Chapter 4958 — Liu Ziqi Appears

Four walls of sand rose from the ground at a speed the eye could scarcely follow, sealing Wei Zhao in an airtight cocoon of protection. The invincible wind blades sank into them and vanished like mud dropped into the sea, without so much as a ripple.

"What?!" Chang Minghui was startled on the spot. This was plainly not Wei Zhao's doing—it bore the unmistakable mark of a Kaishan-stage titan, and one whose strength was not much beneath his own!

Sensing something amiss, Chang Minghui instinctively tried to shoot into the sky, but his feet suddenly plunged deep into the earth. Two great hands of sand and stone clamped his ankles in a death grip and began dragging him down inch by inch. In the blink of an eye, only the upper half of Chang Minghui remained above ground.

"Who is playing tricks here? Show yourself!" Though half-buried in sand, Chang Minghui quickly steadied himself and roared at the top of his voice.

"Tricks? Hardly, Town Master Chang. I have been waiting here for some time." Liu Ziqi's figure slowly emerged from the sand. He exchanged a glance with Wei Zhao, and the two shared a faint smile.

"Who are you?" Chang Minghui's face darkened.

"Oh? Is Town Master Chang hoping to note down my name and settle accounts later? Telling you costs me nothing—I am Liu Ziqi of the Morning Pride Academy," Liu Ziqi said blandly.

Wei Zhao smiled bitterly to himself. Were it up to him, he would never be so kind as to hand his true name to an enemy—if Chang Minghui survived this night, would that not be inviting trouble down on his own head?

But Liu Ziqi, woman though she was, possessed a temperament stubborn and unbending to the last degree. Concealing one's name was a thing she disdained utterly; if the man had the guts to come seeking revenge, then let him come.

Had she feared retaliation, she would not be Liu Ziqi—and she would not be standing here.

"Liu Ziqi? A place full of women like the Morning Pride Academy, and it turns out they have a fighter of your caliber? I would never have guessed." Chang Minghui frowned, a rare sight. From the aura the other gave off, he had already judged that this Liu Ziqi was at least a mid-Kaishan expert—and now, for some reason, her strength was such that she could even give him a real fight.

"Save your guessing. I have laid the Nine Palaces Sand Formation here," Liu Ziqi said, watching him with a calm expression.

"The Nine Palaces Sand Formation? No wonder!" Chang Minghui understood at once. Legend held the Nine Palaces Sand Formation to be a most peculiar array, one that could drastically suppress an opponent's strength within its bounds. His late-Kaishan power, once inside, was likely reduced to the peak of mid-Kaishan—perhaps even lower!

Ordinarily, with Liu Ziqi's mid-Kaishan strength, she could never have contended with Chang Minghui. But with this Nine Palaces Sand Formation, one side waned as the other waxed, and she had gained just enough to put up a fight.

"So, boy, you were never off to beg help from Zhuang Yifan after all—you set this trap for me to walk into. Not a simple mind at all." Chang Minghui eyed Wei Zhao coldly. By now he was rather inclined to believe Zhuang Yifan had played no part; with this boy's strength and cunning, it was not at all impossible that he could have schemed his arrogant wife to death.

"You flatter me." Wei Zhao nodded faintly. Just as Chang Minghui said, all of this had been planned in advance: Liu Ziqi would lie in ambush at this spot, the most suitable place in all the world for setting the Nine Palaces Sand Formation, and his own sole task had been to lure Chang Minghui here.

Simple as the plan sounded, carrying it out had been perilous at every turn. Had he not been strong enough, had the jade pendant not warned him, he would likely have died several times over by now.

"Hmph, don't get smug, boy. All you have done is prove what I said before—a self-important fool!" Chang Minghui's gaze fell upon Liu Ziqi, whose fighting spirit surged, and he sneered: "You really think a woman like this can stop me?"

The words fell, and the wild wind around Chang Minghui erupted skyward. His feet were pinned fast, but that did not stop him from fighting. Even trapped inside the Nine Palaces Sand Formation, he had never truly taken Liu Ziqi seriously—when all was said and done, mid-Kaishan or not, she was only a woman.

The wind raged, and a colossal tornado descended in an instant upon the sands of Thunder Plain Isle. At this point Chang Minghui could afford no more scruples; alarming Zhuang Yifan and the rest could be dealt with later. What he had to do now was kill this mid-Kaishan woman before him—and Wei Zhao, hiding off to the side.

"Look after yourself!" Liu Ziqi's expression turned grave at the sight. She waved Wei Zhao back. Though his strength now rivaled early-Kaishan experts like Zang Zili, against a being such as Chang Minghui he could hardly make a difference—as their two exchanges just now had plainly shown.

At this stage, the trap laid tonight was already more than half a success. Yet even so it could only mildly restrain Chang Minghui's strength; whether the man could ultimately be driven back still came down to her, Liu Ziqi.

In but a brief moment, the skyward tornado Chang Minghui unleashed had swept up countless tons of yellow sand, until from afar it became a whirling sandstorm. The shrill, keening howl of wind and grit within was enough to make the heart quail and the spirit shrink.

By now both Liu Ziqi and Chang Minghui himself were swallowed in the sandstorm, their figures blurred beyond recognition. Watching from outside, Wei Zhao felt a chill of alarm—this Chang Minghui was formidable indeed, turning the whole situation around with a single move!

The Nine Palaces Sand Formation had in an instant become a raging sandstorm. Chang Minghui's strength was still much restrained, true—but by the same token, Liu Ziqi must likewise be gravely affected. Given the gap in their native strength, once both sides were suppressed alike, the one who stood to gain in the end was still Chang Minghui.

Wei Zhao could not help growing anxious. Liu Ziqi had come to help at the near-certain risk of being killed. If anything truly happened to her, he would never be able to atone for it, and what face would he have left to meet Huo Yudie in the days to come?

Yet with his meager strength he dared not recklessly charge into the sandstorm. That would not only fail to help, but would make him a burden to Liu Ziqi—and see her die all the more miserably.

"I can only trust Aunt Liu now." Wei Zhao prayed silently, while deep within his body he swiftly gathered and built up a vast, surging torrent of thunder and lightning power. Ordinary moves were of little use against Chang Minghui—even the Five-Phase Eight-Trigram Killing Qi rarely showed any remarkable effect. At a time like this, the only thing that could serve was that ultimate killing art, the Thunder Burial.

Apart from its fatal flaw of requiring a long time to build up power, the Thunder Burial was all but flawless. Not only was its might immense, its speed was astonishingly swift—impossible to guard against! (To be continued.)