Chapter 2825 — A Disciple of the Dark Night Palace

"You mean that? You will not do a thing?" Young Hero Yang knew well enough how the Earth Tyrant had been wounded, yet he could not bring himself to believe that Zhang Naipao would truly stand there and let himself be struck without lifting a finger. Why should he fear such a man?

In his reckoning, so long as he never touched Zhang Naipao's body, there should be nothing to worry about. He had heard of Zhang Naipao's exploits at the Ice Palace Trial, and he knew that Zhang Naipao possessed a divine art called the Bee-Devouring Divine Art, which could drain a cultivator's strength and make it his own. The same must hold true here. The Earth Tyrant had been wounded because his hand had made contact with Zhang Naipao; this time, he must avoid that at all costs.

"Of course it is true," Zhang Naipao said placidly. "With the little strength you have, you are not worthy of my lifting a hand."

"Fine, then. Do not blame me for showing no mercy!" Hearing Zhang Naipao's words, Young Hero Yang's heart settled at once. He thrust out a hand and drew a ring from his waist. He must have worked some mental incantation, for the ring suddenly turned crimson and a circle of red flame blazed up around it.

This was Young Hero Yang's heaven-tier divine weapon. He came from Flame Mountain; though he was not the young master of Flame Mountain, he was a direct-line disciple, a future elder in the making, and so the sect had bestowed upon him a rather formidable heaven-tier divine weapon.

"Die!" A savage light flashed in Young Hero Yang's eyes. The flame ring in his hand, borne along by the aura that burst abruptly from him, came crashing down toward Zhang Naipao's head. "Blazing Triple Ring Cry — Fifteenth Form!"

From the very first move he unleashed his strongest martial technique, the fifteenth form of a heaven-tier martial art, and with a heaven-tier divine weapon besides, raising the power of his technique to yet greater heights. Plainly he meant to kill Zhang Naipao with a single blow.

In the trial grounds, a death was simply a death; the Mystic Pill Sect required only that no one be killed within the inn. It had never said that killing was forbidden in the trial grounds. The Mystic Pill Sect had said only that conflicts should be avoided as much as possible—but whether conflicts arose was up to the cultivators themselves. This was precisely why Zhang Naipao dared to rob others.

Zhang Naipao did not move at all. He simply stood where he was—though his mental incantation was circulating all the while. This was the first time he had faced an expert at the peak of the heaven tier's middle stage. Still, when he had been at the peak of the earth tier's late stage, the highest level of cultivator he could slay in an instant had been the heaven tier's middle stage. Now that he was himself an expert of the heaven tier's early stage, the highest level he could slay in an instant would naturally rise with the tide. So slaying a cultivator at the peak of the heaven tier's middle stage should still be within his power.

"Boom!"

The flame ring smashed into Zhang Naipao's head, and at once a gash opened on it so deep that the bone showed, blood pouring out in streams. Had Zhang Naipao not had true qi shielding his body, that single blow might well have beaten him to death.

Beside him, Mo Ba was quick of eye and hand. He fumbled out a Minor Restoration Pill and thrust it into Zhang Naipao's mouth. Zhang Naipao circulated his mental incantation for a while and only then recovered fully; the wound on his head had already scabbed over.

"Phew..." Zhang Naipao drew a deep breath. An expert at the peak of the heaven tier's middle stage was truly not to be underestimated. Fortunately he had his divine art shielding his body, so the other's technique could not land on him in full; otherwise, that one blow would have left him either dead or gravely wounded.

"Aagh—" Young Hero Yang let out a wretched scream. He felt a mighty force surging back at him from his own flame ring. The ring was still gripped in his hand, yet the power it unleashed struck him directly.

In an instant a huge wound appeared on Young Hero Yang's body, as though the flame ring itself had smashed into him—vast beyond measure, with the ribs and organs within already shattered. After that scream, Young Hero Yang struggled twice, then toppled straight to the ground, rigid and motionless, neither dead nor alive for all anyone could tell.

The two disciples of the Dark Night Palace were struck dumb. In their eyes, that exalted expert at the peak of the heaven tier's middle stage had died just like that? This Young Hero Yang, whom the two of them had waited upon hand and foot, flattering and fawning on him—how could he have been so utterly unable to withstand a single blow?

Or rather, Young Hero Yang had not even struck a blow himself; he had struck Zhang Naipao once, Zhang Naipao had not died, and he himself had. It was baffling beyond all reason.

Yet the disciples of the Dark Night Palace were the readiest of all men to trim their sails to the wind. Seeing that their patron was dead, the two changed their thinking at once. Dark Night Palace Disciple A hastily drew a box of spirit medicine from his pocket and offered it to Mo Ba. "Brother Pao, this is a trial spirit medicine. Please, do us the honor of accepting it!"

"Brother Pao, so mighty and domineering, so extraordinary! We two fellow disciples chose the wrong man to follow. There is a future in following Brother Pao! Brother Pao, take the two of us as your juniors—we swear we will serve you properly!" Dark Night Palace Disciple B chimed in hastily.

"Right, Young Hero Yang—no, that fellow surnamed Yang—he has a spirit herb on him too. Brother Pao, let me fetch it for you as well!" With that, Dark Night Palace Disciple A found a box on Young Hero Yang's corpse and handed it over with the other.

Mo Ba did not take them. Instead he turned to look at Zhang Naipao. Whether to finish the two of them off or spare them was for Zhang Naipao to decide; Mo Ba could not presume to act on his own.

"Since the two of you are so sincere, bring them over," Zhang Naipao said. He glanced at the two boxes Disciple A had handed over, then said to Mo Ba, "Take them."

"Yes, Brother Pao." Mo Ba took the two boxes.

"Then we..." the Dark Night Palace disciples A and B asked hastily.

"Just as well. I am short of hands. When more people come in later, you two can repeat Mo Ba's words to them and save us the trouble of repeating ourselves," Zhang Naipao said mildly. "Still, I am not one to treat my people badly. When more people come in later and we seize more trial spirit medicine, I will give you your share. Two stalks will be enough for me."

"Ah? Thank you, Brother Pao! Brother Pao is mighty!" the two Dark Night Palace disciples said, weeping with gratitude.

"If there happens to be more, I may even give you an extra stalk. Those who throw in their lot with me, Pao, will never come out the worse for it," Zhang Naipao said with a wave of his hand.

He was a man who honored loyalty—loyal to Zhong Yongliang, and loyal to his underlings as well. They had merely chosen the wrong master.

"Thank you so much! Brother Pao, you are truly too good!" the two Dark Night Palace disciples said, kneeling in thanks.

"No need for thanks." Zhang Naipao waved a hand. "Get to work. Right—I took some injury just now, so I must circulate my art and recover. You two go about your business for now." (To be continued.)