Chapter 4732 — She Could Not Get Out

"You're not leaving? Then you really won't be able to get out!" The two West Island experts exchanged a glance, shocked. "If you stay here, who knows how long you'll have to wait—the next trial's opening is anyone's guess. You should know our West Island trials don't open on any fixed schedule. With good luck it might be only a year; with bad luck, it could be decades, even a century. It all depends on calculating the formation's weak period."

"I understand! I understand everything you've both said, but if it means abandoning him here alone, I can't do it. I'm grateful for your kindness, sisters, but there's no need to try to persuade me further." Huo Yudie spoke with unwavering resolve.

The two West Island experts looked at each other, visibly moved. Though in their hearts they felt it was not worth it for Huo Yudie's sake, a woman of such loyalty and devotion deserved anyone's respect.

Since her mind was made up, further persuasion would be futile—and would only make them seem petty. After all, they barely knew one another; to have gone this far was already more than could be asked.

"Very well, then. But if you stay, you must be careful. Find somewhere hidden nearby to conceal yourself, and best not go deeper unless you must. You know well enough what those creatures are like, and they have Xuan Sheng experts besides—you can't beat them." The two experts sighed. They could not afford to waste any more time here, and could only offer this last well-meant warning.

"Thank you both." Huo Yudie nodded. After watching the two West Island experts depart, she kept her silent vigil at Wei Zhao's side, gazing at him blankly, no one could tell what thoughts were running through her mind.

Meanwhile, at the teleportation formation in a side courtyard of the West Island Master's palace. On the open ground nearby, all the trial participants who had emerged one after another had already gathered—a bustling, crowded throng.

Although this West Island trial had no set time limit, today marked the one-month deadline; by any objective measure, this was in effect the final day of the trial. Anyone who failed to emerge by the end of today would mean they could not get out at all.

At this moment, to congratulate the trial participants who had returned successfully and to lend the occasion proper solemnity, the one presiding over matters was not West Island's Vice Master Yan Xinlan, but the Island Master herself—Ning Shanghe.

Compared with the birthday banquet before, Ning Shanghe was noticeably closer to the crowd this time. A warm smile on her face, she moved gracefully among the people, pausing now and then to wave and greet them.

Wherever Ning Shanghe passed, the crowd erupted. To come this close to the beautiful Island Master, usually so aloof and unapproachable—every trial participant felt overwhelmed with flattered honor.

Of course, even if some vulgar thought crossed their minds, they would never dare show it here. On West Island, Ning Shanghe was like an empress. Anyone so much as half-profane toward her, no matter how strong, need not dream of leaving West Island alive.

Behind the peerlessly beautiful Ning Shanghe followed Ning Xuefei, pure as a fairy. By the rules, this West Island princess ought not to appear in public so easily, but this trial was somewhat special—it concerned her lifelong marriage. Her future husband might well be among these trial participants, so it was only natural that she accompany her mother out to soothe the crowd.

As Ning Xuefei's closest friends, Shangguan Lan'er and Han Jingyi naturally stayed at her side as well. None of the three girls had any heart for the spectacle now; again and again they craned their necks toward the teleportation formation's exit.

Han Jingyi had already told Ning Xuefei and Shangguan Lan'er the news of Wei Zhao being gravely wounded and unconscious. Though they knew someone was tending to him nearby, they could not help worrying. Had Ning Shanghe not forbidden it, the three would long since have dashed to the formation to wait; if there were any way, they would have wished themselves teleported inside.

Time slipped away bit by bit. Seeing that no one had come out for a long while, the three girls grew more and more anxious. Surely nothing had gone wrong?

After all, the three had made a point of asking about the teleportation formation. While it was not entirely impossible to teleport an unconscious Wei Zhao through, the difficulty was immense—and at this point, the price the other party must have paid was only too easy to imagine.

A choice between two: either stay herself, or leave Wei Zhao behind. If it were any of the three of them, they would not hesitate to sacrifice themselves to send Wei Zhao out. But the other party was only a stranger she had met for the first time—would she do such a thing?

No one knew the answer, so they could only wait. Yet beneath the three girls' eager watching, the figure they hoped for was slow to appear. They waited until both West Island guards had returned, and still Wei Zhao had not come out!

Han Jingyi and Shangguan Lan'er exchanged a glance, their faces turning somewhat pale—and Ning Xuefei nearly fainted on the spot.

This concerned not only Wei Zhao's safety but her own lifelong marriage. She had pinned almost all her life's hopes on Wei Zhao, and the blow that struck her now was too crushing to bear.

"There's no one left inside?!" At this, a woman suddenly rushed forward and urgently questioned the two West Island guards who had just stepped out of the formation. It was none other than Liu Ziqi, Vice Principal of East Continent's Morning Pride Academy.

As the leader of the East Continent academy delegation, Liu Ziqi's every word and deed represented Morning Pride Academy, so she had always spoken with propriety and never once lost her composure as she did now. Her face was even grimmer than the three girls', for not only had Wei Zhao failed to emerge—her precious disciple Huo Yudie had not come out either!

To Liu Ziqi, Huo Yudie was not merely her most important personal disciple, but in a sense as close as a daughter, raised with bitter hardship from infancy. Such a bond far surpassed any ordinary master-disciple relationship.

The two West Island guards were startled. Looking Liu Ziqi over, they recognized her as a good friend of Island Master Ning Shanghe, and dared not be negligent. They answered respectfully at once: "There is still a woman beside the formation, and a man whose life or death is uncertain. But like the rest who remain, they should not be able to get out."

"Not get out? How could she not get out?" Though the other had not said so plainly, Liu Ziqi's intuition told her the woman must be her disciple Huo Yudie, and she lost her composure entirely. "My disciple is a Yuanying consummation expert—far stronger than an ordinary one at that! If nothing has gone wrong, with her strength she should have been able to activate the teleportation formation!" (To be continued...)