Chapter 11624 — Just Stay Stubborn a Little Longer

Han Niansan was at his wit's end. "Why must you be so stubborn?"

In his mind, this was plainly a matter that benefited both sides—yet for the sake of such an empty, insubstantial notion, the man insisted on digging in his heels, leaving both parties bruised and broken.

Utterly brainless.

Outside, Mr. Gu had heard every word of their exchange, and his heart grew all the lighter for it.

Were he truly to face Han Niansan head-on, he had to admit his prospects were hardly certain.

Never mind that he was a fine hand from the Inner Royal Court; Han Niansan was an ancestor proper, one who received the incense and offerings of the Han Princely House. The sheer amplification of power that alone conferred was enough to leave him gazing hopelessly after.

As things stood now, what he feared most was Wei Zhao agreeing to the ancestral rite, which would undo all the groundwork he had laid in following the current.

Conversely, the longer time dragged on, and the more of the ancestors' fortune he devoured, the more firmly the initiative rested in his hands.

"Stay stubborn, then. Stay stubborn a little longer, and you can all be buried here together."

Mr. Gu chortled with a strange, grating laugh.

It wasn't only Han Niansan; even facing Wei Zhao and that whole lot, he actually felt a certain unease in his heart.

After all, he too had seen with perfect clarity that scene which had erupted in the Nightfall Palace earlier.

Confident as he was in his own strength, to claim absolute certainty if he truly came face-to-face with Wei Zhao and the rest would have been plain nonsense.

Watching the ancestors' fortune drain away ever faster, the hearts of everyone in the Han Princely House sank to the very bottom.

They could not help but look to Wei Zhao once more.

Yet Wei Zhao still showed not the slightest intention of agreeing to the ancestral rite.

Han Jiechen dared not let a word of it show on his face, but inwardly he could not suppress a wild laugh.

"I've seen fools before, but never one like Wei Zhao—running into a teammate that useless, you lot only had it coming!"

But before his laughter had even faded, Wei Zhao suddenly moved.

As they watched Wei Zhao stride toward the great doors of the ancestral shrine, Han Niansan and the others all froze as one.

What was this supposed to mean?

An instant later, Wei Zhao set one foot beyond the threshold.

The whole hall went still.

Not only the Han Princely House, but even their own people—Wei Baizhan and the rest—all wore expressions of astonishment.

They had not been idle just now, either; every one of them had tried many times over, exhausting every method they could think of and plenty they could not.

Facts proved that the grand ancestral-worship formation really was no empty boast.

Even at their present level of power, there was simply no way around it.

Who could have imagined that Wei Zhao would just stroll out as though nothing were the matter?

Han Niansan opened his mouth and asked, dazed, "How did you get out?"

Wei Zhao glanced back at him. "I don't believe I ever said I couldn't."

"..."

The logic was sound enough, and for a moment Han Niansan had no answer at all.

Equally dumbstruck was that Mr. Gu standing outside.

Wei Zhao looked him up and down. "You were looking for me?"

Mr. Gu's face was a mask of bewilderment, ten thousand horses stampeding through his mind.

Who the hell was looking for you?

What made his position so awkward now was that the Han Princely House's ancestral fortune was still being devoured; if he cut it off by force, he would inevitably suffer a violent backlash.

And when Han Niansan came charging out, any hope of withdrawing from this place intact would be a fool's dream.

Yet if he did not cut it off, Wei Zhao was right there, watching like a tiger eyeing its prey.

If the man suddenly landed a vicious blow, that too would leave him spitting blood—or worse, gravely sapped of his vital essence.

Steadying his mind, Mr. Gu said in a low voice, "Young Hero Lin, what a pleasure. Your brilliance yesterday was much admired. If Young Hero Lin is so inclined, why not divide the Han Princely House between the two of us?"

Wei Zhao raised an eyebrow. "Divide the Han Princely House? But they're making me the Prince of Han. If I can take it all, why would I split it with you?"

That one sentence left the man speechless.

Whatever else might be said, at least in the matter of luring and pressuring Wei Zhao into becoming the Prince of Han, Han Niansan had been absolutely in earnest—otherwise he would never have gone to such lengths.

Mr. Gu was still unwilling to give up.

"Young Hero Lin, there is much you do not know. These old relics of the Han Princely House are notorious for their treachery. How could their words carry any credibility?"

"If you truly believe them, you will have fallen into their trap."

"Once they have squeezed every last ounce of use out of you, just wait—they will burn the bridge the moment you have crossed it, and cheat you to death without a second thought."

Hearing this earnest counsel, Wei Zhao could not help but look peculiar. "You sound like a man with experience. What's the matter—did they cheat you too?"

Mr. Gu gave a scoffing laugh. "For any power, especially one of the Seven Princely Houses' stature, plundering another's ancestral fortune is a blood feud that admits no end. If I didn't have a hatred as deep as a sea of blood with the Han Princely House, why would I take such a risk?"

Wei Zhao looked at him. "Sounds like there's a story there."

Mr. Gu sighed and opened the floodgates of his tale. "It's a long story..."

Only for Wei Zhao to cut him off. "Then don't tell it."

"Huh?"

Mr. Gu choked on his words once more. What the hell—this bastard wasn't playing by the rules at all.

He had been hoping to use the chance to spin out his story and buy himself a little time.

Since Wei Zhao had already emerged, his being interrupted was a foregone conclusion. The only thing left to fight for now was to stall for time and devour a bit more of the ancestral fortune.

Every last scrap counted.

Ancestral fortune, after all, was a zero-sum thing—the more he swallowed, the less remained for the Han Princely House, and the greater his odds of victory.

Unfortunately, Wei Zhao had no intention of giving him that chance.

Wei Zhao merely stood there, doing nothing at all, and yet Mr. Gu already felt an immense pressure bearing down on him.

Mr. Gu was secretly alarmed.

This was no tangible aura of intimidation—it was pure, formless psychological deterrence.

As a dignified early-stage Heaven-rank Venerable, he would not claim to have no match, but even amid the Inner Royal Court, that den of monsters, among all the monsters he had encountered, precious few had ever made him feel this way.

The crucial thing was, monsters of that caliber never left the Inner Royal Court at all.

An illusion! It had to be an illusion!

Mr. Gu hastily steadied his mind and reassessed Wei Zhao's cultivation realm.

A mid-stage Earth-rank Venerable.

Mr. Gu immediately relaxed.

True, a realm on paper was just a realm on paper—for certain monsters who treated cross-rank challenges like meat and drink, actual combat strength could never be measured by the realm written on the page.

But a realm on paper was still no lie; it was the baseline of a person's strength, and however strong one's hidden cards might be, they were still naturally constrained by that baseline.

A mid-stage Earth-rank Venerable—even granting him the most generous estimate, bumping him up two whole realms, would at most put him at the level of a late-stage Earth-rank Venerable.

Compared with him, a genuine, bona fide early-stage Heaven-rank Venerable, the gap was still a hundred and eight thousand li wide.

All that fuss, and the fellow wasn't even a match for his underlings!

And then he saw Wei Zhao draw the Demon-Devouring Sword.