Chapter 3516 — Something's Off

"Good!" Zhang Nai Pao nodded with a swaggering air.

"Hey... what kind of skill is it to push a woman around?" Xiao Che could no longer stand by.

"Listen here, mind your own damn business. Say one more word and I'll finish you off, got it?" Zhang Nai Pao jabbed a finger at Xiao Che, threatening him viciously. Back in school he had been Young Master Zhong Yongliang's lackey, rotten to the core with hoodlum airs, and these few words of his were no different from a street thug's.

"Huh?" Xiao Che had not heard anyone curse at him in a long time and was so furious he was left speechless. Still, he said, "The purpose of this trial is to protect the legacy-bearers, for all of us to stand together against the Five Malevolences Dragon. It is not a place for certain people to vent their spite..."

"Oh, if you want to go fight it, then go—I won't stop you." Zhang Nai Pao curled his lip. "But if you dare get in my way, just try it. Anyone who comes, dies!"

"Xiao Che, let me try," Wang Xinyan spoke up. "Since I broke through to the heaven tier's great perfection, I haven't fought anyone even once. I want to... gain some experience."

Xiao Che was taken aback, then suddenly realized that Wang Xinyan was herself a skilled hand at the heaven tier's great perfection—he had been treating her all this time like some ordinary, frail woman! At that thought he could not help but smile wryly. But since Wang Xinyan had said as much, he had no business interfering further, and could only nod. "All right, then be careful. I hear Zhang Nai Pao's mantra and oral formula are unspeakably vile..."

"Mm!" Wang Xinyan nodded. "All right, I'll be careful..."

Zhang Nai Pao was truly at a loss for words. Ignorance really did breed fearlessness! He could not fathom how Wang Xinyan had ever reached the heaven tier's great perfection—how could she seem so foolish and know nothing at all?

She did not have the slightest understanding of a cultivator's trials. Yes, they were both at the heaven tier's great perfection, but how could the two be the same? Same tier, different strength, different mantra and oral formula!

Zhang Nai Pao circulated his mantra and oral formula, and Wang Xinyan circulated hers as well. Because his opponent was a woman, Zhang Nai Pao was reluctant to take advantage of her—and being a eunuch, he was all the more mindful of such things.

"Paozi, give her something nasty!" Zhong Yongliang frowned and ordered Zhang Nai Pao.

Over on this side, Wang Xinyan and Zhang Nai Pao were already at daggers drawn. What surprised Kang Jingming and Zhong Yongliang somewhat was that Wei Zhao seemed utterly unaffected by what was happening with Wang Xinyan—after one glance earlier, he had not looked again at all!

Could it be that Wei Zhao did not care about Wang Xinyan? Impossible, that made no sense. If he did not care, why bring her along? If he did not care, why oppose the Five Luminaries Sect and the Kang family over her? If he did not care, why help her raise her strength?

Kang Jingming and Zhong Yongliang racked their brains over this strange state of affairs and could make nothing of it.

So Zhong Yongliang told Zhang Nai Pao to give Wang Xinyan something nasty.

"Fine..." Zhang Nai Pao had originally intended to use the Bee-Sucking Divine Art to drain Wang Xinyan dry on the spot, but since Zhong Yongliang had spoken, he could only change his mind and use the Mother-and-Son True Qi of the Chrysanthemum Treasure Manual against Wang Xinyan!

Cruel as it was to torment a girl, Zhang Nai Pao still had to obey Zhong Yongliang, so he meant to torment Wang Xinyan in order to distract Wei Zhao.

"Hold out your hand—let's trade palms," Zhang Nai Pao said to Wang Xinyan, having thought it through.

"Oh... all right." Wang Xinyan nodded and held out her hand.

And so Zhang Nai Pao's and Wang Xinyan's hands met...

The way these two contended made the onlookers' jaws drop. Zhang Nai Pao put on great airs, Wang Xinyan looked adorably blank—it was not at all like a battle between proper cultivators, but rather as though they had agreed beforehand to a friendly sparring match.

Still, everyone present except Han Jingyi could more or less foresee Wang Xinyan's fate: drained of her vital qi to the point of death—a wretched way to die. Even if she did not die, with her strength gone she would wish she had.

Or else, once Zhang Nai Pao injected his Mother-and-Son True Qi into her, she could be tormented until death would be a mercy. Either way, it was utterly savage.

Wang Xinyan's palm and Zhang Nai Pao's met. Zhang Nai Pao had been full of confidence, ready to inject his Mother-and-Son True Qi into Wang Xinyan—but the moment his mantra and oral formula began to circulate, something felt wrong!

His true qi had, it was true, successfully entered Wang Xinyan's body—but to his astonishment he found that it did not stop there. Instead, it began flowing into her in an endless, unbroken stream!

What was going on? Zhang Nai Pao turned ashen with shock. Since when did true qi reverse-flow on its own? That was not right—the mantra and oral formula he was circulating was the Mother-and-Son True Qi of the Bee-Sucking Divine Art. It could only put a tiny bit of Mother-and-Son True Qi into Wang Xinyan's body; there was no way it could pour forth endlessly like this!

This art of his had no such function at all. What had gone wrong?

Wang Xinyan had never expected her Southern Darkness Divine Art to actually take effect, beginning to draw true qi from Zhang Nai Pao's body in an unending stream. Although Wang Xinyan was now a skilled hand at the peak of the late heaven tier and at great perfection, and this true qi was of little use to her, it did not stop her from drawing it in.

Zhang Nai Pao's face went deathly pale. He wanted to halt the circulation of his mantra and oral formula, but just as he had said earlier—it simply would not stop!

In truth, one might say Zhang Nai Pao was fated for this misfortune. Had it not been for Zhong Yongliang's order to give Wang Xinyan something nasty, he would have used the Bee-Sucking Divine Art against her. But the Bee-Sucking Divine Art and the Southern Darkness Divine Art both derived from the same illusionary mantra and oral formula—one might call them fellow disciples of the same school, their power evenly matched, neither able to get the better of the other!

In other words, the result in that case would have been that neither could drain the other's vital qi; the two would simply have immunized each other!

But now it was different. Zhang Nai Pao had injected Mother-and-Son True Qi into Wang Xinyan, and so he fell prey to Wang Xinyan's Southern Darkness Divine Art. The vital qi in his body poured ceaselessly into Wang Xinyan's, and there was no stopping it now.

Zhang Nai Pao's expression was hideous, yet it availed him nothing. Zhong Yongliang and the others, of course, still had no idea what was happening—they merely saw Wang Xinyan and Zhang Nai Pao locked palm to palm. Though Zhang Nai Pao's face looked somewhat off, they assumed he was simply exerting his full strength to dissolve the true qi Wang Xinyan was sending his way!

Only, gradually, they sensed something was wrong! For Wang Xinyan's expression had been calm from first to last, while Zhang Nai Pao's had turned badly wrong—not merely ashen, but with beads of sweat the size of beans dripping down his forehead...