Chapter 4255 — Not Going Back for Now
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 3
"It is one kind of evil cultivator among you human cultivators. You came here this time to hunt down Wu Baoliang, did you not? This thing ought to be an evil cultivator—only he cultivated with the fresh blood of virgins, whereas this one before us cultivates with the spirit essence of spirit beasts!" The ghost thing's tone carried a few notes of grim, chilling killing intent.
Whatever else one might say, it was, in the end, an elder of the spirit beast clan. And the existence of any evil cultivator at all meant that a great many spirit beasts must inevitably fall victim to them—not even their spirit essence spared, leaving them no peace even in death.
The ghost thing was not of a disposition that hated evil as though it were a personal enemy. If it were merely the ordinary mutual slaughter of the world—whether between humans and spirit beasts, or between spirit beast and spirit beast—it could not be bothered to pay it any mind at all. For the weak are prey to the strong and the fit survive while the unfit are culled; this is a natural law that has held since the beginning of time. Even if one died, one could only say one's skills were inferior to another's, and there was nothing much to resent.
But evil cultivators were different. The very existence of such people was already a violation of the natural order. Never mind that heaven's principles would not tolerate them—even if the Lord of Heaven himself could stomach them, the ghost thing would be the first to refuse them mercy.
"I understand. But why would Chu Bubai fabricate such a reason? Could it be that he himself is an evil cultivator?" As Wei Zhao communicated with the ghost thing, he quietly, without betraying a thing, glanced toward Chu Bubai ahead.
"That I could not say. He has not revealed his true strength. Perhaps he does not understand and is merely pretending to; perhaps he knows full well but, for some reason, is deliberately concealing it. Either way, you had best keep your guard up." The ghost thing chuckled with a cackling laugh.
"Mm, I know." Wei Zhao nodded inwardly. He had already felt that there was something sinister hidden in Chu Bubai's heart, and now, with the ghost thing's reminder, that feeling had only grown stronger.
As the saying goes, unsolicited kindness means either treachery or theft. And in truth, setting aside all these oddities, the mere fact that Chu Bubai had suddenly shared news of the infant ginseng with outsiders like themselves—people with no connection to him whatsoever—was already a very questionable business in itself.
Even if it truly was as Chu Bubai himself claimed, that he needed more people to help him search for the infant ginseng, still—good fortune should not flow to outsiders. Why, with such a splendid opportunity, would he hand it to strangers with whom he had not the slightest acquaintance, rather than to his own kin and friends? Surely his popularity could not be so wretchedly poor that he could not even scrape together a handful of people?
Matters like this, in fact, were plain at a glance to any clear-eyed observer. The reason Guo Dengtao, Wang Feng, and the others had taken the bait was, apart from Chu Bubai being rather skilled at hoodwinking people, that they themselves were too close to the matter to see it clearly—their eyes dazzled by the supreme temptation of the infant ginseng.
Wei Zhao, however, had always kept his state of mind well in hand, able to stand back and observe with a cool eye. Only thus could he take in, one by one, all these oddities about Chu Bubai.
"Senior Ghost, have you been in seclusion all this time?" Wei Zhao asked, changing the subject.
Strictly speaking, the ground beneath their feet was now the territory of South Island—only at its very edge. Wei Zhao could not help but feel a little curious. Now that the ghost thing had suddenly "awakened," did it perhaps wish to go back and have a look at the spirit beast clan?