Chapter 11656 — Stop, All of You

If things kept going this way, it was a foregone conclusion that everyone present would be completely overrun by the crimson apes.

"Stop! Let's all stop!"

The Third Ancestor of the Prince of Qi's Estate could only look to Wei Zhao once more.

Locked in this war of attrition, stopping carried no small risk—but it was still far better than sitting here waiting to die.

Once they stopped, all they had to do was hold out until the ancestral hall's sealing time limit they had set earlier expired, and they would have a chance to escape with their lives.

As for what came after, that would no longer be a matter for one household—it would be a matter for the entire Inner Royal Court.

In the end, Wei Zhao replied in a low, measured voice: "It's not that I can't stop. But I don't trust the three of you. What do we do about that?"

"..."

The Third Ancestor of the Prince of Qi's Estate was struck speechless once again.

It was that same insoluble prisoner's dilemma.

The tall elder, half his head gone, endured the pain and said, "We're all in the same boat now. Sabotaging you is sabotaging ourselves. Don't you understand something that simple?"

Wei Zhao nodded. "I understand, I understand. But rather than take that kind of risk, I have a better plan."

The others perked up at once. "Tell us."

Wei Zhao said evenly, "The risk of both sides stopping together is considerable. But if one of us dies, this deadlock dissolves on its own—doesn't it?"

The others froze, then, as if on cue, turned to look at the tall elder.

The tall elder sensed danger at once. "What do you mean by that?"

The short elder and the thin elder exchanged a glance. Neither said a word.

Wei Zhao said softly, "I'm only making a suggestion. How you choose is up to you."

With that, he turned his gaze elsewhere.

As for Zhang Tailing, he was still mired in self-reproach and would hardly concern himself with the internal affairs of the Prince of Qi's Estate's three ancestors.

Qi Zhuiyun hesitated, then silently looked away as well.

"What are you doing? Don't listen to this brat's poison!"

The tall elder instantly grasped their intent and panicked completely.

But no matter how he screamed, he could not change his fate.

Three seconds later, Wei Zhao and the other two ancestors of the Prince of Qi's Estate released their bindings at the same time and withdrew unscathed. The tall elder, by contrast, no longer had a head—his entire upper body had been gnawed clean, his life force utterly dispersed. He was dead beyond any doubt.

The others hurriedly repositioned themselves, eyes fixed on the crimson apes before them. No one said another word.

First Zhang Tailing had killed his own disciple with his own hands; then the three ancestors of the Prince of Qi's Estate turned on one another and fed the tall elder to the apes.

The phrase "the human heart is treacherous" had seldom been displayed so thoroughly as it was today.

Seeing the eighth crimson ape descend from the Space Gate, their already frayed nerves pulled even tighter.

Wei Zhao asked, "How much time is left?"

The short elder said bitterly, "Three days."

"..."

Even a man of Wei Zhao's temperament could not help blurting out, "Oh, wonderful."

How long had it been, and already eight crimson apes?

If they truly had to wait three days, the entire ancestral hall would be packed to bursting. Never mind five people and ten eyes—double that would not be enough to keep watch.

In truth, the short elder and the thin elder were already sick with regret.

Their original plan had been simple: overestimate Wei Zhao as much as possible. Given a full three days, surely even he would be worn down and killed.

Now, wonderfully enough, it was they who were being worn down.

"This can't go on."

Zhang Tailing said in a low voice.

The two remaining ancestors of the Prince of Qi's Estate asked at once, "Does Daoist Zhang have some insight?"

In a situation like this, no one could afford to blame anyone else. Sticking together was the only sensible choice.

Zhang Tailing glanced at Wei Zhao from the corner of his eye. "This poor Daoist is ashamed to say he has yet to find a way through. But from Young Hero Lin's manner, it seems he may already have one?"

The others instinctively looked toward Wei Zhao, then hurriedly caught themselves and fixed their eyes on the crimson apes before them.

Seeing this, Wei Zhao said, "Daoist Zhang, your skill at reading people is first-rate. I do have a rough idea, but whether it actually works will have to be tested first."

With that, he strode straight toward the crimson ape ahead.

Everyone was startled.

It was true that the crimson apes were currently in a petrified, invincible state—so long as no one looked away, they would not move.

But the tall elder's fate had already proven that even if the rule held, it was not a sure thing.

The crux was that to this day, no one knew how these crimson apes actually moved.

Their mode of movement, their speed, the strength of their attacks—none of it was understood in the slightest.

To approach them rashly under such circumstances was undoubtedly a highly risky move.

Yet Wei Zhao simply walked over—and more than that, he picked one of the crimson apes up.

Under everyone's bewildered gaze, he carried it before another crimson ape and made the two face each other.

No one present was a fool. They caught on at once.

The short elder slapped his thigh. "Why didn't I think of that!"

The others wore strange expressions too.

The solution was, frankly, absurdly simple—even a three-year-old could have thought of it.

But once trapped in a rut of thinking, people of their caliber, the more they overcomplicated things, the more it became a complete blind spot.

Zhang Tailing frowned slightly. "The ancient texts record that only human gaze can restrain them. Do they restrain one another as well?"

Hearing this, the others too began to feel it was unreliable.

Wei Zhao walked back. "Whether it works or not, one test will tell."

The others were skeptical, but in their current predicament there truly was no other way. They could only follow Wei Zhao's idea and try.

At a single command, everyone looked away together—then snapped their gazes back.

"Incredible! It actually works!"

The short elder was instantly elated, and the others' faces lit with excitement as well.

Apart from the two crimson apes facing each other, the others had clearly moved; only those two showed not the slightest change from before to after.

Zhang Tailing murmured, "Within five paces there is always an antidote—that saying really is no lie."

For something as invincible as the crimson apes, it turned out their greatest counter was themselves.

At this rate, so long as they made the apes face each other in pairs, no matter how many more descended, they would be mere decoration, no threat to anyone at all.

Holding out three days would be more than easy.

Only, looking back now on everything that had just happened—whether Zhang Tailing killing his own disciple Li Hongshou, or the three ancestors of the Prince of Qi's Estate selling out the tall elder—it all seemed especially absurd and laughable.