Chapter 2838 — The Unlucky Mo Ba
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 3
During the half hour he spent healing, Zhang Nai Pao had been turning the matter over ceaselessly in his mind: why was Wei Zhao unharmed? By any reckoning it should have been impossible—how could Wei Zhao have withstood a rebound at two hundred and forty percent? That was not quite realistic.
But Zhang Nai Pao racked his brains and pondered this way and that, and at last he lit upon a possibility: that the mid-grade Golden Cicada Inner Armor of Zhong Yongliang's had found its way onto Wei Zhao's body! At the thought, Zhang Nai Pao was caught between laughter and tears.
Wei Zhao was an Earth rank expert, so the true qi rebounded upon him was naturally Earth rank true qi as well; mighty though it was, mighty as it might be, it was still Earth rank, and so no matter what, the mid-grade Golden Cicada Inner Armor could successfully defend against it. And that armor had, of all things, been "gifted" to Wei Zhao by Zhong Yongliang, which made this loss of Zhang Nai Pao's truly a wrongful one.
"Seems you're not so foolish after all." Seeing Zhang Nai Pao recovered, Wei Zhao stopped running the second layer of the Xuanyuan Dragon-Riding Art. Though his physical strength and true qi were not fully restored, they were more or less back, seven or eight parts of ten.
"It was I who overlooked it." Zhang Nai Pao eyed Wei Zhao intently. His wounds had only just begun to heal and were not yet fully closed; if Wei Zhao recovered his physical strength and true qi and came at him again with three of those techniques as before, he would truly be done for.
"You must hate Zhong Yongliang something fierce?" Wei Zhao asked with a smile.
"Hmph, Wei Zhao, don't get cocky. Killing you will be as easy as turning my hand over." Zhang Nai Pao gave a cold laugh, though there was more bluster than substance in it.
"Is that so? Wild Fire Eight Trigrams Palm—the eighth stance!" Wei Zhao unleashed the Wild Fire Eight Trigrams Palm once more and struck at Zhang Nai Pao! This time, however, Wei Zhao used the eighth stance rather than the seventh as before.
In truth, the reason Wei Zhao used the eighth stance of the Wild Fire Eight Trigrams Palm was that his real target this time was Mo Ba; striking at Zhang Nai Pao was merely a feint.
If Mo Ba was not dealt with, he would remain a hidden danger. Even if Wei Zhao wounded Zhang Nai Pao gravely, with Mo Ba present it would still be impossible for Feng Shihua and Li Ciba to finish Zhang Nai Pao off. The result would be an endless cycle between Wei Zhao and Zhang Nai Pao: Wei Zhao wounds him, he goes to heal, Wei Zhao recovers his physical strength and true qi, and so it repeats, until the trial ends with perhaps nothing to show for it.
Only by killing Mo Ba would it be possible, after Wei Zhao dealt Zhang Nai Pao a heavy blow, to create an opening for Feng Shihua and the others to join forces and finish Zhang Nai Pao.
As for those two follower disciples of the Night Palace, by now they had long since hidden themselves somewhere unknown and could be disregarded. Having seen that Wei Zhao could wound Zhang Nai Pao, they knew he was not to be trifled with, and so they had simply hidden away, offending neither side.
Wei Zhao did not care a fig for such weathervanes who turned with the wind. Once Zhang Nai Pao and Mo Ba were dealt with, he had no doubt those two would docilely submit.
Zhang Nai Pao's eyes were round and wide, his expression tense, as though facing a great enemy. Before this, in the trials, even when facing cultivators at the peak of late Heaven rank, he had laughed and talked with ease, without the slightest sense of tension; but now, the pressure on him was immense.