Chapter 2253 — Mad Again

In the end, the thing Wei Zhao had feared came to pass—the Heaven-Rank madman went berserk again. When he woke that day, he suddenly scrambled up from the ground, gazed about the cave with a look of bewilderment, and then his eyes fell upon Wei Zhao. A murderous glint flashed in them. "Who are you? How did you come to be here?"

Wei Zhao was momentarily taken aback. The Heaven-Rank madman had all along believed Wei Zhao to be his disciple—so why did he suddenly fail to recognize him?

Even so, Wei Zhao said, "Master, it is I. I am your disciple..."

"My disciple?" The Heaven-Rank madman was also briefly stunned, then said, "You are not Li'er! Who are you?"

"I..." Wei Zhao's heart tightened. Had the Heaven-Rank madman recovered his senses, or had he gone mad again? To think he no longer recognized him!

"Speak! Who are you, who in blazes are you!" the Heaven-Rank madman roared. With a flicker of movement he appeared before Wei Zhao, giving him no chance to dodge. He seized Wei Zhao by the collar, his eyes filled with vigilance and rage. "Tell me—did you kill my disciple? Where is Li'er? Answer me!"

"I... I am Li'er..." Wei Zhao had not expected the Heaven-Rank madman to turn on him at the drop of a hat. He smiled bitterly to himself, but aloud he had no choice but to insist that he was Li'er—otherwise a single slap from this man would leave him crippled.

"You are Li'er?" The Heaven-Rank madman furrowed his brows, yet his grip only tightened. He hoisted Wei Zhao straight off the ground, ready to hurl him against the wall. "Out with it—what manner of man are you? Otherwise, this old fellow will dash you to death!"

"Old sir... please do not excite yourself..." Sun Jingyan had been startled awake by the shouting, and when she saw the Heaven-Rank madman about to do Wei Zhao harm, she was badly frightened. She had not wanted to speak up, hoping Wei Zhao would resolve it himself, but seeing that he could not, she had no choice but to grit her teeth, climb up from the ground, and come over to explain for him: "He... he is your disciple..."

Hearing someone intervene, the Heaven-Rank madman glared and was about to retort, but then he turned to look at Sun Jingyan. He was slightly taken aback; a flicker of confusion crossed his eyes, yet his expression softened. "Yue'er? Why is it you? What are you doing here?"

The Heaven-Rank madman looked at Sun Jingyan with some puzzlement, then turned to look at Wei Zhao. "You say he is Li'er?"

Sun Jingyan did not know why the Heaven-Rank madman had suddenly stopped raging, but it was a good thing regardless. She hurriedly nodded and said, "Yes, he is your disciple Li'er..."

"Hmm... that settles it, then!" The Heaven-Rank madman released Wei Zhao and nodded. "Since Yue'er says you are Li'er, then you must be Li'er!"

"Phew..." Wei Zhao let out a breath of relief, silently counting himself lucky. Sun Jingyan was utterly baffled, but Wei Zhao had more or less guessed the truth! The Heaven-Rank madman had likely noticed that he did not look like Li Fu, and had briefly snapped back to lucidity and turned on him—but then he had seen Sun Jingyan, mistook her for Granny Sun Luoyue, and so took her words as truth and concluded once more that he was Li'er...

Thank goodness Sun Jingyan was here. Otherwise Wei Zhao would truly have had a hard time explaining himself.

"No! You are not Li'er, you are not!" The Heaven-Rank madman looked Wei Zhao over, then suddenly cried out again. But then he looked at Sun Jingyan and his gaze turned doubtful once more. "You are Yue'er... that much is right... but you are not Li'er... you are Yue'er... are you Li'er? You are not? You are? You are not..."

The Heaven-Rank madman's face suddenly went pale, beads of sweat sprang out on his forehead, and with a strange cry he clutched his head with both hands as though in terrible agony!

"Master... you..." Wei Zhao was just about to use his silver needles to ease the man's pain when the Heaven-Rank madman gave him a violent shove, sending him staggering aside. Shouting, the man ran out of the cave, crying out as he ran, and in moments vanished into the vast night...

"Alas!" Wei Zhao sighed helplessly. It seemed the Heaven-Rank madman had truly relapsed. Just as before, he had fled without the slightest warning, not even a word of farewell... Uncle Qing's master was truly to be pitied—lucid one moment, mad the next!

Even when lucid he was not quite right, and when mad his mind was all the more disordered!

"Wei Zhao... that madman... why did he suddenly..." Sun Jingyan had been asleep before and had no idea what had happened.

"I do not know, but he has probably had another fit of his madness..." Wei Zhao smiled bitterly. "Last time, in the cave, it was the same—he was sleeping in the middle of the night, and all at once he leapt up and ran off... This time it is no different!"

"Ah? And he just ran off like that?" Sun Jingyan looked at the iron box in her hands, not knowing what to say.

"Yes, just ran off like that..." Wei Zhao nodded. "It seems that at night, once he falls asleep, he becomes unclear for a while after sleeping halfway through. But by day he is better—in the daytime he still takes me for his disciple..."

"Then what should we do now?" Sun Jingyan said. "Where could he have gone?"

"Hard to say. In the dead of night, if he is set on running, where would we even look?" Wei Zhao smiled bitterly. "At most we can follow the direction he fled and take a look. If we truly cannot find him, there is nothing to be done."

Last time Wei Zhao had waited a long while in the cave, and the Heaven-Rank madman had never returned. He reckoned that this time, with the fit upon him, the man would not be coming back either. Rather than stay in the cave and wait, it was better to go out and search for him!

The key problem was that Wei Zhao still had several questions he had not asked—including the matter of Uncle Qing's enemies, and the true purpose and origin of the strange stone, among others.

For now he could only search in the hope of finding him. If he truly could not, then there was nothing more Wei Zhao could do.

And with the Heaven-Rank madman no longer at his side, Wei Zhao did not wish to linger in the cave either. After all, without the Heaven-Rank madman as a close guard, if the Grand Protector's accomplices came knocking, Wei Zhao alone could not handle them.

So, rather than stay here in danger, it was better to go out and search for the Heaven-Rank madman—and at the same time keep clear of the Grand Protector's accomplices...

"Very well, then let us go together," Sun Jingyan said with a nod. She had rested about enough, and most importantly, she too wanted to ask the Heaven-Rank madman what this great treasure in her hands really was. What Sun Jingyan wanted most to know was whether this thing had any connection to her parents, and why she held half a treasure map in her possession.

The two of them gathered their things. Wei Zhao glanced at the iron box—there was nothing special about it—so he had Sun Jingyan take out the strange stone and stow it close to her person. As for the iron box, it was far too conspicuous, so Wei Zhao simply left it behind in the cave.

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