Chapter 4677 — I Don't Want to Go Anymore

After Ren Zhongyuan, Yi Xiaotian followed suit, and the golden bell of protective qi burst apart a whole swath of giant vines once more. In this way more than half of the false-man vine's nearly hundred giant creepers were destroyed, and the pressure on the group eased at once—dealing with them was clearly no longer as grueling as at the start.

They fought on bitterly for the time it takes to burn a stick of incense before the false-man vine was finally destroyed by their combined efforts, and by then every one of them was wounded and bloodied except Wei Zhao.

Yao Jiali, the weakest of them, needless to say; Ren Zhongyuan and Yi Xiaotian had deliberately burst their golden bells of protective qi, which had worked to great effect, but in doing so they lost their means of protection and were wounded one after the other. As for Huo Yudie, under Wei Zhao's special care her injuries were the lightest of all—merely a scrape of the skin, which might well be disregarded altogether.

"Hmph, a hanger-on who does nothing but tag along behind us to scavenge the benefits—absolutely useless!" Yao Jiali, the most badly wounded of them all, glared viciously at Wei Zhao. The one she truly wanted to aim at was Huo Yudie, but the pile of giant vines at that woman's feet was simply too much for her to open her mouth, for her own harvest did not amount to even a fraction of the other's.

"I never expected him to be of any use in the first place—it's thanks enough to heaven and earth if he doesn't hold us back. Anyone with the slightest self-awareness and sense of shame would know by now what to do; clinging on with a thick hide will get people killed," Ren Zhongyuan said, looking at Wei Zhao with a world of meaning in his eyes.

The implication was plain enough: he wanted to drive Wei Zhao away, to make this hanger-on retreat of his own accord and stop spoiling his own good chances with Huo Yudie.

"Senior Brother Ren is right," Huo Yudie suddenly nodded.

Wei Zhao was slightly taken aback at this, while Ren Zhongyuan was instantly overjoyed. Even Huo Yudie had said so—which meant she had taken in his performance in the battle just now, and had finally recognized who the useless piece of trash was, and who the thigh she ought to cling to!

"Still not leaving? So utterly tactless—do you need us to give you a farewell send-off too?" Ren Zhongyuan grinned at Wei Zhao with a savage smile, the gloating written all over his face.

Wei Zhao raised his brows and was just about to speak when Huo Yudie suddenly spoke again: "Let's go. This place is too dangerous. I don't want to go anymore—the rest of you can go on your own."

With that, Huo Yudie did not so much as glance at the others, threw Wei Zhao a meaningful look, and turned and walked off.

"Huh? No—what's going on? I was talking about this brat, not about you, Junior Sister Yudie! Please don't misunderstand me!" Ren Zhongyuan stood dumbstruck for a moment before he came to his senses, and hurriedly tried to chase after her.

"I know. This is my own decision, and it has nothing to do with any of you. Good luck to you all." Huo Yudie's mind was made up; plainly she meant to use this as a pretext to shake off the whole group and keep from wasting more time trailing after them. She herself could afford it well enough, but Wei Zhao, at the peak of the early Nascent Soul stage, did not have a month of trial time to spare.

"What? Senior Sister Huo, you don't want the Everlasting Root?" Now even Yao Jiali was astonished beyond measure. The Everlasting Root was the heaven-sent treasure they all dreamed of; to say Huo Yudie held it in disdain was sheer nonsense. Now that they had this rare chance to find it, would she really abandon the search halfway over such a trifle?!

Huo Yudie halted, and with what seemed utter sincerity nodded to them all. "This is your destiny and your good fortune; I have not the blessing for it. Without the strength for it, one should not indulge in vain hopes—this much self-awareness I still possess."

"Hmph, coward!" Yao Jiali's expression changed at once. The other's words were plainly a veiled jab at her; Huo Yudie's strength was no less than her own, only greater—this was a roundabout way of calling her one who indulged in vain hopes!

"It's all right, I'll protect you. Don't worry, I absolutely won't let you come to any harm!" Ren Zhongyuan hurried forward, thumping his chest in pledge.

Wei Zhao cast him a wry glance. The fellow was a bedraggled sight himself, the blood on his face not even wiped away, and yet he had the gall to thump his chest like that—truly, one did not know what to say...

"There's truly no need. It's far too dangerous here. A single false-man vine was already so hard to deal with, and nearly wiped us all out—and that was only the beginning. I won't take such a risk, so there's no use trying to persuade me further." Huo Yudie's tone was firm.

Ren Zhongyuan was still unwilling and wanted to press a few more words on her, but Yao Jiali cut in first: "Well, then. Since Senior Sister Huo is so afraid of dying, we can hardly force her against her will. Let us part ways here, and may we meet again."

Her reason for specially inviting Huo Yudie to join them in the first place had never been any sort of goodwill—it was purely out of fear that this little chit and Wei Zhao might sneak ahead of them and find the Everlasting Root before they did!

And now, judging by the map and the actual conditions, there was only one route. As long as Huo Yudie did not go forward with them, she would have no chance at all of finding the Everlasting Root!

Since the outcome was already settled, what was there left to worry about? Given the deadly, water-and-fire enmity between her and Huo Yudie, would she ever fret that the other might fail to get the Everlasting Root and thus be unable to claim a share of it?

All along, though Yao Jiali and Huo Yudie were known together as the Twin Beauties of Chenjiao, in truth she had always been a notch below the other—because her grandfather's real power did not match Liu Ziqi's, because her own strength was not the equal of the other's, and even in looks, the thing a woman cares about most, she was a grade inferior!

A woman who pressed her down in every single respect—she not only loathed her utterly, she even wished her dead; if curses had any power, Huo Yudie would long since have been cursed by her into eternal perdition.

And this time it was not only Huo Yudie alone, but Wei Zhao as well, that useless encumbrance dragged along to make up the numbers. Given the brat's status as Shangguan Tianxia's personal disciple, he could not be killed—and what if he proved so blind as to want a share of the spoils as well? Though that was pure delusion, it was still a nuisance that had to be faced.

Now that Huo Yudie was volunteering to withdraw, this Wei Zhao naturally could not stay either! Even if he wanted to, the group would certainly kick him out. Two claimants to the spoils gone in one stroke—for Yao Jiali and the others, this was nothing short of a godsend; she wished the pair would roll as far away as possible!

Ren Zhongyuan looked at Yao Jiali, then at Huo Yudie, who had already turned to leave, and still wanted to try to salvage the situation. After all, this Western Isle trial was a rare chance to spend time together—once this village was passed, who knew whether such a shop would ever be found again.

"A melon forced off the vine is not sweet. Since Junior Sister Yudie does not wish to go, then let us not press her," Yi Xiaotian spoke up before Ren Zhongyuan could think of what to say.