Chapter 4594 — So It Was a Xuan Sheng After All!

"I'm quite sure I'm a smart man, but whether Your Excellency is one—that I really couldn't say. Robbery? Heh. Around the South Continent's waters that's hardly worth mentioning. But do you know what became of the last lot who tried to rob me?"

"And what became of them?" The burly, curly-bearded fellow was in no hurry to strike. He too put on the look of a cat toying with a mouse, eyeing Wei Zhao sidelong and appraising him, as though tallying up just how much he might gain from this venture.

"Three of them were thrown into the sea to feed the beasts. One is locked up—dead or alive, I couldn't tell you now. But I doubt Your Excellency will be blessed with such luck. Sea lies on every side of this place. Feeding you to the beasts would be the simplest course, and I suppose that counts as a rare and proper resting place. What do you think?" Wei Zhao said this with the utmost seriousness.

"Tsk, tsk. Such a big mouth! You'd throw Your Uncle into the sea to feed the beasts? Hahahaha!" The burly man suddenly threw back his head and roared with laughter, as though he had heard the greatest joke under heaven, and for a long while he could not stop, gasping for breath.

Wei Zhao glanced at him, then suddenly addressed the spirit bird beneath him: "Seems he's a madman—and a pitiful one at that. Heaven has a heart for the living. Let's be on our way."

With that, man and bird really did turn and fly off. The burly man, still laughing, nearly choked on his own breath at the sight. A moment ago Wei Zhao had looked at him as one looks at an idiot—and now this whelp actually dared treat him as a fool?!

With a shrill cry, the Ghost-Eyed Golden Eagle he had left behind shot forward in an instant, swift as a thunderclap, and barred the way before Wei Zhao and the spirit bird. The burly man's mouth twitched as he fixed Wei Zhao with a cold stare. "So you won't take a toast, you'll take a forfeit? Fine. I'll grant you have guts, boy. Today Your Uncle really doesn't want any treasure off you. For that sentence alone, you die today!"

As he spoke, the burly man's aura suddenly surged, and his domineering presence bore down on Wei Zhao and the spirit bird without the slightest restraint, so piercing and sharp it was like being cut by blades. The spirit bird, unable to hold steady, nearly plunged into the sea, and even Wei Zhao's eyelids twitched. This fellow was actually a Xuan Sheng cultivator!

He appeared to be only at the early Xuan Sheng stage, yet an expert of that calibre had a place anywhere in the world. No matter how powerful a sect, they would treat such a one as an honored guest. Not to mention a seat among the ranking elders—at worst he could always get himself taken on as a retainer. In the North Island's Three-Tier Pavilion, he would already be a figure of consequence with a chance at the elder council.

Honestly, Wei Zhao had never imagined that such a being would go out on his own and turn bandit. The world's affairs truly were strange and wonderful, with every sort of odd creature in it. An expert of early Xuan Sheng could earn money at any number of things—did he have to demean himself by coming out to play the robber...

Seeing Wei Zhao's somewhat incredulous look, the burly man at once laughed in smug delight again. That look was his favorite, and so every time he chose a victim, he would not reveal his early Xuan Sheng cultivation at first. Only when he was about to strike would his edge show in full—for that was exactly the relish he sought, playing the pig to devour the tiger!

"Scared? Hahahaha—a pity it's too late. If you had shown some sense earlier and handed over your treasures of your own accord, I might truly have let you live. But now—well, since I've already said you must die, there is no second possibility. Do you understand what it means that my words are law?" The burly man laughed wildly and without restraint.

"My words are law?" Wei Zhao's mouth twisted despite himself. He still wore the look of one regarding an idiot as he frowned slightly and said, "Your Excellency can't really be an idiot, can you? If your words truly were law, then the moment you said the word 'die' just now, I would already be dead—yet here I am, still alive. I must ask, how did you come by this early Xuan Sheng strength? Has cultivation in this day and age really stopped requiring intelligence?"

At this the burly man's face actually flushed—a rare sight, and one visible even through his sunglasses. That talk of his words being law was nothing but his own boasting. An early Xuan Sheng cultivation was still at least a hundred and eight thousand li away from true words-as-law.

"Sharp tongue! Good—very good. I've changed my mind now. I've decided not to throw you into the sea to feed the beasts. Instead I'll beat you into a cripple, string you up with rope, and drag you through the sea as bait. What do you think of that plan?" The burly man, stung into fury, snarled with a hideous face.

"Passable, I suppose. But I doubt the sea beasts would care for this flesh of mine. They'd surely prefer something with more of the stench of blood about it. On that count, Your Excellency seems the better fit." Wei Zhao smiled faintly.

"I..." The burly man hopped and stamped with rage, choked speechless for a long while. Only now did he finally grasp one thing: if it came to a contest of words, ten of him put together would likely still lose to this sharp-tongued brat.

"What? Does Your Excellency find it reasonable too?" Wei Zhao stood there with his arms folded, watching him with a half-smile. In the past he probably would have had no patience to waste words on a robber like this—even one at the early Xuan Sheng stage. But now his mood was excellent, and this was the first living soul he had seen in more than half a year, so he found himself with a few more thoughts of sport.

Being watched with such mockery, the burly man's fury shot to the heavens, and he lost all his earlier inclination to toy with a mouse. Killing intent rose off him as he said, "I've seen plenty of folk who don't know death when they see it, but never one as blind as you! Boy, let me give you a piece of advice: a sharp tongue is of no use—it will only make your death more wretched. Remember that in your next life!"

With that, the burly man gave Wei Zhao no chance to speak. He suddenly drew from behind him a long staff, black as ink from end to end, and with a great roar brought it crashing down toward Wei Zhao's head from afar.

His staff was a full zhang and two in length, while the distance between them was at least ten zhang—by any reckoning it could not possibly reach Wei Zhao. Yet when the staff fell, it whooshed with vigor and became a vast, sky-covering host of ferocious staff-shadows, the dreadful killing intent within enough to change the very countenance of heaven and earth!

Even the clouds drifting nearby were in an instant transformed into hideous, terrifying black clouds!

...R640