Chapter 161 — The Hierarchy of Power

That male escort, spineless or not, whether or not he wanted to offend the refined man as a customer, still represented the bar—he was one of the bar's people!

No matter how domineering the refined man might be as a customer, he would not disregard the bar's face and simply drive the escort away! At the very least, he would have to give him some tip as compensation, to let everyone save face.

But the male escort, upon seeing the refined man, had not said a single word—he had simply stood up and left. That meant the refined man was very likely one of the bar's own people, which was why he had left without hesitation.

Having confirmed this, Wei Zhao could not be bothered to play along with the refined man's little games. Beating him up would be simple enough, but inside the man's own bar, Wei Zhao did not want to solve the problem in such a crude and violent way!

True, he could fight one man, even a whole group, but that would expose his strength in front of everyone. Though it would not be his full strength, doing so might provoke even more frenzied retaliation from the other side.

These people were different from Zhong Yongliang and Bu Ruoming at the school. Wei Zhao could sense it: even Gu Pengzhan was somewhat wary of the people behind Gu Mengyao's troubles! Because it was not one person, but a faction—and what had surfaced so far was likely only the tip of the iceberg.

So Wei Zhao simply cut straight to the refined man's purpose, forcing whoever was directing him to come out and speak for themselves. That way he would neither expose his own strength too early nor fail to probe the other side's true depth.

To date, all Wei Zhao had displayed was mere speed... including blocking the bullet at the bank and stealing the gun in the car—none of it had revealed his true strength.

And just now, when he had risen and seized the refined man's arm, Wei Zhao had also held back precisely, using only a level of strength slightly above the refined man's own, feeding him misleading information.

Modern people divided martial arts into four ranks: Heaven, Earth, Mystic, and Yellow. Each rank was further split into three stages: early, middle, and late.

In truth, this was only a rough classification for assessing strength. Different families cultivated different techniques, so two people both at the early Yellow rank might still differ slightly—though probably not by much.

Wei Zhao had learned this back in the special forces, though neither his old man nor his master used such rankings to measure strength.

The old man focused on tempering the body—commonly called external skill—using Chinese herbal medicines he had compounded himself to transform his physique. His master, by contrast, focused on assassination; though body tempering was needed at the early stage, most of it centered on surprise attacks and speed.

Through the old man's forging, Wei Zhao's current strength roughly rivaled the peak of the late Yellow rank. But with assassination and ambush tactics, he could also take down a skilled Mystic-rank fighter. Such fighters were already rare in the city—at least on the battlefield, Wei Zhao had encountered only one expert of that level, and he was a foreigner...

As for the *Xuanyuan Dragon-Residing Art* that Wei Zhao practiced, it was somewhat like the internal techniques cultivated by certain families, though so far the first layer had not noticeably improved his strength.

Practicing the *Xuanyuan Dragon-Residing Art* had only served to cleanse his marrow and improve his body somewhat. Old Man Wei's external herbal treatments ultimately only altered muscle and sinew, doing nothing for the internal organs—but the *Xuanyuan Dragon-Residing Art* was different; it could transform the entire body...

To date, Wei Zhao had only discovered that the *Xuanyuan Dragon-Residing Art* held an absolute advantage in resisting fatigue, and he had just now found that the energy elements within his body could be of some help to the sick.

Beyond that, wondrous as the *Xuanyuan Dragon-Residing Art* was, it was still only the first layer, and its boost to his strength was not great.

But there was one most obvious improvement, a discovery that delighted Wei Zhao: he could now sense the energy fluctuations on the refined man's body!

This had never happened before. Though he had crossed blades with Yellow-rank and even Mystic-rank experts on the battlefield, he could only judge an opponent's strength after actually trading blows. But once the first layer of the *Xuanyuan Dragon-Residing Art* had taken initial form, Wei Zhao could actually sense on the refined man the same kind of energy fluctuations as the ones he himself absorbed!

The man must also be a cultivator of internal skill—though what technique he practiced, Wei Zhao could not tell. The energy fluctuations in his body were weaker than his own, so he should be at the early Yellow rank.

So Wei Zhao had created a false impression of being just a little stronger than him, leading him to mistake Wei Zhao for someone at the peak of early Yellow rank, about to break through to the middle stage.

Of course, there were exceptions.

That Wu Chengtian from before—Wei Zhao could sense that he was a body temperer, focused mainly on the skill of his hands. But body temperers carried no energy fluctuations at all, so Wei Zhao could not judge his rank... or perhaps Wu Chengtian was simply too weak, so weak that the energy in his body was negligible...

"..." The refined man had not expected Wei Zhao to lay bare the fact that someone stood behind him all at once—it completely disrupted the refined man's plans!

The refined man's original plan had been to come here and get handsy with Gu Mengyao, to provoke her and her friend into anger - then Wei Zhao would surely step in, and that would let him sound out Wei Zhao's true strength. If Wei Zhao proved weaker than himself, he would take the opportunity to teach him a lesson, and after that the boss would come out to settle things...

But now, the strength Wei Zhao had displayed was not one whit inferior to the refined man's own. The two of them were likely neck and neck, and Wei Zhao might even be a shade stronger. Probing further would be meaningless. Still, when Wei Zhao proposed bringing the boss out, the refined man could not bring himself to decide.

As he hesitated, the phone at his waist began to ring. Damn it - at a moment like this, who was calling? The refined man felt like cursing someone out. His arm was still gripped in Wei Zhao's hand, and the two of them stood with swords drawn and bows bent, tension coiled to the snapping point.

If he went to answer the phone now and Wei Zhao pulled some dirty trick on him, he would be finished, utterly and completely. The refined man dared not be careless. Against an expert of Wei Zhao's caliber, he had no confidence whatsoever of certain victory; whoever let his attention wander or gave ground first would be the one to suffer badly.

"Go on, answer it. A call at this hour - I imagine it must be the man behind you," Wei Zhao said, smiling at the refined man as he released his arm, as though he had not the slightest fear that the man might turn on him.

The refined man had not expected Wei Zhao to let him go so easily. He gave Wei Zhao a long, searching look and fished the phone from his waist, though his eyes never once left Wei Zhao. Generous as Wei Zhao's gesture appeared, instinct told the refined man that this fellow was vicious and cunning to the core.

He glanced at the caller ID on the screen. Sure enough, it was Brother Cihua calling.