Chapter 2877 — In Trouble Now

After receiving the order, the spirit beast underling went off to relay the Five Baleful Dragon's command. Though passing along an order normally took some time, this time the sound-wave flying spirit beast had come to report in person, so the underling did not need to go searching for it and simply delivered the Five Baleful Dragon's command straight to it—a bit faster than usual.

Very quickly, every spirit beast of Earth-rank and above throughout the Five Baleful Wildlands received the Five Baleful Dragon's command and made ready to surround and attack Wei Zhao and the others.

That command could be heard by the other spirit beasts, and naturally by the Sky Thunder Pig as well. When it heard the order broadcast by the sound-wave flying spirit beast, the whole pig gave a violent start, every bristle on its body standing on end, and it stopped dead in its tracks.

"Sky Thunder Pig, what's wrong?" Wei Zhao was startled to see the Sky Thunder Pig, which had been leading the way, suddenly halt, and he had no idea what had happened.

"Oink, oink!" The Sky Thunder Pig found a patch of soft earth and wrote with its claw: "This is bad—the Five Baleful Dragon has issued a new order. Every spirit beast of low rank and above nearby is to come and surround us!"

"What?!" Wei Zhao was alarmed, and Tianchan beside him gave a start as well. Zhang Naipao, however, only furrowed his brow, looking somewhat unconvinced.

He had never dealt with the Five Baleful Dragon, so he asked doubtfully, "This Five Baleful Dragon of yours—would it really muster such a force just for the likes of us? You little creature isn't trying to fool us, are you?"

"The Sky Thunder Pig would never lie," Wei Zhao said with a shake of his head. "I'm afraid we really are in trouble now!"

Wei Zhao had not expected the Five Baleful Dragon to be so vicious—vicious to the core, using one dirty trick after another the whole way, one failing only for the next to follow, never giving up until it got what it wanted! Yet in truth, Wei Zhao could understand it. He had snatched away its Five Baleful source power, so of course it was furious; in its place, he too would fight to the death.

"Looks like we'll have to risk everything on one throw!" Zhang Naipao did not think Wei Zhao was the lying sort either, and since Wei Zhao said the Sky Thunder Pig was telling the truth, Zhang Naipao naturally believed it. "Let's all reveal our full strength now and see whether we can intimidate those spirit beasts. If that fails, we'll cut our way out the way we did before! Wei Zhao, that mid-grade Golden Cicada undergarment of yours—can it fend off attacks from Earth-rank spirit beasts?"

"How would I know?" Wei Zhao was taken aback. "You people sent me this undergarment, and now you're asking me?"

Still, Zhang Naipao's words had reminded Wei Zhao: could this mid-grade Golden Cicada undergarment perhaps defend against attacks from spirit beasts below Heaven-rank? Since the undergarment judged things strictly by a rank system, and spirit beasts had a rank system of their own, he wondered whether it might work.

"You can try it out in a moment," Zhang Naipao said after a moment's pondering. "Best if you shield me from the Earth-rank spirit beasts' attacks while I unleash the Infernal Yin Demon Fist to strike them. When my physical strength and true qi are spent, I'll find a Heaven-rank spirit beast to drain—that's far easier than relying on my Thorn Divine Art to reflect attacks and take the damage myself. Only, when I'm halfway through draining it and that Heaven-rank spirit beast can't move, you'll have to finish it off for me. Otherwise, if I absorb too much, I'll burst apart and die!"

It was plain that Zhang Naipao was also prepared to go all out. He had only just advanced to Heaven-rank and did not quite dare use the Drain Spirit Art directly on a Heaven-rank spirit beast, but with matters coming to a head so suddenly, he had no choice but to take the risk—otherwise, as the Sky Thunder Pig said, they would all die here.

"Reveal our strength?" Wei Zhao gave a bitter smile. "Our strength is nothing in the eyes of those spirit beasts. Even Tianchan here probably couldn't frighten them off, could she? That Dongfang Busheng from before—he was a real expert at the peak of late Heaven-rank, wasn't he?"

"Tianchan?" Zhang Naipao was momentarily stunned, then turned to her in surprise. "You're... an expert at the peak of late Heaven-rank?"

"Mm." Tianchan nodded.

"..." Zhang Naipao was briefly speechless, then cupped his hands in salute. "My apologies. I overlooked it before. I didn't realize there was another expert here. That's wonderful—when we face the spirit beasts, you'll be an important ally!"

"With you and Wei Zhao here, how would I dare call myself an expert?" Tianchan realized that before Wei Zhao and Zhang Naipao, she truly had no great advantage. Both of them knew that so-called Infernal XX Fist; even if she was an expert at the peak of late Heaven-rank, one hit from the Infernal XX Fist and she would become a madwoman. Though Tianchan did not believe her resolute mind could not break the Infernal XX Fist, even if she did break it, she would still be at a disadvantage.

"Before me you can call yourself one. I'm afraid of kicks; Zhang Naipao isn't—he's a eunuch," Wei Zhao said.

Tianchan's face flushed at once, and she shot Wei Zhao a glare. But with Zhang Naipao present, she could not well threaten him, so she only gave a cold sniff.

Zhang Naipao, for his part, was puzzled. "What does that have to do with being a eunuch? Are you discriminating against eunuchs?"

"Nothing, just a joke." Fearing Tianchan might explode, Wei Zhao shrugged and was just about to change the subject when he suddenly saw the Sky Thunder Pig trembling all over—and the jade pendant at his chest sent out a warning signal as well!

Danger was coming!

Zhang Naipao seemed to sense something too; he lifted his head and looked into the distance.

It was the sound of spirit-beast footsteps—and in packs, in formation. Zhang Naipao's scalp prickled. This... was no one or two spirit beasts. This was a whole herd of them!

"Sky Thunder Pig, what's going on?" Wei Zhao's expression had turned grim as well.

"At least twenty spirit beasts of Earth-rank and above are heading this way!" the Sky Thunder Pig wrote on the ground.

"At least twenty?" Wei Zhao felt dizzy, and he looked at Zhang Naipao with a bitter smile. "Zhang Naipao, your plan looks like it won't work. With this many spirit beasts, even if you can drain one and I can defend against one, the rest won't give us the chance..."

"Then what do you suggest?" Zhang Naipao was out of ideas too. He had never imagined the Five Baleful Dragon could be so foul. "Did you people offend this Five Baleful Dragon somehow? Why is it so vicious?"

Offend it... they certainly had! But Wei Zhao could not explain the details to Zhang Naipao, so he could only say vaguely, "Isn't coming here for the trial offense enough?"

Tianchan had not expected to run into such danger either, and she too was somewhat at a loss.

Yet just when Tianchan did not know what to do, she suddenly felt something touch her waist. She turned her head and saw that Wei Zhao's hand had actually reached over to grope her—and she was instantly furious!

"What are you doing?" Tianchan said angrily. What kind of moment was this, and he was still thinking of taking advantage? This Wei Zhao... didn't seem like the sort with such base tastes, did he?