Mazhu's. Even so, Wei Zhao was still caught in the shockwave and gravely wounded!
His injuries were not as severe as last time, but the severing of all his meridians was unavoidable. Yet Wei Zhao did not faint; pale-faced, he stared at the center of the explosion, watching the mushroom cloud born of the blast's shockwave rise higher and higher...
"I wonder—is that Grand Protector dead?" This time, Wei Zhao had truly staked his life on it. If the Grand Protector still would not die, then Wei Zhao could only curse his own bad luck.
The Heaven-Rank Madman had been struck square-on earlier. With no strength left in him and his whole body gravely wounded, he had not even tried to block—he was simply sent flying, which at least carried his body clear of the great hall. Though he gritted his teeth and clung to that one breath, he knew he could not hold on much longer!
His five viscera and six bowels were utterly shattered, his meridians broken beyond repair. In such a state, no amount of miraculous elixirs could save him now. Yet he worried for his disciple's safety, and with deep unwillingness he lifted his head—only to see a scene of utter horror!
From the direction of the Grand Protector and Wei Zhao, a thunderclap of world-shaking force suddenly erupted, and amid the flying sand and stones, a mushroom cloud rose into the sky!
The Heaven-Rank Madman did not know what had happened, but he guessed that Wei Zhao must have devised some method to take his enemy down with him. Could the boy have carried a nuclear weapon up the mountain?
He could not make out the situation over there. Anxious at heart, yet his body would not move an inch...
The thick smoke... finally dispersed. The trembling of the Ulanhot Mountain Range ceased, and the sand and stones that had filled the sky were blown away to who knew where. Where the fighting had taken place inside the great hall, a colossal crater now gaped.
Though Wei Zhao had spent every ounce of his energy and was gravely wounded, he still forced himself to walk toward the crater...
When he reached the crater's edge, Wei Zhao was astonished—astonished that the Grand Protector was actually... still not dead, even under an energy blast of such magnitude! This thing really did have some ability!
Yet Wei Zhao was not worried, for the Grand Protector could no longer be called a man! His arms and legs had long since vanished, a huge hole gaped in his abdomen, and his head was a mass of blood and gore. He was likely holding on by a thread of true qi alone—death was only moments away.
"Old dog, how does it feel? Pretty comfortable, isn't it?" Wei Zhao looked down at the Grand Protector in the crater with a cold sneer.
The Grand Protector stared at Wei Zhao, and through his clouded eyes flashed unwillingness and incomprehension! He could never have imagined that Wei Zhao, an expert of the middle Earth-Rank, could unleash such a powerful move! What kind of move was this?
Though bewildered, though shocked and furious, he dared not open his mouth to speak; he feared that the moment he did, his true qi would escape and he would drop dead on the spot! He dreamed that someone might come up the mountain to save him, that his fellow sect members might arrive—he absolutely had to pass this crucial news on to them!
This middle Earth-Rank expert before him—by whatever means necessary, he had to be eliminated!
Too monstrous, too powerful. If he were allowed to grow, the whole martial landscape of the cultivation world might be turned upside down! This boy could not be left alive.
"A fine early Heaven-Rank expert like you, beaten like a dog by a mere middle Earth-Rank boy—doesn't that feel great?" Wei Zhao looked at the Grand Protector before him with deep satisfaction: "Oh, that's right—you're not even as good as a dog. My family's dog could crush you under one paw right now!"
The Grand Protector's chest heaved. He stared at Wei Zhao in shock and fury, yet did not open his mouth.
"Feeling stifled, are you? Dying to know how I could beat you, aren't you?" Wei Zhao asked with a cold sneer. "Tell me where you come from and what your connection is to the Tagan family, and I'll tell you how I beat you!" (To be continued) RQ
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