Chapter 3225 — These People Are All Dead

"Pff—" Feng Sanmang could not hold back a burst of laughter the moment he heard the names Dongfang Yinxing and the Four Great Vajras. If there was any family that had truly run out of luck, it was the Dongfang clan; every one of those vicious bastards was dead and gone! Call it retribution, perhaps, for the way they had once dealt with the matriarch and Xu Shilan.

"Sanhuang, what are you laughing at?" The old director frowned. Though it had been many years since she stood at Feng Tianqi's side, she had after all been his former lover, and Feng Sanmang addressed her as matriarch—yet he dared to laugh at her? Her tone sharpened with annoyance. "Sanhuang, you simply have no idea how formidable these people are."

"Um... Mama..." Xu Shilan knew Feng Sanmang was not mocking the old director but laughing at the Dongfang clan's misfortune, so she hurried to explain in a small voice. "Brother Sanhuang isn't laughing at you, he's laughing at the Dongfang clan..."

"Laughing at the Dongfang clan?" The old director was taken aback, then her frown deepened. "Sanhuang, what do you mean by that?"

"Mama... the people you just mentioned... they're all dead..." Xu Shilan rushed to explain.

"Dead... what do you mean, dead... Xiaohan, you're saying the Dongfang clan members are dead?" The old director's eyes went wide with disbelief as she stared at Xu Shilan. How could they be dead? She had no immediate source of information, but every so often she still picked up word of the Dongfang clan through the odd rumor or backchannel. The Dongfang clan was at the very height of its power—how could these people be dead?

"Dongfang Yinxing, Dongfang Jian, Dongfang Ying, Dongfang Cha, Dongfang Song—they all seemed to come to kill me, but Wei Zhao... killed them all..." Even now, thinking back on it, Xu Shilan found it a little unbelievable. Take any one of those ruthless men on his own, and he was a nightmare for her and her mother—yet Wei Zhao had cut them down like chickens and cattle, killing one when one came and a pair when two came, until Dongfang Xiaocui had no choice but to plead with Wei Zhao for mercy through Feng Shihua.

The Dongfang clan had vanished without a trace, not a whisper of them left.

"Wei Zhao... you're... a Heaven-rank expert now?" The old director was utterly astonished, for Dongfang Yinxing had been a peak late Heaven-rank expert, among the very finest cultivators in the world. If Wei Zhao had killed him, what did that make Wei Zhao? A Heaven-rank expert as well?

"No, it's not like that..." Wei Zhao smiled wryly. "Brother Feng, you'd better explain."

Feng Sanmang nodded and recounted it all to the old director—how Wei Zhao could fight opponents above his own rank, and how Feng family's Dongfang Xiaocui had sent assassins after Xu Shilan.

The more the old director heard, the more excited she became! She had never imagined that every Dongfang clansman who came died, until in the end they dared not even utter a squeak, and Dongfang Xiaocui had begged Wei Zhao for mercy through her own son!

She felt that at long last she could hold her head high! Truly, there is always a taller mountain beyond the mountain—those ruthless men who had strutted and postured before her meant nothing at all before Wei Zhao!

So then, the danger to her and Xu Shilan was over? She let out a long, slow breath. At last... it was over! The clouds had parted and the sun shone through; at last she could appear under her former identity.

"Wei Zhao! Thank you. You are not only the orphanage's benefactor, but our family's benefactor as well! Thank you!" The old director looked at Wei Zhao and spoke earnestly.

"All right, enough of that. Whether it's for Yu Xiaoke's sake or Xu Shilan's, I could never stand by and do nothing about you." Wei Zhao waved his hand indifferently. "Now, let me restore your strength."

"Good!" The old director nodded quickly. "So what do I need to do now?"

"Just circulate the mental technique and incantation you use when you cultivate. Leave the rest to me," Wei Zhao said.

"Now? All right!" The old director answered and began to circulate the mental technique she used in cultivation, and then she felt a ceaseless stream of true qi flowing from the point where Wei Zhao gripped her wrist pulse into her meridians...

The old director was utterly aghast, yet she dared not make a sound; she hurriedly kept circulating her mental technique and cultivating, and very quickly she discovered that her strength had reached the peak of the late Yellow rank!

Since the old director had once been an Earth-rank expert, there was no rank barrier for her now; so long as there was enough true qi, she could rise steadily through the ranks, and so the barrier between peak late Yellow rank and early Mystic rank was far easier for her to break through than for other cultivators...

In front of Xu Shilan, Cheng Yiyi, and Feng Sanmang, Wei Zhao did not bother to hide the fact that he was raising the old director's rank, but a flicker of doubt crossed Yu Xiaoke's eyes! It was the first she had ever heard that Wei Zhao could raise someone else's rank—though for some reason, her thoughts drifted back to the ancient tomb.

Back then, the male thief had seemed to have the ability to raise others' ranks as well—at least, the strength of the female thief and that follower of hers seemed to have suddenly improved inside the tomb. Still, Yu Xiaoke was not entirely certain, so the thought passed as quickly as it came.

Feng Sanmang, for his part, had known a thing or two about Wei Zhao before; Wei Zhao advanced quickly in rank, and the underlings around him advanced quickly too. But Feng Sanmang was not, after all, particularly close to Wei Zhao, so he had never asked. Now it seemed that most likely Wei Zhao had been the one raising those underlings' strength all along!

At that thought, Feng Sanmang felt a pang of envy. Wei Zhao could actually raise others' strength? How many more hidden top-tier abilities did Wei Zhao possess?

Shock glittered in Cheng Yiyi's beautiful eyes as well! She too knew about cultivators, and knew how difficult it was for them to advance in rank—yet now, with Wei Zhao, it seemed to be no problem at all?

Very quickly, the old director's strength soared from the Yellow rank all the way up to the Earth rank... even surpassing her original level—early Earth rank! To her astonishment, the old director found that her strength had already surpassed early Earth rank and climbed all the way to peak late Earth rank before it finally stopped!

Because Wei Zhao was drawing the energy true qi directly from the jade pendant's space, he had not depleted any true qi of his own; after raising the old director to peak late Earth rank, he felt no fatigue at all. He merely withdrew his hand under the stunned gazes of everyone present and smiled. "Old director, you are now a peak late Earth-rank expert. Ordinary cultivators won't be able to make trouble for you. But the Dongfang clan has gone very quiet now, and I doubt they'll come looking for trouble with you either—East Sea City must be their nightmare and their forbidden ground."