Chapter 2840 — The Familiar Stranger
"Wei Zhao, didn't see that coming, did you? My lion ate your beloved. Doesn't that feel just great?" Gou Huli said smugly.
"You wretched woman, give me your life!" Wei Zhao had never expected that all of this was Gou Huli's doing. In a flash he struck out with a Frenzied Fire Fist at Gou Huli!
"Bang..." Gou Huli was nothing but an ordinary person; a single Frenzied Fire Fist from Wei Zhao sent her flying. But when Gou Huli hit the ground, Wei Zhao heard the voice of someone else.
"Brother Wei Zhao, how cruel you are. Jingjing nearly died for you, and you actually want to kill Jingjing..." The Gou Huli on the ground suddenly became Han Jingyi, and Wei Zhao's heart clenched violently!
"Jingjing, how are you?" Wei Zhao rushed to Han Jingyi's side, about to use the Xuanyuan Dragon Controlling Art to heal her wounds, but the Han Jingyi on the ground suddenly changed—she became Tian Chan!
"Wei Zhao, you scoundrel, I'm going to kill you!" Tian Chan drew a dagger from her bosom and thrust it at Wei Zhao's chest...
"Ah!" Wei Zhao felt he was going mad. Why did the people around him keep changing, one after another? Why had they all betrayed him?
Yet just as Wei Zhao was shocked that Gou Huli had become Tian Chan, the Tian Chan in his arms transformed again into another girl—a girl who looked somewhat familiar, yet whom he did not know!
"Wei Zhao, holding another girl in your arms—so you don't want me anymore? If you don't want me... I'll die right before your eyes..." The girl gazed at Wei Zhao with quiet reproach, a look that struck him as achingly familiar, as though he had seen it somewhere before, though he could not place it.
"You... you are?" Wei Zhao looked at the girl before him, puzzled, and asked, "Who are you?"
"Wei Zhao, you... you don't recognize me?" A flash of disappointment and grievance crossed the girl's eyes. Suddenly her hand rose slightly, and a wisp of snow-white mist spread from her palm, completely enveloping Wei Zhao: "Before I die, I'll see you dead too!"
"You... you're from the Snow Valley..." It suddenly came back to Wei Zhao—this girl was the one he had fallen for at first sight in the Snow Valley. But he had only ever seen her from afar; they had never even spoken. Why would she want to kill him?
Wei Zhao's mind grew more and more muddled, like a pot of paste, until he could not help but cry out once more: "Ah—"
Zhao Qilei had not expected Zhang Naipao to suddenly unleash the Infernal Yin Demon Fist. After Wei Zhao was struck, his eyes went dull; he let out a great cry, clutched his head, and squatted on the ground—strikingly similar to Dongfang Bushu's condition before.
"Chief, what's wrong with you? Wake up!" Zhao Qilei was startled and shouted anxiously.
"Yes, Brother Lin, wake up!" Feng Shihua was anxious too, and reached out to steady Wei Zhao—but unexpectedly, Wei Zhao lashed out with a Frenzied Fire Fist that struck Feng Shihua square in the chest!
Fortunately, in the illusion Wei Zhao had been striking at Gou Huli, an ordinary person, so he had used only the power of the first stance of the Frenzied Fire Fist. It did no real harm to Feng Shihua, though he was still left somewhat breathless from the blow.
"Brother Lin, it's me!" Feng Shihua cried out in alarm. Though this was only the power of a first- or second-stance Mystic Rank martial art, Wei Zhao was a man who could kill a mid Heaven Rank expert in an instant, and Feng Shihua was only early Heaven Rank—he feared Wei Zhao might wipe him out by accident!
But Wei Zhao paid Feng Shihua no heed at all. He simply swept out an arm to block, shoved Feng Shihua aside, scrambled to his feet, and with another cry of "Ah!" went sprinting off into the distance...
"Chief, come back!" Zhao Qilei panicked. Dongfang Bushu had been just like this before. In any ordinary place, it would not matter much if Wei Zhao went mad and ran—there was no danger—but this place was different. This was the Five Fiends Wilderness, teeming with spirit beasts; one careless step and he could run right into one. Zhao Qilei was frantic with worry that Wei Zhao would end up like Dongfang Bushu!
Yet Wei Zhao turned a deaf ear to his calls, running back and forth across the Five Fiends Wilderness. He did not go far, though—just circling not far off. Even so, Zhao Qilei and the others were beside themselves with anxiety!
There were no spirit beasts nearby at the moment, but that did not mean none would pass by soon. If a spirit beast suddenly appeared, Wei Zhao would be in mortal danger!
Feng Shihua, Li Ciba, Ge Xian, and Zhao Qilei all had their attention fixed on Wei Zhao, while Zhang Naipao quietly slipped a Qi-Returning Pill into his mouth to swiftly restore his physical strength and true qi.
Of course, the Qi-Returning Pill was one of those elixirs whose formula had long been lost—priceless beyond measure. Zhang Naipao would not use one unless absolutely necessary. But now that Demon Eight, his guardian, was no longer at his side, he dared not be careless, fearing that once Feng Shihua and the others came to their senses they would turn on him. That was why Zhang Naipao had swallowed a Qi-Returning Pill.
"Zhang Naipao, what on earth did you do to Chief Wei Zhao?" Zhao Qilei was frantic. Wei Zhao had treated him well—brought him along to the trial, given him the map to the safe zone. He was grateful for all of it, and now that Zhang Naipao had reduced Wei Zhao to this state, of course he was anxious.
"Nothing much—he just entered an illusion of his own accord. If you want to know what happened to him, I can let you try it too," Zhang Naipao said flatly. In truth, the strength and true qi he had recovered were not yet enough to unleash the Infernal Yin Demon Fist even once, but he could already circulate the mental method and oral formulas of the Thorn Divine Art, so Zhang Naipao had nothing to fear and was bluffing Zhao Qilei.
Zhao Qilei's face stiffened, and he dared not say another word, though his face was filled with fury—daring to rage, yet not to speak.
"An illusion? Now I remember!" Feng Shihua suddenly slapped his own head and said, "I know what the Infernal Yin Demon Fist is about!"
"Oh? What is it about?" Li Ciba, Ge Xian, and Zhao Qilei asked in unison.
Zhang Naipao also looked at Feng Shihua in some surprise, never expecting that he had actually heard of the Infernal Yin Demon Fist.
"My cousin cultivates the Heaven-Defying Divine Art, so I have some understanding of certain peerless divine arts from ancient times. I read in an ancient text that the Infernal Yin Demon Fist is one of those peerless ancient divine arts, and an exceedingly bizarre one at that!" Feng Shihua said. "Earlier, the name seemed somewhat familiar to me, but now, seeing what happened to Dongfang Bushu and Brother Lin, I recall the effects of this peerless divine art..."