Chapter 2847 — Where Yang Qiqi Went

"We understand, Leader—rest assured, we know our limits," Feng Shihua said quickly.

"If the trial ends and I still haven't returned, then head for the transmission array without me. The Five Fiends' aura—I have a way to dissolve it. You do not." Wei Zhao thought a moment, then added this instruction.

"That... all right!" Zhao Qilei hesitated briefly, then nodded. All they could do was heed Wei Zhao's words and stay out of his way; otherwise, if the Five Fiends' aura invaded their bodies, they would only cause him more trouble.

Wei Zhao nodded, said nothing further, scooped up the Heaven Thunder Pig, and strode out of the safe zone. Not far beyond it, spirit beasts could indeed be seen passing through the area, but so long as none of them were heaven-tier, there was no problem.

In truth, heaven-tier spirit beasts were as rare as heaven-tier human cultivators. At present, the total number of heaven-tier human cultivators did not exceed two digits; even counting those newly ascended to heaven-tier, there were likely no more than a hundred or so—rarities like phoenix feathers and unicorn horns.

The same held for spirit beasts. In the vast Five Fiends Wildlands, heaven-tier spirit beasts would absolutely not exceed two digits—fewer even than heaven-tier human cultivators! For spirit beasts advanced with far greater difficulty than human cultivators.

So Wei Zhao was not especially worried. Racing at speed toward the Five Fiends Mountain Range, he traveled a full day and night, and once more arrived at the foot of the mountains. Along the way, he saw only one spirit beast of heaven-tier strength, which he dodged in time; every beast below that tier ignored his existence entirely.

Of course, Wei Zhao also noticed that these spirit beasts had grown more savage than when he first entered the Five Fiends Wildlands. And along the road he often came upon cultivators' corpses—a shocking sight, three or four of them at least, all slain by spirit beasts, no doubt.

Before this, Wei Zhao had rarely had occasion to see a cultivator's corpse; he had not expected that in so short a time the scene would change so completely!

Yet near the Five Fiends Mountain Range there were still no spirit beasts, nor any more cultivator corpses to be seen.

Gazing at the rolling, unbroken Five Fiends Mountain Range, Wei Zhao felt a stir of emotion. The scene of his parting with Tian Chan remained vivid before his eyes, as though it had happened only moments ago—and yet now he was alone here...

Wei Zhao did not know why he could not get Tian Chan out of his mind, to the point that she had appeared even in the illusory realm earlier. Could it be that he had already fallen for her? But what puzzled Wei Zhao most was this: how had that girl, whom he had met only a few times in the Snow Valley, also appeared in that earlier illusion?

Moreover, in the illusion her features had been so very clear. In the Snow Valley, Wei Zhao had not seen her face properly—only a vague outline in the haze. By any reasonable account, his memory held no image of her. So had the illusion conjured a figure from his own fancy?

A pure, sunlit beauty she had been—yet so vivid, lacking the cold aloofness of the Snow Valley...

Wei Zhao was puzzled, but since it was merely the illusion wrought by Zhang Naipao's Infernal Yin Demon Fist, he did not probe into it. The pressing matter now was finding Yang Qiqi. Wei Zhao set forth, making his way toward the summit of the Five Fiends Mountain Range.

He did not know whether Yang Qiqi had come here seeking the Five Fiends Dragon, but according to what the Heaven Thunder Pig had discovered, apart from that spirit beast's essence core, all the remaining treasures were in the Five Fiends Dragon's cave. So Wei Zhao went nowhere else, heading straight for the Five Fiends Dragon's cave.

The Five Fiends Dragon was at that moment sprawled inside the cave mouth, doing who knew what. But hearing a sound outside, it rose at once and looked out—and when it saw Wei Zhao, it was instantly startled and bewildered!

Clearly, the Five Fiends Dragon recognized Wei Zhao. It had thrown him and Tian Chan off the cliff before; seeing Wei Zhao return, it was naturally astonished! For one thing, a cultivator of Wei Zhao's strength, falling from that sheer cliff, would be dead or gravely wounded—to say nothing of climbing back up from below the precipice. Even recovering from such injuries would be difficult.

For another, the Five Fiends Dragon knew full well how hard that cliff face was; no human cultivator could possibly climb up from below it. So when it saw Wei Zhao, it thought it had met Wei Zhao's twin brother!

Then it caught sight of the Heaven Thunder Pig beside Wei Zhao, and the Five Fiends Dragon was certain that this Wei Zhao was the same Wei Zhao as before—which only deepened its puzzlement!

So the Five Fiends Dragon did not rush to attack Wei Zhao, but spoke instead: "Little thing, how did you get up here?"

"Oh? You can talk!" Wei Zhao had not expected the Five Fiends Dragon to speak human tongue. But then he reflected: the Great Fire Lion and the heaven-tier spider he had met earlier in the Wulonghaote Mountain Range had both spoken it. As the sovereign of the Five Fiends Wildlands, the Five Fiends Dragon speaking human speech was hardly anything strange!

"Of course I can speak." The Five Fiends Dragon was somewhat displeased at Wei Zhao's question. "Little thing, you still haven't answered me!"

"Climbed up, naturally—how else do you think I got here!" Wei Zhao shrugged. "You can talk—so why didn't you speak before? And why did you throw me down there?"

"You were in league with that little girl from before, so of course I threw you down!" the Five Fiends Dragon said, as though it were the most natural thing in the world. "But since you've made it up here, I'll let you off. I won't throw you down again. Go on, get out! Don't let me see you again!"

"Then why did you throw her down?" Wei Zhao asked, his heart stirring.

"You and she were in league—you don't know why?" The Five Fiends Dragon was taken aback.

"She and I weren't in league. We merely chanced to meet here," Wei Zhao said, shaking his head.

"She activated the source power of the Five Fiends and squandered it, so that I must cultivate far longer before I can set foot on the heavenly path. Throwing her down was lenient of me," the Five Fiends Dragon said. "Had I not feared defiling my cave, I would have simply crushed her underfoot."