Chapter 3171 — A Windfall Delivered to the Door

"Yes. My sincere apologies—we failed to explain matters clearly to Mr. Lin beforehand! Perhaps Mr. Lin found it strange earlier: why, when we came to your door to make peace, we turned out three Ancestors at once? Rather an excessive show of force, wasn't it?" Ancestor Gloomy asked.

"Indeed, I did find it strange before, though I was too polite to ask." Wei Zhao nodded. "Could it be that your true purpose was these two men?"

"Precisely!" Ancestor Gloomy nodded. "To slay two such formidable experts at the peak of the late Heaven Rank with ease, only the three of us together could manage it. But we feared startling the snake in the grass, so we did not explain this to Mr. Lin beforehand. Moreover, the assignment is confidential—we had no idea Mr. Lin bore a grudge against these two, and we feared Mr. Lin might leak the secret. That is why we kept it hidden. Mr. Lin won't take offense, will he?"

"Of course not!" Wei Zhao shook his head, startled and delighted, sudden understanding dawning on him. He had wondered earlier just when he had acquired such prestige that three Ancestors of the Blood-Robed Yellow Springs Sect would come to his door to make peace—surely that was far too grand a gesture? Now it seemed they had come on an assignment!

As for why Pure Yin Heavenly Worthy and Dongfang Yinxing were to be killed, Wei Zhao could not be bothered to ask. It was simple enough: someone had paid for assassins, so they struck. No reason was needed at all—just as before, when they had come to kill Wei Zhao for no apparent reason whatsoever.

Besides, this matter had little to do with Wei Zhao. So long as the Blood-Robed Yellow Springs Sect had not come to kill him, that was enough. As for who the employer was, there was no need to ask—every trade has its rules. Wei Zhao had once worked as an assassin in the secular world himself; he would never casually reveal an employer to anyone.

"Then the three of us shall take our leave first. You must keep our visit to this place a secret—not a word to anyone," Ancestor Blood-Robed said after a moment's thought. "However, we must trouble Mr. Lin to deal with the bodies of these two. I fear Mr. Lin will also have to take the blame for their cause of death."

"Oh?" Wei Zhao was briefly taken aback, then his heart leapt with joy! Taking the blame for three Ancestors of the Blood-Robed Yellow Springs Sect was not merely no bad thing—for Wei Zhao it was a stroke of great fortune! Even if the Dongfang family and the Mingri Fumingri Sect learned that Dongfang Yinxing and Pure Yin Heavenly Worthy had been killed by the Blood-Robed Yellow Springs Sect, it would do Wei Zhao no good whatsoever; they would not lessen their hatred for him on that account. On the contrary, with the two dying at Wei Zhao's very doorstep, they might well conclude that Wei Zhao had hired the Blood-Robed Yellow Springs Sect to kill them!

So they probably would not seek vengeance against the Blood-Robed Yellow Springs Sect. They would still come after Wei Zhao!

But what if they believed these two had died at Wei Zhao's own hands? That would be an entirely different matter!

To slay two experts at the peak of the late Heaven Rank—that was no feat an ordinary man could accomplish. Yet Wei Zhao had done it! In that case, whether the Dongfang family or the Mingri Fumingri Sect, both would have to weigh Wei Zhao's abilities anew. To move against him, they would have to send even more formidable experts!

And who were more formidable? Surely experts at the grand completion of the peak late Heaven Rank! But then another problem arose: if Wei Zhao could slay two experts at the peak of the late Heaven Rank, could he not also slay one at its grand completion?

It was not that he could not—it was highly likely he could! And even an expert at the grand completion of the peak late Heaven Rank would not dare claim he could easily slay two experts at the peak of the late Heaven Rank, would he? Slaying one, perhaps, but two together—quite possibly the one who suffered in the end would be that grand-completion expert himself! It was an even fifty-fifty chance.

Of course, if it had been anyone else—an early Heaven Rank expert slaying two at the peak of the late Heaven Rank—no one would believe it if word got out. People might even mistake him for a madman raving nonsense!

But when it came to Wei Zhao, everyone found it perfectly normal! Ever since his debut, Wei Zhao had been fighting opponents above his level without pause. Several experts of the Dongfang family had died at his hands, and Zhang Naipao—long hailed as the foremost man below a certain rank—had been defeated by Wei Zhao time and again!

Since Zhang Naipao could kill Dongfang Bushu, an expert at the peak of the late Heaven Rank, then Wei Zhao, who was even more formidable than Zhang Naipao, why could he not kill two experts at the peak of the late Heaven Rank?

So beyond astonishment, people would hardly doubt it—and this was Wei Zhao's advantage now! Once Wei Zhao had reasoned this through, he was utterly delighted by this windfall that had fallen into his lap!

Though he could not guarantee the Dongfang family and the Mingri Fumingri Sect would never come to their senses later and seek revenge again, in the short term they could not possibly trouble Wei Zhao!

If two experts at the peak of the late Heaven Rank had died without anyone even knowing how, who would dare come? Come to throw their lives away?

Having reasoned this through, Wei Zhao cupped his hands toward the three Ancestors and said, "Good. I will keep the secret. In any case, I thank the three Ancestors for helping slay my enemies!"

"We take a man's money and spare him his calamity. We'll be going now!" With that, Ancestor Blood-Robed nodded and hurried off with the other two.

The sounds of fighting in the courtyard had also alerted those inside the villa. The first to emerge were Wu Chengtian and Feng Sanmang. Though neither had witnessed the fight, the moment they stepped out they saw two corpses!

"What happened here? Who are these two?" Wu Chengtian and Feng Sanmang were startled at once. The long stretch of peaceful days had led them to believe the Dongfang family had let the matter drop and would not come making trouble again—but what had happened tonight seemed to tell a different story!

Both men still gripped Heaven Rank divine weapons—clearly they were cultivators, and Heaven Rank cultivators at that. Most likely they were tied to the Dongfang family.

"One is called Dongfang Yinxing, the other Pure Yin Heavenly Worthy," Wei Zhao said. "Both were experts at the peak of the late Heaven Rank. Chengtian, Brother Feng, deal with the bodies—don't alarm the neighbors."

"Dongfang Yinxing? Pure Yin Heavenly Worthy?" Wu Chengtian was unruffled, but Feng Sanmang turned ashen with shock. He knew exactly who these two were—top-tier experts long renowned in the martial world. And yet they were dead? Slain just like that by Wei Zhao?

Wu Chengtian was merely astonished at Wei Zhao's prowess—that he could now kill experts at the peak of the late Heaven Rank despite the gap in level—and did not lose his composure as Feng Sanmang had. Amid his surprise, he simply nodded and said, "Understood!"