Chapter 4672 — Someone of No Small Consequence

Wei Zhao frowned slightly at this. Apart from Huo Yudie, these people meant nothing to him; he could not even be bothered to acknowledge them, much less spare them a second glance. But if they were foolish enough to provoke him, then there was nothing more to say.

"All right, native teammate, you're not needed here—be on your way." The tall man waved him off with a flick of his hand, dismissing him outright. Not one other man would be allowed anywhere near Huo Yudie.

Wei Zhao turned and glanced at Huo Yudie. He himself would not be stirred to anger by a few words from such clowns—either he ignored them entirely or crushed them with a single hand. The point was to see what this girl intended to do.

Huo Yudie frowned, then finally clenched her teeth and said to Wei Zhao, "Let's go."

"All right." Wei Zhao nodded indifferently. These people had never been fit to enter his sight, and this was an internal quarrel among them—he had not the slightest interest in getting involved.

"Tsk, tsk, what am I supposed to say, Senior Sister Huo? You're willing to fall out with your own fellow disciples over some wild man! They say you're pure as ice and chaste as jade—ha, so much for that! Turns out you're nothing but a slut. You really have no shame at all!" Jiali mocked with merciless sarcasm.

"What did you say?!" Huo Yudie whirled around and glared at her in fury. Even Wei Zhao could not stomach such filthy slander, to say nothing of a girl who held her reputation so dear.

"You know perfectly well what I said. If you can do such disgusting things, surely I'm allowed to talk about it? Hmph—or are you thinking of keeping the prize for yourself? Don't tell me you naively believe that dragging along a wild man like this will get you what we're looking for. You're dreaming!" Jiali kept up her relentless jeering.

Wei Zhao felt a faint stir at these words. From the sound of it, were these people also after the Thunder Mystic Vine? Had they been mere bystanders, he truly could not have cared less—but if they were rivals, and ones who kept shoving their faces at him so brazenly, then it would be a bit much not to do something about it.

Huo Yudie was about to retort, but Jiali gave her no chance. She turned to Wei Zhao and sneered, "Country bumpkin. Let me give you a bit of kindly advice—this senior brother of mine, Ren Zhongyuan, is one of Senior Sister Huo's suitors. He's not only powerful, he has a temper to match. You'd better watch yourself. Don't end up dead!"

As Jiali spoke, the tall man named Ren Zhongyuan gave a cold smile in perfect accompaniment, a flicker of murderous intent unmistakable in his eyes as he looked at Wei Zhao. It seemed that if Wei Zhao did not cooperate, this fellow truly meant to do something about it.

Unfortunately for him, he had clearly picked the wrong target. Wei Zhao's gaze was far colder and sharper than his own. The moment their eyes met, it was Ren Zhongyuan who involuntarily took a step back—a sight that left the others greatly astonished.

Ren Zhongyuan was a genius disciple of the East Continent Academy. To everyone's eyes, Wei Zhao was nothing but a country bumpkin, and the two were utterly beyond comparison. Who could have imagined that Ren Zhongyuan, this genius of the East Continent, would be the one frightened back a step by a country bumpkin?

Having embarrassed himself by accident, Ren Zhongyuan flew into a shameful rage—yet Wei Zhao's cold gaze still rested on his face, and he spoke a single sentence in a flat voice: "Trash, you'd best not waste my time, or I'll finish you off."

"What? You dare call me trash? And threaten to finish me off? Where does a country bumpkin like you get the nerve!" Ren Zhongyuan exploded at once, and the full, overwhelming aura of his Nascent Soul perfection burst forth without reservation. He was by nature extraordinarily proud and arrogant, and now, in front of his beloved Huo Yudie, how could he possibly back down?

The powerful aura sent sand and stones flying all around, the wind howling. It was a dreadful scene brimming with killing intent—yet Wei Zhao stood firm amid it all, unmoved. Nor did he give off any mighty aura of his own, yet the turmoil around him could not touch him in the slightest; he did not even blink twice.

Huo Yudie was appalled at the sight. She had no idea that Wei Zhao possessed the fearsome strength to fight foes above his level—that killing a Xuan Ascension expert in an instant was like child's play to him. All she knew was that Wei Zhao's current cultivation was at the peak of the early Nascent Soul stage, and before a figure like Ren Zhongyuan he was, so to speak, so weak as to crumble at a single blow.

"Senior Brother Ren, stop! Since that's how it is, we'll simply leave together. This Senior Brother Lin's status is no trifling matter—you must not be disrespectful to him!" Huo Yudie hastily placed herself in front of Wei Zhao. Once the two sides came to blows, in her eyes Wei Zhao was certain to die—and then their earlier agreement would have been for nothing.

"What's this? You're saying this country bumpkin is someone of no small consequence? Just a country bumpkin—what consequence could he possibly be?" Jiali curled her lip dismissively.

"His name is Wei Zhao. He is a teammate arranged by my master. His master is an old friend of my master's from the North Island—Shangguan Tianxia!" Huo Yudie said through gritted teeth.

Wei Zhao glanced at Huo Yudie in some surprise at this. He guessed that she had simply invented the lie on the spur of the moment, but to him it seemed half true and half false—her mind certainly worked fast.

"What? Shangguan Tianxia!" Jiali, Ren Zhongyuan, and the other man all changed countenance at Huo Yudie's words. Clearly they had all heard of this top-tier figure of the North Island. Yet after her shock, Jiali plainly still did not quite believe it. "Him? He's Shangguan Tianxia's disciple? Why have I never heard of this?"

"Didn't you see? At the birthday banquet earlier, he sat with Shangguan Lan'er, and just now, before we entered the teleportation array, Shangguan Lan'er was still with him! Think about it yourselves—if he were not Shangguan Tianxia's personal disciple, would that little princess of the North Island be so close to him?" Huo Yudie said with an air of great conviction.

Wei Zhao could not help laughing to himself at this. Though it was a spur-of-the-moment fabrication, nine parts of it were actually true—at least the part about his having been with Shangguan Lan'er all along. Who would have thought this girl was such a fine hand at spinning lies, reeling them off with ease and letting no flaw show.

Sure enough, at Huo Yudie's words, Ren Zhongyuan and the others recalled the glimpses they had caught earlier. Beside this man, there did indeed seem to have been Shangguan Lan'er's figure. So it seemed this fellow really was Shangguan Tianxia's disciple!

They were genius disciples of the East Continent Academy, and it was hardly unreasonable for them to put on airs of superiority here on the West Island—after all, the East Continent's standing was a full cut above the other Cloud-Tier Islands. But if the man before them was Shangguan Tianxia's personal disciple, then they had been throwing their weight around in quite the wrong place. (To be continued.)