Chapter 4728 — Still Trying to Scare People?

She had been frightened half out of her wits just now, but after hearing Han Jingyi's assessment, the heart that had been dangling in midair finally settled back into place. She was still a little uneasy, to be sure, but at least it no longer ached the way it had before.

After steadying her breathing for a moment, Huo Yudie at once set about hoisting Wei Zhao onto her back. This place would close within five days, and when it did, the whole Heavenly Thunder Formation outside would reset along with it. Without Wei Zhao leading the way, she would not even be able to find her way out. They had to leave as soon as possible.

Backing out from the Five Thunder Tribulation Archway, Huo Yudie carried Wei Zhao outward. The boulder formation outside still could not be crossed by wandering at random, but fortunately she had memorized the route when she followed Wei Zhao in, so she was able to make her way out without mishap.

Earlier still, Xu Lingchong had already bolted out ahead with Kang Jingming slung over his shoulder. He was genuinely afraid that that little wench Huo Yudie would come chasing after him like a madwoman, so he did not pause for a single instant along the way, ignoring outright even the rare treasures he came across.

After all, with the Thunder Mystic Vine in hand, every other treasure in this place was nothing but passing cloud by comparison. The longer the night, the more dreams; the only thing Xu Lingchong wanted now was to get back to West Island as fast as possible and spare himself any further twists and turns.

Running for his life day and night without rest, five days later Xu Lingchong's dust-covered figure appeared at the mouth of the Ten-Thousand-Year Grand Canyon, dragging the half-dead Kang Jingming behind him like a dead dog.

Since the man was protected from head to toe by his smart armor, no amount of rough handling would do him much harm. Dragging him was plainly less tiring than carrying him over the shoulder, and Xu Lingchong was not about to waste pity on a subordinate like this. Hauling him all the way back was already noble beyond words.

Beyond the Ten-Thousand-Year Grand Canyon lay the same oasis as before. Without pausing even for a moment, Xu Lingchong trudged onward, puffing and hauling Kang Jingming, and there, squarely blocking the way ahead, stood a whole crowd of people: none other than Scarface and his gang.

Scarface's crew had planted themselves here, naturally, to fleece the trial participants on their way out. They were plainly no virtuous lot. They had announced beforehand that they would take only half, but that was little more than empty talk; of any trial participant who fell into their hands, one who kept even a tenth or two could count his ancestors blessed with good incense.

Had it not been for the fear of cornering a dog into jumping the wall, Scarface and the others would not have planned to leave these trial participants even a tenth. But these were, after all, high-level cultivators above the Golden Core stage, most of them capable Nascent Soul hands, and if they truly fought for their lives they would not be easy meat. So Scarface had no choice but to leave them a little hope, that it might not come to a fight to the death for both sides.

Catching sight of Xu Lingchong's figure from afar, Scarface and his men jumped with fright. One after another they hastily withdrew a good distance of their own accord, not a trace of their earlier ferocity left in them; instead they all wore fawning smiles, terrified of provoking the slightest displeasure.

There was no helping it. The scene of Kang Jingming blasting their second-in-command to death with a single shot was still vivid before their eyes to this day, and not Kang Jingming alone: Xu Lingchong's appearance too had been firmly burned into their memories. Fiends of that caliber were truly not to be provoked.

In their line of work, to put it plainly, one bullied the soft and feared the hard. Being a bit greedy or a bit stupid was no great problem, but there was one rule of survival that had to be remembered above all: when you meet someone you cannot afford to cross, never try to be brave. The farther you stay away, the better, or you will be dead before you know how you died.

"Eh? Boss, something seems off here," one of the underlings could not help saying. "Why is that armored man being dragged along the ground? Is he dead, or just out cold?"

"Right? Could they have run into some powerful monster?" Scarface was just as puzzled.

"Boss, so should we..." The underling drew a finger across his throat.

"Not so fast. Let's watch how things develop first." Scarface pinched his chin and shook his head cautiously. Kang Jingming, the one he feared most, looked to be finished; but he could not gauge the depths of the other man. On the surface he seemed nothing more than an ordinary Nascent Soul expert, yet what if he too was no oil-saving lamp?

As the saying goes, a careful helmsman sails ten thousand years. There were plenty of other fat sheep left to slaughter anyway, and Scarface did not much care about the pickings on this one man. So until he had taken the measure of him, he had no wish to take any careless risk.

Since Scarface had spoken thus, the rest of the underlings naturally dared not make a move on their own, and one by one they drew back to the side, their faces wary.

Even as they spoke, Xu Lingchong had dragged Kang Jingming to within twenty zhang, and Scarface's eyes suddenly lit up. He had spotted a small length of strangely shaped vine protruding from the corner of the man's backpack, arc after arc of electricity flickering along it.

The Thunder Mystic Vine! Scarface was clearly a man who knew his goods. He was already a Profound Ascension expert and in theory had no need of Thunder Mystic Pills to face a lightning tribulation, but that did nothing to dampen his fondness for fine things, least of all a treasure as hard to find under heaven as the Thunder Mystic Vine!

Even as he reeled, Scarface stole two more careful, inconspicuous glances. Only the barest tip of the iceberg was showing, so he could not tell whether it was ripe, but at least one thing was certain: this thing was beyond all doubt the Thunder Mystic Vine!

Scarface swallowed greedily. He truly did not want to let such a supreme treasure slip past him, for a single Thunder Mystic Vine alone was worth as much as all the other pickings combined. And yet he was unwilling to take a risk over it, for what if this remaining youngster was not someone to be trifled with either?

"Boss, that fellow really has passed out cold! Let's make our move!" At that moment one of the underlings, his head full of braids, sprang forward, unable to hold himself back any longer.

"Mm, you go on up!" Scarface nodded at once, but he himself quietly edged backward, so that even if something went wrong he could keep himself well out of it.

With Scarface's blessing, the braided man charged eagerly to the fore and planted himself squarely in Xu Lingchong's path. "Hand over every treasure on you," he said carelessly, "and I, your young master here, can decide to spare your life. Otherwise, heh heh!"

"Out of my way!" Xu Lingchong wanted only to get back to West Island; he had no patience to waste on a lackey like this. His face cold, he snapped, "Have you forgotten what happened last time, you memory-less dog?"

"Oh, what a damn big mouth you've got!" The braided man laughed instead of flying into a rage, pointing at Kang Jingming, limp on the ground like a dead dog. "Don't you play dumb with me! This armored fellow is half dead and can barely save his own skin, and you still want to use him to scare people? Do you really think I've got no brains at all?" (To be continued)