Chapter 2874 — Accepting the Condition

"Oh?" Tianchan looked at Wei Zhao, somewhat puzzled. "Simple? What do you mean?"

"Nothing. It's just that my skill doesn't seem to be up to it..." Wei Zhao trailed off and shifted the subject. "Like before—I thought I could deal with the Five Baleful Qi in Yang Qiqi, but then I found I couldn't..."

"You could deal with it?" Tianchan was even more baffled.

"We're both cultivators with Five-Element constitutions, so we can both absorb and neutralize the Five Baleful Qi for our own use." Seeing that he had successfully steered the conversation elsewhere, Wei Zhao explained, "I thought I could draw the Five Baleful Qi out of Yang Qiqi's body so I could absorb and neutralize it, because I've done the same for other external-style cultivators before—drawn out pure vital qi. But the Five Baleful Qi in Yang Qiqi isn't gathered in one place. It's scattered throughout her body, in both her meridians and her flesh. I have no way to draw it all out..."

"All right..." Tianchan was at a loss for words. "Then for now, there's nothing I can do either. I don't want anything to happen to her, but Zhang Naipao is our only hope. I know that neutralizing method you mentioned. People wounded by spirit beasts often have pure spirit-beast vital qi lodged in their bodies, and that's fairly easy to neutralize because it's all in one place. But this kind is scattered—there's certainly nothing we can do about it."

"Right..." Wei Zhao nodded, but his mind was still full of worry over Yang Qiqi—until a deep, resonant voice suddenly came from within the jade pendant's space: "Fine, I agree. From now on, I may require you to do one thing for me, and you may not refuse!"

"That's fine, but it has to be within my power. Don't tell me to go die and expect me to do it." Startled, Wei Zhao was both shocked and delighted by the ghost-thing's words. He had given up hope on it, never expecting it to agree so suddenly!

With that thought, Wei Zhao hurried into the jade pendant's space—though he kept his head and added one limiting condition.

"Naturally. It certainly won't be anything that violates certain principles; otherwise, even if I told you to do it, you might not." The ghost-thing said, "Rest assured, I won't make you do anything that endangers you or harms your interests."

"Good, then many thanks!" Wei Zhao was slightly taken aback. He hadn't expected the ghost-thing to be so straightforward—it had even narrowed down the conditions in greater detail.

"No need for thanks; this is a fair trade for both of us." With that, the ghost-thing asked, "It's that madman sitting on the ground beside you, isn't it?"

"That's right, it's him—Zhang Naipao!" Wei Zhao nodded hurriedly.

"Good." All at once, the ghost-thing emerged from the jade pendant's space and appeared before Wei Zhao in the outside world! It was still a hazy mass of mist, its exact form impossible to make out, and its sudden appearance gave Tianchan quite a fright!

Tianchan was, after all, an expert at the peak of the late Heaven rank. How could she fail to notice when something she couldn't even identify appeared right there?

"Ah, what is this thing?" Tianchan asked at once.

"Don't be afraid. This is a helper I summoned. It can awaken Zhang Naipao," Wei Zhao explained to Tianchan.

"You? Summoned it?" Tianchan was stunned. "You know ancient summoning arts too?"

"Ancient summoning arts? What's that?" Wei Zhao was rather puzzled by her words.

"It's a lost summoning art that can call up helpers of special forms—like wandering spirits left in the world, and such..." Tianchan explained. "Actually, I don't know much about it either. It's only a legend..."

"Oh, I can summon it, though often I can't. What I meant earlier was that I thought I could summon it, but I couldn't—and now suddenly I can again." Though Wei Zhao's explanation was a bit muddled, Tianchan still understood.

"Oh, so that's how it is. Then it..." Standing before this mass of ghost-thing, Tianchan felt an unmistakable pressure. For some reason, even when facing the Five Baleful Dragon, she had never felt such overwhelming oppression.

"Zhang Naipao! Wake up!" the ghost-thing suddenly bellowed, startling both Wei Zhao and Tianchan.

"Ah!" With a hoarse cry, Zhang Naipao's previously dull eyes turned clear in that instant. He raised his head in bewilderment, looked at Wei Zhao, then at Tianchan and the ghost-thing that had just awakened him, and slowly began to recall what had happened during this time...

Like Wei Zhao, once lucid, he still remembered everything from his peak. Zhang Naipao now knew that Wei Zhao had driven him to his peak, and that Wei Zhao had also found him and healed him. Thinking of this, he could not help but feel a deep sense of defeat...

Originally, he had come to the Five Baleful Wasteland full of vigor, armed with his unique skills, eager to show his prowess and strike a blow at Wei Zhao. But he had never imagined that in the end, it was he who would be struck down! How had his unique skill suddenly been learned by Wei Zhao?

And that was not all. After being hit by this skill, he himself could not undo it, yet Wei Zhao could neutralize it with ease and even summon a helper to undo it for him. Wasn't that utterly absurd?

Moreover, though he was an expert of the early Heaven rank and Wei Zhao only of the late Earth rank, there was no comparing their true strength. Zhang Naipao finally realized how insignificant he was before Wei Zhao—like a clown capering on a stage.

Every time, he arrived in high spirits and left in disappointment. His own strength had grown, but so had Wei Zhao's—and grown in ways he could neither withstand nor fathom...

With just the Hellfire Frenzy Fist alone, Zhang Naipao was already powerless to fight back...

"Why did you save me?" Though Zhang Naipao now remembered what had happened around him while he was lucid, he had not heard Wei Zhao and Tianchan's conversation in detail, nor did he dwell on it. What occupied his mind now was this: Wei Zhao could clearly have finished him off—so why had he instead saved him? What did that mean?

"Help me draw the Five Baleful Qi out of her body, and we'll call this matter settled. Once we're out of here, our paths part and the bridge stands between us." Wei Zhao pointed at Yang Qiqi on the ground and spoke to Zhang Naipao.

"So you wanted something from me after all. I was wondering why you woke me up." One glance at Yang Qiqi and Zhang Naipao thought of the Five Baleful Qi. And since he knew the Bee-God Absorption Art, he could naturally absorb and neutralize the Five Baleful Qi.

"Cut the nonsense. Will you save her or not?" Wei Zhao asked.