Chapter 4662 — The Restless Haunting
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
By the time Wei Zhao arrived at the plaza with Han Jingyi and Shangguan Lan'er in tow, registration for the West Island Trial had already officially begun. The process was simple: all one had to do was sign one's name on the trial roster. So long as one's cultivation did not exceed the Nascent Soul stage, there was virtually no other threshold—making this, by all accounts, the most lenient set of conditions in the history of the West Island Trial.
Naturally, there was still a minimum floor of strength required to take part. At the very least one had to be a Golden Core expert; otherwise, even if one went to the ruins of the ancient battlefield, it would be nothing but throwing one's life away, utterly meaningless.
Wei Zhao glanced at the presiding platform. To his faint disappointment, Ning Xuefei was nowhere to be seen, nor did Ning Shanghe, the Island Lord of West Island, put in an appearance. The one presiding over this West Island Trial was the Vice Island Lord, Yan Xinlan.
"Only experts below the Nascent Soul stage may take part in the trial. There is no use in trying to conceal your strength and slip through—this is not judged by us by human reckoning, but by a special teleportation formation. The formation is most peculiar: only those below the Nascent Soul stage can be transported by it. Any guest whose cultivation lies above that need not waste their effort, lest they make fools of themselves." Yan Xinlan spoke calmly as she surveyed the bustling crowd of registrants.
At her words, a few people in the crowd indeed withdrew with awkward, sheepish expressions. They might not have come to compete for Ning Xuefei's hand; likely they simply wanted to take a turn through the ruins of the ancient battlefield. After all, it held not only all manner of rare treasures, but—with a bit of luck—ancient inheritances as well. Even Xuan Sheng stage experts would be green with envy.
Wei Zhao smiled faintly at the sight. Where heavy profit beckoned, one truly found every sort of person. Turning to say a word to Han Jingyi and Shangguan Lan'er, he squeezed through the crowd and stepped up to register.
"Brother Ling!" Just as Wei Zhao was signing his name, someone suddenly clapped him on the shoulder from behind. It was Qi Wenmo.
"So you've come." Wei Zhao turned and greeted him, and only then noticed a woman standing beside Qi Wenmo. One look at Qi Wenmo's somewhat embarrassed expression and he understood at once: this woman must be the one this fellow held dear—none other than the daughter of the Ship King.
Wei Zhao's interest was immediately piqued, and he could not help giving the woman another glance. He found her dressed most plainly, utterly inconspicuous in the crowd. Even her features could only be called ordinary; taken as a whole, she gave the impression of a wholly unremarkable woman, with not a single outstanding quality to be found. Set beside Shangguan Lan'er, Ning Xuefei, or Han Jingyi, she could not bear comparison in the slightest.
Yet Wei Zhao soon spotted something amiss. Though her flaw was tiny, it could not escape his eyes—her appearance had been disguised!
An ordinary person would have found it hard to notice, but Wei Zhao did not judge people by their looks alone. He paid more heed to their bearing. These days a face was easy to disguise, but bearing was very hard to change. At the very least, there was an obvious gap between this woman's bearing and the ordinary face she now wore. On that alone he could conclude that she had certainly altered her appearance.
Still, that was hardly surprising. A female cultivator traveling abroad was inherently in far greater danger than a male cultivator, and she was the daughter of the Ship King besides. This time she was on a secret mission as well, so disguising herself was only a normal precaution.
"Hello, I'm Wei Zhao. A friend of Brother Qi's." Wei Zhao shot Qi Wenmo a teasing look and introduced himself on the spot.