Chapter 4245 — Luck Is Also a Kind of Strength
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
Guo Dengtao and the others were struck dumb on the spot, Chu Bubai included. Feng Hongyu in particular stood there with her mouth hanging open and taking a good while to shut it—that goggle-eyed look of hers really was a sight to behold.
A spirit jade card was not something just anyone could get hold of. It demanded formidable strength, and an even more formidable background besides—after all, the Merchant Alliance did not hand out its recognition lightly. Even for a cultivator of the Golden Core stage, had Wei Zhao never crossed paths with Hong Zhong, he might well have gone without a spirit jade card to this very day.
And among the others present, the only one who truly possessed a spirit jade card was Chu Bubai alone. Feng Hongyu and the rest had none at all—otherwise Guo Dengtao and Wang Feng would never have gone to such lengths, hauling a whole sack of spirit jade all this way.
With that, the way everyone looked at Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao changed entirely. Chu Bubai said nothing, but he sized the two of them up afresh with a meaningful glint in his eye, while that woman Feng Hongyu, though she still muttered and grumbled under her breath, no longer dared show her contempt as baldly and brazenly as before.
After all, producing a spirit jade card meant that even if Wei Zhao and his companion were weak in cultivation, they at least had solid backing behind them—perhaps even core disciples of some great sect or mighty clan. Pushed too far, they might summon some patron or protector, and that would be no small trouble.
Guo Dengtao's expression, by contrast, was one of some astonishment, and one could plainly see a touch of delight in it—which showed that the two he had recruited were not mere warm bodies to fill a quota. It showed that his judgment was not so bad after all.
As for Wang Feng, beyond a flicker of surprise there was nothing else to read on his face. From first to last his manner toward the pair had never changed—not as warm as Guo Dengtao, not as scornful as Feng Hongyu, but even-handed, neither close nor distant.
In truth, among them all, Huang Xiaotao—though she had followed Wei Zhao the whole way—was no less astonished than any of them at that moment. If anything, she was more so.
She had been at Wei Zhao's side for some time now, yet never once had she seen him go out of his way to earn spirit jade. The things he busied himself with day in and day out had nothing to do with any of it. And yet here he was, casually swiping a card as if it were nothing—she had been on tenterhooks the whole time just now.
Still, even if she was puzzled, there was no chance she would put the question to Wei Zhao right there in front of outsiders. Wei Zhao was the man she had settled on, and she had seen enough of his uncanny tricks that by comparison this little matter of spirit jade counted for nothing at all.
In any case, the affair only confirmed what Huang Xiaotao had believed all along: so long as she followed Wei Zhao, no matter what happened, she felt at peace—she felt secure.
"I never would have guessed it—Brother Ling Yi, you two hail from Beidao, yet you're not hard up in the least! To pull out ten thousand spirit jade without so much as batting an eye, and a spirit jade card to boot—that's really something!" Guo Dengtao said, letting out a breath of relief.
"Ha, the spirit jade is just what I've scraped together bit by bit over years of missions. As for this card, I merely happened to know a friend—pure luck, nothing more," Wei Zhao said with a faint smile.
"Luck is part of strength too, you know!" Guo Dengtao said, a note of envy in his voice.
At these words, Chu Bubai and the others turned their eyes to Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao, their expressions tinged with something more peculiar still. Privately they began to suspect this fellow was not so simple as he appeared—but they said nothing further, for they would be setting out at once.