Chapter 3264 — The Aftermath
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
Wei Zhao fled with Xu Shilan and Cheng Yiyi, running desperately all the way, with no idea how far they had gone or how many small towns they had passed through. At last, the little strength left in his body was spent, and he had no choice but to stop, setting Xu Shilan and Cheng Yiyi down by the roadside.
Wei Zhao knew that after running so far—and not in a straight line, either—the odds of their pursuers finding him were very small. Even so, he did not dare let down his guard. After setting Xu Shilan and Cheng Yiyi down, he hid behind a haystack near an open-air farm by the roadside.
"I'm sorry... Wei Zhao, I've caused you trouble..." Xu Shilan looked at him full of apology.
Wei Zhao waved a hand. "This isn't your fault. He Tianzu taking an interest in you is a small problem. The real conflict is that I killed their Elder Chen back then. But it's fine—didn't we get away?"
"Will Yang Qiqi be all right?" Xu Shilan was somewhat worried about her safety.
"I'll call and ask." Even if Xu Shilan had not said it, Wei Zhao had already intended to phone Yang Qiqi and ask about her situation.
The call connected quickly, and Yang Qiqi's anxious voice came through from the other end: "Brother Wei Zhao, how are you all doing?"
"We got away safely. It's fine, don't worry about us. But what about you—will you make enemies with the Overseas Cultivators Association over this?" Wei Zhao asked with some concern.
"It's fine, they wouldn't dare do anything to me." Yang Qiqi shook her head. "Besides, I'm not foolish enough to admit to the relationship between us. I only said that you helped me during the trials in the past, which is why I hosted you."
"That's good." Wei Zhao nodded and breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed Yang Qiqi was quite shrewd after all—not as slow-witted as he had remembered her! Still, it made sense: this was Yang Qiqi's home ground, while in those trials she had only been a guest, and a relatively weak one at that. Who else would people bully, if not her?
Still, the fact that Yang Qiqi belonged to the Overseas Cultivators Association also explained how she had leveled up so quickly. The association surely supplied her at regular intervals with body-tempering spirit medicines meant for their top external experts.
"Brother Wei Zhao, are they still chasing you? How about I probe for information on your behalf?" Yang Qiqi offered.
"Absolutely not!" Wei Zhao refused outright and hastily warned her: "Qiqi, don't be careless. They may not dare do anything to you, but you are connected to me after all, and it would be bad if they grew suspicious. What you need to do is go to the association on your own initiative and admit a fault, then cut all ties with me—understand?"
"Ah? That..." Yang Qiqi was a little reluctant. Pretending to have no relation to Wei Zhao was one thing, but cutting ties completely was a bit much...
"Qiqi, be good! I'll be relying on you to gather information in the future. You can't afford to get into trouble." Wei Zhao said with a stern expression.
"All right..." Yang Qiqi knew Wei Zhao probably still had matters to entrust to her in the future, so she could only nod.
"Also, that blue crystal—if the Overseas Cultivators Association asks, don't say you bought it for me. Say you bought it for yourself." Wei Zhao instructed. "And if they ask what you want it for, tell them you heard blue crystals can be used to forge divine weapons, so you bought it to collect, and later you'll see whether you can find someone to forge a divine weapon for you."
"Got it." Yang Qiqi nodded without asking more.
"Also, if they ask why Xu Shilan and the rest of us attended the auction, say it was you who wanted to go, and that we were merely accompanying you to have a look around—but that you didn't see anything good enough, so you didn't bid." Wei Zhao said.