Chapter 3273 — A Remarkable Coincidence

"I am not sure either. I heard that after the death of the Pure Yin Heavenly Venerable, the Pure Yang Heavenly Venerable threw himself into his cultivation day and night, striving to break through to Great Perfection, but there has been no news," Little One said with a shake of his head, making clear he did not know much.

"Go and look into it. Then we shall decide whether this news should be released," Patriarch Xuanchen said.

"Yes, I will go and find out at once," Little One answered hurriedly.

Patriarch Xuanchen nodded. At present, the Bloody Garment Yellow Springs Sect had two top-tier experts at peak late Heaven Rank Great Perfection, an advantage no other ancient sect could match. The reason the Bloody Garment Yellow Springs Sect could stand apart as such an anomaly was precisely this formidable strength of theirs.

Although the Five Luminaries Sect could keep them in check—and Patriarch Xuanchen and Patriarch Xuanzhen were both peak late Heaven Rank Great Perfection experts, with Patriarch Xuanchen even mightier than the ordinary peak late Heaven Rank Great Perfection expert—the Five Luminaries Sect truly had no way to meddle in this affair!

With Chief Bai around, Patriarch Xuanchen had to be wary of him in all that he did. Since the agreement had been made, Patriarch Xuanchen would not openly interfere in matters concerning Wei Zhao; whatever was to be done could only be done in secret.

Thus, the Bloody Garment Yellow Springs Sect could only be dealt with by the Tomorrow Upon Tomorrow Cult, the Dongfang Family, and the Black Horse Society—but they had to have the strength before they could make their move!

As for the Tomorrow Upon Tomorrow Cult, the only confirmed peak late Heaven Rank Great Perfection expert they had was Patriarch Mad Bull. The Pure Yang Heavenly Venerable was at this very moment striving to break through to peak late Heaven Rank Great Perfection, and whether he had succeeded was still unknown!

The Dongfang Family currently had no Great Perfection expert. Dongfang Yinxing, the one with the greatest potential to reach Great Perfection, was already dead, and Dongfang Badao was too old—past the peak of his life for cultivation. To advance to Great Perfection would be no easy matter for him.

Finally, the Black Horse Society. At present, the Black Horse Society still had one supreme elder in secluded cultivation, and the society's chairman, who had just recently advanced to peak late Heaven Rank Great Perfection—two peak late Heaven Rank Great Perfection experts in all.

But to slay the three patriarchs of the Bloody Garment Yellow Springs Sect with absolute certainty, at least three Great Perfection experts would have to go forth together. Even three would barely suffice to kill them; only four would make it a safe bet.

Therefore, whether the Pure Yang Heavenly Venerable could smoothly advance to Great Perfection was of the utmost importance.

Patriarch Xuanchen was accustomed to planning before acting. Without absolute confidence in bringing down the Bloody Garment Yellow Springs Sect, he would rather hold back this news for the time being. After all, so long as the Bloody Garment Yellow Springs Sect stood, moving against Wei Zhao would remain quite difficult.

……………………

After finishing his makeup, Wei Zhao looked at himself in the mirror—he was the very image of Secretary Lu from the photo on his phone! Once all was in order, Wei Zhao left the bathhouse.

Of course, with people coming and going in the bathhouse, no one would ever notice whether the man Wei Zhao now appeared to be had been a guest there before.

At the roadside, Wei Zhao hailed a taxi and headed straight in the direction of the Red Conch Group.

Soon he arrived at the Conch Group. After paying the fare, Wei Zhao strode boldly into the building. In his present appearance as Secretary Lu, he was sure every employee of the Conch Group would recognize Secretary Lu.

Sure enough, scarcely had Wei Zhao entered the group's premises when someone greeted him.

"Secretary Lu, you've come out? Weren't you just in Mr. Reuters's office?" a clerk from the Conch Group's business department said, greeting Secretary Lu.

"Heh heh..." Wei Zhao chuckled, imitating Secretary Lu's voice. "I stepped out earlier to take care of a little business."

"Oh..." The clerk had only asked in passing and harbored not the slightest suspicion. He turned and went about his own business, while Wei Zhao took the elevator straight up to the floor where Reuters's office was located.

What Wei Zhao had to do now was find Secretary Lu as quickly as possible, knock him unconscious, and then, dressed in Secretary Lu's clothes, go to see the Conch Group's general manager.

Stepping out of the elevator, Wei Zhao did not wander about but went straight into the men's restroom. This floor was not like those below; if Secretary Lu and Wei Zhao appeared at the same time, there was no telling who might notice. So Wei Zhao meant to wait in the restroom for his prey to come to him.

He did not believe Secretary Lu could go without the restroom forever. The moment Secretary Lu came in, Wei Zhao's chance would arrive.

In the restroom, Wei Zhao began his long wait. Fortunately, there were many stalls here, and one was permanently locked, which would arouse no one's suspicion.

Patience came easily to Wei Zhao. His wait stretched past three hours, and still Secretary Lu did not appear. Yet Wei Zhao was in no hurry. At last, after about three and a half hours, Secretary Lu walked into the restroom!

Secretary Lu relieved himself at the urinal. Wei Zhao did not rush; only when the man had finished and was about to fasten his belt did Wei Zhao silently appear behind him. He had already drawn the Fuxi Nine Needles from the jade pendant's space into his hand, and after a few swift jabs into Secretary Lu's body, the man collapsed unconscious to the floor.

With the acupoints Wei Zhao had needled, Secretary Lu would not wake for some time. More importantly, once he did wake, he would suffer a brief bout of amnesia, unable to recall what had happened before—there would be a gap in his memory.

This was precisely the effect Wei Zhao wanted, to throw the people of the Red Conch into confusion.

Dragging Secretary Lu into a stall, Wei Zhao quickly stripped off the man's clothes, trousers, and wristwatch and put them on himself. Then he locked the stall door and vaulted out over the top of the partition!

By now, Wei Zhao had become Secretary Lu.

Wei Zhao left the restroom without lingering and took the elevator straight to the floor where the general manager's office was located. With Secretary Lu's elevator card in his pocket, Wei Zhao passed the security check with ease.

The elevator rose slowly and stopped at the twenty-ninth floor. The doors opened and Wei Zhao stepped out—and there, in the corridor, was another person! That person was none other than the general manager's secretary, Fanny!

"Hm? Isn't this Mr. Lu? What brings you here? Have you come to see the boss?" Fanny looked at Wei Zhao, emerging from the elevator, with some surprise.

"Yes indeed, Miss Fanny. And where might you be off to?" Wei Zhao had learned her name from Fanny's badge. When he had scanned the place with his perception the day before, he seemed to have heard the name as well, though he had not known its exact spelling.

"Mr. Lu, the general manager is receiving guests from the Overseas Cultivators Association and has no time to see you just now. Whatever the matter is, you had best arrange another time. I was just on my way to fetch some hot water to make coffee for the guests," Fanny said. (These few days around New Year, relatives have come back from out of town and there have been many social obligations, so I can only update one chapter. My apologies.) RS