Chapter 3038 — The Fiery Cloud to the Rescue

"Little Wind, are you running short on stamina and true qi?" Wei Zhao suddenly thought of a possibility and asked hastily.

"Roar, roar!" At Wei Zhao's words, the Wind-Thunder Purple-Lightning Beast nodded again and again to confirm it was so.

"Good, then let me replenish it for you!" Having settled his conjecture, Wei Zhao placed both hands on the Wind-Thunder Purple-Lightning Beast's body and began to circulate the third level of the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art, which he had only just learned and did not yet command with any great fluency.

Though Wei Zhao could not yet wield the third-level mental method with skill, even so, the third level and the second were as different as heaven and earth. He could now surpass the state he had reached at the second level's great perfection; both the volume of true qi he could deliver and the speed of its delivery were a cut above.

Wei Zhao did not employ the martial technique Spring Rain from Heaven, but chose instead to test channeling true qi through the third level of the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art—also because spirit beasts differed from cultivators. Back then, when Tian Chan was not using her cultivation's mental method and oral formulas, Wei Zhao had been unable to transmit energy and true qi to her; he could only heal her injuries.

But spirit beasts were another matter. They had no mental method or oral formula and absorbed energy and true qi on their own, so Wei Zhao wanted to try whether it would work while the beast was in motion. After all, once Spring Rain from Heaven was used, it genuinely drained Wei Zhao's own stamina and true qi; should they encounter enemies in that interval, Wei Zhao would be at a disadvantage.

The Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art was different. Wei Zhao served merely as a conduit, converting the inexhaustible energy within the jade pendant's space and transmitting it to the Wind-Thunder Purple-Lightning Beast, which did not affect his own strength in the slightest.

A ceaseless torrent of power poured into the Wind-Thunder Purple-Lightning Beast's body as Wei Zhao circulated the third level of the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art, and the beast swiftly recovered its stamina and true qi, its speed once more pushed to its limit.

"Roar, roar—" The Wind-Thunder Purple-Lightning Beast felt as though inexhaustible strength filled every fiber of its being.

Seeing the beast's speed restored, Wei Zhao breathed a sigh of relief. At this pace, he estimated they would reach the Sun household in about two more hours. The Wind-Thunder Purple-Lightning Beast traveled in a straight line, caring nothing for whether a road lay ahead; mountains, rivers, houses—it could soar over them all. The lightness skill of a beast at the peak of the late Earth rank was, after all, quite formidable.

Wu Chengtian brought the Fiery Cloud along to the Sun household. Before the car had even drawn near, they heard Sun Jingyan's shrill, anguished screams.

The Sun household stood alone in this area, with no other families anywhere nearby, so no matter how loud Sun Jingyan screamed, no outsider could hear her.

"Ah—" Sun Jingyan's cries one after another plucked at Wu Chengtian's heartstrings. He had already given up pursuing her, yet deep down he still liked her. Now, seeing her with Wei Zhao, Wu Chengtian could only offer silent blessings and extinguish that hope.

But her screams still made his eyes burn red and his fury surge to the heavens. Whether she was the woman he had once loved deeply or his elder brother's wife now, to see her tormented like this—Wu Chengtian could bear it no longer.

Just as Wu Chengtian stopped the car and made to get out, an arm reached over and seized him—it was the Fiery Cloud, sitting in the passenger seat.

"Don't be rash. In there is one expert at the peak of the early Heaven rank and another at the peak of the late Heaven rank. I'm no match for either!" The Fiery Cloud shook his head.

"What?! There's an expert at the peak of the late Heaven rank?" Wu Chengtian was badly startled. In his estimation, the two Heaven-rank experts Steward Sun had spoken of were at most early Heaven rank or the peak of the early Heaven rank, and the Fiery Cloud, a late Heaven-rank expert, would surely suffice to deal with them—even Old Master Pi and Old Master Zhuang would have no role to play. But what he had not expected was that an expert at the peak of the late Heaven rank had appeared as well.

The Fiery Cloud was a late Heaven-rank expert; Shen Yushu had never been able to gauge his strength and had merely said offhandedly to Wei Zhao that he was at the peak of the late Heaven rank—in truth, the Fiery Cloud was not.

"True enough. If I go in, I'd likely just get a beating." The Fiery Cloud hesitated. He had come to seek Wei Zhao's help; the last thing he wanted was to fail at that and throw his life away besides.

Most crucial of all, Wei Zhao had not yet made his position clear. If he foolishly charged in to help and ended up dead, wouldn't that death be for nothing?

At this thought, the Fiery Cloud truly did not know whether he should go in.

"We still have to go in! If we don't, what becomes of Sister Jingyi?" Wu Chengtian was growing anxious. "If you're afraid to die, then don't stop me!"

"Brother Wu, don't be rash!" The Fiery Cloud clapped Wu Chengtian on the shoulder. "Charging in blindly would only be throwing our lives away for nothing. We must think of a plan first. Surely you don't want us to die and Miss Sun to come to harm as well?"

"That..." Wu Chengtian froze for a moment, and his expression returned to normal, the anxiety on his face suppressed. Yes—Wei Zhao had said as much on the phone, warning him to be careful, that he was no match for them, and that if Sun Jingyan's life was not in danger, he should not act rashly.

"Brother Wu, shouldn't we come up with a plan together?" What the Fiery Cloud had in mind was whether to call the Local Tyrant and ask his opinion. The Local Tyrant was closer to Wei Zhao than he was—at the very least, the Local Tyrant would not set him up.

"I'll call the boss first!" Wu Chengtian nodded and dialed Wei Zhao's number.

"Chengtian? What's the situation?" Wei Zhao had been wanting to call Wu Chengtian as well, but he feared Wu Chengtian might already have come to blows with those two experts of the Sun household, and that a call would only distract him, so he had not dared to ring.

"Boss, I've arrived. Sister-in-law's screams, one after another—my heart nearly exploded listening to them. The Fiery Cloud is here too, but he says there's one expert at the peak of the early Heaven rank and one at the peak of the late Heaven rank, and that he's only a late Heaven-rank expert, so we're no match for them!" Wu Chengtian said, his face bitter.

"Peak of the late Heaven rank?" At Wu Chengtian's words, Wei Zhao found himself caught between advancing and retreating. Why would an expert at the peak of the late Heaven rank go making trouble for the Sun household? What did these people actually want?

After a moment's brooding silence, Wei Zhao asked, "Chengtian, is Jingyi in danger?"

"Boss, for now it looks like Sister-in-law isn't in danger—it's just that she keeps screaming, so she's clearly being tormented." Wu Chengtian hesitated before replying. RS