Chapter 2850 — Lamenting the Past

But now Wei Zhao realized his mistake. He had overlooked the single most important point: the gap in strength between himself and Tian Chan. His running speed might match that of a Heaven-rank expert, but that did not mean his true qi burst and explosive power were on the same level. The height a Heaven-rank expert could leap to was beyond what Wei Zhao's current true qi power could achieve.

Yang Qiqi was briefly startled when she saw Wei Zhao leap up and then fall back down—she had spotted the problem too. She had also seen those marks left by Tian Chan's strikes, but the height of those marks was something she could never reach.

She knew her own lightness skill well; that height was absolutely beyond her. And Wei Zhao's failure made Yang Qiqi's expression shift slightly. "Those marks are too high. I can't jump up there..."

"Neither can I..." Wei Zhao gave a bitter smile. That leap just now had consumed nearly all his physical strength and true qi, yet he still had not reached Tian Chan's height. And this kind of gap in strength could not be bridged.

Even if Wei Zhao unleashed all his true qi, he still could not compare to Tian Chan. And from the look of things, Tian Chan had not only been able to leap that high but had also retained enough physical strength and true qi to channel martial techniques into the cliff face. Wei Zhao, by contrast, had exhausted all his strength and true qi merely to jump, let alone strike the cliff.

Moreover, given Wei Zhao's current martial power, he estimated that he would not inflict any damage on the cliff face at all. Tian Chan, channeling martial techniques with the strength of a late-stage peak Heaven-rank expert, had only managed to gouge a few shallow marks into the cliff.

"What? Then we..." Yang Qiqi's eyes went wide at Wei Zhao's words. "We can't get up?"

"We can't get up." Wei Zhao nodded. In his earlier urgency to save her, he had overlooked these problems, and now that he thought of them, it was already too late. Unless another expert of Tian Chan's caliber came down to carry them up, Wei Zhao truly had no way.

"Then how did you get up before?" Yang Qiqi asked, puzzled.

"Before, my friend was an expert at the peak of the late Heaven rank..." Wei Zhao told Yang Qiqi how he and Tian Chan had gone up together before, and how he had replenished Tian Chan's strength along the way. In any case, Yang Qiqi already knew plenty about him, so Wei Zhao concealed nothing.

"Ah, I see! Then... is there no other route?" Yang Qiqi asked with a frown after hearing this.

"There isn't..." Wei Zhao then recounted to Yang Qiqi what he and Tian Chan had discussed about the front and back of the Five Fiends Mountains and the lands beyond. He had been trapped once before, so he simply stopped trying to think of other ways out.

"We can't get out? How can that be..." Yang Qiqi truly could not accept this fact. She had finally, with such difficulty, found something from the Five Fiends Dragon's claw section, and she had wanted to hurry back and use it on Xiao Jiu. But now she found herself trapped here with no way out.

"That's just how it is." Wei Zhao was somewhat resigned as well, yet utterly helpless. "If there were another way out, we wouldn't be resorting to such a clumsy method..."

"Then... what about your friend, the late-stage peak Heaven-rank expert? Would she notice you haven't gone back up and come looking for you?" Yang Qiqi asked hopefully.

"That friend of mine? We only met by chance and traveled together for a while. After we got up from here, she left. How could she possibly come back?" Wei Zhao shook his head. In truth, Wei Zhao was anxious too, but seeing Yang Qiqi's state, if he showed any more anxiety, she might well go mad. So Wei Zhao tried his best to appear calm, though in reality he was burning with impatience.

Still, Wei Zhao had pinned his hopes on the Thunder Pig. The Thunder Pig had not come down with him. If he waited a while and the Thunder Pig realized he had not gone back up, might it go find Feng Shihua and the others to report?

But if only Li Ciba and Feng Shihua came here, Wei Zhao could not guarantee a smooth ascent either—perhaps they would all end up trapped here together! Wei Zhao had considered having Li Ciba strike the cliff face, but Li Ciba was only a mid-stage Heaven-rank expert. True, he was an external-school expert skilled in boxing, but the crucial problem was that Wei Zhao had no way to restore his physical strength and true qi. Heaven-Sent Spring Rain had no effect on an external-school expert. Even if Wei Zhao brought him up, they would likely give up halfway.

Of course, Li Ciba could recover naturally. Once he had recovered, Wei Zhao could carry him up again—one recovery, one more stretch of height. But the flaw was obvious: the trial time was limited. Past twenty days, the qi of the Five Fiends would invade the body. Wei Zhao would be fine, but Li Ciba and the others would not be. They would likely go mad from qi deviation before even reaching the halfway point.

So that method would not work. Wei Zhao felt conflicted, unsure what choice the Thunder Pig would make.

"Then... you came to save me... and now you're trapped here with me too?" Yang Qiqi gave Wei Zhao a look full of sympathy and gratitude, a bitter feeling in her heart, not knowing what to say. She had seen the help and care Wei Zhao had given her with her own eyes, but she did not know how to repay him.

"Heh." Wei Zhao smiled and said nothing more. From the unique mark on Yang Qiqi's ring, he could tell she came from the place where he had trained as a child. And since she could be so close to the Ninth Princess, she must be a core disciple there. It was just that Wei Zhao had been young then, and his memories remained stuck in his childhood. Not only did he have no impression of the young woman before him, but even his memories of Yang Xiaoxiao and the Ninth Princess were somewhat blurred. As the saying went, a girl changes eighteen times as she grows; even if he remembered, he probably would not recognize her.

Yang Xiaoxiao was their master's daughter, and the Ninth Princess was their master's adopted daughter. Both had been Wei Zhao's companions in training when he was young. From back then, the thought their master had instilled in him was that, as team leader, he must never abandon any member of the squad—he had to have a spirit of unity and cooperation. This was one of the reasons Wei Zhao had come looking for Yang Qiqi.

Thinking of Yang Xiaoxiao and the Ninth Princess, Wei Zhao grew wistful. How many years had it been since he had gone back? It was time to return and see them. From the resentment in the Ninth Princess's words, he could tell she was deeply displeased that he had not come back to see her for so many years!

It was just that Wei Zhao's life before had been one of drifting and instability, living each day with no certainty of tomorrow, without a fixed home. (To be continued.)