Chapter 2993 — Someone Got Away
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"Yes. According to the Zhao family's disciples, Senior Lin and the others had only just entered the Zhao residence when Zhao Guangyin left through the rear gate under Elder Mian's protection. It's been more than half an hour now. I searched all around the back hill, but couldn't find a trace of him..." Old Master You hurriedly explained.
"Someone actually got away?" Wei Zhao was momentarily stunned. He had not expected Zhao Guangyin to flee so quickly. The reason Wei Zhao had come to the Hidden Zhao residence in a wheelchair, without letting Old Master Pi and the others get out of the car first, was to mislead the people inside into thinking that he lacked the strength to swallow the Hidden Zhao family and had merely come to throw his life away.
In fact, that was precisely what Old Master Zhao had believed earlier. With Old Master You, Sect Master Wo, and Sect Master Jin present, he had been even more certain that Wei Zhao and the others would never return alive.
Yet Zhao Guangyin was clearly a capable man. Even when the situation had seemed to favor the Hidden Zhao family, he had still chosen to run. It appeared that Zhao Guangyin was not nearly as spineless as Wei Zhao had previously been led to believe.
"Yes. The moment you entered the Hidden Zhao residence, Senior Lin, Zhao Guangyin took Elder Mian and fled!" Old Master You said. "What do we do now? There's no way we can catch him. I don't even know where he went."
"Leave him for now. We can deal with everyone else first." Hearing that Zhao Guangyin had escaped, Wei Zhao felt an inexplicable sense of foreboding, as though something terrible were about to happen. Yet for the moment, he could not imagine what harm Zhao Guangyin's escape might cause. After all, Zhao Guangyin was only a Heaven-rank expert. If even Zhao Qibing, a disciple of the ancient sect Night Palace, was no cause for concern, what trouble could Zhao Guangyin possibly stir up?
Old Master Zhao, who had been sitting in his chair looking somewhat dejected, suddenly burst into laughter when he heard that Zhao Guangyin had escaped. "Zhao Guangyin, Zhao Guangyin—you really are something! You left without taking me with you. After all these years, you even managed to deceive your own father!"
Old Master Zhao likely understood by now that Zhao Guangyin's earlier air of helplessness had been an act. Old Master Zhao was too domineering, too self-centered, and too hungry for power; he had clung to the position of family head and refused to relinquish it. As the young family head, Zhao Guangyin had had no choice but to behave that way if he wanted to protect himself.
And when the crucial moment arrived, Zhao Guangyin's intelligence revealed itself. He was plainly more clever than Old Master Zhao. He had always been wary of Wei Zhao, and the instant he saw Wei Zhao and the others arrive, he knew it could mean nothing good. So he had simply run.
After complaining for a while, however, Old Master Zhao began laughing again. "Good, good, good! Excellent! At least one of us finally got away. Wei Zhao, you wanted to wipe out the entire Hidden Zhao family, but now you can't!"
"I never planned to wipe out your entire family. Isn't Zhao Qilei still alive and well?" Wei Zhao studied Old Master Zhao's expression, thoughtful. It seemed the old man had been driven to the brink and was no longer entirely sane.
It was understandable, in a way. Life could hurl a man from one extreme to the other: one moment he was the victor with every advantage, and the next he had lost so completely that nothing remained.
Before long, Old Master You, Sect Master Wo, and Sect Master Jin returned. Most of the servants and nonessential Zhao disciples had been dismissed, while the stubborn loyalists and core disciples who refused to submit had all died beneath the hands of the three men.