Chapter 3928 — Life or Death, No Objection

The looks the other newcomers turned on Qiao Hongcai, their owner, were thick with undisguised envy; they gulped audibly one after another, cursing inwardly that this good-for-nothing Qiao had somehow landed under Wei Zhao's wing and pulled off a genuine dead-cat bounce—not only was his own strength absurdly formidable, but now he had even subdued a young Ghost-Eyed Golden Eagle. Such fortune was more than most people could earn in several lifetimes!

This time, even Meng Zhou was utterly dumbstruck. He had assumed his Blackback Staff Ape was already an unbeatable existence, and yet—damn it all—no sooner had Li Zhengming shown up with a Ghost Tiger than Qiao Hongcai immediately produced a Ghost-Eyed Golden Eagle. How in the hell was anyone supposed to live with that?

Fortunately, these were only the spirit pets of those two. Deep as their potential might be, their strength was still only at the early Heaven rank—no match for his Blackback Staff Ape. Otherwise, Meng Zhou would truly have been sick enough to vomit blood.

Apart from the Ghost-Eyed Golden Eagle, the other spirit pet among the three that followed at Xiao Che's side was a plump, sturdy rabbit standing half a man's height on its hind legs, its eyes a blood-red jade that seemed to snatch at the soul.

"That... that's a Bewitching Tyrant Rabbit!" someone suddenly blurted out in shock.

At the name, those who had been somewhat inclined to look down on the plump rabbit all felt their hearts tighten in unison, and the gazes they cast at Xiao Che took on a few more shades of envy and wariness.

The Bewitching Tyrant Rabbit was a spirit beast of considerable renown in the outer reaches of the back mountain, known as the Newcomer Killer. Rumor had it that many newcomers entering the back mountain for the first time had met their deaths beneath its claws.

Its deceptively harmless, frail appearance, its bizarre and intractable innate ability, and its generally formidable raw strength—these three combined to make the Bewitching Tyrant Rabbit a veritable Newcomer Killer.

Charm—that was the racial gift of the Bewitching Tyrant Rabbit. It carried no real lethality, yet for anyone it was an exceedingly troublesome ability. This so-called charm did not merely beguile the eyes but directly bewitched the consciousness itself, somewhat akin to Murong Zhen's Phantom Finger—except that what it manifested was not layer upon layer of phantoms, but the arousal of the target's most primal, most deeply buried desires.

To cultivators of unstable will, such an ability was nothing short of a nightmare. Once ensnared, there was no extricating oneself; by the time one came to, one might well already be a cold corpse.

And even against those of firm resolve, the Bewitching Tyrant Rabbit's charm was not wholly without effect—it worked on them too, only the period of bewilderment was exceedingly brief. Yet in a contest between experts, that instant of confusion was often the fatal opening.

What astonished everyone was that the strength tier of Xiao Che's Bewitching Tyrant Rabbit was the same as Li Zhengming's Ghost Tiger and Qiao Hongcai's Ghost-Eyed Golden Eagle—all at the early Heaven rank.

Fine, fine—none of them are a match for my Blackback Staff Ape. In a moment I'll beat them all to death, one by one, and be done with it!

Such was the only self-consolation Meng Zhou could manage. But when his gaze fell at last upon Wei Zhao's spirit pet at the very rear, his eyes flew wide in sheer disbelief.

Wei Zhao—that fellow—had actually subdued a spirit pet at the great consummation of the Heaven rank?!

The great consummation of the Heaven rank was theoretically the strongest spirit beast a low-grade spirit-pet talisman could subdue—and that possibility existed in theory alone. In practice, the peak of the late Heaven rank was already the limit; to use such a talisman on a beast at the great consummation of the Heaven rank, the success rate would likely not even reach thirty percent.

Yet however unbelievable it might be, the spirit pet following behind Wei Zhao was indeed at the great consummation of the Heaven rank—everyone present could see it plainly, and it was enough to make their jaws drop.

Only, intimidating as the tier of Wei Zhao's spirit pet might be, it did not look especially formidable. At first glance it was nothing more than an ordinary pet pig.

Still, when even his two underlings, Qiao Hongcai and Xiao Che, had subdued such formidable spirit pets, the crowd dared not rashly underestimate Wei Zhao, however much they muttered inwardly—after all, this man was the leader of those two, and his conduct had always been unpredictable, not to be measured by common sense.

Just then, Meng Jueming's voice rose abruptly from behind the crowd. Studying the pig-like spirit pet behind Wei Zhao, he said in surprise, "A Heavenly Thunder Pig? Isn't that a domesticated spirit pet that can only hunt treasure and can't fight at all? Since when does the back mountain have such things?"

The back mountain was fraught with peril. Though the Heavenly Thunder Pig counted as a rare spirit beast, unmatched in the world at treasure-hunting, its combat prowess was notoriously feeble—it simply lacked the ability to survive alone in the back mountain. Meng Jueming's puzzlement was only natural.

Generally speaking, owing to their treasure-hunting nature and rather endearing appearance, Heavenly Thunder Pigs were kept as domesticated spirit pets by the scions of great clans on Cloudstep Island, and were rarely seen in the wild—let alone in the perilous back mountain.

At these words, Meng Zhou immediately breathed a sigh of relief and declared smugly, "So it's just a pathetic weakling with no fighting power! I thought this posturing ringleader had stumbled onto some dog-shit luck again, picked up some mighty spirit pet at the great consummation of the Heaven rank from who knows where, and could give my Blackback Staff Ape a run for its money. Turns out it's just a useless piece of pastry brought along to pad the numbers and put on a show—what a thorough disappointment!"

Even the other newcomers on his side were left speechless by this speech. Before Meng Jueming had spoken up, this boy Meng Zhou had plainly been so terrified he scarcely dared breathe, his expression cringing enough to make one laugh.

Now that he had discovered the other's spirit pet was not a combat type, the fellow's tail was instantly up again, putting on the grand air of one whose spirit pet was peerless under heaven—truly enough to make one's guts ache with secondhand embarrassment.

Wei Zhao paid him no mind, but turned to Xiao Che and teased, "Is this one an actor by trade? He changes faces quite nimbly—well up to taking a Best Actor award."

Xiao Che could not help laughing, and though the others present had no idea what a "Best Actor" was, they could guess the gist well enough, and all choked back their laughter.

When it registered, Meng Zhou's face flushed crimson, and it was a long moment before he blustered furiously, "Only weaklings fight with their mouths! If you've got the guts, then when the spirit pet duel comes, don't you dare concede on your own—let that idiot pig of yours have a proper go at my Blackback Staff Ape, how about it?"

For a non-combat spirit beast like the Heavenly Thunder Pig, even if Wei Zhao had raised its strength to the great consummation of the Heaven rank, how much of that strength it could actually bring to bear in a real fight remained unknown—of one thing at least one could be certain: it would absolutely be no match for the Blackback Staff Ape. Of that there was no doubt.

Unexpectedly, Wei Zhao showed not the slightest retreat. Instead he smiled faintly and said, "Very well. Life or death, no objection." R1152