Chapter 4317 — The Price of Transgression
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
Compared with cutthroat competition of that caliber, the trifling troubles Wei Zhao had encountered at the Threefold Pavilion of North Island were not worth mentioning. At the Threefold Pavilion he could still play the fool and feign ignorance, pretending to be a pig to eat the tiger. But if he went to the Eastern Continent, such tricks would not even be worth considering. The only option would be to fight to the bitter end.
Strength! Wei Zhao abruptly clenched his fists. To have fallen to the point of needing to look over his shoulder at every turn—it was all because his current strength was simply too weak. In backwaters like North Island he could still throw his weight around, but to go to the Eastern Continent, this level of power was far from enough!
Otherwise, if he too were an unrivalled Mountain-Opening Stage expert, he would have nothing whatsoever to worry about. He could simply step forward right now, take Wang Xinyan away before everyone's eyes, and no one would dare say a word.
He believed that even a figure like Ling Yuanqing would never rashly make an enemy of a Mountain-Opening Stage titan. On the contrary, he would be courteous and negotiate amicably.
But for now, all of that was a daydream. Wei Zhao could do nothing at all—he could not even acknowledge Wang Xinyan openly. He could only watch from afar below the stage and console himself with the thought that there would be time enough later.
The one thing that comforted Wei Zhao was that Wang Xinyan was faring reasonably well at present, with no danger to speak of, and he need not worry overmuch about her. Even if he refrained from acknowledging her openly this time out of caution, it would do no harm.
Thus Wei Zhao became all the more determined to abandon the notion of going to the Eastern Continent. If he wished to be reunited with Wang Xinyan, his pressing priority was to raise his strength. Only when he possessed sufficiently formidable power could his relationship with Wang Xinyan be made public.
Yet just as Wei Zhao resolved himself, a sudden commotion erupted at the selection grounds.
In the normal order of things, a cultivator ahead of him was due to be tested. Before he had even stepped into the testing area, for some unknown reason, he hesitated and faltered for a moment—then suddenly changed his mind on the spot and said to an academy staff member beside him, "I'm not taking part in the selection."
With that, the man tossed his test token aside and turned to leave. But at that very moment, the academy staff member beside him abruptly made his move.
"Hmph. You come and go as you please, do you? You think this is your own home?" With a cold snort from the academy staff member, before the man could even reply, a surge of powerful true qi shot skyward—and without another word, it slammed straight into the man's body.
The man was merely an ordinary mid-Foundation Establishment expert, while this academy staff member was a genuine mid-Nascent Soul expert. The gulf in their strength was so vast there was simply no comparison.
Caught completely off guard, the man had no chance even to react, let alone defend himself, before the powerful true qi struck him. With a miserable howl, his whole body flew out like a kite with its string cut, sailing clean over the heads of the crowd for dozens of yards before smashing a deep crater into the rocky ground. Above the heads of the onlookers, a trail of ghastly blood mist lingered.
The entire crowd erupted into an uproar, every last one of them frozen like wooden statues, staring at that unlucky wretch who had been blasted away—now sprawled on the ground in utter disarray, twitching and struggling without pause, unable to rise again for a long while. (To be continued...)