Chapter 4369 — Then Go

In the next instant, the mountain-like phantom behind her came crashing down out of thin air. The skilled retainer's true qi was frozen solid within his body; far from resisting, he could not even manage to dodge. The phantom ground him straight into the floor, leaving nothing behind but a pool of brilliant crimson sludge.

A dead silence fell over the hall. Everyone looked at Wang Xinyan as though she were some kind of monster. Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao had also joined forces to kill a skilled retainer in an instant, but at least the crowd had been able to see how they struck. With Wang Xinyan, they had not caught a single movement from beginning to end.

What kind of technique was that? They had only seen her press her palms together and softly utter four words—and then the skilled retainer had simply turned into a pool of bloody sludge!

Even a crafty old fox like Wei Zhaotong felt his heart quail at such an astonishing sight. The two of them, Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao, killing a skilled retainer together in a blink had already shaken him badly enough. He had never imagined that this Wang Xinyan would be even more terrifying—he had not seen so much as how she made her move from first to last.

He remembered how, back at the Qingtian Escort Agency, the East Sea Divine Nun had killed Cheng Qitian with a single glance. Now, in a different place, Wang Xinyan had again spoken one airy phrase and left a skilled retainer neither living nor dead. Wei Zhaotong could not help but wonder, damn it all—were this master and disciple even human?

"Impressive!" Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao were startled by the sight as well, and sighed inwardly in admiration.

"Not bad—I didn't disgrace my master," Wang Xinyan said, sticking out her tongue cutely. The Mountain-Sea Seal was the East Sea Divine Nun's signature martial art and the one she had devoted herself to cultivating for the past year. If she could not even deal with a mere Nascent Soul-stage skilled retainer, that truly would have been an outrage against heaven.

The hall was dead silent. Everyone exchanged glances, their gazes toward Wei Zhao and the two women filled with awe. And Wei Zhaotong, so confident only moments before, now stood with his mouth hanging open, unable to speak for a long while.

"Three Nascent Soul-stage experts, was it?" Wei Zhao smiled faintly. He walked forward as though no one else were present and patted Wei Zhaotong on the shoulder. "Now you're the only one left, Steward Wei. Tell me—how do you think I ought to deal with you?"

"You... you..." Faced with Wei Zhao's mockery at such close quarters, Wei Zhaotong could only retreat again and again. Even knowing full well that the other man was only a mid Gold Core-stage expert, he did not dare make a move. After all, the strength those three had displayed in that single instant had been far too horrifying.

If he took advantage of the moment when their guard was down, with the distance between them so short—if he could seize Ling Yi as a hostage, that would be the best solution available to him right now.

Yet in the end, Wei Zhaotong did not let his head overheat. He was no fool, after all. What had just happened made it abundantly clear that these three could not be measured by any ordinary standard. It looked like a fine opportunity on the surface, but if he acted rashly, there was a ninety-nine percent chance he would die a very ugly death.

"What about us? Matters have come to this—does Steward Wei still intend to resist to the bitter end? The worm won't die until it sees the Yellow River. I don't think you're that foolish, Steward Wei." Wei Zhao sneered.

In a single exchange they had finished off two skilled retainers. The three of them had now thoroughly cowed everyone in the Weihu branch guild, high and low, and had the situation entirely under control. If he wanted to kill Wei Zhaotong, he could do it right now.

But Wei Zhao had no intention of doing so. What he wanted was to take over the Weihu branch guild smoothly. Killing Wei Zhaotong outright in front of everyone might feel satisfying, but it would make the aftermath very difficult.

Not only would it spread panic through the Weihu branch guild; it would also be hard to explain to the Hong Clan Merchant Guild headquarters. Wei Zhaotong was, after all, a steward with real authority in his region. Any punishment could only be left to the Hong Clan Merchant Guild itself. Wei Zhao might wear the halo of honorary vice-chairman, but he could not simply kill whomever he pleased—that would turn a good thing into a bad one.

Wei Zhaotong was a shrewd man, and he sensed Wei Zhao's misgivings in an instant. Realizing the other man did not dare strike him down just like that, the back he had bent in terror immediately straightened again.

"Well, well! You call yourselves disciples of the Morning Star Academy, yet you dare to throw in your lot with scoundrels and swindlers, to commit crimes and kill people here in our Hong Clan Merchant Guild! I'll report you to your academy's dean!" Wei Zhaotong stamped his feet and shouted.

He knew Ling Yi certainly could not be frightened off, but if he could scare Wang Xinyan and Huang Xiaotao into backing down, getting through today would become easy. After all, setting aside their strength, it was these two women's identities that he feared most.

Wei Zhaotong also took it for granted that the two women must be hot-blooded youngsters who, having listened to Wei Zhao's slander, had let their passions carry them into standing up for him. Just as students fear their teachers finding out when they do wrong, he thought, once the academy dean was invoked, the two women might not dare behave so recklessly.

To his surprise, the two women only giggled at his words. Wang Xinyan arched her delicate brows faintly and said with a slight smile, "Then go ahead."

"You—!" Wei Zhaotong was furious. Their unshakable composure made it plain they had him completely cornered. Truly, a tiger fallen to the flatlands is bullied by dogs—he, a branch steward of the Hong Clan Merchant Guild, was actually being manhandled by a few young upstarts!

"Us? Our affairs are no concern of yours, Steward Wei. You'd do better to worry about your own fate!" Wei Zhao sneered, then took a specially made black-gold chain from the shelf and, without another word, bound Wei Zhaotong up tight.

This was equipment used by the clan law-enforcement halls of the sea region to carry out family discipline. Bound with it, one's true qi circulation was severely impeded, and even a Nascent Soul-stage expert could not break free. He had obtained it at one of the earlier auctions; it was not worth much, but on an occasion like this, it came in perfectly handy.

Throughout the trussing, Wei Zhaotong was beside himself with rage, yet he never dared offer the slightest resistance, afraid that one careless move would land him in the same state as those two skilled retainers—smacked to death by these three lawless wretches.

As for the other shop assistants and serving boys present, they were by now utterly dumbstruck, every one of them trembling and at a loss for what to do.

In their hearts, they naturally trusted their immediate superior Wei Zhaotong more than an outsider like Wei Zhao. But the problem was that strength decided everything. Of the three Nascent Soul-stage experts present, two skilled retainers had already been blasted away, their fate unknown, and the remaining one, Wei Zhaotong, was now tied up. What could the rest of them possibly do?

Fight Wei Zhao and his companions to the death?

Never mind that they had the numbers—if it really came to blows, even if they all rushed in together, they would not be enough to fill the gaps between their teeth! (To be continued) R655