Chapter 3170 — Two Who Died with Their Eyes Open

For Wei Zhao could plainly sense the ill-intentioned air about these two! They were nothing like the men of the Blood Garment Yellow Springs Sect from before—whether in their expressions or their cold, aloof manner, everything about them declared that they had come as enemies, not friends!

"You two pay a visit so late at night—is there some business you have?" Wei Zhao did not walk over to the door. The jade pendant had already given off a faint warning signal, and if he went nearer, it would likely warn him violently.

So Wei Zhao merely stood at the villa's entrance, watching Dongfang Yinxing and Ancestor Pure Yin beyond the iron gate from a distance.

Wei Zhao had already decided: at the first sign of trouble, he would run to the rear courtyard, mount the Wind-Thunder Purple Lightning Beast, and flee. Shen Yushu's backing was the Five Luminaries Sect; surely these two would not dare lay hands on her, however formidable they might be. As for Xu Shilan, Wei Zhao could only pray the two of them would not go upstairs looking for anyone. Otherwise, he would have to circle back, waste the sole Heaven Net and Earth Web he possessed, and rescue Xu Shilan.

"You must be Wei Zhao?" Dongfang Yinxing was in no hurry to strike. He had to be certain, lest he kill the wrong man and make a mess of things—as had happened with Dongfang Song and the others, who had charged straight at the Dark Night Palace's inheritor and been finished off by that sect's Grand Elder.

"And you are?" Wei Zhao asked in return.

"Dongfang Yinxing!" Dongfang Yinxing declared with arrogant pride. "You killed several of my Dongfang family. Today, I shall make you pay blood for blood!"

"Dongfang Yinxing?" Wei Zhao frowned and turned to Ancestor Pure Yin. "And you? You aren't also of the Dongfang family, are you?"

"I am Ancestor Pure Yin. By the command of Ancestor Mad Dragon, I have come to take your life!" Ancestor Pure Yin offered no lengthy explanation, stating simply the purpose of this visit.

Both here to kill him? Wei Zhao drew a deep breath, and in the next instant turned to flee. He had no choice but to run—two experts at the peak of the late Heaven Rank, and he was no match for them at all. To say nothing of two, even one was more than he could handle!

"Open the gate and meet your death; I will grant you a quicker end," Dongfang Yinxing said. "Do not think of running. Against two experts at the peak of the late Heaven Rank, you cannot escape."

What to do? Wei Zhao hesitated a moment, then made to turn and flee. After all, if he did not run now, it would likely be too late!

Just as the tension reached its breaking point, not far away, Ancestor Blood Garment and Ancestor Yellow Springs exchanged a glance, then said in unison: "Go—leave not a single one alive!"

As they spoke, the two soared through the air to land behind Dongfang Yinxing and Ancestor Pure Yin. Ancestor Gloom, meanwhile, did not move—he was waiting for his chance.

Dongfang Yinxing and Ancestor Pure Yin were just about to strike and finish Wei Zhao when they suddenly sensed a wave of danger behind them. Both men's hearts clenched, and they whirled around to see two figures in black hurtling toward them!

Damn it, who in the hell were these people? Both were badly startled, for the aura of Ancestor Blood Garment and Ancestor Yellow Springs—the full, perfected power of the peak of the late Heaven Rank—was laid bare without the slightest concealment, and the two had no choice but to respond with utmost caution!

These two had reinforcements? Ancestor Pure Yin and Dongfang Yinxing were aghast. Yet for all their bewilderment, they had no choice but to simultaneously draw Heaven Rank divine weapons to meet the assault—otherwise, faced with two cold-gleaming dark-iron swords, they would surely die!

In an instant, four divine weapons were locked in a tangled dance, two against two, the battle raging too close to call! Though Ancestor Blood Garment and Ancestor Yellow Springs were both experts of perfected peak late Heaven Rank strength and thus stronger than Ancestor Pure Yin and Dongfang Yinxing, an instant kill was still impossible. After all, at this level, both sides were deeply seasoned in combat—to imagine anyone could simply snuff out another's life was unrealistic.

Still, if the fight wore on for a time, Ancestor Blood Garment and Ancestor Yellow Springs were confident of an outright victory!

Dongfang Yinxing and Ancestor Pure Yin were both experts with one foot already through the door of Great Perfection. Though the two had not yet advanced to that rank, years upon years of cultivation had already brought them to the threshold, lacking only the right opportunity. Their combat experience, therefore, was by no means inferior.

What daunted them, however, was that the moves of these two before them were utterly bizarre—every strike a killing blow, every strike aimed at life itself. Not a single move was meant merely to wound; all were meant to kill. This gave both men no end of grief, forcing them to carefully unravel each attack lest a bloody hole appear in their bodies!

The result was that the two could only defend, never attack! And it was at this very moment, just as Ancestor Blood Garment launched a strike at Dongfang Yinxing, that Dongfang Yinxing suddenly sensed danger behind him!

Yet he could not turn to look, for Ancestor Blood Garment's dark-iron sword was already thrusting at him. If he did not handle it properly, he would be run through.

This left him caught between a rock and a hard place, hesitating endlessly with no way out. He could only grit his teeth, parry the blow first, and pray that whoever was behind him was merely Wei Zhao come to make trouble!

His hopes were fine, but reality was cruel. Dongfang Yinxing suddenly sensed that the one behind him was an expert of peak late Heaven Rank strength—but by then it was too late. An arrow pierced his heart, and Dongfang Yinxing died with his eyes wide open.

Ancestor Pure Yin was horrified, yet dared not let his attention wander. But the next moment, tragedy came for him as well—another arrow through the heart, and Ancestor Pure Yin too was dead. Only, in the instant before he died, the identity of the three before him struck him like a thunderbolt: "You... you are the Blood Garment Yellow Springs Sect... and Ancestors at that... Why... why kill me..."

Even in death, Ancestor Pure Yin could not understand why these three Ancestors of the Blood Garment Yellow Springs Sect would kill them. This was utterly incongruous. Why would they help Wei Zhao?

In truth, the whole fight had lasted no longer than a spark struck from flint, over in the blink of an eye. Because in the villa district every villa stood well apart, no one else had been disturbed.

Wei Zhao had been all set to flee. Then he watched the three from the Blood Garment Yellow Springs Sect suddenly leap out and cut down Ancestor Pure Yin and Dongfang Yinxing, and he was left utterly dumbstruck! What play were these three putting on? Why had they chosen to strike on his behalf?

"Many thanks to the three Ancestors for your righteous aid... Might I ask, are you repaying a favor to me?" Wei Zhao truly could not fathom their reason. The only thing he could think of was that Ancestor Yellow Springs and the others had earlier asked him to relay to Gu Mengyao a scheme for tormenting Zhao Qibing, in exchange for which they would owe him a favor.

So, turn it over as he might, that was the only possibility Wei Zhao could conceive.

"Naturally not." Ancestor Gloom was a quick-witted man; he refused with a smile, having already prepared his explanation on the way here. "Mr. Lin, these two were targets someone paid us a high price to assassinate!"