Chapter 2510 — No Brains Needed

"Boy, who can't run their mouth? I'll ask you just one thing right now—Hidden You Family is set on that pure yellow jade. Are you going to hand it over or not?" You Panga asked.

"If I were going to hand it over, I'd have done it back then," Wei Zhao said. "All right. If that's all you came for, you can leave."

"Good. Very good. I'll remember you!" You Panga nodded, smiling rather than raging. "I'd like to see how long you can keep that pure yellow jade in your hands!"

With that, You Panga turned and left without waiting for a reply, vanishing from Wei Zhao's sight in moments. Wei Zhao knew well enough, though, that You Panga had not truly gone—most likely he had hurried off to his grandfather to scheme up some covert way of dealing with him.

Wei Zhao casually handed the box in his hand to Yu Xiaoke. "This is for you," he said.

"Huh? For me?" Yu Xiaoke was taken aback.

"Yes. You and Han Xiaohu head down the mountain first and wait for me in the parking lot at the base," Wei Zhao instructed them. The lot below was crowded, and relatively safe—so long as they didn't strike up conversations with strangers, there would generally be no trouble.

Han Xiaohu's expression shifted slightly. Then something seemed to occur to her, and she said, "Boss, that You Panga—"

"Yes, don't worry." Wei Zhao waved a hand. He did not want Han Xiaohu and Yu Xiaoke to worry; even if he told them the truth, with their strength they could not possibly help, so he simply shouldered it all himself.

Truth be told, Wei Zhao was not afraid of enemies from Hidden You Family. What he feared now was that Heaven Rank vice president! The man was a peak early-stage Heaven Rank expert, and appeared a cut above ordinary Heaven Rank fighters. Wei Zhao was not confident he could handle him—after all, his techniques were suited to sneak attacks, but in a straight, face-to-face clash, Wei Zhao held no advantage whatsoever.

"All right, we'll be going then," Han Xiaohu nodded.

"Then… be careful…" Yu Xiaoke gave Wei Zhao a worried look, then suddenly, with great boldness, leaned forward and kissed him on the lips.

Wei Zhao was stunned. Her sudden move made his breath catch, his heart stirred and startled. Though both wore masks, so there was no contact of skin, that electric surge of heartbeat was an experience Wei Zhao had never known before…

In that moment, Wei Zhao realized that, without his ever noticing, Yu Xiaoke had come to occupy a very large place in his heart.

"I'll wait for you…" Bold as Yu Xiaoke was, she still felt a little constrained in front of Han Xiaohu—to have gone this far was already remarkable, proof enough of how much she liked the male thief. She parted from him quickly after the kiss, her eyes full of shyness, and said to Wei Zhao bashfully.

"Yes. I will," Wei Zhao said gravely.

Not far off, Yang Qiqi had walked away but kept watching Wei Zhao all the while. Seeing Yu Xiaoke offer a kiss of her own accord, Yang Qiqi felt, for some inexplicable reason, a vague discomfort rise in her heart, and she muttered inwardly: How shameless, kissing a man like that—so embarrassing…

"Ai-ya…" Yang Qiqi had been so busy cursing Yu Xiaoke that she paid no heed to the ground beneath her feet, and stepped square on a stone. She lurched and nearly fell flat! Seeing the people around staring at her in astonishment, Yang Qiqi gave a huff and hurried away…

A cultivator stumbling like that—how clumsy a cultivator must she be!

Wei Zhao watched Han Xiaohu and Yu Xiaoke leave the cultivators' market and head for the parking lot nearby. A cold smile flickered at the corner of his mouth, and he turned and walked in a different direction entirely! Not toward the market, nor toward the way out—but toward another path up the mountain!

This was plainly no proper road, but a rugged, natural trail, exceedingly difficult to walk, running in the exact opposite direction from the cultivators' market… Inside the market, in a certain courtyard, the Heaven Rank vice president sat in state, and with him was none other than his disappointing disciple, Skinny Scarecrow.

"Master, are we really just letting that brat walk away? You know he's carrying not only the blue crystal but the pure yellow jade too!" Skinny Scarecrow said anxiously.

"Patience." The Heaven Rank vice president smiled faintly and waved a hand at Skinny Scarecrow. "Walk away? Impossible—where could he go? Rest easy, my eyes have been on him the whole time. The boy hasn't left at all; he's heading up another mountain path. Whether he knows something or is doing it on purpose, I can't say."

"A mountain path? Isn't that where our Cultivators' Merchant Guild's medicinal herb plantation is? Him going up there…" Skinny Scarecrow's expression changed at once.

"Which is why I can't think what he's up to," the Heaven Rank vice president said. "But there's no need to worry. If we don't lift a hand, someone else will do it for us."

"Master means…" Skinny Scarecrow asked cautiously.

"Having offended Hidden You Family, could he possibly get home safe? Put the pure yellow jade out of your mind—Hidden You Family is set on it, and there's little point in us seizing it. Yes, it fetched a heaven-shaking price of over two hundred million this time, but at the next auction it may not fetch nearly so much—tens of millions at most. There's no need for us to offend Hidden You Family over a thing like that," the Heaven Rank vice president said. "Our objective this time is the blue crystal!"

"Oh—Master means to let Hidden You Family strike first. The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind; we wait until they've fought each other to near exhaustion, then make our move?" Skinny Scarecrow understood his master's meaning.

"Precisely. That is exactly it," the Heaven Rank vice president nodded.

"But the boy's nothing but a peak mid-stage Earth Rank expert—is all this really necessary? If we struck together with Hidden You Family, we might well reap a few more benefits, no?" Skinny Scarecrow asked, somewhat puzzled.

"Nothing but a peak mid-stage Earth Rank expert? If he's nothing but that, then how did he cripple your eldest and second senior brothers and leave them half dead?" The Heaven Rank vice president gave a cold laugh. "Don't you use your brain and think?"

"This…" Only then did Skinny Scarecrow recall just why they were going after Wei Zhao, and cold sweat broke out at once. Yes—how could a peak mid-stage Earth Rank expert so easily annihilate a peak late-stage Earth Rank expert?

Either Wei Zhao could fight above his level, or he had concealed his true strength. After all, even an early-stage Heaven Rank expert could not snuff out a peak late-stage Earth Rank expert in a single move—it was simply inconceivable.