Chapter 2827 — Yang Qiqi Driven Away

And if Li Ciba and Zhao Qilei threw in their lot with Zhang Naipao, the treatment would be just the same.

Yet Zhao Qilei and Li Ciba turned up their noses at the lot of it. In their hearts they thought: those two Dark Night Palace disciples, for all their present smugness, simply had not grasped the true difference between Wei Zhao and Zhang Naipao—that was why they had tagged along with Zhang Naipao. But the two of them knew very well that Wei Zhao was likely the stronger of the two, and following Zhang Naipao was nothing short of walking into a dead end, wasn't it?

Seeing that neither Li Ciba nor Zhao Qilei showed any particular reaction, Zhang Naipao said no more. The hints had been dropped, and dropped plainly enough; it would not do for him to keep on. There would surely be other trial-goers arriving soon, and once he had put the fear into them, he was confident these two would come over to his side.

Some time passed, and a lone cultivator came wandering over. He was a guest cultivator attached to the Endless Western Sea, possessed of early Heaven-rank strength. But he had come alone, with no trial spirit herb in hand, and wished only to shelter and rest here for a while; the two Dark Night Palace disciples, however, barred his way.

When the lone cultivator learned that Zhang Naipao was here robbing people, he did not dare let out so much as a peep before he left—no doubt knowing his own strength was insufficient and not daring to throw his weight about.

Lone cultivators in general, even those attached to a sect or a family, dared not be too overbearing; they went about everything with great caution. Unlike the direct disciples of sects and families, who had something to fall back on, these men had won their strength through bitter hardship, and so they seldom provoked anyone stronger.

As for the lone cultivator's departure, Li Ciba and Zhao Qilei said nothing. Neither of them had the ability to stand up for another; at a time like this, keeping themselves intact was already quite enough.

Some further span of time went by, and two more people arrived at the safe zone: Feng Shihua and Ge Xian. The two had met along the way and come here together. Though they were delighted to see Li Ciba and Zhao Qilei, they were cowed by Zhang Naipao's intimidation and handed over the one trial spirit herb they held between them. Though that was all they had, Zhang Naipao said nothing and let them rest in the safe zone.

Perhaps Zhang Naipao had still not given up on the notion of winning over Wei Zhao's underlings. He was biding his time for an opportunity—a chance to overawe and subdue every one of Wei Zhao's followers, which would be the greatest blow of all to Wei Zhao.

In truth, with two Heaven-rank experts like Feng Shihua and Li Ciba present, they were by no means inferior to Zhang Naipao's lot in terms of strength. But Zhang Naipao's martial technique was simply too uncanny—those who struck him found themselves wounded for no reason they could fathom—and so Feng Shihua and Li Ciba chose silence and did not clash with Zhang Naipao and his companions.

In fact, they were all waiting for Wei Zhao. Without Wei Zhao there, they dared not act rashly, Heaven-rank experts though they were.

The four of them sat somewhat gloomily in a corner of the safe zone, not speaking to Zhang Naipao; nor did Zhang Naipao show any inclination to make trouble for them. For the time being, it seemed, they kept a truce.

"Where's Yang Qiqi? Have any of you seen her?" Zhao Qilei understood Wei Zhao fairly well, and knew that if Yang Qiqi had no connection to him, Wei Zhao could not possibly have kept looking after her time and again—especially when the girl so often repaid kindness with ingratitude. So Zhao Qilei reckoned there must be something between Wei Zhao and her, which was why he was rather worried about Yang Qiqi's safety.

"Yang Qiqi? Haven't seen her," Feng Shihua said, shaking his head; beside him, Ge Xian shook his head as well.

"I wonder how she's faring. She's a girl all on her own—I hope nothing's happened to her," Zhao Qilei said with a sigh.

They were still talking when footsteps sounded outside the safe zone, and after a moment a figure walked in. Who should it be but the very Yang Qiqi they had been looking for?

Zhao Qilei was overjoyed. "Qiqi, you're here too? Wonderful—our little group is finally all together, only the leader is missing!"

But before Yang Qiqi could open her mouth to answer, Dark Night Palace Disciple A asked coldly, "This place belongs to Brother Pao, Zhang Naipao. If you want to rest here, you must hand over a trial spirit herb. Otherwise, I'm afraid you'll have to leave!"

"A trial spirit herb?" Yang Qiqi was taken aback. "I don't have one. How did this place become Zhang Naipao's territory? Isn't this..."

"Hmph. Our Brother Pao was the first to arrive, so naturally he claimed the place. If you want to come in, hand over a trial spirit herb; if not, then get lost!" Dark Night Palace Disciple A said coldly.

"She's with us. She's just a girl—why must you make things difficult for her?" Feng Shihua could not stand by any longer. He rose to his feet and said to the two Dark Night Palace disciples, "We've already handed over the trial spirit herbs of everyone in our group. Isn't that enough?"

"Yours is yours, hers is hers." Dark Night Palace Disciple B, now that Zhang Naipao had his back, did not regard Feng Shihua in the least. "This is the rule Brother Pao laid down. No special treatment just because of a difference in sex. If you're unhappy with it, you can go argue it out with Brother Pao!" he said blandly.

"This..." Feng Shihua went livid with anger. He glanced at Zhang Naipao, wanting to fly into a rage but not daring to, and could only force himself to say patiently, "Zhang Naipao, formidable as you are, surely you needn't go this far."

"What have I done? Must I show mercy to an enemy's underling? She's not my underling!" Zhang Naipao said disdainfully. "If you were my underlings, then of course I'd make allowances. But you're not, so on what grounds do you speak to me of this? Very well—if she insists on coming in, then I'll simply have to kill her. This is the rule I set, and it cannot be changed!"

"You..." Feng Shihua was left speechless. He hesitated a moment, then said, "Then let me trade places with her, all right? I'll go, and let her come in?"

"Hey, since when is there such a thing as trading places? If I set that precedent, then the next fellow will swap with the one after him, and once they've rested their fill they'll swap again—am I running a charity here? Are you brain-dead?" Zhang Naipao rejected it outright. "Spare me the useless talk!"

"Forget it. I was planning to go elsewhere anyway, and since Wei Zhao isn't here, I'll be on my way." Yang Qiqi, seeing Zhang Naipao's true colors, was furious beyond words, but she had been taking abuse ever since she arrived, so she had grown somewhat used to it.

"Oh? You're going elsewhere?" Feng Shihua was slightly startled. "Where will you go? Won't you stay here and wait for Brother Lin—for Young Hero Lin—to arrive?"RS