Chapter 4720 — Someone's Coming

"That's not all. Even if you dug up the root and took it with you, it'd be useless—it couldn't possibly grow," Huo Yudie went on.

"Why not?" Wei Zhao couldn't help asking.

"Because the Thunder Mystic Vine is incredibly picky and demanding about where it grows. It can only keep growing under constant tempering by lightning. Apart from a place like this, with its one-of-a-kind conditions and frequent lightning strikes, where else would you find the right environment?" Huo Yudie said with a smile.

"Mm, that is a problem." Wei Zhao nodded. He could already have guessed as much from the name Thunder Mystic Vine and the arcs of electricity crawling across its tendrils—there was a thick layer of thunderclouds overhead here, and nowhere else.

He had originally planned to move the Thunder Mystic Vine into his jade pendant's space, but after some thought he decided to give up on the idea. It wasn't purely because the vine needed lightning—that condition alone he could just barely satisfy, since he now possessed the lightning attribute and could easily conjure a bit of lightning now and then inside the jade pendant's space.

The real issue was that this was West Island—in plain terms, Ning Xuefei's family territory. Wei Zhao could screw over anyone, but not Ning Xuefei. Besides, he'd already gotten a decent haul of Thunder Mystic Vine this time; whether he took the root or not hardly mattered.

The two of them immediately set to work with great enthusiasm, hacking at the Thunder Mystic Vine. Because of the crackling electric arcs along it, this was a delicate job—one careless move and you'd get hurt. But Huo Yudie had come prepared; she'd brought specialized tools in her backpack, and now at last they could be put to use.

And just as Wei Zhao and Huo Yudie were setting to work on the Thunder Mystic Vine, two familiar old faces suddenly appeared in the boulder formation outside—none other than Xu Lingchong and Kang Jingming.

Their mission for this West Island trial was not merely to sabotage Wei Zhao's plans; there was another task of paramount importance—the Thunder Mystic Vine.

They had the same intelligence data that Huo Yudie possessed. So it was no surprise they'd shown up here—except the two of them had no jade pendant warning like Wei Zhao's. Getting through the outer boulder formation would not be easy.

Although the Heaven-Thunder Formation had nominally been broken by Wei Zhao, in truth he had only opened a passage through the interior. The outer Heaven-Thunder Formation was still running; one wrong step and—crack—a bolt of lightning would strike.

But the two of them had come prepared, and at this stage they weren't about to be at their wit's end. At this moment Kang Jingming was wearing a magnificent suit of smart armor, holding in his hand a gadget that looked like a detector, apparently linked to the armor. And it was thanks to this thing that Kang Jingming was somehow miraculously dodging the heaven-thunder!

One had to admit, the Central Region's level of technology was truly extraordinary. The practical utility of this kind of ultra-high-tech gadget was almost on par with Wei Zhao's jade pendant warning.

Before lightning strikes, there are always corresponding omens—even this place's Heaven-Thunder Formation was no exception. So with the detector in hand, Kang Jingming could sense the heaven-thunder in advance. But that alone wasn't enough to let him dodge it.

Because although the detector was extremely sensitive, it could at best give him half a second of warning—nowhere near the reaction time Wei Zhao's jade pendant warning provided. But the smart armor Kang Jingming wore made up for that shortfall. This crystallization of ultra-high technology was integrated with the detector, and could even dodge on its own.

In other words, before Kang Jingming himself had even reacted, it had already automatically initiated evasive maneuvers. In a sense, the technological sophistication of this thing far surpassed even the devastating laser cannon!

"Haha, Young Master Xu, what do you think? Things from the secular world are pretty impressive after all, eh? This stuff is way more formidable than any legendary divine weapon!" Kang Jingming laughed smugly as he led the way.

"Mm. It really is quite good," Xu Lingchong nodded sincerely.

Kang Jingming's various displays along the way had thoroughly overturned his previous views of the secular world. Never mind anything else—at least these ultra-high-tech gadgets from the secular world really were impressive. Watching Kang Jingming strut about so triumphantly, he even felt a twinge of envy, itching to snatch it and try it on himself for a bit of fun.

The two soon arrived at the Five-Thunder Tribulation Arch. Kang Jingming rubbed his eyes as he looked at the radiant arch ahead, and clicked his tongue in amazement: "The place where Thunder Mystic Vine grows really is something—even the formation's eye looks this cool. Young Master Xu, looks like at this step we'll have to put in some effort and just smash our way through the door, huh?"

"Right. The intel says it takes simultaneous attacks with all five elemental attribute martial techniques, and the two of us alone can't manage that. But if we just force our way through—can you do it?" Xu Lingchong asked doubtfully.

"I don't know either. Let's just try, I guess—the higher-ups gave the order anyway, so if something goes wrong it's not on us." As he spoke, Kang Jingming rubbed his hands together, then leveled his laser cannon at the Five-Thunder Tribulation Arch. To hell with whatever damn requirements it had—one blast and it'd be flattened.

Kang Jingming licked his lips eagerly, raring to go. But just as he was about to fire, Xu Lingchong beside him suddenly called out, "Wait a moment—this arch is strange. Why does it feel like it's already been opened by someone?!"

"Huh? Really?" Kang Jingming said in surprise. He was only showing off with his suit of ultra-high-tech gear; when it came to keen observation, he was far inferior to Xu Lingchong.

"Should be right. You go try it," Xu Lingchong ordered at once.

Faced with this guinea-pig task, in the past Kang Jingming would surely have found some way to dodge it entirely, but now his confidence was overflowing. Hearing this, he strode over without a word. The moment he stepped into the halo of the Five-Thunder Tribulation Arch, the scene before his eyes abruptly transformed into something else entirely.

"Just as I thought!" Seeing this, Xu Lingchong hurried in after him. Although Kang Jingming was the main force on this mission, when it came to the Thunder Mystic Vine, he wasn't about to let Kang Jingming hog all the glory.

Kang Jingming and Xu Lingchong's sudden intrusion instantly put Wei Zhao on alert. His spiritual sense had been carefully probing every stir and rustle around them the whole time. While the two were outside he couldn't detect them, but once they entered here, there was no way they could escape his perception.

"Someone's coming. Follow my lead when the time comes!" Wei Zhao quickly warned Huo Yudie, then hurriedly stowed the Thunder Mystic Vine he'd cut into the jade pendant's space.

Watching the Thunder Mystic Vine vanish into thin air, Huo Yudie was utterly dumbfounded. If she hadn't gotten to know Wei Zhao fairly well over these past few days, she really would have suspected he'd been overcome by greed at the sight of treasure and was preparing to keep the Thunder Mystic Vine all to himself! (The Blossom Guardian TV drama online day 3! Shooting straight to the top of the hot search list! Yuren's official WeChat: yuren22) (To be continued.)