Chapter 2770 — I Don't Know You

"You put on quite a show, kid. You wiped out three of our Blood-Robed Yellow Springs Sect's finest, yet you act like nothing happened. Strong nerves, I have to say—you play the part well!" the short-haired man sneered. "But it's no use pretending. I have a photo of you, and I know your car. You're Wei Zhao, aren't you?"

"Huh?" Wei Zhao was even more dumbfounded. This man actually knew his name was Wei Zhao? At first Wei Zhao had assumed they were just tossing out threats at random, laying the groundwork for a smoother robbery later. Never had he expected the man to call him by name outright!

"Blood-Robed Yellow Springs Sect?" Wei Zhao furrowed his brow. He did not think he had ever met anyone from that sect. Even if he had vaguely heard of it, he had no grudge against them—he could not imagine when he had provoked such a power.

"Still pretending, kid?" Seeing Wei Zhao's utterly baffled look, the short-haired man grew impatient. "Keep pretending—it won't help you. Today I'll kill you and avenge the elite disciples our sect has lost!"

The Blood-Robed Yellow Springs Sect had three experts at the peak of the late Mystic rank who had died on their way to assassinate Wei Zhao. Of course, it was not Wei Zhao who killed them—it was Xiao Qing. Only, Tang Zhi had been present as well, and Wei Zhao had chosen to erase that memory from his mind.

Wei Zhao knew none of this. The three experts at the peak of the late Mystic rank believed their fellow disciples had died at Wei Zhao's hands, and so they had come to take revenge on him!

Of course, even revenge had its rules. The Blood-Robed Yellow Springs Sect, independent and eccentric as it was—its strength no weaker than the ancient sects—still had to abide by the rules. It could not go around killing people at will in the secular world.

As long as Wei Zhao stayed out of the secular world and kept to desolate, uninhabited places, the Blood-Robed Yellow Springs Sect really had no easy way to strike him down. Otherwise, by defying the constraints and rules of the entire ancient order, the sect feared the other ancient sects would unite against it and make trouble.

After all, the Blood-Robed Yellow Springs Sect was not as formidable as the Five Luminaries Sect or the Tomorrow Upon Tomorrow Sect, which could stand above the ancient order itself.

That was why, even when Wei Zhao went to the ancient tomb, they had not made their move—that place still fell within the city's bounds. Only Snow Valley was truly desolate and uninhabited, and only there did the Blood-Robed Yellow Springs Sect dare to strike without restraint and take their revenge!

"Oh..." Seeing that the short-haired man had no intention of explaining further, Wei Zhao simply stopped asking. He directly circulated the mental formula of the Frenzied Fire Fist, then delivered the seventh stance of the Frenzied Fire Eight Trigrams Palm straight into the short-haired man's chest: "Frenzied Fire Eight Trigrams Palm, Seventh Stance!"

"Bang!" With a tremendous crash, the short-haired man was sent flying without the slightest warning. He did not even manage a groan, and by the time he hit the ground he was dead beyond doubt. On his chest was a horrifying charred blackness—a large, hand-shaped hole burned clean through, the organs within reduced to ash. It was truly ghastly.

An expert of the early Heaven rank had been finished off by Wei Zhao just like that, in complete silence. The other early Heaven rank expert beside the short-haired man was struck dumb, staring blankly at the scene before him, unable to understand how this kid could be so formidable.

Before seeking revenge, the Blood-Robed Yellow Springs Sect had conducted a meticulous investigation. It was a sect that put profit above all else, so if revenge proved difficult, they would rather not take it at all than do something foolish like trading a thousand of their own for eight hundred of the enemy's. Not to mention that Wei Zhao could so easily annihilate Heaven rank experts!

But according to their investigation, Wei Zhao was merely an Earth rank expert. True, his strength was far above what it had been back when Zhao Qibing hired assassins, but in the end he was still an Earth rank expert. Two early Heaven rank experts encircling him—surely that was a sure thing, a prize already in hand?

Who could have imagined that the moment he struck, he would annihilate one early Heaven rank expert outright? The other broke out in a cold sweat, instinctively reaching a hand toward his chest.

But the next instant, Wei Zhao's eighth stance of the Frenzied Fire Eight Trigrams Palm came crashing over! The eighth stance consumed more physical strength and true qi than the seventh, but Wei Zhao could not withstand unleashing the seventh stance twice in a row.

Unleashing a martial technique with a target in combat was worlds apart from practicing it on empty air. Releasing it into the air did consume physical strength and true qi, but never so severely as this.

The reason Wei Zhao unleashed the eighth stance was continuity. Though it drained more physical strength and true qi, he could still bring it off. If he paused to rest a moment, he knew he would never manage to unleash the Frenzied Fire Eight Trigrams Palm again.

Not even the seventh stance—he could not unleash it twice in succession without interval. Better to press on in one breath like this. It would overdraft his strength, but it would not put him in any real danger. Once the other early Heaven rank expert was dead, he could rest however long he liked.

So Wei Zhao, in one unbroken breath, unleashed the eighth stance of the Frenzied Fire Eight Trigrams Palm and stamped it directly onto the chest of the other early Heaven rank expert!

The expert's eyes were filled with shock and terror. He even forgot to dodge. In the instant before death, he could only shout one sentence at the top of his voice: "Wei Zhao is killing me!"

Then his voice cut off abruptly, and his whole body was sent flying by Wei Zhao's palm. His wretched state was even worse than the short-haired cultivator's before him—a huge hole blasted through his entire chest, punched clean through, and his clothes had caught fire, still trailing thick smoke after he hit the ground...

In truth, this early Heaven rank expert could have fled, or attacked Wei Zhao while Wei Zhao was finishing off the short-haired expert. But preconceptions had made him believe Wei Zhao was formidable, beyond anything he could defeat. His spirit was broken before the fight even began, his momentum weakened, and that was what brought about the tragedy of his being cut down by Wei Zhao next.

Having struck down two early Heaven rank experts, Wei Zhao was not the least bit pleased. Instead, he collapsed limp onto the ground, his clothes soaked through with sweat. The seventh and eighth stances of the Frenzied Fire Eight Trigrams Palm just now had drained every last drop of physical strength and true qi from his body—so much that he had run a deficit, nearly dropping a rank.

So once he was certain the two Heaven rank experts were dead, Wei Zhao blacked out on the spot, forcibly entering the jade pendant's space to recover his strength.

At any rate, the immediate trouble had passed for now. But what puzzled Wei Zhao was this: these two who claimed to be from the Blood-Robed Yellow Springs Sect—what grudge did they actually have against him? At first, Wei Zhao had wondered whether the Supreme Elder was behind this. After all, only the Supreme Elder knew he had gone to Snow Valley to trade for something; if someone had lain in wait to rob him and even knew his name, then it could only be the Supreme Elder.

(I got back late from going out; the other two chapters will be updated a little later—I am writing them now.)