Chapter 4692 — Turn and Run

True, the other side had one consummate Nascent Soul and two late-Nascent Soul experts—a lineup that did look rather menacing. But so what?

"Damn it! What rotten luck I've got today, running into idiots like these..." Young Master Yin cursed through clenched teeth, killing intent flaring as he moved to strike Wei Zhao. Yet before he could even muster his true qi, a faint dragon's cry reached his ears, and in the next instant a dragon-shaped killing force pierced straight through his chest without the slightest resistance. He dropped dead on the spot, eyes wide open in death.

A dead silence fell over the scene. It had all happened too fast, too suddenly—especially for Young Master Yin's two lackeys, who were utterly dumbstruck, jaws hanging open in shock.

They had just been thinking that this fool who had appeared out of nowhere was courting death, all bluster and no skill, and that Young Master Yin would surely crush him underfoot. Then, in the blink of an eye, Young Master Yin—a consummate Nascent Soul expert in his own right—was a corpse, dead in such a wretched, such a helplessly crushed fashion!

Was this even human? Gazing at Wei Zhao, who remained as calm and unruffled as a passing breeze, the two were scared witless. Wasn't it said that only consummate Nascent Soul experts could enter this place at the highest? So how had such a fiend suddenly appeared?

"Y-you stay back! We're from the Snow Sword Sect! If you dare kill us, the Snow Sword Sect will never let you off!" Faces fierce in appearance but cowardly at heart, the two shrieked hysterically even as they stumbled backward in terror.

"You're from the Snow Sword Sect? Didn't I just confirm that a moment ago? I've already killed your man and you're still bringing that up with me?" Wei Zhao gave a faint smile, glancing at them with utter indifference. "Do you know what I'd do right now, if I were you?"

"Do… what…?" The two exchanged a look, trembling as they unwittingly echoed him.

"Turn and run! To still be dawdling here at a time like this—then go die alongside him!" As the words left Wei Zhao's mouth, his figure suddenly vanished from thin air, then reappeared just as abruptly above the two. With a single kick each—a raging flurry of a thousand flaming legs—he drove them straight into the ground, leaving two more corpses with eyes wide open in death.

Huo Yudie stared blankly at the scene before her, rubbing her eyes for all she was worth, afraid this might be some illusion…

A consummate Nascent Soul expert plus two late-Nascent Soul experts, wiped out by Wei Zhao with such careless ease, without so much as a shred of resistance from start to finish—was this one really at the peak of early Nascent Soul? Or was he actually at the peak of early Xuasheng?

She shook her head speechlessly. When her gaze returned to Wei Zhao, it now held a few more traces of an inexplicable luster.

Along the way, Wei Zhao had indeed displayed formidable strength, enough even to take out a false man-vine in a single move. But frankly, in Huo Yudie's eyes, however strong he was, he could at most be about even with herself. No peak early-Nascent Soul expert, no matter how powerful, could surpass a consummate Nascent Soul—that was the most basic of common sense.

As for how Wei Zhao had managed to one-shot the false man-vine, the explanation was simple enough: plants were inherently terrified of fire, and this was a dry, scorching environment besides. His fire-type martial arts would naturally achieve twice the result with half the effort here. Huo Yudie felt that if she too were a fire expert, dealing with a false man-vine would certainly pose no problem.

But now, watching Wei Zhao casually snuff out these three before her very eyes, Huo Yudie finally understood completely: her earlier assumptions had been utterly and ridiculously wrong. A person like Wei Zhao simply transcended common sense!

A top-tier prodigy who could cross several realms and still fight above his level—that had always been merely a legend. Even looking across the prodigy-teeming Eastern Continent Academy, not one such figure could be found. Yet now, that legend was standing before her in the flesh.

Her heart was all towering waves and crashing tides. Only now did Huo Yudie belatedly realize why Wei Zhao had remained so composed along the way when traveling with Ren Zhongyuan and the others!

So this fellow treated killing a consummate Nascent Soul expert like child's play all along, while Ren Zhongyuan and his lot still paraded about with the airs of lofty experts—when in truth, they were nothing but monkeys putting on a show for an audience!

What kind of ruthless monster was this! Huo Yudie stared at Wei Zhao, her mind involuntarily wandering again. Ah, when they actually found the Thunder Profound Vine, would this fellow take a fancy to the treasure and just kill her? That way he wouldn't even need to give her a twenty percent cut—he could simply swallow the whole thing himself…

Huo Yudie was dumbstruck—and Xia Qianqian, shielded behind Qi Wenmo at that moment, was likewise wide-eyed, staring in astonishment at the utterly unruffled Wei Zhao.

In truth, tales of Wei Zhao had long been flying thick and fast across the South Continent sea region, and Qi Wenmo had mentioned him to her more than once. But hearing others talk was one thing; seeing it with her own eyes was quite another! Never in her wildest dreams could Xia Qianqian have imagined that the honorary chief escort Qi Wenmo spoke of would prove so terrifyingly formidable!

The Qingtian Escort Agency actually had such a powerful backer! A peak early-Nascent Soul expert was nothing much, but a peak early-Nascent Soul expert who could annihilate a consummate Nascent Soul in a single blow—that was an entirely different matter altogether. Even a fool could work it out: as long as such a figure did not die young, he was bound to grow into a top-tier existence of the Five Great Cloud-Tier Islands in the future—of that there was no doubt!

Xia Qianqian could not help giving herself a reminder. It seemed that once she returned this time, she must tell her father all about today's events. She had rather feared her father might disapprove of her affairs with Qi Wenmo, but now, having witnessed Wei Zhao's astonishing display, her worries evaporated entirely.

As the helmsman of the Treasure Ship Transport Company, her father's judgment far exceeded her own. As the saying went, when one man attains the Way, even his chickens and dogs ascend to heaven. Qi Wenmo's own background and strength were hardly weak to begin with, and now with Wei Zhao as such a formidable supporter—one who could casually refine him Condensation Golden Cores, with a strength terrifying to such a degree—anyone at all would refuse to let such a figure slip by, let alone a merchant as shrewd and discerning as her father.

"Heh heh, looks like you owed me quite a bit from a past life, Brother Ling—and this life you've come to repay the debt by bailing me out!" Qi Wenmo laughed heartily and stepped forward to give Wei Zhao a bear hug. Wei Zhao's prowess had long been deeply ingrained in his heart: even the Old West Mountain Sect, that colossal devil-cultivator force of the Mountain-Opening stage, had been powerless against his brother—let alone some mere consummate Nascent Soul!

"I'd say it's the three of them instead—these three fellows risked their lives to create an opportunity for you two. Compared to such righteous souls who laid down their lives to set the rhythm, I'm far behind. I just came along to play a minor role and wrap things up." Wei Zhao chuckled. (To be continued…)