Chapter 2294 — Shadowing in Secret

Had Wei Zhao not feared that those three might survive a single blast, he would certainly have hurled a true-qi bomb at them while they were snared in the Heaven-and-Earth Net!

Rounding a corner, Wei Zhao slowly reverted the true-qi bomb in his left hand into true qi and drew it back into his body, and he also withdrew the true-qi fluctuations around him. At this moment, Wei Zhao was no different from an ordinary man.

After a few more streets, Wei Zhao came to a dark hiding place. He stretched out his hand and gave a slight wave, and the Thunder Pig trotted obediently to his side. The little creature was clever; even if it lost track of Wei Zhao, it could still find him by the Fireflow Divine Pellet and the spirit-beast essence core within him.

"Phew..." Wei Zhao let out a long breath. Things had gone fairly smoothly. The Heaven-Rank spider had not lied to him after all—this Heaven-and-Earth Net was something even a Heaven-Rank expert could not escape. Getting it off one's body, he imagined, would be a very difficult business.

Wei Zhao had come down the mountain. At the exit of the Ulanhot Mountains, the rest of the Tagan clan were anxious. The Twelfth Elder, the Second Guardian, and the Third Guardian had all gone after Wei Zhao. Though two Earth-Rank experts remained here to hold the fort, both were on the weaker side. For one thing, they could not be of much help; for another, Wei Zhao had descended the mountain but Sun Jingyan had not, and they still had to block her here lest she slip down the mountain while their backs were turned.

"Lazi, go back to the Tagan clan right now and inform Young Master Tagan and the Patriarch of what has happened here!" It was the Fourth Guardian speaking, giving Lazi his orders.

"Yes!" Lazi nodded hurriedly, quickly climbed into a Humvee, and drove off in the direction of the Tagan clan...

Only, Lazi's vehicle had not gone far before someone marked it. That someone was, of course, Wei Zhao. Lazi would never have guessed that Wei Zhao had doubled back to the vicinity of the Ulanhot Mountains!

The most dangerous place is the safest place. Once the Twelfth Elder, the Second Guardian, and the Third Guardian broke free of the Heaven-and-Earth Net, their first move would likely be to search the whole town for him. So Wei Zhao had simply circled around and come straight back near the Ulanhot Mountains, intending to grab someone at random and ask for the exact location of the Tagan clan.

At present, the Tagan clan's best fighters had all been deployed, and their home ground must surely be empty. If Wei Zhao went and kicked up a fuss there now, and took care of Tagan Long along the way, he would be only too glad to do it. He had long since come to hate Tagan Long. If he could finish him off before leaving, why not?

Wei Zhao could see now that this Tagan Long seemed very important—even the Twelfth Elder cared a great deal about him. If he died, the Tagan clan would be in for a fine mess, or so Wei Zhao reckoned.

Of course, formidable as the Tagan clan's power was—in Wei Zhao's estimation at least twelve Heaven-Rank experts—those experts were certainly not in Ruileida Town. That much was certain. If they had been, the Twelfth Elder would not have spoken to Tagan Long the way he had, nor been so cautious. With twelve Heaven-Rank experts marching out together, any enemy at all could be dealt with.

So it was safe to predict that the Tagan clan's home ground was empty—just right for Wei Zhao to go and raise hell.

Originally, Wei Zhao had meant to grab some random member of the Tagan clan or another clan and ask where the Tagan estate was. But upon returning to the Ulanhot Mountains, he happened to witness this very scene: Lazi was heading back to the Tagan clan. So all Wei Zhao had to do was follow him!

The Tagan clan was situated within an independent manor in Ruileida Town. The estate covered a vast area, surrounded on all sides by fertile fields and woods, with not a single household along the roads nearby—for all of this was the Tagan clan's private domain.

Of course, no clan without a certain level of strength could possibly live in such a place. With no one around for miles, what if villains came raiding? Only a clan like the Tagan, with countless cultivators to its name, would dare to do so.

But this place suited Wei Zhao perfectly—a fine spot for murder and plunder, with no fear of being seen by anyone.

Lazi drove the Humvee at speed along the road before the manor. But suddenly, in the empty road ahead, a figure appeared! Lazi was startled half out of his wits—for a moment he thought he had seen a ghost!

After all, deep in the night, on a road where there had been nothing at all, a person appearing out of nowhere like that would frighten anyone. Fortunately, Lazi was something of a minor boss in the Adventurers' Guild and a cultivator besides. Seeing someone step out, his horror lasted only an instant; the next moment he realized the newcomer meant no good.

Still, Lazi had no intention of stopping. He floored the accelerator, meaning to run the man down. Anyone standing in the middle of the road to block a car was surely no good sort, and Lazi felt no need to be polite—just floor it and run him over.

Had Wei Zhao still been Yellow-Rank, he would naturally have feared a car striking him. But Wei Zhao was now a mid-stage Earth-Rank cultivator, protected by powerful true qi. Even if the car came at him, it could do him no harm; on the contrary, one punch from Wei Zhao could flip the speeding vehicle.

"Frenzied Fire Fist, First Form!" Wei Zhao struck the instant Lazi's car came rushing up. The first form of the Frenzied Fire Fist alone was enough. Lazi was only a Yellow-Rank fighter, and Wei Zhao truly feared striking too hard and killing him outright, so this punch was aimed mainly at sending the car flying.

"Boom!" With a huge crash, the speeding car shot abruptly into the air, flipped over once in the sky, and then came down hard on the roadside, its four wheels pointing at the sky and spinning with a whir. Wei Zhao's punch had been just right—it did not destroy the car and kill Lazi.

"Out of the car, Mr. Lazi!" Wei Zhao gave the stunned and uncertain Lazi no time to collect himself. He yanked the door open with force and hauled Lazi out of the driver's seat.

The car's frame was very sturdy, and it had merely rolled over rather than exploded, so for a cultivator like Lazi it had done no fatal damage—it had only given him a terrible fright!