Chapter 4001 — Blow Your Brains Out

Given Xu Lingchong's strength at the great perfection of the Foundation Establishment stage, under ordinary circumstances Wei Zhao would have stood almost no chance against him—unless, as in his last bout with Nan Tianyong, Wei Zhao could hurl a top-grade true qi bomb straight into his face.

Wei Zhao should never have had such an opportunity. Had it not been for the Immortal Drunk, Xu Lingchong would likely have killed him the moment he made his move, then splashed the dirty water over a dead man and been done with it.

Yet it was precisely because Xu Lingchong trusted so utterly in the effects of the Immortal Drunk that he never imagined Wei Zhao could still leap up and fight. Add to that the fact that every ounce of his attention was fixed on Shangguan Lan'er, and by the time he reacted, Wei Zhao had already darted to within a single step behind him.

When Xu Lingchong finally sensed the threat at his back and his heart gave a thud, Wei Zhao had already pressed a true qi bomb to the back of his skull with one hand.

While he had been purging the drug from his system moments before, Wei Zhao had also casually condensed a true qi bomb. Limited time meant it was not quite the monstrous thing he had used on Nan Tianyong, but if it truly went off in someone's face, its power was not to be underestimated either.

Wei Zhao's movements could hardly have been faster; he had pushed his mid-stage Foundation Establishment strength to its very limit. And yet, in that sliver of time too brief even to call an instant, Xu Lingchong somehow struck first despite moving later, spinning around and grabbing straight at him.

"You dare launch a sneak attack on this young master? You truly don't know the height of the heavens and the depth of the earth!" Xu Lingchong sneered down at him, the aura of a powerhouse on full display.

Wei Zhao was secretly shaken. Though Nan Tianyong, a peak late-stage Foundation Establishment expert, had essentially fallen by his hand, he had never truly known how strong someone of that tier could be. Now, at last, he had witnessed what the great perfection of Foundation Establishment meant.

For all that Xu Lingchong was born a great young master, his own formidable strength was in no way inferior to his illustrious station.

In a true one-on-one confrontation, even with all his composure, Wei Zhao had to admit he was no match for this Young Master Xu—he might not even survive a single exchange.

And now, the true qi bomb Wei Zhao had held in reserve so long, sprung suddenly from behind while the enemy was off guard, had still failed to land.

Fortunately, Wei Zhao had prepared for this. As Xu Lingchong's hand shot toward him, he simply went with the flow and stuffed the true qi bomb directly into his opponent's palm.

"A petty trick!" Xu Lingchong curled his lip in disdain. He had never seen a technique like the true qi bomb before and assumed it was merely some knockoff martial art he had not encountered—something to be caught one-handed, beneath contempt.

But the instant the true qi bomb touched his hand, Xu Lingchong's expression changed at once. The tremendous true qi packed within it made even a master at the great perfection of Foundation Establishment secretly blanch.

More critically, the vast mass of true qi now in his grasp was already stirring restlessly, on the verge of exploding at any moment.

Only now did Xu Lingchong realize he had been outmaneuvered by Wei Zhao again. This ball of true qi was no knockoff martial art at all—it was a thoroughly scalding hot potato.

"You should know well enough the power of this pill-fire bomb I stole from watching you—it's enough to raze Huayang Residence to the ground. If you don't want this blown out of proportion and the big shots downstairs using soul-searching arts to wipe your mind, Young Master Xu, you'd best think of something fast, or the consequences won't bear describing." Wei Zhao had quickly flashed backward before speaking at his leisure. He had not dared detonate the bomb before letting it leave his hand—after all, the two of them were far too close, and setting it off would have left both sides crippled. But Wei Zhao was plainly weaker than Xu Lingchong; though he might recover afterward, the other man could well finish him off while he was healing!

"Despicable little wretch!" Xu Lingchong cursed through gritted teeth, yet he could only let Wei Zhao go for the moment and grimly set about dealing with the true qi bomb clenched in his hand.

Just as Wei Zhao had said, if he let this true qi bomb explode, not only would his plan to take her by force come to nothing, but even if he tried to splash the dirty water onto Wei Zhao, it would be hard for anyone to fully believe—because by then Shangguan Lan'er would certainly not be on his side.

So he had no choice but to follow Wei Zhao's wishes: deal with the true qi bomb in his hand first before making any further move.

"Weren't you just saying that despicability is the foolish talk of the weak?" Wei Zhao sneered. Their strengths were utterly mismatched; if he had not schemed this way, there would have been no facing a figure like Xu Lingchong head-on at all.

Xu Lingchong gave a cold snort, no time to waste further breath on Wei Zhao. Gripping the true qi bomb in one hand, he suddenly erupted with an incomparably mighty aura, his great-perfection Foundation Establishment strength surging to its absolute peak in an instant, layer upon layer of dense true qi wrapping the bomb tightly in his grasp.

Boom! With a muffled blast, the true qi bomb finally went off—but under Xu Lingchong's full-force control it did not escape; he had used his true qi to block every last shred of its power.

Worthy of the great perfection of Foundation Establishment—such strength truly left one gaping in astonishment!

Wei Zhao sighed inwardly, yet his hands did not pause. Seizing the moment while Xu Lingchong was suppressing the true qi bomb, he immediately struck out at his face with the twenty-third form of the Frenzied Fire Eight-Trigram Palm.

"You lowly ant, you dare vie with this young master for the light of sun and moon? You truly know not death—" Xu Lingchong had meant to show off a little, but halfway through his words Wei Zhao's palm struck him square in the face.

Bang! Xu Lingchong had just spent ninety percent of the true qi in his body and was at the very moment when his strength had not yet returned—this blow caught him completely off guard. A master at the great perfection of Foundation Establishment was sent flying backward by a mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator like Wei Zhao, his face a bloody mess, utterly bedraggled.

"Damn you..." Xu Lingchong had been smashed by that palm into the sturdy corner of the wall, coughing blood again and again, unable to rise for a long while, his eyes fixed on Wei Zhao like twin jets of flame, wishing he could hack him to pieces and vent the hatred in his heart.

But looking at Wei Zhao, his state was hardly good either. After unleashing the true qi bomb and the twenty-third form of the Frenzied Fire Eight-Trigram Palm in succession, the true qi in his body had been drained completely clean—even the jade pendant's space could not replenish it in an instant. And one must not forget: the effects of the Immortal Drunk still lingered in his body.

Feeling wave upon wave of dizziness crash against his mind, Wei Zhao inwardly cried that this was bad. Now that his true qi was so depleted, the effects of the Immortal Drunk had immediately come surging back. If he did not quickly regulate his breath and meditate, he feared he would soon lose his wits—and that could prove fatal!