Chapter 2827 — Yang Qiqi Driven Away
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
And if Li Ciba and Zhao Qilei threw in their lot with Zhang Naipao, the treatment would be just the same.
Yet Zhao Qilei and Li Ciba turned up their noses at the lot of it. In their hearts they thought: those two Dark Night Palace disciples, for all their present smugness, simply had not grasped the true difference between Wei Zhao and Zhang Naipao—that was why they had tagged along with Zhang Naipao. But the two of them knew very well that Wei Zhao was likely the stronger of the two, and following Zhang Naipao was nothing short of walking into a dead end, wasn't it?
Seeing that neither Li Ciba nor Zhao Qilei showed any particular reaction, Zhang Naipao said no more. The hints had been dropped, and dropped plainly enough; it would not do for him to keep on. There would surely be other trial-goers arriving soon, and once he had put the fear into them, he was confident these two would come over to his side.
Some time passed, and a lone cultivator came wandering over. He was a guest cultivator attached to the Endless Western Sea, possessed of early Heaven-rank strength. But he had come alone, with no trial spirit herb in hand, and wished only to shelter and rest here for a while; the two Dark Night Palace disciples, however, barred his way.
When the lone cultivator learned that Zhang Naipao was here robbing people, he did not dare let out so much as a peep before he left—no doubt knowing his own strength was insufficient and not daring to throw his weight about.
Lone cultivators in general, even those attached to a sect or a family, dared not be too overbearing; they went about everything with great caution. Unlike the direct disciples of sects and families, who had something to fall back on, these men had won their strength through bitter hardship, and so they seldom provoked anyone stronger.
As for the lone cultivator's departure, Li Ciba and Zhao Qilei said nothing. Neither of them had the ability to stand up for another; at a time like this, keeping themselves intact was already quite enough.
Some further span of time went by, and two more people arrived at the safe zone: Feng Shihua and Ge Xian. The two had met along the way and come here together. Though they were delighted to see Li Ciba and Zhao Qilei, they were cowed by Zhang Naipao's intimidation and handed over the one trial spirit herb they held between them. Though that was all they had, Zhang Naipao said nothing and let them rest in the safe zone.
Perhaps Zhang Naipao had still not given up on the notion of winning over Wei Zhao's underlings. He was biding his time for an opportunity—a chance to overawe and subdue every one of Wei Zhao's followers, which would be the greatest blow of all to Wei Zhao.
In truth, with two Heaven-rank experts like Feng Shihua and Li Ciba present, they were by no means inferior to Zhang Naipao's lot in terms of strength. But Zhang Naipao's martial technique was simply too uncanny—those who struck him found themselves wounded for no reason they could fathom—and so Feng Shihua and Li Ciba chose silence and did not clash with Zhang Naipao and his companions.
In fact, they were all waiting for Wei Zhao. Without Wei Zhao there, they dared not act rashly, Heaven-rank experts though they were.
The four of them sat somewhat gloomily in a corner of the safe zone, not speaking to Zhang Naipao; nor did Zhang Naipao show any inclination to make trouble for them. For the time being, it seemed, they kept a truce.
"Where's Yang Qiqi? Have any of you seen her?" Zhao Qilei understood Wei Zhao fairly well, and knew that if Yang Qiqi had no connection to him, Wei Zhao could not possibly have kept looking after her time and again—especially when the girl so often repaid kindness with ingratitude. So Zhao Qilei reckoned there must be something between Wei Zhao and her, which was why he was rather worried about Yang Qiqi's safety.
"Yang Qiqi? Haven't seen her," Feng Shihua said, shaking his head; beside him, Ge Xian shook his head as well.