Chapter 4980 — Wei Zhao Has Returned
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 3
Wei Shenjin was so furious he nearly rolled up his sleeves to strike, but in the end Tianchan and Xueli stopped him with a look. There was no expert present capable of holding the situation down; with only the three of them, it would be hard to gain any advantage—indeed, they might well suffer badly. And if Diao Huanshan used it as a pretext to tear down Tiandan Pavilion's signboard, then two years of labor would have been wasted for nothing.
Seeing that Wei Shenjin had not lost his head, Diao Huanshan could not help but feel a little disappointed. The guess of Tianchan and the others had been right: he had indeed harbored the intent to make an issue of it. After all, Tiandan Pavilion's very existence was bound to steal a great deal of Mingyao Sect's business. If he could seize this chance to smash Tiandan Pavilion, that would settle the matter once and for all—and even if he had to pay some price for it, it would be worth it.
"Heh heh, I do not mind telling you—this old man is an expert of the late Nascent Soul stage! Were Tianxingdao here, that would be one thing, but he is not. Now let this old man see who dares contend with me!" As he spoke, Diao Huanshan unleashed his aura, and the crowd around him was given a start.
No wonder the crowd reacted so. Had this been the Eastern Continent, where experts gathered in throngs, a mere late Nascent Soul cultivator would have counted for nothing—after all, any passerby might well be an expert of the Xuan Sheng stage, or even a titan of the Kaishan stage. Who would fear a late Nascent Soul expert?
But this was Middle Island, where a Nascent Soul expert was already a rare and formidable figure, and not one to be trifled with. As for the stronger Xuan Sheng experts, they by and large kept to their doors—one might go ten days or half a month without laying eyes on a single one. Here and now, Diao Huanshan, a late Nascent Soul cultivator, was all but an invincible presence.
Tianchan and Xueli could not help but knit their brows, and Wei Shenjin had no choice but to fall back. There was no help for it—he was no match for Diao Huanshan at all, and charging in on a surge of hot blood would only make matters worse.
At the sight, Diao Huanshan laughed heartily in his triumph. Yet amid the crowd, Wei Zhao was rather puzzled. Tianxingdao had always been a figure of immense deterrence on Cloud Terrace Island—why did it seem his name no longer carried weight? That Diao Huanshan should not fear Tianxingdao coming to settle accounts with him—what was going on here?
Wei Zhao did not dwell on it, however. Even if Diao Huanshan was a late Nascent Soul expert, such a one could no longer enter his present field of vision.
These days, even Zhuang Yifan, chairman of the Yellow Rank Academy Alliance and a late Pidi cultivator, addressed him as a brother, and even in conversation carried a measure of deference. Academy heads like Ling Yuanqing treated him with even greater respect. At Wei Zhao's present station, there were truly few left on Middle Island whom he would deem worthy of notice.
Wei Zhao had refrained from acting just now in order to first understand the situation clearly. But now that he had heard enough to grasp the gist, there was naturally no need to keep listening to the rest of the nonsense.
"You may get lost now." Wei Zhao stepped out from the crowd, not even granting Diao Huanshan a proper look, and smiled faintly at Tianchan and the others, who had been cornered into speechlessness: "I am back."
"Ah!" Tianchan and Xueli were instantly overjoyed. They had counted the stars and watched for the moon, waiting here for Wei Zhao a full two years, yet never a word of certain news had come—and now, in this most humiliating of moments, Wei Zhao had appeared!