Chapter 2560 — Visitors from the Zhuang Family

"That... I'll have a word with her," Kang said with a bitter smile, nodding.

Wei Zhao did not press the matter further. Since the woman was not Kang's lover, it made no difference to him, and he could not be bothered with her. A company grown this large was bound to have a few people hired on connections; Lai the Fatso was no saint, and when friends and relatives came begging, he could hardly turn them away. Wei Zhao understood that well enough.

"Let's drop it. When you get the chance, come out to Donghai City—bring Little Fen along, and the three of us will have a meal together," Wei Zhao said.

"Sure, I'd like that, but the group's business has been expanding at a furious pace lately, and I haven't a spare moment," Kang said with a rueful laugh. "It should ease up before long, though."

As they were talking, the phone on Kang's desk rang. Kang answered, spoke a few words, then turned to Wei Zhao with an apologetic look. "Sorry, Boss—something else has come up. A client's here and wants me to join him for tea to discuss business..."

"Ha, go on, you're busy. You're working for me, aren't you? Why would I mind?" Wei Zhao laughed. "I've got nothing pressing anyway; I just stopped by on my way past to see you."

"All right, then. Once things settle down on my end, I'll come to Donghai City and find you, Boss..." Kang nodded.

Wei Zhao and Kang left the company together and parted ways in the parking lot. Wei Zhao checked the time—there was still a while before school let out—so he drove back to the villa where he had lived before. He had not been back in a long time and meant to clean and tidy the place up. Winter vacation was almost here, and he guessed Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu would still return to Songshan City for the holidays; after all, it was the place they had lived in for more than ten years, and a change of scenery was not something one adjusted to overnight.

In a deluxe private room of the Starlight Brilliant Grand Hotel in Songshan City sat two men—Zhuang Niaoqiang and Zhuang Niaopao of the hidden Zhuang family.

"Second Brother, are you sure you saw it clearly? That girl beside Ying Ziyu is a first-rate vessel for cultivation?" A flicker of shock and greed passed through Zhuang Niaopao's eyes.

"Absolutely. There's no mistaking it," Zhuang Niaoqiang said with a nod. "Who would have thought this trip would bring such an unexpected prize?"

The two brothers had come to Songshan City at the Chen family's invitation, in truth, to hold the fort for them. Chen Xiaoba had taken a fancy to Ying Ziyu and meant to carry her off as his wife, but Li Cihua stood in his way. Unwilling to let it go, Chen Xiaoba had his father summon the two brothers of the hidden Zhuang family to back him up.

However formidable Li Cihua might be, he was no more than a dog of the hidden Zhao family. The Zhuang brothers were another matter entirely—these two were the very pillars of the hidden Zhuang family, second only to their eldest brother, Zhuang Niaodao.

Moreover, though Zhuang Niaodao was nominally the future head of the family and oversaw the hidden Zhuang family's affairs, plainly speaking, if the hidden Zhuang family was to stand unshaken, the brothers Zhuang Niaoqiang and Zhuang Niaopao mattered more. Zhuang Niaodao was unsuited to cultivation, so he had abandoned the martial for the scholarly, studying business management at Donghai City Engineering University—which was, in truth, training to manage the family's affairs. The brothers Zhuang Niaoqiang and Zhuang Niaopao, by contrast, cultivated a joint-strike martial art. Though each was only a peak early-stage Earth-rank expert, fighting in tandem they could defeat early-mid or even peak mid-stage Earth-rank experts, and at their best they could give even late-stage Earth-rank experts a run for their money.

This was why the two of them had dared to boast at the Hidden World Family Summit that they were invincible below the Heaven rank—they truly were formidable. They had come this time to aid Chen Xiaoba partly out of gratitude for the Chen family's contributions to the hidden Zhuang family of late, the vast sums of money they had earned them, and partly to get away and clear their heads. At the Hidden World Family Summit they had been thoroughly stifled: full of confidence, the brothers had meant to show what they could do, only to step down without even daring to fight.

But now, thinking back, the two brothers felt that not fighting Wei Zhao had been the single most correct decision of their lives. Had they truly faced him, they would have been killed or crippled—there was no third possibility. Over this time, the hidden Zhuang family had received scattered reports about Wei Zhao: he had gravely wounded a Heaven-rank expert of the hidden You family and crippled a peak late-stage Earth-rank expert of the hidden Zhao family. These tidings set the nerves of the hidden Zhuang family jangling—how fortunate they had never crossed Wei Zhao, or they would not even have known how they died.

The hidden Zhuang family was not like the other hidden clans. Old Master Zhuang himself was only a peak late-stage Earth-rank expert, not worth a single blow from Wei Zhao; set against Wei Zhao, he would be utterly useless. So sometimes the brothers Zhuang Niaoqiang and Zhuang Niaopao would wonder: back during the trials at the Ice Palace, if they had not attached themselves to Zhang Naipao but had instead drawn close to Wei Zhao and acknowledged him as their leader, would the Zhuang family not be treading so cautiously now?

With a great deity like Wei Zhao to shelter them, the hidden Zhuang family would not need to fear other hidden clans moving against them. Even in this business of helping Chen Xiaoba—though the brothers had been invited to hold the fort—Zhuang Niaoqiang and Zhuang Niaopao still did not want a head-on clash with the hidden Zhao family, preferring a quiet abduction.

There was no other reason: the hidden Zhao family had a Heaven-rank expert and the hidden Zhuang family did not, so they had no choice but to be cautious. With Wei Zhao's protection, though, everything would be different. The hidden Han family had once been so weak, yet now in Donghai City they had squeezed the hidden Zhao family until it had no choice but to bow its head—what a glorious sight that was.

Of course, everyone knew it was the fox borrowing the tiger's might—it was all because of Wei Zhao—but the Han family had latched onto Wei Zhao's coattails, and there was nothing anyone could do about it. Would the hidden Zhao family dare provoke the hidden Han family? Provoke them, draw Wei Zhao in, and the whole family would be finished.

Yet the hidden Zhuang family could not simply go to Wei Zhao and pledge allegiance now either—there was no pretext. To seek him out for no reason and acknowledge him as leader would surely make Wei Zhao suspect ulterior motives, and whether he would even accept them was uncertain.

So the hidden Zhuang family found itself wedged in this awkward position—neither advancing nor retreating. In the past it had been a little better, with the hidden Zhao family and the hidden Han family down at the bottom alongside them; after all, the hidden Zhao family had once had no Heaven-rank expert either. But things were different now—the hidden Zhao family had one too.

And though the hidden Han family had no Heaven-rank expert, they had Wei Zhao, a master among masters who could fight above his rank. The hidden Han family now yielded nothing to the hidden Zhao family—or even the hidden Yu family.

(Two more chapters to come, updated a little later.)

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