Chapter 5163 — Summoned by the Center
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"There's no point in fighting on..." Bing Wushuang shook his head with a bitter smile. That one punch had been enough to make him recognize the vast, unbridgeable gulf in strength between them. He did not know what realm the man belonged to—did not even know whether he was a cultivator at all, for from first to last he had sensed not the slightest ripple of true qi—but he already knew he had no hope whatsoever.
"Just as well. Injuring you for real would only be a nuisance." Lin Dongfang nodded. He knew Wei Zhao could heal a person swiftly, but a punch like that would leave Bing Wushuang badly hurt, and even Wei Zhao could not restore him in short order—which would easily invite suspicion.
"What do you mean?" Bing Wushuang frowned. Although his heart had been full of resentment ever since he was crippled last time, from the moment he recognized the overwhelming gap between them just now, that resentment had dissolved into nothing. Such was human nature: hatred existed only between people of roughly equal standing. Once two people were utterly beyond comparison, all that remained was looking up in awe and dread, and hatred and the like naturally became as fleeting as clouds.
"I mean, it's time you had a new employer. Why not give it some thought?" Wei Zhao walked over and said with a faint smile, "Don't worry about that poison gas the Center uses to threaten you. I can take care of it."
"Are you joking with me?" Bing Wushuang's expression darkened, though inwardly he was shaken to the core. How could this thing know about all that?!
"Whether I'm joking, you'll know soon enough." As he spoke, Wei Zhao laid a hand on him and, with practiced ease, used the five-element killing qi to strangle and destroy the poison gas lurking in the other man's dantian.
With Lin Dongfang standing by to cow him, Bing Wushuang dared not shake off Wei Zhao's grip even though he resisted. When Qin Yuanming and the others had had their poison gas strangled, every one of them had been in such agony they wished they were dead; yet apart from a somewhat ugly look on his face, Bing Wushuang did not make a single sound from start to finish.
"You... just what sort of divine being are you?" This was already the second time in a very short span that Bing Wushuang had asked this, because he had just discovered that the poison gas which had left him utterly helpless had, in the space of a few short moments, truly been wiped out clean by Wei Zhao. Such ability was simply inconceivable; and counting the wondrous methods the man had displayed before, he was truly unfathomable!
"I said it before—that question is for you to ponder at your leisure. I trust it won't disappoint you." Wei Zhao could not help but smile, then said, "I know you joined the Center because you had no choice. Now that the poison gas no longer threatens you, why not make your choice over again?"
"Do I have any other choice?" Bing Wushuang asked in return.
"You're clever. No, you don't." Wei Zhao answered without the slightest hesitation. If he had meant to give the man a second option, why would he have gone to all this trouble?
Ever since he had returned to this transfer archipelago, Bing Wushuang had been one of his primary surveillance targets, and the final conclusion was that this man was highly rational and pragmatic, with no real loyalties to speak of—a fact evident from the way he had agreed to join the Center without a moment's hesitation. It was precisely for this reason that Wei Zhao had marked Bing Wushuang as a target.