Chapter 2838 — The Unlucky Mo Ba

Wei Zhao was about to explain that he had exhausted himself and could no longer unleash any martial techniques, but when he looked up he saw Mo Ba come rushing over from the entrance to the safe zone, and the words died on his lips.

Mo Ba's strength was not to be underestimated either; he was above both Feng Shihua and Li Ciba individually, and even the two of them joining forces might not give them much chance of victory. And Wei Zhao also feared that Mo Ba might turn on him, so he said nothing more.

"Brother Pao, what's happened to you?" Mo Ba, for his part, had no mind to consider Wei Zhao's current predicament; all his attention was fixed on Zhang Nai Pao, and seeing Zhang Nai Pao so badly wounded, he grew anxious at once.

In truth, in the exchange between Wei Zhao and Zhang Nai Pao, it had looked as though Wei Zhao had unleashed three martial techniques in all, but it had all happened in the blink of an eye, at tremendous speed, and Zhang Nai Pao had fallen to the ground before Mo Ba could even react; the fight was over.

"A Small Reversion Pill..." Zhang Nai Pao said to Mo Ba.

"Yes, Brother Pao." Mo Ba hurriedly fished out a Small Reversion Pill and put it into Zhang Nai Pao's mouth. Zhang Nai Pao closed his eyes, sat down on the ground, and crossed his legs to begin dissolving the pill's medicinal properties.

Wei Zhao could not help but curse inwardly at the waste of it. With Mo Ba here, the odds of Feng Shihua and Li Ciba killing Zhang Nai Pao were no longer great—unless the two of them risked their lives to hold Mo Ba off and let Ge Xian and Zhao Qilei launch a sneak attack on Zhang Nai Pao.

But that way, Feng Shihua or Li Ciba might be sacrificed. For disciples of the Tomorrow-after-Tomorrow Sect who were so devoted to protecting their master, risking their lives was no hardship at all; and once Mo Ba fought desperately, his explosive power would be formidable.

Besides, Wei Zhao had no chance to tell Zhao Qilei and the others his idea. He no longer had the strength left for the trick of condensing true qi into sound, and even if he did, the trick might not escape the notice of a mid-Heaven rank expert like Mo Ba.

Zhang Nai Pao was circulating his qi to dissolve the pill and heal his wounds, and Wei Zhao was not idle either; he swiftly ran the second layer of the Xuanyuan Dragon-Riding Art, recovering the physical strength and true qi he had spent.

At that moment, Feng Shihua, Li Ciba, and the others saw Wei Zhao standing rooted to the spot, his face somewhat pale, and only then understood that Wei Zhao had spent himself of physical strength and true qi after unleashing three martial techniques in a row, which was why he had told them to go kill Zhang Nai Pao. They could not help but feel a pang of regret.

The chance had come and gone in an instant. Now that Mo Ba had arrived, there was no way for them to make a move.

At that moment Mo Ba stood warily at Zhang Nai Pao's side, guarding him, while Feng Shihua and Li Ciba had no experience fighting as a team. To first subdue Mo Ba and then strike at Zhang Nai Pao was now well-nigh impossible.

So Feng Shihua and Li Ciba followed Mo Ba's example and stationed themselves in front of Wei Zhao—while Wei Zhao recovered his physical strength and true qi, they would stand guard over him.

Thus, in front of the safe zone there appeared a bizarre scene: two groups of people, both standing guard, both holding their forces in check, locked in confrontation, and neither side said a word.

The Heavenly Thunder Pig had hidden far away off to one side, keeping watch for any spiritual beasts drawing near. Fortunately, it seemed, during the half hour in which Wei Zhao recovered his physical strength and true qi and Zhang Nai Pao healed his wounds, all remained peaceful.

"Wei Zhao... you're wearing a mid-grade Golden Cicada Inner Armor!" Zhang Nai Pao spat out a foul breath and said to Wei Zhao.

During the half hour he spent healing, Zhang Nai Pao had been turning the matter over ceaselessly in his mind: why was Wei Zhao unharmed? By any reckoning it should have been impossible—how could Wei Zhao have withstood a rebound at two hundred and forty percent? That was not quite realistic.

But Zhang Nai Pao racked his brains and pondered this way and that, and at last he lit upon a possibility: that the mid-grade Golden Cicada Inner Armor of Zhong Yongliang's had found its way onto Wei Zhao's body! At the thought, Zhang Nai Pao was caught between laughter and tears.

Wei Zhao was an Earth rank expert, so the true qi rebounded upon him was naturally Earth rank true qi as well; mighty though it was, mighty as it might be, it was still Earth rank, and so no matter what, the mid-grade Golden Cicada Inner Armor could successfully defend against it. And that armor had, of all things, been "gifted" to Wei Zhao by Zhong Yongliang, which made this loss of Zhang Nai Pao's truly a wrongful one.

"Seems you're not so foolish after all." Seeing Zhang Nai Pao recovered, Wei Zhao stopped running the second layer of the Xuanyuan Dragon-Riding Art. Though his physical strength and true qi were not fully restored, they were more or less back, seven or eight parts of ten.

"It was I who overlooked it." Zhang Nai Pao eyed Wei Zhao intently. His wounds had only just begun to heal and were not yet fully closed; if Wei Zhao recovered his physical strength and true qi and came at him again with three of those techniques as before, he would truly be done for.

"You must hate Zhong Yongliang something fierce?" Wei Zhao asked with a smile.

"Hmph, Wei Zhao, don't get cocky. Killing you will be as easy as turning my hand over." Zhang Nai Pao gave a cold laugh, though there was more bluster than substance in it.

"Is that so? Wild Fire Eight Trigrams Palm—the eighth stance!" Wei Zhao unleashed the Wild Fire Eight Trigrams Palm once more and struck at Zhang Nai Pao! This time, however, Wei Zhao used the eighth stance rather than the seventh as before.

In truth, the reason Wei Zhao used the eighth stance of the Wild Fire Eight Trigrams Palm was that his real target this time was Mo Ba; striking at Zhang Nai Pao was merely a feint.

If Mo Ba was not dealt with, he would remain a hidden danger. Even if Wei Zhao wounded Zhang Nai Pao gravely, with Mo Ba present it would still be impossible for Feng Shihua and Li Ciba to finish Zhang Nai Pao off. The result would be an endless cycle between Wei Zhao and Zhang Nai Pao: Wei Zhao wounds him, he goes to heal, Wei Zhao recovers his physical strength and true qi, and so it repeats, until the trial ends with perhaps nothing to show for it.

Only by killing Mo Ba would it be possible, after Wei Zhao dealt Zhang Nai Pao a heavy blow, to create an opening for Feng Shihua and the others to join forces and finish Zhang Nai Pao.

As for those two follower disciples of the Night Palace, by now they had long since hidden themselves somewhere unknown and could be disregarded. Having seen that Wei Zhao could wound Zhang Nai Pao, they knew he was not to be trifled with, and so they had simply hidden away, offending neither side.

Wei Zhao did not care a fig for such weathervanes who turned with the wind. Once Zhang Nai Pao and Mo Ba were dealt with, he had no doubt those two would docilely submit.

Zhang Nai Pao's eyes were round and wide, his expression tense, as though facing a great enemy. Before this, in the trials, even when facing cultivators at the peak of late Heaven rank, he had laughed and talked with ease, without the slightest sense of tension; but now, the pressure on him was immense.