Chapter 11673 — Fishing with a Straight Hook

For him, it was no longer a question of whether he could be caught, but of how.

Since Jiang Xiaoshang wanted to take on this job, Wei Zhao was naturally glad to let him.

It was just that Jiang Xiaoshang's method of fishing left much to be desired.

On the surface, he had sunk the hook into the puddle—and a straight hook at that—while the bait he simply hurled straight at Yi Liuchao's head.

Even Wei Zhao was left staring in utter bewilderment.

"Is this thing of yours really fishing with a straight hook?"

Jiang Xiaoshang wore an air of profound wisdom: "Watch more, learn more, talk less."

At that moment, Yi Liuchao was even more bewildered than Wei Zhao.

A ready-made path to godhood had plopped down bright and plain right before his eyes.

A powerful intuition told him that if he could only digest this path to godhood, he would be able to complete the final step.

But the problem was—how could he possibly stumble into a trap so blatantly laid out?

Did they really take him for a fool to be fished?

Another day passed, and Yi Liuchao returned once more to the bait Jiang Xiaoshang had cast down. After a spell of agonizing, he bit the hook in the end.

And then he was dragged out of the little puddle by Jiang Xiaoshang.

"..."

Wei Zhao was stunned for a moment, then could not help asking: "Brother, what were you thinking?"

A blatant straight-hook fishing scheme, and he still took the bait—no normal person could comprehend the circuitry behind that.

The man was, after all, a quasi-god powerhouse, not a brain-dead one.

Looking at the suddenly changed surroundings, at Jiang Xiaoshang and Wei Zhao before him, Yi Liuchao could not help but be seized with terror.

Instinctively, he tried at once to struggle and flee.

Then a scene even more despairing unfolded.

No matter how he deployed his powers and techniques, he simply could not shake off the straight hook caught in his mouth—and more crucially, he could not escape this two-meter-square little puddle before his eyes!

With his strength, a mere two meters square was nothing—even twenty thousand meters would be the work of an instant.

Yet here, a foot's breadth was as vast as the far horizon.

A quasi-god powerhouse of his stature now gave off the impression of a loach mired in a puddle—no matter how he struggled for his life, back and forth he went, circling within the puddle all the same.

Jiang Xiaoshang lifted his chin smugly: "Did you learn it or not?"

Wei Zhao, not quite understanding but deeply impressed: "Badass."

At this moment, from Yi Liuchao's perspective, the two figures became impossibly grand and colossal—especially Jiang Xiaoshang seated before him, whose oppressive presence now rivaled that of his own master, the God King Haotian, and perhaps even surpassed it!

"Just who is this person? To be even more terrifying than my master?"

The moment this thought arose, Yi Liuchao's will to survive collapsed on the spot.

Facing an existence comparable to the God King Haotian, all the techniques he prided himself on were doomed to be a joke, with not the slightest chance of success.

This, a quasi-god powerhouse understood far better than any other cultivator.

At the critical moment, a giant hand tore through the void and forcibly intruded into the Nation of Sin.

Wei Zhao's eyelid twitched slightly; in the very first instant he knew whose hand it was.

"The God King Haotian! Isn't he still in slumber?"

As the representative of all god-level powerhouses of the Inner Royal Court, the God King Haotian's slumber was itself part of the new era.

Unless the new era drew to its close, he would not wake so easily.

And this was precisely the confidence that emboldened Wei Zhao to dare fish him out of the Inner Royal Court.

Otherwise, had the God King Haotian truly been awake, and Wei Zhao dared set his schemes upon him, he would by now long since have been a cold, dead man.

Jiang Xiaoshang's lips curled: "Who says one can't fish people out while in slumber? At the level of a god-tier powerhouse, even a subconscious thought is enough for him to accomplish a great many things."

"It seems the God King Haotian truly does value this Yi Liuchao quite highly."

Even as they spoke, that giant hand pressed down with irresistible force, forcing the two back while scooping Yi Liuchao out of the puddle, and then it tore through the void and was gone.

The whole process took less than two seconds from start to finish.

Jiang Xiaoshang looked at Wei Zhao with utter contempt: "They come and go as they please—aren't you ashamed, master of a new world?"

Wei Zhao gave him a long, level look, at the Rod of the Gods in his hand: "Whoever comes back empty-handed is the one who should be ashamed."

Jiang Xiaoshang choked for a moment: "What I did was a tactic—I let him go on purpose. Otherwise, even ten more God King Haotians would be no match."

Wei Zhao nodded: "Naturally. If our Young Master Jiang were so pleased, never mind a mere Yi Liuchao—even the God King Haotian would have to lie flat in this puddle."

Jiang Xiaoshang cleared his throat twice: "That's a bit of an exaggeration. If it were the God King Haotian, I'd have to dig a bigger puddle."

Wei Zhao laughed despite himself: "You're truly modest."

Jiang Xiaoshang winked and grimaced: "Well? Did it work?"

Wei Zhao gave his hand a flick, and the Puppet of the Gods immediately surfaced. At this moment, the puppet's face had quietly changed considerably—its outline had already become that of Yi Liuchao.

"Just about."

Jiang Xiaoshang chuckled: "My fishing wasn't for nothing, was it? One Puppet of the Gods in exchange for planting a piece on the God King Haotian's side—you've made out like a bandit this round."

Everything that had just happened had long since been within the two men's design.

In fact, even if the God King Haotian had not reached out to rescue the man, Wei Zhao would have found some pretext to release Yi Liuchao back.

After all, keeping Yi Liuchao here would at most add one quasi-god powerhouse to their fighting strength; but sent back to the God King Haotian's side, his value would be far greater.

Wei Zhao had now extricated himself from the Inner Royal Court, but the karma he bore had not vanished on that account—it had merely been temporarily frozen. To settle that karma, he would have to re-enter the game.

Whether he could then appear in the role of reaper depended, apart from his own strength, most crucially on the timing of his entry.

Control Yi Liuchao, and he controlled the timing of his entry!

Were it not so, he would actually have been inclined just now to trade a few blows with the God King Haotian.

After all, such an opportunity was rare.

Out there, at Wei Zhao's present level, he was not fit even to carry the God King Haotian's shoes; but now, sitting atop the home-field advantage of a new world, it was an entirely different matter.

Still, Wei Zhao restrained himself in the end.

The opportunity was rare indeed, but if it provoked the God King Haotian and drew his attention to the Nation of Sin, that was not the outcome Wei Zhao wished to see.

It was not yet time to be high-profile.

"Rice must be eaten one mouthful at a time, and the road walked one step at a time. Let's take it slow."

No sooner had Wei Zhao finished speaking than his heart stirred again.

Jiang Xiaoshang clicked his tongue: "Your old friend has arrived."

A moment later, Shi Wushuang landed before the two of them and hurriedly bowed to Jiang Xiaoshang with great reverence: "Shi Wushuang pays her respects to the senior."

Jiang Xiaoshang, every inch the founding ancestor, shot Wei Zhao a look: "A fine girl. Grandson, you'd best seize the chance."

With that, he vanished without a trace.