Chapter 3019 — Dying Without Ever Understanding

"Two people dressed about like you? And an old man carrying two big axes?" The words surfaced in Ergoudan's mind at once. Those two corpses beside Wei Zhao earlier—hadn't they been dressed almost exactly like this fellow before him? Ergoudan had not paid it any mind at the time, but Old Seven's reminder brought it back to him. So this man was in league with those two, and was very likely an enemy of that ax-wielding old madman?

Still, to make sure of his guess, Ergoudan put on a foolish look and asked, "You mean an old man with an ax who looks like he's gone mad? The two of them are fighting?"

"Yes, yes! Those two dressed alike are one side, and the old madman with the battle-ax is the other. You saw them? Where are they?" Old Seven nodded hurriedly, thinking to himself that this country boy had indeed seen them!

"Let me think about which way they went..." Ergoudan scratched at his scalp and put on an air of racking his brains.

"Right, think hard!" Old Seven urged at once.

"They went that way!" Ergoudan pointed with his left hand, and while Old Seven turned his head to look, his right fist came smashing out!

"Bang—"

With a tremendous crash, Old Seven was sent flying straight up into the sky!

"Aaargh—" Old Seven let out a miserable shriek, his eyes full of shock and disbelief. Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that a country boy out hunting in these parts would strike at him without the slightest warning! And with such force!

Old Seven felt as though his five viscera and six bowels were about to burst—that was the last thought he had in this life—and then he crashed heavily to the ground and died with his grievance unredressed, not understanding even in death why Ergoudan had killed him.

And how could a country boy possess such extraordinary strength? What was going on here? He was a master at the peak of the late Heaven-Rank, for heaven's sake!

In truth, Old Seven's death was indeed an injustice. He had not guarded against Ergoudan in the least. After all, consider: a local country boy out hunting here, with no grudge or enmity toward Old Seven, who had never even laid eyes on him—how could he possibly lash out in sudden murderous violence?

Besides, Old Seven was a master at the peak of the late Heaven-Rank. Even if the country boy did strike, he could not possibly do Old Seven any harm, could he? That was one of the reasons Old Seven had let down his guard.

Yet Ergoudan had struck all the same—and not with an ordinary blow, but one that sent Old Seven straight to the Western Paradise!

"There now, you'll be seeing those two before long!" Ergoudan said earnestly to Old Seven's corpse.

Simple as Ergoudan was, he was no fool. Old Seven's two companions were dead, and those two companions had been enemies of the ax-wielding Heaven-Rank freak. Wei Zhao had named his terms—that the mad Heaven-Rank fellow be allowed to come near—so wasn't Wei Zhao in league with the mad Heaven-Rank fellow?

Therefore Ergoudan had simply beaten Old Seven to death, sparing him the trouble of disturbing Wei Zhao's cultivation!

After killing Old Seven, Ergoudan went on patrolling the area, while Wei Zhao, not far off, never imagined that Ergoudan had just killed a master at the peak of the late Heaven-Rank from the Five Luminaries Sect. True, Wei Zhao had heard some sounds of fighting, but he had assumed Ergoudan was out hunting!

After all, Old Six's words had been muddled and unclear, and Wei Zhao had never expected that someone else would come chasing after. Had he known someone was pursuing, Wei Zhao would likely have hurriedly had Ergoudan carry him back on his back!

After killing Old Seven, Ergoudan did not disturb Wei Zhao either, but instead wandered back and forth around the area on patrol, watching for anyone else approaching. Yet apart from Old Seven, no one else came this way at all.

It was not until nearly noon, when Wei Zhao called for him, that Ergoudan dragged Old Seven's corpse over to Wei Zhao's side!

Seeing the corpse in Ergoudan's grasp, Wei Zhao was rather startled: "Ergoudan, who is this? How did another corpse turn up?"

"Leader, I killed this one—he was with those two dead men!" Ergoudan said. "Earlier, while I was patrolling over there, I ran into him. He asked me about the two people dressed about like him, and about the mad Heaven-Rank fellow with the battle-ax. I was afraid he'd come make trouble for you, Leader, so I killed him with one punch!"

"You killed him just like that?" Wei Zhao knew Ergoudan's strength well enough, but that the man should die so easily still made Wei Zhao feel some regret on behalf of this Five Luminaries Sect member. The man probably hadn't even understood how he died, had he? And who knew what rank he had been?

But he could not have been weak, surely—there was a sword at his waist, which must have been his Heaven-Rank weapon. This man was at least an early Heaven-Rank master. Yet Wei Zhao suddenly recalled what Old Six and Old Twelve had said before; they had mentioned Old Seven. This man was most likely the later-arriving Old Seven!

Old Six had been a master at the peak of the late Heaven-Rank, so this man could not have been weak either—at the very least late Heaven-Rank, and possibly likewise at the peak of the late Heaven-Rank. His death was pitiful indeed.

Even so, Wei Zhao was filled with lingering dread. Had Ergoudan not come, then while he was restoring his physical strength and true qi with the Heaven-Rank freak absent, how could he have been a match for Old Seven? And even if he had not been restoring his strength and true qi, he still would not have been Old Seven's match!

"When you hit him, he didn't fight back?" At the thought, Wei Zhao asked hastily.

"No, I tricked him..." Ergoudan recounted the situation to Wei Zhao, and Wei Zhao could not help but laugh. Old Seven had certainly been unlucky—in his eyes, a weak country boy had suddenly turned into a tiger-slaying terror...

"Ergoudan, this really was a stroke of luck. If you hadn't tricked him and he had struck you, I doubt anyone could have saved you!" Wei Zhao thought to himself how fortunate they had been.

"Mm, that's why I had to use my wits!" Ergoudan nodded vigorously. "My Yu Yuanyuan said I can't always rely on brute force—I should use my head!"

"Heh heh!" Wei Zhao could not help but laugh at that. "Let's tidy things up and head back. Don't mention today's events to anyone else."

"Rest easy, Leader. Yuanyuan and I won't say a word about any of this," Ergoudan nodded.

Wei Zhao searched the three corpses on the ground, and to his surprise all three were paupers—apart from three Heaven-Rank weapons, there was nothing at all! Old Seven did have a small box on him, antique and elegant, made specially for holding pills, but it was empty inside. Presumably, after Old Seven was wounded by the Heaven-Rank freak earlier, he had taken the third-grade Great Restoration Pills within to heal his injuries.

The box was a fine thing, though, and Wei Zhao unhesitatingly pocketed it. Together with the bamboo slip scroll on the ground, the small wooden box obtained at the Xuanyuan Cave Dwelling, and the three Heaven-Rank weapons, Wei Zhao could well be said to have returned laden with spoils! (To be continued