Chapter 3933 — A Bit Too Ruthless

The crowd below exchanged knowing smiles. Though the spirit-pet challenge had by now progressed far beyond anything to do with the likes of them, they were unanimous in wanting to see the Thunder Pig done in and Wei Zhao's luck run out.

After all, Meng Zhou had won his way to the end on the strength of the Blackback Staff Ape's true power, and no one could argue with that. But Wei Zhao, that posturing peacock, was genuinely unbearable to watch—he had gotten this far purely on incomprehensible dog-shit luck. If he actually walked away unscathed in the end, they would be eaten alive with envy!

As the saying goes, comparisons make a man die of frustration. If someone was simply strong, fine—but to ride dog-shit luck all the way through, how the hell was a person supposed to keep their heart balanced?

If they were in Wei Zhao's shoes, they would have quit while they were ahead. They had already pocketed thirty points for free, so they would have conceded without a second thought—at least that way they could withdraw intact, rather than foolishly sending the Thunder Pig up there to die.

Still, to be fair, Wei Zhao was after all the acknowledged strongest rookie, the number-one newcomer—even Murong Zhen, at the peak of early Foundation Establishment, had been no match for him. Having already talked big and arranged a duel with Meng Zhou beforehand, he now had no choice but to grit his teeth and fight, otherwise would he not lose face before everyone?

From that angle, Wei Zhao the posturing peacock was cold-blooded enough too—for the sake of a bit of face, he did not even begrudge sending his spirit pet to its pointless death!

*Chirp chirp!* Faced with the Blackback Staff Ape's provocation, the Thunder Pig was clearly somewhat cowed, but it still steeled itself and responded with a cry—except the sound carried no intimidation whatsoever, and instead made it seem all the more weak and pitiful, drawing a wave of derisive laughter.

The Blackback Staff Ape wore the same contemptuous expression as Meng Zhou himself, its fists cracking audibly as it strode toward the Thunder Pig one step at a time, utterly unconstrained.

As for the black-iron staff, it had been planted upright in the floor behind it; Meng Zhou's orders were for it to tear the Thunder Pig apart alive, so naturally the staff would not be needed.

The Blackback Staff Ape was not only skilled with the staff; it was said to possess boundless arm strength, enough to tear tigers and leopards apart bare-handed—so tearing apart a Thunder Pig was naturally nothing to speak of.

Seeing that ferocious, bloody look on the Blackback Staff Ape's face, even the spectators waiting for the show could not help but shiver in unison. This thing really was savage!

At that moment, Wei Zhao spoke up from below the stage: "Hey, you monkey up there, I'd advise you not to get too cocky, or else you'll die with your eyes open, and you'll have no one to blame but yourself."

The Blackback Staff Ape paused, shot Wei Zhao a mocking glance, then continued its swaggering advance toward the Thunder Pig.

Meng Zhou cackled with derision: "Posturing peacock, the end is upon you and only now do you put up a bluff—do you think it'll do any good? It's too late for anything you say now. Just wait to see that stupid pig of yours torn in half—the sight will be beautiful, I guarantee, one you'll remember for the rest of your life, wahahaha!"

"Remember it?" Wei Zhao smiled with amusement and shook his head. "I shouldn't think so. I'm the type who's too important to remember trifles—I've killed plenty of people, but few enough leave an impression. My spirit pet is the same, you know; it's terribly forgetful. Killing a monkey is no great matter to it—it won't remember."

"Er... sharp tongue!" Meng Zhou choked for a moment, then ground his teeth and ordered: "Blackback Staff Ape, what are you waiting for? Get to it! Once that stupid pig is torn to pieces, I'd like to see whether you can keep running your mouth then!"

At those words, the Blackback Staff Ape abruptly accelerated, turning into a black blur as it pounced at the Thunder Pig.

In strength, in speed, in agility—the Blackback Staff Ape was top-tier in every one, a rare combat species even among the many spirit beasts. No wonder Meng Zhou treasured it like a prize and had such confidence in it; this monkey's strength was truly no joke.

In the blink of an eye, the Blackback Staff Ape had seized the Thunder Pig's two chubby forelegs in its hands. Before it, the Thunder Pig, for all its Heaven-rank great-perfection level, had not the slightest room even to struggle.

Everyone's hearts leaped into their throats—by the look of it, the Thunder Pig was about to be torn in two alive!

"Tear it apart! Tear it apart!" Meng Zhou howled in triumph, gesturing wildly as though he were on the verge of leaping onto the stage to demonstrate himself.

Just then, something unexpected happened.

*Pfft!* A spray of fresh blood suddenly splashed down over the Thunder Pig's head. Everyone present, Meng Jueming included, was instantly struck dumb—and Meng Zhou likewise spat out a great mouthful of blood; unable to catch his breath, he nearly fainted dead away on the spot.

The Thunder Pig was not torn in two. Instead, it was the fierce-looking Blackback Staff Ape that, for no apparent reason, suddenly began spurting blood from all seven orifices; before it toppled stiffly over, its crimson blood had sprayed across fully half the arena—a sight too ghastly to bear.

Silence—deathly silence across the whole arena.

"Senior, you were a bit too ruthless this time!" Wei Zhao communed secretly with Ghost Thing through his divine sense. This miserable end for the Blackback Staff Ape had been Ghost Thing's handiwork.

As everyone had expected, the Thunder Pig was, after all, only a non-combat spirit pet meant for treasure-hunting. Even with its Heaven-rank great-perfection level, no matter how it struggled, it could never have been a match for the Blackback Staff Ape—so Wei Zhao had secretly summoned Ghost Thing to help.

Wei Zhao had assumed that Ghost Thing, being an elder of the spirit-beast clan, would at most give the other side a scare even if it agreed to help, and would not truly strike to kill. He had never expected Ghost Thing to simply blast the creature with its divine sense until it spurted blood from all seven orifices and died. It was truly beyond all expectation.

"What I did was merely help it find release," Ghost Thing said with an indifferent, eerie chuckle. "Compared to being controlled as a puppet by that piece of human scum, wouldn't death be the cleaner fate? Isn't that so? By the same token, you human cultivators slaughtering one another is far more brutal than this. There is war among my spirit-beast clan as well—did you think any random spirit beast is on old man's side? By your logic, you and Meng Zhou ought to shake hands and make peace!"

Wei Zhao was caught between laughter and tears at this. In the eyes of you, senior spirit beast, it may be release—but perhaps that Blackback Staff Ape would rather have gone on being Meng Zhou's puppet spirit pet, clinging to its wretched existence and living on?

In the end, it was simply that Ghost Thing could not abide these so-called spirit pets—especially those forcibly subdued with spirit-pet talismans. In the eyes of this great figure of the spirit-beast clan, these brainwashed spirit pets were likely the shame of the clan, better dead than living in such misery; better to let them die early and find release.

Whether Ghost Thing's thinking was right or wrong, for the moment at least, the Blackback Staff Ape's bizarre death had thoroughly cowed everyone present—even the referee took a long while to react, delaying the verdict. R1152