Chapter 4693 — Then Forget It

Even Wei Zhao, an outsider, could see that the relationship between Qi Wenmo and Xia Qianqian had grown noticeably closer than when they had first entered the trial—no longer merely a hint of ambiguity. On this point alone, Young Master Yin of the Snow Sword Sect and his two lackeys had truly done yeoman's service.

But Wei Zhao had no intention of letting these three "benefactors" off so easily. In any trial where killing was not prohibited, slaying for treasure had always been the most basic rhythm of things. Wei Zhao would not go out of his way to engage in such dealings, but neither would he be so foolish as to let an opportunity delivered to his doorstep slip by.

While Qi Wenmo and Xia Qianqian were busy exchanging covert glances, Wei Zhao stepped forward and turned the three corpses over one by one, searching them thoroughly from top to bottom. When he had cleared out everything, he could not help cursing under his breath: paupers! What in the world was all this? A pile of garbage, nothing more!

Watching the spoils Wei Zhao kept dredging out of the three bodies, Huo Yudie—who had nothing to do and stood idly by—could not help swallowing. The three had been consummate Nascent Soul and late-Nascent Soul experts at the very least; who among people of that caliber would carry trash on their person?

Not everything here was a rarity, yet even by Huo Yudie's standards they were quite decent. It was only in Wei Zhao's eyes that they were utterly worthless.

He had been in the primeval wilds of the Lufeng Forest, sweeping up rare treasures by the armful like a harvester, and had also looted the finest possessions of so many people. What caught his eye were things like the infant ginseng, the Wandu Golden Core Fruit, and Star Ink**—rare treasures of that order. His taste had been spoiled without his even noticing, which was why he now turned up his nose at these.

"Brother Qi, these three are your windfall. What comes to you of its own accord naturally belongs to you. Take all of this and put it away." After finishing his search, Wei Zhao waved a grand hand and gave the whole lot to Qi Wenmo and Xia Qianqian on the spot, keeping not a single piece for himself—or more precisely, not a single piece he thought worth keeping.

Given that he had casually produced things like the Natal-Infant Condensation Pill before, it was hardly surprising that Wei Zhao would say such a thing. Qi Wenmo and Xia Qianqian exchanged a glance, unable to suppress their delight. After all, to them these items were already quite fine.

The three had been formidable, after all, and the things found on them were treasures that early-Nascent Soul experts would dream of. Wei Zhao was simply a freak, the exception.

At those words Huo Yudie pouted from the sidelines. When it came to splitting the take with her, Wei Zhao had been so miserly he seemed ready to wring juice out of her; and now, toward these two friends of his, how generous he suddenly was!

Among the heap of treasures they had recovered were quite a few hard-to-find items, and he had given them away so easily. She wanted some herself! But now that Wei Zhao had done what he had done, she was too embarrassed to speak up...

Qi Wenmo glanced at Huo Yudie, who stood nearby wanting to speak but holding back. Wei Zhao was generous, and as his brother he could accept the gifts with a clear conscience, but he could not ignore the feelings of others—especially a beauty like Huo Yudie who stayed at Wei Zhao's side. Even if he could not help much for the moment, he must never become the teammate who dragged Wei Zhao down.

"This must be Sister-in-law?" Qi Wenmo greeted Huo Yudie with a grin. Before she could explain and disclaim it, he had already divided Wei Zhao's spoils into two shares—one for himself and Xia Qianqian, the other, naturally, for Huo Yudie—and said with an easy laugh, "What's seen is shared. These are all Brother Ling's gifts, so let us split them together."

"Ah? I... I don't want any..." At his words Huo Yudie's face flushed red at once. As if possessed, she actually forgot to refute the earlier remark, only waving her hands in flustered refusal and hastily retreating behind Wei Zhao.

"You want some?" Only then did Wei Zhao see what Huo Yudie was thinking, and he could not help but be surprised. He had assumed that with her strength and breadth of vision, she would not be far below his own and would look down on these people's belongings. Little did he realize he was purely measuring her by himself, imagining everyone had encounters as extraordinary as his own.

"I..." Seeing Wei Zhao's gaze turn and settle on her face, Huo Yudie felt a pang of panic and nervousness. She lowered her head, not daring to meet his eyes, and for a moment did not know what to say.

"Then pick a few," Wei Zhao said carelessly. As for Qi Wenmo's proposal to split everything in half, that was entirely unnecessary: for one thing, he and Xia Qianqian were two people and could hardly take only half; for another, given Huo Yudie's discerning eye, she would not want many of these things and would at most choose a few pieces.

"Better forget it..." Huo Yudie shook her head and said in a small voice.

"Oh. Then forget it," Wei Zhao said, looking utterly indifferent.

"..." At that, Huo Yudie fixed her eyes on Wei Zhao as though she could kill him. She was furious. She was a girl, after all—she had only declined out of shyness. As a grown man, could you not have asked once more? One more time and I could have gracefully accepted! Honestly!

Though he could not see the expression beneath her veil, Wei Zhao could more or less read the girl's thoughts through her eyes, and he could not help laughing. "Whatever you want, I'll give it to you later. These things are nothing."

Had anyone else made such a boast, Huo Yudie would have scoffed. But with Wei Zhao it was entirely different—at least the strength Wei Zhao had displayed truly warranted such a promise.

"In there are the auxiliary ingredients for refining that pill. They're not extremely rare, but they're not easy to find either..." Huo Yudie glanced at Qi Wenmo and Xia Qianqian, then said to Wei Zhao in a small, blushing voice.

Even knowing full well that Wei Zhao and Qi Wenmo were close, she remained very cautious and did not mention key terms like the Lightning Mystic Pill and the Lightning Mystic Vine. This matter was grave, after all; if word leaked out by some careless slip and people learned that this place held the Lightning Mystic Vine, complications would inevitably arise along the way, and it might even ruin everything in the end—and then there would be only tears.

"Oh, don't worry about that. I have all of those," Wei Zhao said with a smile, as though everything were under his control.

From the very first day he arrived at Cloud Terrace Island, he had set about building up a storehouse, and over two years it had grown to a considerable scale. Basically all the auxiliary ingredients for the mainstream pills were already in his possession; at most, treasures as exceedingly rare as the Lightning Mystic Vine still had to be obtained by chance. The rest required no further thought at all. (To be continued)

The School Beauty's Close-Range Bodyguard I640