Chapter 4256 — Wei Zhao's Test

At this moment, everyone could not help but feel a sense of honor—to have such a person as a teammate, and to see the infant ginseng so close at hand; this was a blessing that could not be cultivated in several lifetimes!

Watching this scene, Wei Zhao shook his head inwardly. This Chu Bubai was truly a master at putting on a good show. He had been on Cloud Terrace Island for over a year and had seen no small number of people, yet never had he met anyone who could bewitch the hearts of others quite like this man.

The best way to win someone's trust was to make them worship you, and Chu Bubai had this trick down to a fine art.

Wei Zhao grew all the more wary of Chu Bubai, though he did not say so outright to Huang Xiaotao. After all, the surroundings were far too quiet at present; any sound at all, no matter how softly spoken, would certainly be heard by the people up ahead.

Moreover, even if they could deceive the ears and eyes of these people, Wei Zhao could not guarantee that Huang Xiaotao, upon learning all this, would be able to keep as calm and unruffled as he did. Before a man as shrewd as Chu Bubai, any trace of unnaturalness would become a flaw.

Wei Zhao did not want to take that risk. All along the way he had kept his composure, playing the pig to eat the tiger for the sake of the infant ginseng; if he revealed a flaw now, all his efforts would be wasted halfway.

Under Chu Bubai's lead, the group continued onward following the route map, and strange things akin to the rhinoceros spirit beast from before began to appear before their eyes in ever greater numbers.

Headless ones, limbless ones, ones with only half a body, even ones that were nothing but a heap of bones—all manner of weird and sinister entities ceaselessly assailed their visual nerves.

Although the group had already heard Chu Bubai's explanation and knew these things posed no threat, knowing something in one's heart was one thing, while seeing it with one's own eyes was quite another. Even knowing full well that these things would not eat anyone, watching scene after scene of such chilling strangeness, the group could not help but feel their scalps prickle.

"Wei Zhao... I... I'm a little scared... it's so lifelike..." Huang Xiaotao pressed herself tightly against Wei Zhao's back, not straying an inch, and said nervously, her voice trembling.

"It's all right, I'm here. They can't hurt you!" Wei Zhao gently took one of her hands and turned to comfort her.

"Mm..." Huang Xiaotao nodded weakly. Though her heart still could not help but tense with fear, so long as Wei Zhao held her hand, she felt much more at ease.

Unlike the others, who were kept in the dark, Wei Zhao knew clearly, thanks to the ghost creature's reminder, that what lay before them was not some lingering grievance of wronged souls, but low-level ghost-talisman demons—sinister things left behind by ghost cultivators. The reason they posed no threat was simply that they were all defective specimens.

Even so, seeing such strange sights one after another, especially with the surroundings so gloomy and dreadful, even Wei Zhao found a fine layer of sweat beading on his forehead, and he felt somewhat short of breath.

It was not only Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao; the others—Guo Dengtao, Wang Feng, and the rest, especially Feng Hongyu, who had just made such a fool of herself—were also trembling with fear at this moment. With every step they took, their whole bodies shook uncontrollably, and they no longer had the slightest inclination to jeer and mock others as arrogantly as before.

Perhaps she had been frightened into a psychological shadow by what had happened earlier; the slightest glimpse of anything chilling would send Feng Hongyu into a shrill scream, and the people behind her would grow tense along with her. At first they were merely uneasy in their hearts, but with a woman like Feng Hongyu crying out at every turn, even those who were fine to begin with would surely be frightened out of their wits.

Among the whole group, only Chu Bubai showed not the slightest sign of tension or fear, paying no mind to any of it, striding forward as calmly and confidently as before. Watching this from behind, Wei Zhao could not help but wonder.

Was Chu Bubai truly fearless in his ignorance, or had he long since grown accustomed to such things?

Even if the man truly believed his far-fetched explanation was the truth of the matter, being in such a strange environment, he surely could not show not the slightest trace of unease, could he? Even ignorance-inspired fearlessness had its limits.

However great one's courage, before the unknown and unfamiliar and sinister, fear would ultimately remain in the heart—such is human nature, unless one is no longer human.

Chu Bubai was clearly still human. Thinking it over and over, Wei Zhao could only attribute his behavior to two possibilities.

Either the man was not as composed as he appeared, and was in truth as tense and fearful as everyone else, merely unwilling to let it show and deliberately putting up a brave front.

Or the man had long since grown used to all this, like a coroner who faces the dead every day—habit had made it second nature, and naturally he no longer felt any fear.

What puzzled Wei Zhao even more was that Chu Bubai seemed very familiar with this place, striding along with his head high, almost without any hesitation or delay. Even with the blood moon overhead for light, the illumination now could hardly be called good, and this was his first time in such a place besides—merely consulting the route map alone should take considerable time, shouldn't it? How could he be so utterly free of hesitation?

This in itself was already no small flaw. Chu Bubai had inadvertently let his fox tail show, but everyone was so overawed by the eerie surroundings, so panicked and fearful, that they had no mind to notice his behavior. Unfortunately for him, none of this escaped Wei Zhao's eyes.

"Brother Chu, have you been here before?" Wei Zhao suddenly asked, betraying nothing in his expression.

"Of course I..." Chu Bubai answered instinctively, then paused, as if catching himself, and turned to give Wei Zhao a meaningful look. After a moment he said, "No, I haven't. Judging from the map, this place is not far from our destination. If I had been here last time, even with limited time, I would not have been willing to leave empty-handed. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, it's nothing really. I just noticed that you seem quite familiar with this area, Brother Chu, and that we haven't run into any danger at all under your guidance. I'm sure that would be hard for anyone to believe." Wei Zhao smiled naturally and said, "So I thought you must have made the trip last time. Without you, we might well have been wiped out long ago."

"So that's what it was..." Chu Bubai clearly relaxed, letting out a long breath without a trace, and laughed. "Haha, then you've misunderstood. I'm just like the rest of you—I merely studied the map beforehand. Of course, the preparations I made were certainly far more thorough than yours." (To be continued..) R527