Chapter 2875 — Trying to Steal the Technique

But Zhang Naipao's self-castration and his painstaking, diligent cultivation should have been enough to make up for that small flaw—yet, to his surprise, it still wasn't enough. Was this what people meant by "one step ahead means a step ahead at every turn"?

And yet that didn't add up either. Mo Ba and Mo Jiu were both at the middle Heaven Stage, and they still couldn't beat Wei Zhao—what kind of logic was that? Besides, he himself was at the early Heaven Stage and had also leveled up faster than Wei Zhao, so why was he still no match for him?

Could this be what they called lacking in natural aptitude? A bitter frustration welled up in Zhang Naipao.

"I told you—save her, and I'll let you off this time," Wei Zhao said. "Don't save her, and I can keep hitting you with the Hellfire Frenzy Fist until you go mad and stay here forever."

"I have the Thorn Divine Art..." Zhang Naipao said, somewhat unwilling to yield. Though in his heart he had already accepted the fact that he was inferior to Wei Zhao, making him submit so easily right now was still not that simple...

"The Thorn Divine Art? You'd still have to bear twenty percent of the damage yourself, and twenty percent of the Hellfire Frenzy Fist is enough to drive you mad. As for the two hundred and forty percent reflected back, I can awaken myself—it has no effect on me." Wei Zhao shrugged. "Besides, don't I still have the mid-grade Golden Cicada Undergarment for defense?"

"..." Zhang Naipao was speechless. Indeed, even his prized Thorn Divine Art had been effortlessly neutralized by Wei Zhao. Even without the mid-grade Golden Cicada Undergarment, he would still be no match for Wei Zhao!

Even if Wei Zhao had also become a Heaven Stage expert and was no longer bound by the limitations of the mid-grade Golden Cicada Undergarment, with a single Hellfire Frenzy Fist, would he still be unable to match him...

"Ah, if it weren't for Brother Liang, I would rather die here today than submit. But I cannot die—I still have to keep striving for Brother Liang, I must repay Brother Liang's kindness!" Zhang Naipao shook his head. "Fine, I agree!"

"You're certainly loyal enough—it's just that the master you follow has a bit of a problem." Wei Zhao shook his head.

"Brother Liang treats me very well, Wei Zhao, you don't need to sow discord!" Zhang Naipao retorted. "Enough of this useless talk—you'll never turn me against him. If you've got the ability, go turn Brother Liang instead. If he stops targeting you, then I definitely won't target you either—but that's impossible. Brother Liang hates you to the bone!"

"Forget it. Absorb the Five Baleful Qi." Wei Zhao wasn't going to waste more words on Zhang Naipao. The man was stubborn and single-minded; there was nothing Wei Zhao could do about it.

Zhang Naipao nodded and said nothing more. He glanced at Yang Qiqi, then reached out and pressed his fingers to the pulse gate at her wrist, preparing to circulate the mental cultivation formula and absorb the Five Baleful Qi from her body.

"Wait a moment!" Wei Zhao suddenly spoke up to stop him.

"What is it?" Zhang Naipao was slightly taken aback. "Why should I wait?"

"I need to look closely and see whether you might harm her!" With that, Wei Zhao bent down and scrutinized the hand Zhang Naipao had pressed to Yang Qiqi's pulse gate.

"I think you're trying to steal the technique, aren't you?" Zhang Naipao wasn't stupid either. He immediately thought of how Wei Zhao had earlier triggered the Hellfire Frenzy Fist, and so at this moment he guessed Wei Zhao's intention.

"As if you could learn a mental cultivation method just by watching it once?" Wei Zhao, caught out by Zhang Naipao, nevertheless answered casually, as if it were no such thing at all.

"Others couldn't, but with you, who knows—otherwise, how do you know my Hell Yin Demon Fist?" Zhang Naipao clearly didn't believe a word Wei Zhao said.

"Mine is called the Hellfire Frenzy Fist. It's different from your Hell Yin Demon Fist—they're two completely different martial arts techniques," Wei Zhao said.

"You think I'm an idiot? It's obvious to me you fabricated it based on my martial arts technique!" Zhang Naipao shook his head. "You're always lying to me. From now on I'll have to guard against you—I won't use any heaven-defying, overbearing martial arts techniques in front of you, or you might just steal them right out from under me."

"...You really do think highly of me." Wei Zhao smiled bitterly. He hadn't expected that after Zhang Naipao regained his sanity from madness, his mind had actually gotten quite a bit sharper—figuring all this out wasn't easy.

Still, since Zhang Naipao had said as much, Wei Zhao couldn't very well keep peeking. Even if he watched, Zhang Naipao would find a way to hide it from him, so Wei Zhao simply stepped aside and stopped disturbing him. Instead, he asked casually, "If she doesn't circulate her mental cultivation formula, can you still draw out the Five Baleful Qi from her body?"

"Circulating the mental cultivation formula is for absorbing an internal-style cultivator's own true qi. This Five Baleful Qi isn't her own true qi, so I can absorb it directly," Zhang Naipao answered without hiding anything.

"Oh, I see." Wei Zhao nodded. "Then go ahead and absorb it. I'll step away for a bit."

"It's already done." Zhang Naipao had stood up and said to Wei Zhao, "She'll probably wake up in a little while."

"Good. Thank you for this." Though Wei Zhao and Zhang Naipao were enemies, Zhang Naipao had, after all, saved Yang Qiqi, so Wei Zhao still offered him a word of courtesy.

"No need for thanks—you saved me too, so we're even! Besides, the Five Baleful Qi from her body, once I absorbed it, actually healed quite a few of the injuries I'd suffered before." Zhang Naipao waved his hand. "You'd better start thinking about how we're going to get back."

Indeed, now that Yang Qiqi's Five Baleful Qi had been neutralized, the biggest problem was how to leave this place. Though Zhang Naipao had been unconscious earlier, he had also heard about the spirit beasts' suspension of their rest patterns, so he too was somewhat worried!

"Either we force our way through, or we look for the pattern again..." Wei Zhao said. "For now I don't have any better ideas. I can avoid the spirit beasts myself—as long as they're not Heaven Stage spirit beasts, it's no problem—but you two can't."

"Oh, right—who is this?" Zhang Naipao had no good plan for the moment either, so he turned to look at Tianchan. As for Wei Zhao's claim that he could evade the spirit beasts, he understood that too. Earlier, when Wei Zhao had been struck by the Hell Yin Demon Fist, he had miraculously dodged several spirit beast attacks, and Zhang Naipao had found it strange at the time; now, hearing Wei Zhao's explanation, he understood what was going on.

"My name is Tianchan. I was injured by accident in the Five Baleful Mountains, and Wei Zhao rescued me as well." Tianchan didn't say much to Zhang Naipao, just a simple self-introduction. She kept hidden her identity as the young sect master of the Xuandan Sect—it would have been fine to tell Zhang Naipao alone, but with Wei Zhao present, she didn't want to say it.RS