Chapter 4984 — Not an Opponent
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
"The Heavenly Elixir Pavilion is truly unfathomable!" Only now did the crowd of onlookers boil over in earnest. To be sure, there was no direct link between doing business and being powerful, but in this world where the weak were meat for the strong, people instinctively placed their trust in the mighty—at least their words carried more weight, offered more assurance.
Wei Zhao had been here barely an hour: first he had slapped Diao Huanshan, a late Nascent Soul cultivator, flying; now he had kicked Zhao Youque, a mid-stage Mystic Ascension expert, out of sight. His strength was simply outrageous—and in effect, he had just run two advertisements for the Heavenly Elixir Pavilion. Far from losing popularity, the place had gained a good deal.
It is human nature to revere the strong. With such a formidable figure at its head, the Heavenly Elixir Pavilion naturally carried enormous cachet. Many of those now converging from every direction had come for a glimpse of the great expert's face, and with the least bit of guidance, every one of them was a ready-made customer.
Outside the market street, a bedraggled figure hauled himself up out of a heap of scattered refuse—none other than Zhao Youque, kicked there by Wei Zhao. For the Morning Star Academy's sake, Wei Zhao had after all left a measure of leeway; otherwise he would by now have been a corpse no one bothered to claim.
Even so, Zhao Youque had taken no small injury, and the shock in his heart was near unbearable. He was actually beginning to half believe that Wei Zhao had some connection to the Morning Star Academy—after all, a genius who could so easily challenge above his level even at the Mystic Ascension stage was rare indeed here in Middle Island and the other Cloud-Tier Isles. Only in the Eastern Continent were such people at all common.
Limping back to the Famous Medicine Sect, he found Tong Yangxi keeping Zheng Dongyang company over tea. The two of them were badly startled at the sight of him. Diao Huanshan had come back in just such a state before—and now this mid-stage Mystic Ascension expert had fared no better?
"What happened? Don't tell me even you were no match for that Wei Zhao?" Zheng Dongyang frowned, a note of anger in his voice. He had just been boasting to Tong Yangxi that with Zhao Youque's strength the matter would be settled in no time—who could have foreseen such an outcome? It was slapping his own face right in front of Tong Yangxi. Small wonder he was vexed.
"Master Zheng, I am incompetent. Indeed, I was no match for him," Zhao Youque said, shamefaced beyond measure.
"How can this be? Didn't Diao Huanshan say Wei Zhao was only at the early Mystic Ascension stage? With your mid-stage Mystic Ascension strength, Elder Zhao, you couldn't handle him? Did Diao Huanshan misjudge him—that good-for-nothing, more bungle than success!" Tong Yangxi's face darkened.
He had never once looked squarely at the Heavenly Elixir Pavilion; for the past two years it was only the Heavenly Dao Walker's deterrent that had kept him from acting rashly. Now the Heavenly Dao Walker was gone, and he had brought in Eastern Continent experts like Zheng Dongyang and Zhao Youque besides—dealing with a paltry Heavenly Elixir Pavilion ought to have been a trifling matter. How had it turned into such a series of twists and turns?
"Er—well, you can't really blame Vice Steward Diao. That Wei Zhao's cultivation really is only at the early Mystic Ascension stage. It's just that the man can fight above his level—no small matter at all." Zhao Youque still felt a lingering dread at the memory of their exchange. The gap in strength between them had been far too great: he was plainly the one at mid-stage Mystic Ascension, yet before the man he had felt as helpless as a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator.