Chapter 890 — Learn to Take Care of Yourself

A higher level... higher... Suddenly, a possibility flashed through Wei Zhao's mind... Wait!

Wei Zhao burst out laughing. He looked at Ma Zhu, and his smile was faintly unsettling. He was not getting out of this alive today, so if he had to die, he would drag someone down with him to keep him company in the grave!

"Yaoyao, Xiaoshu..." Wei Zhao turned his head and looked at Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu.

"Hm?" Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu noticed that there was something strange about Wei Zhao's smile, and they had no idea what he was about to do.

"From now on, you have to learn to take good care of yourselves..." Wei Zhao said with a smile.

"?" Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu were taken aback. They could not understand why Wei Zhao would suddenly blurt out such a thing at a time like this.

But Wei Zhao offered no explanation. The next moment, he raised his head and looked at Ma Zhu. How laughable — he had been searching all this time for a flaw in Ma Zhu and had never found one, yet in the end Ma Zhu had gone and exposed his own weakness!

"What are you laughing at?" Ma Zhu was startled. Wei Zhao's smile gave him a creeping, hair-raising feeling.

"Wahahahaha, Master Ma, this kid was just settling his affairs after death!" Zhen Yingjun suddenly burst into loud laughter. He was the first to grasp the meaning of Wei Zhao's earlier words.

At Zhen Yingjun's reminder, Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu understood at once! Wei Zhao... was he settling his affairs after death?

"Wei Zhao, run! Don't worry about us, just go, hurry!" Gu Mengyao shouted at Wei Zhao, nearly out of her mind...

But Wei Zhao turned a deaf ear. A strange smile hung on his face, and his hands were held in a most peculiar pose.

Tears had already blurred Gu Mengyao's eyes. She had never imagined that Wei Zhao would go to his death for her sake and Xiaoshu's! At the top of her voice, the young miss howled at Wei Zhao: "You idiot! For thirty thousand yuan you go and throw your life away! No wonder Zhen Yingjun calls you a fool — you great big fool!"

Shen Yushu clutched Gu Mengyao's hand tightly and said nothing. Carefree and loud as she usually was, at this moment her heart was consumed with anxiety.

"Hmph, seems you have a bit of resolve after all, boy!" Ma Zhu laughed. "You can go ahead and die in peace. As for those two little girls, we won't touch them. We'll let them leave safely."

Wei Zhao did not speak. His hands still held that strange pose, and no one knew what he was doing.

"What? What is this supposed to mean? Still hoping to make one last heroic flourish before you die?" Ma Zhu eyed Wei Zhao with some puzzlement, though a thread of impatience ran through his words. Wei Zhao had exhausted every last ounce of his patience! He could not wait to kill Wei Zhao the very next moment.

"Heh. If I die, I may as well die in style. I am about to make my move." The smile on Wei Zhao's face slowly faded, and he began to walk toward Ma Zhu, one step at a time.

"Make your move? Haha, fine, if you want to make a move, then by all means!" Ma Zhu was not afraid of Wei Zhao making a move. As an expert at the eighth layer of the Golden Bell Shield, he did not regard Wei Zhao as worthy of his attention at all.

"Heh..." Wei Zhao's movements abruptly quickened, and his whole body charged at Ma Zhu — except that his hands still kept to that strange pose from before.

A trace of mockery flickered at the corner of Ma Zhu's mouth. "Been playing too much Street Fighter, have you? Though I have to say, this move of yours does look rather flashy for a dying man..."

As he spoke, Ma Zhu swung out his right fist, ready to receive Wei Zhao's "strange move."

"Flashy... perhaps. But something even flashier is yet to come!" A trace of resolve flickered at the corner of Wei Zhao's mouth. His hands suddenly pressed together palm to palm, then thrust outward — rather like the way one unleashes a move in Street Fighter.

"Gah gah..." Ma Zhu's fist was about to smash into Wei Zhao's palms. He was about to land his blow on Wei Zhao!

But in that very instant, catastrophe struck without warning. With a great resounding "BOOM," something like an explosion suddenly went off between Ma Zhu and Wei Zhao!

With that thunderclap that seemed to rend heaven and earth and make ghosts and gods weep, a mighty blast of heat hurled Wei Zhao backwards through the air.

The colossal boom echoed through the valley. Zhen Yingjun was scared witless, and Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu were struck dumb by the deafening noise.

The residual wave of heat from the blast scorched even Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu, far away as they were, leaving them gasping for breath, while Zhen Yingjun was sent sprawling head over heels by the sheer force of it.

General Mighty, though faring better than the three of them, could only stare blankly toward the source of the explosion.

Where Wei Zhao and Ma Zhu had stood moments before, dust billowed skyward, sand and stones flying everywhere, and for a time nothing could be seen clearly at all.

The world-shattering energy set the whole mountain trembling. No one knew what had happened. Zhen Yingjun stood with his mouth hanging open, staring fixedly at the aftermath of the blast, praying in his heart that this awesome spectacle was Ma Zhu annihilating Wei Zhao.

Yet for some reason, a vague unease gnawed at Zhen Yingjun; he could not shake the feeling that something was wrong. Could Ma Zhu really have kicked up such a commotion? But if it was not Ma Zhu's doing, could it have been Wei Zhao's? That seemed even less likely, surely?

"Sister Yaoyao, where's Arrowhead Bro? He's not... he's not hurt, is he?" Shen Yushu stared blankly at the blast site, a note of grief in her voice.

Gu Mengyao said nothing. She could not tell what she was feeling. Had it happened? Had it finally happened? Had Wei Zhao perished together with his enemy? That was the only thought left in Gu Mengyao's mind now. Wei Zhao's earlier words still seemed to ring in her ears, telling them to learn to look after themselves from now on...

And the next moment, gone like smoke scattered by the wind?

No! Gu Mengyao could not accept the truth before her eyes! Wei Zhao could not die! Yet in that instant, her voice failed her; she did not know what to say, nor what she could possibly say...

Events had far, far outstripped anything she had imagined... She had never known such a parting of life and death. In that moment, the young lady's fragile heart shattered.

At last the swirling sand and flying stones began slowly to settle, and the dust in the air thinned by degrees. Among the scattered, tumbled boulders stood a figure, upright and straight. Though not tall, every inch of him radiated a fierce, sharp momentum.

His upper garment had been torn to shreds, and his bare torso was covered in streaks of blood, a sight to strike horror into the heart. A single gust of wind might have seemed enough to blow him over, yet as the breezes swept past, the figure stood firm and unbowed.

"Arrowhead Bro!" Shen Yushu was the first to cry out, cheering loudly. "Sister Yaoyao, Arrowhead Bro isn't dead!"