Chapter 2876 — Surrounding Them
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"Oh, hello." Zhang Naipao was a eunuch and had little interest in beautiful women; to his eyes, they were no more than pink skeletons. Lovely as Tianchan was, Zhang Naipao merely greeted her and then turned his attention back to Wei Zhao.
Tianchan had not revealed her true strength, and Zhang Naipao never imagined she was an expert at the peak of the late Heaven Stage. Since Wei Zhao had rescued her after she was injured, Zhang Naipao assumed she was nothing more than a lowly Mystic Stage cultivator.
Zhang Naipao was not much for talk, and Tianchan was only too glad of the quiet—the less said, the less chance Wei Zhao would notice anything amiss.
"Say, that spirit beast of yours—didn't you say it can communicate with other spirit beasts?" Zhang Naipao hesitated a moment, then said to Wei Zhao, "You could have it negotiate with the beasts we run into along the way—carrot and stick. If they clear the path, we all go our separate ways in peace. If they attack me, first, I can reflect the damage back; second, I can use the Bee-Devouring Divine Art to drain the stamina and true qi from their bodies and suck them dry!"
"Oh? You can drain them? I'd forgotten—then why don't we just fight our way out?" Wei Zhao thought of Zhang Naipao's Bee-Devouring Divine Art; it was truly an outrageously broken skill.
"I can, but fighting our way out the whole way isn't practical. Spirit beasts clearly have far more stamina and true qi than human cultivators. With my current strength, draining a Yellow Stage or Mystic Stage beast is fine, but a Earth Stage beast would be pushing it, and draining a Heaven Stage one would make me explode on the spot—like that last time, you nearly made me burst!" Zhang Naipao shook his head. "Besides, even for Yellow and Mystic Stage beasts, I can only manage two or three. Any more and I still can't take it!"
"That's true." Wei Zhao nodded in sudden understanding. "By the way—how about this: you drain two beasts, then use the Thorn Divine Art to wound a few more, then drain again, which doubles as healing. That way, you won't have to worry about exploding."
"That... that's actually an idea!" Zhang Naipao thought it over and agreed. "But we'll have to be careful as we go. A few beasts at a time is fine, but if we run into several at once, I won't be able to keep up."
"We can only do our best to avoid that. After all, this isn't entirely up to us..." Wei Zhao shrugged.
"So shall we set off now?" Zhang Naipao asked.
"That works..." Wei Zhao hoisted Yang Qiqi onto his back. Whether Yang Qiqi woke or not made no difference in a fight against spirit beasts, so carrying her changed nothing.
Tianchan had been listening to Wei Zhao and Zhang Naipao the whole time. When Zhang Naipao proposed setting off, she questioned him: "Doing that... I'm afraid it will draw even more spirit beasts. The beasts here seem very united. If we slaughter too many of them, we may provoke a pack to besiege us, and then it will be very difficult to leave."
"But it's the only way. You're a woman—no need to offer your opinions." Zhang Naipao was naturally displeased at being contradicted by Tianchan. In his eyes, she was a figure much like Yang Qiqi; if she weren't Wei Zhao's friend, he wouldn't even have bothered to acknowledge her.
"Heh heh..." Tianchan smiled and said nothing. In truth, Zhang Naipao was right—it was the only option available, the only way. Otherwise, it really would be hard to get from here to the teleportation array smoothly.
Though the distance was not great, the spirit beasts now seemed highly agitated, darting about in all directions. The moment the group stepped out, they would likely be immediately set upon.
By now the sky had brightened. Wei Zhao, carrying Yang Qiqi on his back, set out together with Tianchan, Zhang Naipao, and the Thunder Pig from the safe haven toward the teleportation array. At first all was well, but before they had gone far, two Yellow Stage spirit beasts fixed their eyes on them!