Chapter 2534 — No Malfunction

"Harder! Keep hitting!" Zhong Yongliang felt nothing at all, so he ordered them on.

"Oh..." This time Purple Hair was truly certain that Zhong Yongliang was immune to blows, and he set about punching and kicking him with abandon. He knew full well it was pointless, but after the savage thrashing Zhong Yongliang had given him earlier, Purple Hair had a score to settle.

So, venting his resentment as he went, Purple Hair struck harder and harder. Right Panhu and Yellow Hair watched with envy—they too had been victims before. Right Panhu asked, eyes greedy, "Brother Liang, how about Yellow Hair and I have a go at you as well?"

"Go on, then." Zhong Yongliang nodded without the least hesitation. He wanted to see just how strong he really was, so he agreed readily.

Right Panhu and Yellow Hair were delighted, and joining forces with Purple Hair, they began beating Zhong Yongliang from front and back, left and right. Yet though their own hands ached from the blows, Zhong Yongliang remained utterly unaffected, as though he had taken not the slightest harm.

It was Right Panhu, Purple Hair, and Yellow Hair who were worn to exhaustion instead. The three of them spent every ounce of their strength and still could not do a thing to Zhong Yongliang.

"All right, enough, that's enough!" Zhong Yongliang waved them off, puzzled. His Golden Cicada undershirt had not malfunctioned—so why had it failed him when it came to Wei Zhao?

"Oh... no need to keep going... all right then!" Right Panhu stopped, rather reluctant to quit, and Purple Hair and Yellow Hair likewise stopped, unwilling to give up. For all that the beating had exhausted them and left their hands sore, it felt good—their hearts were glad.

"All right, you can go. There's nothing more for you here!" Zhong Yongliang said to Right Panhu, then headed off toward the dormitory with Gao Xiaofu, who had just finished tidying up the arena.

Right Panhu and the others exchanged a glance and hurried away. This business with Zhong Yongliang was truly bizarre—no matter how they hit him, there was no reaction. But then how had Wei Zhao managed to beat Zhong Yongliang till he cried for his mother and father?

None of them could understand it. They could arrive at only one conclusion: Wei Zhao was simply too formidable, no ordinary man at all. If even Zhong Yongliang was no match for Wei Zhao, then they had all the more reason to tread carefully and not provoke him at will.

"Brother Liang, what happened today? How did Wei Zhao suddenly manage to land hits on you?" Gao Xiaofu asked, puzzled.

"I don't know either. Who can say? I thought my undershirt had failed, but I tested it on Right Panhu and the others and there's nothing wrong—the undershirt still works!" Zhong Yongliang frowned. "Could Wei Zhao have become a Heaven-rank expert in just two days? That seems impossible. How could he advance so fast?"

"Yeah, I find it hard to believe too. And you had such an obvious advantage just now—how did you suddenly take a fall and then get pounded by Wei Zhao?" Recalling the strange turn of events, Gao Xiaofu pressed him.

"Hm? Didn't Wei Zhao hit me in the leg?" At the time Zhong Yongliang had not paid much attention; he had assumed Wei Zhao had struck his leg in a sneak attack and made him fall.

"No, he didn't. Wei Zhao never even came near you. What we saw was you falling over for no reason at all," Gao Xiaofu said.

"No way. That eerie? I distinctly felt a pain in my leg, as if I'd been struck..." Zhong Yongliang thought it over and decided Wei Zhao was a thoroughly uncanny creature, not to be judged by ordinary reasoning. He shook his head. "Forget it, don't dwell on it. It seems we underestimated things. Pack up—we'll head up the mountain in a day or two and return to the Tomorrow Upon Tomorrow Sect!"

"All right..." Gao Xiaofu did not dare say more. He nodded.

……………………

In the Hidden Zhao family, an old man came before the Old Master Zhao in high excitement, carrying a small box. "Old Master," he reported, "we did exceedingly well at this cultivators' market auction! There were a great many Minor Qi-Gathering Pills this time. In the past there were only one or two, and even with the Hidden Zhao family's resources we could never outbid the others—but this time we finally secured four! Of course, it's because our family has made a good deal of money lately. With money in hand and confidence in our hearts, we dared to bid. In the past, the moment the price passed ten million, we could only give up..."

The Hidden Zhao family had in fact never had much money. Otherwise they would never have sent Zhao Qibing out into the mundane world to find ways to make some. Even if Li Cihua was profitable, the money he earned to keep the whole Hidden Zhao family running had to be budgeted down to the last coin, so laying out ten million for pills was truly a luxury.

It could be said that the hidden clans were all poorer than the mundane clans—which was exactly why the Hidden Yu family had siphoned money through the mundane Yu family! And now, freed from the constraints of the Hidden Clan Arbitration Association, the Hidden Zhao family had begun madly doing business and amassing wealth in Donghai City. With the Hidden Zhao family's connections, they had easily accumulated a vast fortune.

Even Lei Daming, in a short space of time, had brought the Hidden Zhao family profits in excess of a hundred million—which was why, after he caused trouble, the Hidden Zhao family had not killed him but merely banished him.

This old man was the one the Hidden Zhao family had sent to attend the cultivators' market auction. His name was Old Mian; his strength was a notch below Old Bi's, but he too stood at the peak of the late Earth rank—though he had only recently advanced to it.

"Mm, the Minor Qi-Gathering Pills—give them all to Qibing. We have no use for such things at home now." Old Master Zhao waved his hand grandly, settling the disposition of the Minor Qi-Gathering Pills. At present, the only ones in the Hidden Zhao family with the strength to take them were Zhao Qibing and Zhao Qilei, the two Mystic-rank experts, and only they could rapidly advance to the Earth rank after consuming these four pills. But Old Master Zhao had already decided to send Zhao Qilei to his death—how could he possibly waste pills on him?

Besides, the very name of the Minor Qi-Gathering Pills reminded Old Master Zhao of the Qi-Gathering Pill he himself had taken—it was through Zhao Qibing's efforts that he had smoothly advanced to become a Heaven-rank expert. So whenever there was any chance to do something for his grandson Zhao Qibing, Old Master Zhao never let it pass.

A treasure as valuable as the Qi-Gathering Pill had gone into his own belly—a third-grade pill that a fortune could not buy! What was a Minor Qi-Gathering Pill worth a few million by comparison? If Zhao Qibing ate it, then he ate it.

True, over this period Old Master Zhao had also noticed and come to see that Zhao Qibing was not the promising material he had imagined. But he had no other choice now. He had already given up on Zhao Qilei, and there was no point in thinking he could ever restore Zhao Qilei to favor.