Chapter 3261 — Escape

Yet Wei Zhao did not dare go all out. He held back a portion of his true qi, for even if he could beat He Tianzu to death, Folieang'ou was still standing nearby — he could not stake his entire fortune on He Tianzu alone.

"Boom—" To his relief, the strike had been successfully triggered. It seemed that at the peak of the early Heaven Tier, he could still unleash the tenth form of the Mad Flame Eight Trigrams Palm — only this time, he could plainly feel that the blow landing on He Tianzu lacked the exhilarating, thunderous shock that the same palm had delivered to others before.

He Tianzu's body only jerked violently once. He staggered several steps backward, blood seeping from the corner of his mouth — but he was plainly not dead. It was a wound neither light nor grave.

"Cheng Yiyi, grab hold of me from behind!" Wei Zhao bellowed. As he shouted, he hoisted Xu Shilan onto his shoulder. Cheng Yiyi, an Earth Tier cultivator, reacted with lightning speed, leaping straight onto Wei Zhao's back from behind. Then Wei Zhao took off running.

On his feet were the Gale-Chasing Lightning Boots. Wei Zhao had already learned the incantation for wielding this divine weapon. Since he could not beat He Tianzu to death, running was his only option.

"After him!" He Tianzu had never imagined Wei Zhao would dare launch a sneak attack. He had been certain Wei Zhao would submit — but instead, the boy had struck him the moment his guard was down.

The blow was not fatal to He Tianzu, but it was enough to hamper his movement and diminish his strength. He immediately barked orders at Folieang'ou, while he himself swiftly fished a small medicine vial from his robes, tipped out a pill, and swallowed it, then began regulating his breath.

Folieang'ou was no fool. As the vice chairman's son, he might run with He Tianzu day to day, but he was not He Tianzu's underling. He was only a fighter of the early Heaven Tier. If Wei Zhao could wound He Tianzu, then Wei Zhao must be formidable indeed. On the surface, Wei Zhao's strength appeared to be merely the peak of the early Heaven Tier — but if he could injure He Tianzu, then his true power was likely just as the rumors said: extraordinarily high.

Still, formidable as he was, Wei Zhao was not impossibly troublesome. If a few fighters at the peak of the late Heaven Tier could gang up on him — or if a cultivator of Great Perfection came along — Wei Zhao would surely be captured with his hands bound.

At that thought, Folieang'ou felt some regret. He should have advised He Tianzu against acting rashly. Now He Tianzu was wounded, Wei Zhao had fled, and he himself dared not make a reckless move.

"Folieang'ou, why aren't you chasing him?" He Tianzu asked hurriedly once he had regulated his body and his injury had eased a little, catching his breath.

"Young Master He, I'm only at the early Heaven Tier. If I chase him, aren't I just delivering myself to him?" Folieang'ou said with a bitter smile. "You weren't his match — if I went, I doubt I'd come back."

He Tianzu was briefly taken aback, then nodded. Folieang'ou was right: his strength was only the early Heaven Tier, and Wei Zhao had wounded even He Tianzu, who stood at the peak of the late Heaven Tier. Killing Folieang'ou would be no problem at all.

At this moment, He Tianzu did believe that Elder Chen had been slain by Wei Zhao. Yet he was unwilling to let it go. Gritting his teeth, he said, "We'll chase him together. We can't let him get away. In a moment, you deal with those two women — I'll handle Wei Zhao."

"Fine!" Folieang'ou had no trouble dealing with two women, so long as he did not have to face Wei Zhao directly.

By now, Wei Zhao had already run far. Though He Tianzu and Folieang'ou were both Heaven Tier fighters, the chase was still grueling. Watching Wei Zhao's receding figure, both were puzzled — how was he running so fast?

Wei Zhao did not dare pause for an instant. He Tianzu might be wounded, but plainly the Great Return Pill had done its work and he was no longer in any serious danger. If he caught up, killing the Wei Zhao of this moment would be easy.

After all, when Wei Zhao had triggered the tenth form of the Mad Flame Eight Trigrams Palm, he had spent most of the true qi in his body, and the little he had conserved had all gone into running.

So Wei Zhao ran flat out along the highway with one person on his shoulder and another on his back. Luckily there were few cars on this stretch of road — otherwise his behavior would have scared the drivers to death.

He Tianzu and Folieang'ou were no slowpokes either, and Wei Zhao was burdened with two people. Yet Wei Zhao not only had the exquisite lightness skill of the Butterfly Micro-Step to aid him, but also the divine Gale-Chasing Lightning Boots on his feet. His speed was unmatched — in the blink of an eye, he was leaving the two further and further behind.

"Damn it, is this brat riding on wind-and-fire wheels? How is he running so fast!" He Tianzu had gone all out, yet instead of closing the gap, he was falling further behind — which left him thoroughly exasperated.

"It really is uncanny. There's something strange about this kid!" Folieang'ou agreed. Though he had not guessed that Wei Zhao carried a divine weapon, he could clearly sense that the boy was unlike ordinary men.

At last, Wei Zhao vanished from sight. He Tianzu and Folieang'ou had no choice but to stop and sit down in the wheat field beside the road to rest.

Just then, He Tianzu's phone rang.

"Hello... Dad..." He Tianzu's voice was very cautious — after all, he had misjudged and made a grave mistake.

"Tianzu, where are you?" He Dantou's inquiring voice came through the phone.

"Dad, I'm sorry. I acted rashly. Not only was I wounded by Wei Zhao, but I let him get away!" He Tianzu said, dejected.

"What!?" He Dantou's voice caught, then turned angry: "Didn't I tell you to keep him steady first and wait for us to get there?"

"I..." He Tianzu naturally did not dare mention Xu Shilan, so he said only: "Wei Zhao seemed to have sensed something. After leaving the auction house, he drove straight onto the highway. We had no choice but to move in and intercept him!"

"Oh? Then you could have simply tailed him. You threw away such a fine opportunity for nothing!" He Dantou knew well that Wei Zhao was a cultivator — if he escaped, catching him again would be extremely difficult, hardly worth even thinking about. So he also knew that scolding He Tianzu now was useless. He could only say: "Forget it. If he's run, he's run. I had wanted to use this chance to make Wei Zhao surrender a share of his interests, so we could get our hands on a cheap automatic medicine cauldron. But now it seems that if Wei Zhao makes it back, he'll likely never come here again, and we'll have nothing left to hold over him."

(Today, Yuren shared on WeChat images of the male characters who are external-school experts in the school-flower game; tomorrow he will share images of the female external-school experts. Please stay tuned to yuren22.) (To be continued.)