Chapter 4474 — Devoured by Black Qi

Cautious as Wei Zhao ordinarily was, even he had allowed himself a measure of complacency and underestimation this time. In the minds of normal people, demonic cultivators did indeed advance at a frightening pace, yet they generally lacked any real foundation—most were empty shells dressed up with a rank, and those who stayed at an ordinary level were rare enough, let alone anyone who could challenge above their tier.

What he did not know was that Wu Baoliang was a freak among freaks even by the standards of demonic cultivators—exactly like Wei Zhao himself, a man utterly beyond the reach of common sense.

"Well? It's not too late to change your mind. The trick you used to hide that escort token—are you going to tell me, boy, or not?" Wu Baoliang squinted his slanted triangular yin-yang eyes, sneering with a cackle as he glared down at him.

"Still harping on it? Figure it out yourself!" Wei Zhao laughed outright. Setting aside the man's identity as a demonic cultivator, there was something almost admirable about Wu Baoliang's tenacity—his determination to get to the bottom of things. People with that kind of obsessive drive were rarely simple characters, and it was clear enough that the strength he now commanded had not come from nowhere.

"Heh heh, won't shed a tear until you see the coffin, is that it? Since you're so stubborn, I may as well play the good man for once and grant you your wish!" As Wu Baoliang spoke, the black qi radiating from his body abruptly thickened, surging skyward in an instant like billowing black smoke.

At the sight, the crowd below broke into a chorus of startled cries, exchanging glances and bursting into heated discussion.

Among them were no few seasoned and knowledgeable figures. On any other occasion, they might quickly have realized that this Wu Baoliang on the platform was in fact a demonic cultivator. But now, not a single one of them caught on.

After all, this was the Nanzhou Escort Agency Grand Gathering—every soul present was a master of the righteous path, and demonic cultivators were dead men the moment they showed their faces here. Even if they had a death wish and went mad, they would never dare come to a place like this!

Back and forth the arguments went, and in the end the crowd arrived at a conclusion of striking unanimity. This Wu Baoliang, barring the unexpected, must be one of those exceedingly rare bearers of a variant spirit root attribute!

At the very least, cultivators of the five conventional spirit root attributes had never been seen emitting black qi from their bodies. That left only those endlessly varied variant attributes.

The world was vast, and nothing was too strange for it. The Nanzhou sea region in particular was a place where dragons and snakes mingled—all sorts of trades and walks of life were everywhere to be seen, and hidden tigers and crouching dragons lurked throughout. The sudden appearance of some mysterious powerhouse was a common enough occurrence; the crowd had long since ceased to find it remarkable.

They could never in their wildest dreams have guessed that Wu Baoliang was no bearer of a variant spirit root at all. This out-and-out demonic cultivator had actually dared to show himself openly at the Nanzhou Escort Agency Grand Gathering—and dared to strut onto the platform and fight in the open challenge!

Across a distance of fifteen zhang, Wei Zhao watched Wu Baoliang with a guarded expression. The dense black qi wreathing the man filled him with an inexplicable sense of dread.

He knew the man was a demonic cultivator, yet even Wei Zhao could not be certain whether this black qi was a trait of demonic cultivators or whether Wu Baoliang truly did bear some variant spirit root attribute. Either way, one thing was certain: this black qi must be extraordinarily dangerous.

Wei Zhao kept his guard up, locked in standoff with the other man, while in his mind he replayed the earlier exchange, analyzing and extrapolating, searching for a countermeasure.

That punch from Wu Baoliang, sheathed in black qi, had plainly not been delivered with full force, and yet its power had been simply appalling. Wei Zhao's Wild Fire Thousand Kicks could not match it head-on; had he not promptly shielded himself with true qi, that blow would likely have crippled his entire leg.

Looking at the cackling Wu Baoliang, Wei Zhao suddenly felt a sense of crisis!

From the moment he had achieved his perfect breakthrough into the Golden Core stage until now, he had weathered no small number of dangers—especially his many bouts against Nascent Soul masters. But truth be told, Wei Zhao had never truly felt a sense of crisis. Instead, almost without noticing, he had developed a rather inflated opinion of himself.

After all, he was the strongest Golden Core master to have achieved a perfect breakthrough; against Nascent Soul masters in particular, he had virtually never come off worse, and had instead repeatedly gained the upper hand. Let that go on long enough, and anyone would grow a swelled head. A little more arrogance, and they might even start to think themselves invincible.

Wei Zhao was of course not so foolishly conceited, but he could hardly avoid being a touch overconfident—otherwise he would never have assumed, before ever crossing blows with Wu Baoliang, that he was certain to handle the man.

Fortunately, he had come to his senses before it was too late. Cultivation was the cultivation of the heart; had Wei Zhao gone on cultivating in that frame of mind without ever noticing, then in later years, upon reaching the Nascent Soul stage or even higher realms, it could very well have festered into a heart demon—at best leaving him unable to advance a single inch, at worst driving him to qigong deviation. That would have been real trouble indeed!

So Wei Zhao truly owed Wu Baoliang his thanks, for making him see himself clearly again.

"All that tough talk, and you still don't dare make a move? Scared off by a beating, are you? Getting ready to tuck yourself away like some spineless turtle?" Seeing Wei Zhao's expression, as though facing a great enemy, Wu Baoliang grinned a gleeful, twisted grin and snarled, "Since you won't come at me, I'll take the initiative and send you on your way—Raging Sand Thousand Bursts!"

As the words fell, the black qi around Wu Baoliang grew ever more rampant and savage, spreading until it had swallowed nearly half the platform. Everywhere it passed, the yellow sand of the platform and the surrounding ground rose floating into the air, swept howling into the black qi to form a sky-high tempest of sand. So swift was it that the whistling of air being torn sounded again and again, chilling the heart.

Wei Zhao's heart instantly tightened. That earlier punch had been no more than a trial run; this was Wu Baoliang's true strength, unleashed in earnest. He had not yet sampled the specific power of this move, but from the eerie, sinister array before him alone, he could tell it was no small matter!

Within the black qi and raging sand, Wu Baoliang's silhouette flickered in and out of view—only those triangular yin-yang eyes remained perfectly clear, carrying a faint, indefinable horror, like a god or demon descended, too terrible to look at directly.

A cackling laugh rang out, and Wu Baoliang slowly drove a punch toward Wei Zhao. In an instant, black qi bearing the raging sand swept toward him.

Below the platform, Qi Wenmo and the others were instantly alarmed. In any other open space, even if they could not match the attack head-on, there would at least be a sliver of a chance to dodge and maneuver.

But this was a platform duel, and the space was only so large. The black qi and raging sand came pressing down with the momentum of blotting out heaven and covering the earth; at this moment Wei Zhao had not the slightest room to turn or maneuver.