Chapter 3679 — Internal Strife, Part 2
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
Meng Zhou glanced over and curled his lip. "So long as I'm guaranteed first place, I'll cut you a share. Now get moving, you dawdling old woman!"
"Fine!" Li Zhengming swallowed his anger in silence and stepped straight out to meet Qiao Hongcai. "Save your strength. Just give it up—there's no escaping us."
"You never know until you try!" As Qiao Hongcai spoke, the last vestiges of true qi in his body gathered in an instant upon his palms. Iron Cold Palm, Twentieth Form!
To prevent mishaps, the trial forbade the use of heaven-grade divine weapons and treasure blades. And of course, someone of Qiao Hongcai's background could never have owned such a thing in the first place.
In a flash, colossal blades of flame—visible to the naked eye—blotted out the sky and came crashing down with a thunderous roar!
This was the trump card he had kept hidden at the bottom of his box. At full power it could have gravely wounded even an unguarded heaven-grade grand completion expert; weakened as it now was, it was still not to be taken lightly.
"Go, Xiao Che!" Qiao Hongcai roared through gritted teeth. His strike was crashing down over the heads of Li Zhengming and Meng Zhou—surely the two of them would have to fall back, and that would clear the road for Xiao Che!
Yet before his voice had even faded, Li Zhengming did not dodge beneath the blaze of the flame blades. Instead he advanced to meet it, his face expressionless, and without the slightest warning drove a punch straight forward. Heaven Frost Fist!
Whoosh—!
A mighty, surging current of white true qi howled past, and in an instant the sky-covering flame blades vanished as though they had never been, leaving only shattered ice crystals strewn across the ground!
"I told you there was no use wasting your strength. You're no match for me now," Li Zhengming said, eyes half-lidded, regarding the dumbstruck Qiao Hongcai.
Both were twentieth forms, yet Qiao Hongcai's flame blades had been utterly routed by his Heaven Frost Fist—owing partly to the gap in their true strength, but above all to Qiao Hongcai's wretched condition.
For some reason, though, Li Zhengming did not strike at Qiao Hongcai himself. He had merely broken his Flame Blade Twentieth Form and nothing more.
Yet just as he moved to shatter the flame blades, Xiao Che—who had been following behind Qiao Hongcai—vanished into thin air. By the time his figure reappeared, he had already slipped neatly around behind Li Zhengming.
So this Xiao Che was no simple character either! Li Zhengming silently sharpened his guard, yet made no move to strike again. He had already fulfilled his task by blocking Qiao Hongcai; to go after Xiao Che now would earn him no gratitude from the likes of Meng Zhou—only resentment.
"Li Zhengming, what the hell are you doing? Letting someone slip right past you that easily—useless!" Meng Zhou was cursing and grumbling from the rear.
Li Zhengming frowned and ignored him. Were it not for his deference to Meng Jueming, that managing senior brother, he would long since have lost his temper and struck out at this creature Meng Zhou. Relying on a bit of kinship with Meng Jueming, the man ordered him about like a servant—did this thing truly fancy himself a lord?
If he were genuinely powerful, that would be one thing. But the fellow's strength was pitifully meager; he had once been effortlessly defeated by Wei Zhao with a single move before everyone's eyes. Heaven knew where he found the gall to act as leader of the Azure Cloud Pavilion's new disciples.
Still, grievances aside, Li Zhengming could only pinch his nose and endure it. After all, he would have to depend on Meng Jueming's goodwill going forward.
"Doesn't matter. Since that waste Li Zhengming couldn't stop you, I suppose I'll have to trouble myself to do it in person. Time to lose in style!" Meng Zhou watched Xiao Che closing swiftly on him, a cold sneer of contempt on his face.