Chapter 4394 — Why Save You?

Lu Bianren, by contrast, had been dragged along the whole way, and by now his mind had been churned into a paste. A fine mid-Golden Core cultivator though he was, when had he ever known such a thrilling pace?

And the whole time he had been helpless, flung this way and that by Wei Zhao without the slightest say in the matter. By now his stomach was heaving like a storm-tossed sea. Shut up in that dungeon for months, he had not had a single proper meal, and yet Wei Zhao had somehow managed to make him throw up all the same...

Watching Lu Bianren—who was ordinarily so composed that not even thunder could ruffle him—now wearing that ghastly, contorted look of a man racked by dry heaves yet unable to bring anything up, Wei Zhao hardly knew whether to laugh or cry. But he had no time to stop and let Lu Bianren catch his breath; if he had to vomit, he could vomit once they were out of danger.

Without a second thought, Wei Zhao ran full out along the coastline for a solid three hours, until at last the walls of Moleng City came into view. He sensed no aura of any powerful expert behind them; presumably their pursuers had given up the chase.

After all, to the Central Merchants' Association, Wei Zhao was no important prisoner—he had merely been caught after blundering onto the third floor. Those people likely could not even recall his face clearly, and now that they were busy hunting so many fugitives all over the place, overlooking two men like Wei Zhao and Lu Bianren was hardly cause for alarm, much less for mustering a great host.

Once inside the bustling market district, Wei Zhao immediately reined in his aura and became indistinguishable from any ordinary passerby, while Lu Bianren, thoroughly battered, had long since lost any aura to speak of; apart from a slightly unsteady gait, no one would give him a second glance.

After a few turns, Wei Zhao brought Lu Bianren to the inn where the Qingtian Escort Agency was staying, and without a word went straight back to his own room.

The inn's serving staff, seeing this, thought nothing of it. After all, guests came and went in endless streams, and it was impossible for them to remember every face. If the man could open the door, then he was plainly a legitimate guest—nothing to be suspicious about.

Whew! Only then did Wei Zhao finally let out a long, foul breath. Even knowing full well that the other side was unlikely to mount a great pursuit, the pressure exerted by experts at the Xuan Ascension stage was no small thing—even Wei Zhao had not had it easy.

As for Lu Bianren, although he had been towed along the entire way and had scarcely exerted himself at all, his condition was now far worse than Wei Zhao's. He had already been on his last legs on the road; now that they had finally relaxed, he looked all the more wretched, and very nearly passed out on the spot.

Standing to one side and watching Lu Bianren's dazed, reeling state, Wei Zhao could not help but laugh. Lu Bianren had always been the sort who would not change expression even if Mount Tai collapsed before him; in all the time Wei Zhao had known him, this was the first time he had ever seen him so utterly undone.

"Many thanks, hero, for saving my life!" After reeling for a good while, Lu Bianren recovered himself a little and hastily cupped his hands to Wei Zhao in gratitude.

Puzzled as he was, he knew that this stranger of a martial man was rescuing him, and so he had not resisted in the slightest along the way. Otherwise, even if he was no match for the man, had he truly struggled, even Wei Zhao would have found it a headache.

"No need. It was only right," Wei Zhao said with a smile and a wave of his hand.

"Only right?" Lu Bianren gave Wei Zhao a peculiar look, but did not venture to press the matter. Instead he said, "May I ask, hero, whether you had some purpose in bringing me here especially? If not, then I shall take my leave now. Your kindness in saving my life—I shall repay it when I am able!"

"No need to rush off." Wei Zhao reached out to block him, then asked with a sly look, "There is no such thing as a free lunch in this world. Aren't you the least bit curious? Don't you want to ask who I am, and why I went out of my way to save you?"

"This... I am indeed curious, and if it is convenient, I hope you will not stint in enlightening me!" Lu Bianren's heart sank at once, and he thought to himself: could this fellow be up to no good? Have I escaped the wolf's den only to land in the tiger's lair?

Wei Zhao smiled a smile of profound mystery, said nothing, and slowly reached up to remove the Thousand-Silk Mask.

When Lu Bianren, whose heart had been somewhat uneasy, saw Wei Zhao's true face, he froze on the spot and for a long while could not speak.

"You... you... you're Wei Zhao!!!" Lu Bianren's eyes went wide with shock and delight. Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that this ferocious figure of formidable strength and ruthless methods would turn out to be Wei Zhao!

"Haha, Brother Lu, it's been a while. I trust you've been well." Only then did Wei Zhao smile and cup his hands in greeting.

"So it really is you! Oh, you gave me an awful fright!" Only then did Lu Bianren's heart finally settle back into place, and his whole body seemed to deflate as he flopped onto the stool with no regard for appearances. He had been on tenterhooks the entire time, but since the other party was Wei Zhao, one of their own, there was naturally nothing left to worry about.

"Forgive me, forgive me. The martial world is treacherous; wearing a mask and changing my appearance is simply a precaution against the unforeseen." Wei Zhao smiled and sat down as well, pouring a cup of tea for each of them.

"Mm, that's only right. If I had been as careful as you from the start, perhaps I would not have ended up in today's predicament." Lu Bianren sighed with feeling and drained his tea in one gulp, then looked Wei Zhao up and down anew, clicking his tongue in wonder even as he asked in puzzlement, "Brother Wei, how is it that you came to be here?"

Lu Bianren now truly had a bellyful of questions. It seemed only a year ago that Wei Zhao had been a newcomer freshly teleported up from the mortal realm, and now, after a mere year, he had already grown into a ruthless figure who could casually thrash even someone of Sun Hengbiao's caliber, a mid-Nascent Soul expert. Was that not growing just a little too fast?

Especially that move that had blasted the dungeon to rubble just now—its power was enough to rend heaven and earth. Lu Bianren even suspected it had already surpassed the level of Nascent Soul experts.

With such a terrifying, heaven-defying rate of growth, this brother of his was not merely one in ten thousand in talent—even calling him one in a hundred million would be a gross underestimate!

"Heh, two months ago I became an inner sect disciple and took on a trial mission: to capture the wicked cultivator Wu Baoliang. His most recent appearance was in the Weihu Sea region of South Continent, so I came over," Wei Zhao answered.

"Brother Wei, you're already an inner sect disciple?" Lu Bianren was slightly taken aback at the news, but on second thought it made sense to him: "Of course. With your current strength, you can casually thrash even Sun Hengbiao—never mind inner sect disciple, you'd have more than enough to serve as an elder of the Threefold Pavilion."

At the Threefold Pavilion of North Island, Nascent Soul experts had the chance to rise to the position of elder, and with Wei Zhao's present strength, he could even crush the vast majority of them.