Chapter 4818 — A Sparring Partner
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 3
The two of them, pursuer and pursued, raced on for a full night, one behind the other, and by the time dawn broke, Wei Zhao found himself deep in a vast, boundless wilderness of ancient forest, with no village ahead and no inn behind—utterly removed from the sphere of the academy's influence.
The Venerable Xishan surveyed his surroundings with a silent, cold laugh. He had assumed the boy would try to slip secretly into the main city, in which case he would truly have had some trouble on his hands. But as things stood now, the boy had picked out his own burial ground—and saved him every bit of effort.
Within a hundred li there was not so much as a ghost to be seen. No matter how great a commotion was raised, no one would come to interfere. He truly did not know whether to call the boy a fool or to praise him for his good sense!
Just as the Venerable Xishan was about to make his move, Wei Zhao ahead suddenly came to a halt. That gave the old man quite a start, and he could not help growing suspicious. What was the boy up to now?
"This place will do," Wei Zhao said mildly. "The feng shui isn't much to speak of, but it's more than enough to bury a tail. Come out."
The Venerable Xishan was momentarily stunned. All along the way he had followed with no small care, keeping several li behind so as not to startle the quarry, and he had taken great pains to conceal his own aura. And yet the boy had actually noticed him?!
Impossible. The boy had to be bluffing, hoping to get lucky and scare him out. The Venerable Xishan had already meant to strike, but now he changed his mind. In the spirit of a cat toying with a mouse, he would see how long Wei Zhao could keep up this one-man show.
"Heh, still skulking about and refusing to come out—are you fooling yourself?" Wei Zhao grinned. Then, without the slightest reservation, he revealed the strength of the late Nascent Soul stage and said coolly, "Hurry up and come out and fight me. I'd reckon our strength is about even, so let's skip the dawdling and get straight to it. You've been sneaking and hiding for days—are all you devil cultivators as fond of the dark as you are?"
Only then did the Venerable Xishan realize he had indeed been discovered. Yet inwardly he could not help but marvel. He had concealed his aura so thoroughly—how had the boy figured out that he was a devil cultivator?
Suppressing his puzzlement, the Venerable Xishan immediately appeared without hesitation, releasing his full, formidable aura, and sneered, "Hmph. Are your eyes failing you, boy? This old man is late Mystic Ascension, and you are merely late Nascent Soul. How are we 'about even'? We're worlds apart!"
"Worlds apart or not, we'll know once we fight. Enough of your drivel. My hands have been itching for a long time." As he spoke, Wei Zhao cracked his knuckles, pop pop pop. He had expected the creature to strike long ago; he had not thought it would drag on like a turtle until now. Though he had to admit—this turtle could certainly run.
"Itching, are they? Hmph, I'd say it's your hide that's itching for death, you reckless dog, daring to provoke even our Old Xishan Sect. Today I, the Venerable Xishan, will take your head to celebrate the old sect's founding!" the Venerable Xishan jeered.
"Old Xishan Sect? You're with the Xishan devil faction too?" Wei Zhao was taken aback. He had only heard from the ghost thing that this was a devil cultivator; he had never expected to run into the Xishan devil faction all the way out here in the Eastern Continent. Truly, enemies are bound to meet on a narrow road. He had assumed the creature was simply a killer hired by Ren Zhongyuan and his lot to deal with him.
"Hmph. To have provoked our Old Xishan Sect and still lived this long—count that as your good fortune. But today your luck runs out. Prepare to die!" With that, the Venerable Xishan thrust out his claw and grabbed toward Wei Zhao.