Chapter 4340 — How Does the Truth Stand?

"Arrogant? I wouldn't say so. A straight stem fears no slanted shadow. Though the two of you are so worked up—could it be there's some unspeakable scheme behind it?" Wei Zhao folded his arms and smiled with leisurely amusement.

In his eyes, Li and Guan were beneath a single blow in strength and too clumsy in cunning for the table. Such clownish posturers were nothing to worry about; and by Wei Zhao's temperament, it was even less possible that he would fly into a rage over two people like these.

After all, they were not on the same level at all. One has seen men fight, but who has ever seen a man fight an ant? One either ignores it, or simply crushes it—no need to get angry.

"Hmph! Such a sharp tongue!" Seeing how composed the other was, Li and Guan felt an ominous premonition. Dragging things out jab for jab like this, something was bound to go wrong. Suddenly struck by an idea, Li Yanji said, "And what about that woman? Why hasn't she come back with you? Don't tell me she's gone off to be the pirates' wife?"

"Exactly! Back then you used your junior apprentice sister to curry favor with the pirates—seems you've completely thrown your own fellow disciple away. And you still have the nerve to come back alone. I've seen plenty of shameless people, but one as shameless as you—that I truly have never seen!" Guan Zhiyuan chimed in with a cold sneer.

"If you were merely spreading rumors, I might still consider sparing your miserable lives, but to slander my junior apprentice sister—then there is only one thing I can say to you both: I am deeply sorry." Wei Zhao's gaze went abruptly cold, killing intent flickering in both eyes. Though he unleashed no mighty aura, every escort in the hall felt a chill at the bottom of their hearts and unconsciously stepped back.

"Hmph! So we've finally hit a sore spot—the cornered dog leaps the wall, has it? Go on then, move a single finger and let's see!" Li Yanji and Guan Zhiyuan were not alarmed but delighted, and kept provoking him. They were only too eager for Wei Zhao to lose his temper and strike—then everything would be easy to explain.

"Heh, you really think I don't dare kill you?" Wei Zhao cast the two clowns a glance tinged with pity. If he had no evidence in hand and simply attacked like this, he really might leap into the Yellow River and never wash himself clean, thoroughly confirming the so-called crime of desertion. It was a pity, then, that he held solid proof—no fear at all of these two people's slander.

"Heh heh, big talk indeed. Then go on, you bastard, try killing us! With your meager early Golden Core cultivation, you dare puff yourself up like you're somebody? Aren't you afraid of making people laugh their teeth out? Hahaha!" Li and Guan kept up the taunts.

"You know not death," Wei Zhao said flatly, shaking his head, and at once prepared to strike the two dead. One at the peak of mid Golden Core, one at mid Golden Core—killable at a wave of the hand, nowhere near worth a thought.

Just then, however, a man emerged from the inner hall and, frowning at the crowd gathered in a ring, said, "Aren't you supposed to be working? Why are you all gathered here making a racket?"

"Good day, Young Master." The escorts hurriedly greeted him in unison. The newcomer was none other than Qi Wenmo, young master of the Qingtian Escort Agency.

At the sight, Wei Zhao quietly suppressed his killing intent. Because he held ironclad proof, even if he killed Li Yanji and Guan Zhiyuan, the truth would still come to light in the end. But to strike in front of Qi Wenmo would be somewhat excessive; even if he explained everything afterward, he could no longer stay at the Qingtian Escort Agency.

Besides, from their earlier dealings, Wei Zhao thought Qi Wenmo was in fact quite astute—not the sort to be hoodwinked by a few words from Li Yanji and Guan Zhiyuan. Better to wait and see how things developed, and first hear what he had to say.

Qi Wenmo's gaze swept across the crowd and finally settled on Wei Zhao at the center. He could not help starting, and his expression turned somewhat complicated.

"Ling Yi, that traitor, has returned! Young Master, please punish him severely, to serve as a warning to others!" Seeing this, Li and Guan wore subtle expressions of their own and hurried forward to say.

Inwardly, the two were lamenting the lost chance. Ling Yi had already taken the bait—a single strike and all would have been well. But no sooner had he come than Qi Wenmo had to arrive at just this moment. Now the situation had slipped out of their control again...

Little did they know that had Qi Wenmo not come out, the two of them would already have become two corpses. They had circled once through the gates of hell without even knowing it, and were even regretting the missed opportunity—truly, the world lacks for nothing so much as it lacks for clever fools.

At these words Qi Wenmo's expression darkened. He looked Wei Zhao up and down and did not speak at once, but waved a hand at the two men, signaling them to be patient.

Ever since about a month ago, when Li Yanji and Guan Zhiyuan returned empty-handed and it was learned that the valuable shipment had been stolen, the Qingtian Escort Agency had passed these days in extreme hardship; and the young master, who was gradually taking over the running of the agency, was more frantic than anyone.

The reputation the Qingtian Escort Agency had built over decades suffered greatly from this affair, and even its standing in the Wei Arc sea region was left perilously shaken. Not only that, but per the contract signed beforehand, they had to compensate the Hong Merchant Guild a full three hundred thousand spirit jade at the original value of the goods, barely enough to keep the guild quiet and stop it from spreading the word far and wide.

The scale of these successive losses—to the Qingtian Escort Agency, and especially to the young master Qi Wenmo—could well be imagined. And according to the reports of Li Yanji and Guan Zhiyuan, the culprits behind all these losses were none other than Wei Zhao and his companion!

"The enemy had four experts at the peak of late Golden Core, formidable indeed, but we also had four men. Even with such a gap in strength, if we had fought to the death there would still have been a sliver of a chance. But never did we expect that Ling Yi and that junior apprentice sister of his would surrender on the spot the moment they met the enemy, and turn around to become the pirates' claws, aiding the tiger in its savagery. With no recourse, the two of us could only stand by and let the shipment fall into the pirates' hands." Such were the exact words Li Yanji and Guan Zhiyuan had spoken at the time.

If that were truly so, then the culprits of this affair were undoubtedly Wei Zhao and his companion; one might even reasonably suspect that the pirates had colluded with the two of them beforehand—otherwise they could not so conveniently have waited by the tree for the rabbit, nor would Wei Zhao and his companion have defected so naturally.

But Qi Wenmo had not wholly believed this one-sided account. When he heard those words at the time, he had in fact felt considerable puzzlement.