Chapter 4291 — Hold On a Moment

There are limits to what a man can swallow. Since Wei Zhao knew full well that he had been played for a fool, how could a man of his temperament simply choke down his anger and say nothing?

Besieged by so many stares at once, even a man of Chang Daoping's deep reserve could not keep his face from mottling green and purple by turns; he hung his head, not daring to meet anyone's eyes.

But the azure-robed man had no intention of letting him off so easily. After savoring the spectacle with a mocking look for a while, he suddenly barked, "And the spirit-jade card? Hand it over, now!"

"What? The spirit-jade card too?" Chang Daoping forgot his shame and fury for a moment; the words jolted him like a shock.

"What else? The way I see it, you're quite the hand at playing tricks and pulling the wool over people's eyes—so how come your brain's gone dim all of a sudden? I told you to hand over everything of value on you. Or is your spirit-jade card worth nothing?" The azure-robed man gave him a sidelong glance.

Chang Daoping was choked speechless for a good while. After a moment's hesitation, he obediently fished out the spirit-jade card, muttering inwardly: no matter. The card is bound by a verification formation—apart from my own true qi, no one else can use it even if they take it, let alone transfer a single piece of spirit jade out of it. If I lose this card, the worst that happens is I go home, pull some strings, and have a new one reissued...

But before Chang Daoping could even finish congratulating himself, the azure-robed man's next move sent his eyelid twitching violently again, and his already wretched face turned into a spectacle to rival a man who had just eaten filth.

"Be a good boy and swipe it yourself—not one piece of spirit jade short. Otherwise you know well enough what happens." In the azure-robed man's hand now gleamed a miniature card-swiping artifact.

Damn it all! Chang Daoping cursed a bellyful of filth, yet gritted his teeth and did not dare voice a word of it. The spirit jade in that card was nearly his entire life's savings. He had come to the ruins of Aoduo Cultivation City and gotten not a single blasted thing for his pains—and now he was to be cleaned out entirely. What rotten, godforsaken luck was this?

Furious as he was, Chang Daoping had not let rage cloud his reason. However much spirit jade he had, it was worth less than his own life; he could only docilely do as he was told. And because the other man kept his eyes fixed on the card the whole time, he could not have skimmed off even a single piece if he had tried. It all had to be transferred, clean.

The Star-Ink Milk, the treasures on his person, and the spirit-jade card—all scraped clean. Not yet satisfied, the azure-robed man searched Chang Daoping's person himself, and only then finally let him go, turning to the next.

Chang Daoping slunk aside, ashen-faced. Even he had not dared play tricks before the azure-robed man; Cao Shishi, Luo Tuoxiang, and the rest had even less nerve. Their opponent was a formidable late-Nascent-Soul cultivator of the spirit beast clan—these Golden Core cultivators might strut and swagger out in the wider world, but before such a one they were no better than ants.

A short while later, the two azure-robed men had stripped the six of them—three apiece—down to nothing at all, not a single item left. If you went through their pockets then, they would have been cleaner than their own faces...

"Come on, come on, old friend, hurry up and let's see whose haul is worth more! Hahaha, I'll bet you anything—this time you're bound to lose!" The azure-robed men paid the others no more mind, and at once fell to piling up their spoils and comparing them.

Chang Daoping and his five companions stood there in their sorry state, neither leaving nor staying, at a loss for what to do.

"Er—you two, might we be allowed to..." Chang Daoping held it in for a long while before he finally could not help himself and ventured timidly.

"Oh, you lot can clear out." The azure-robed man was as good as his word and had no intention of making further trouble; he pointed at the teleportation array, signaling them to get on.

"Yes, yes—thank you, thank you..." Chang Daoping and the others breathed a long sigh of relief. They had been terrified the man might go back on his word and turn violent; if it had really come to blows, they would all likely have died here today.

The six of them wasted no time and scrambled onto the teleportation array. Even knowing for certain that Star-Ink Milk was to be had here, they would sooner die than ever come back to this cursed place, the ruins of Aoduo Cultivation City. Not only had they gained not a single treasure, they had been fleeced clean—who in the world would dare come back after that?

Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao exchanged a glance; seeing this, they too hurried to follow. Since the teleportation array was the only way out, naturally they had to leave together with the others.

This trip to the ruins, they had been played by Chang Daoping and had not gotten the Star-Ink Milk—but by the same token, they had escaped being fleeced by the two azure-robed men. That counted as a blessing in misfortune.

The others all turned to look at the pair, each face wearing a complicated expression—especially Cao Shishi and Luo Tuoxiang, who felt the sting of unfairness most keenly. Everyone had been stripped clean by the azure-robed men, yet these two alone had slipped through. What was that supposed to mean?

But aggrieved as they were, none dared grumble aloud. After all, who knew what temperament these two formidable spirit beast cultivators had? If they turned out to be the sort who loathed a fuss, wouldn't that be asking for trouble?

Perhaps, having failed to trap Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao, they would only end up dragging themselves down with them—and that would hardly be worth it.

Yet just as the group, one after another, stepped onto the teleportation array and was about to depart, the azure-robed man suddenly spoke again.

"You two—hold on a moment." The azure-robed man pointed deliberately at Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao.

Wei Zhao was taken aback, thinking the man had deemed their paltry strength beneath notice and would not trouble them for anything—only to find that in the end they had been stopped after all.

Exchanging another glance, Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao had no choice but to halt. And Chang Daoping and the others, already standing on the teleportation array, each wore a grin of undisguised schadenfreude—at last, their sense of fairness was restored.

"Hmph, let's go on ahead." Chang Daoping gave a cold laugh, showing not the slightest inclination to care whether Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao lived or died. The rest were the same; they were only too glad to watch the pair get their comeuppance. If they themselves had been robbed, then they wanted to see others robbed all the more viciously—only that could restore their sense of balance.

By now the teleportation array had already activated; there was no time for Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao to react. The six of them, their faces still twisted in gloating smirks, vanished within the teleportation array.

"They're gone..." Huang Xiaotao turned to look at Wei Zhao, a hollow uncertainty creeping into her heart. A man who had seemed so dignified and reliable before had shown his true face in the blink of an eye. That human hearts could be this unfathomable—it was more than she could take in all at once.

The crux of it was that with Chang Daoping and the others gone, only she and Wei Zhao remained to face two late-Nascent-Soul spirit beast cultivators of peculiar temper—and however she turned it over in her mind, the thought left her uneasy. (A call for monthly votes for mobile readers; also, the Qidian mobile QQ group for *The School Beauty's Bodyguard* has events running these days—everyone's welcome to join!) (To be continued) R466