Chapter 4800 — Name Your Price

"Who are you?" Wei Zhao asked again. Until he had gotten to the bottom of things, he would not toss over the Beauty Pill, no matter how much pity stirred in him.

Yang Qianshuang paid him no heed, still sobbing and shrieking in blind panic, her spirit wholly unmoored; by the look of her, she was past all reasoning.

Wei Zhao sighed. After motioning Ning Xuefei to step aside, he moved to steady the woman. He could promise no miracles, but calming her for the moment should be no hard task.

Yet before he could get close, the jade pendant gave a warning throb, and a furious shout came crashing down from overhead: "Courting death!"

An incomparably vast true qi bore down with it. Wei Zhao was aghast—an assault of that magnitude might well be more than even he could withstand. Fortunately the pendant's warning had bought him a heartbeat's notice; he at once used the Transcendent Butterfly Microstep to spring backward, and only just scraped clear.

Looking up, he saw a tall, slender young man with a cold, severe air standing before him, Yang Qianshuang gathered in his arms. She still gave the occasional terrified shriek, but was plainly much calmer now; the two appeared to be dao companions.

"Was it you who wounded Qianxue?" The young man regarded Wei Zhao coldly, his gaze like a blade, stinging the eye.

"That's right. She burst in out of nowhere to snatch my Beauty Pill, so of course I struck back." Wei Zhao eyed him with a shade of wariness. That descending blast of true qi had already told him the man was an expert of the early Profound Ascension stage—but certainly no ordinary one.

With Wei Zhao's present strength, an early Profound Ascension cultivator—even one at the peak of that stage—was nothing he could not kill with ease. Yet against this man he had no assurance of victory. By his rough estimate, the fellow's true power was at least equal to the late Profound Ascension stage, perhaps greater still.

"Beauty Pill?" The young man's expression shifted slightly. He glanced at the box in Wei Zhao's hand, then down at the trembling Yang Qianshuang in his arms, and said abruptly, "Give me the Beauty Pill, and we will call today's business even."

Wei Zhao was briefly dumbstruck, staring speechlessly at the pair entwined before him. Birds of a feather truly do flock together. The woman had come charging in to seize the Beauty Pill, and given her plight that was at least understandable; now here came a man behaving in just the same fashion. Was there not a single sane person in all of Xiangyun Academy?

"I don't believe you have the situation straight, sir. Yes, I wounded her—but she struck first, to rob me. That makes us even at most. What gives me any reason to hand you the Beauty Pill?" Wei Zhao had a temper of his own. Had the man asked civilly, he could have restored the woman's face even without the pill; but by force—then there was nothing left to discuss.

"I say again: give me the Beauty Pill, and today's business is even." The young man remained unmoved, plainly with no intention of reasoning. And in truth, reason was not on his side.

"Then there is nothing to discuss." Wei Zhao's face turned cold, and the box holding the Beauty Pill vanished in an instant, right under the other man's nose. He said flatly, "Please leave. And one parting word: pity is not a bargaining chip to be used against others. It is pitiable that her face was ruined like that. But what of it?"

"Who are you calling pitiable?" The young man's already frigid air took on a sharper edge of anger.

"Haven't you worked it out yet, Leng Rufeng? In this boy's eyes the two of you are a pair of sorry wretches—hahaha!" Ren Zhongyuan's laughter came from the courtyard gate, and he strode in with careless swagger, Yi Xiaotian and the others at his back.

At the sight of them, Wei Zhao's heart stirred. Thinking back, there had been something odd about the whole affair today—could these fellows be pulling strings behind the scenes?

"Is it you who are playing tricks?" Leng Rufeng's gaze swung at once to Ren Zhongyuan and the rest, his face unfriendly.

Ren Zhongyuan and Yi Xiaotian both started in alarm. They had come only to add fuel to the fire and enjoy the sight of Wei Zhao getting his comeuppance—surely they were not to be found out this quickly?!

"Tricks? What tricks? We only came over to watch the fun when we heard someone screaming. Don't go slinging mud at honest folk, Leng—I'd advise you to keep your mind on dealing with this young man who struck your woman. He's very strong, you know!" Ren Zhongyuan disclaimed any involvement without so much as a flicker.

Sure enough, at these words Leng Rufeng's gaze settled once more on Wei Zhao. The question had been only a casual probe; whether or not someone was pulling strings, it remained a fact—one he had seen with his own eyes—that this young man had wounded Yang Qianshuang. For that alone the boy deserved to die.

"Leng Rufeng, I hear you've been scouring the world for Beauty Pills and Thunder Profound Pills. It seems you've found the right man—this boy has both. I've dropped you that hint; do as you see fit." Yi Xiaotian stirred the pot at just the right moment, his tone neither yin nor yang.

"You have a Thunder Profound Pill?" Leng Rufeng's eyes narrowed. Even in the resource-rich Dongzhou Academy, such a thing was not easily come by; for its practical value, it was the rarest of all seventh-grade pills. Let a single Thunder Profound Pill appear on the market, and the competition one faced would be hundreds of times fiercer than for a Beauty Pill.

"Whether a Thunder Profound Pill has already been refined, I can't say for certain—but this boy came by a whole Thunder Profound Vine during the West Island trials, and that is how he became the West Island's consort. If you can get that vine from him and split it with me, I can ask my father to step in and refine it into a Thunder Profound Pill for you." Ren Zhongyuan chuckled. To put Wei Zhao in his place and lay hands on the Thunder Profound Vine at once—two birds with one stone.

Thus urged by the two of them, Leng Rufeng—already inclined to strike at Wei Zhao—was now all the more resolved. He had never been a good man; for Yang Qianshuang's sake he would make an enemy of the whole world, let alone deal with some stranger, a West Island consort he had never met.

Yet Leng Rufeng did not strike at once. Instead he said to Wei Zhao, "I want both the Beauty Pill and the Thunder Profound Vine. Name your price."

At that, Ren Zhongyuan, Yi Xiaotian and the others changed countenance. All they had done was meant to set Leng Rufeng and Wei Zhao at each other's throats—not to help them strike a bargain! (To be continued.)