Chapter 4814 — How Do You Even Borrow a Knife Now?

"Leader, now that I've acknowledged you as my leader, there must be rank and station between us. Don't call me Brother Leng anymore—just use my name." Leng Rufeng said this with a perfectly straight face.

"Ha, all right then, I'll call you Rufeng." Wei Zhao smiled. Cold in manner and cold in speech as this fellow was, he was unexpectedly scrupulous about propriety in such matters. Then he asked, "Rufeng, didn't you say before that you absolutely had to go to the Mystic-Tier Seas to settle matters once and for all? Why the sudden change of heart?"

"That was indeed my thinking before, but back then I was really no different from Qianxue—both of us were driven by a obsession for revenge buried deep in our hearts, with not a shred of reason left to us. But now I've thought it through. Rather than charging in again on impulse and throwing my life away, it's better to stay here and properly carry out the tasks the leader has entrusted to me, and take the opportunity to build up my strength." Leng Rufeng explained.

As he spoke, Leng Rufeng and Yang Qianshuang exchanged a smile. The reason he could let go of that obsession was plainly Yang Qianshuang's recovery—he could hardly drag the woman he loved, who had only just been granted a new lease on life, back there to die.

"Mm. Now that Miss Yang's inner affliction is cured, the pressing task is to return to the Mystic Ascension Stage as quickly as possible, and after that she'll need a period of quiet cultivation as well—including you yourself, Rufeng." Wei Zhao advised.

After half a month of fighting, he had come to know Leng Rufeng quite well. Likely because his injuries were not yet healed, the fellow's aura and condition had been visibly unstable during that time, and that was precisely why Wei Zhao had been able to wear him down continuously; otherwise, things would have turned out very differently.

And in the month that followed, Leng Rufeng had been so preoccupied with Yang Qianshuang's affairs that he had not tended his injuries or cultivated properly, so even now his condition had never truly recovered. Fortunately, Yang Qianshuang was now fully healed, and apart from serving as Ning Xuefei's bodyguard and attendant, he finally had time to nurse his wounds and cultivate in earnest.

"Rest easy, Leader. I know my limits." Leng Rufeng nodded.

"By the way, I've been meaning to ask this for a long time. Is the Mystic-Tier Seas really that dangerous?" Wei Zhao asked suddenly. Leng Rufeng's strength went without saying—even with unhealed injuries he could easily press Wei Zhao in a fight—and if Yang Qianshuang recovered to the Mystic Ascension Stage, she would be no weakling either. For such a formidable pair to be beaten so wretchedly was truly chilling to think about.

At those words, Leng Rufeng and Yang Qianshuang exchanged a bitter smile, recalling that encounter. The mood inevitably grew heavy, and only after a long silence did Leng Rufeng slowly say, "Leader, don't be fooled by all the open strife and hidden daggers and lurking peril among these Yellow-Tier academies of the Eastern Continent—compared with the Mystic-Tier Seas, all of that is child's play. That is the place that truly devours men."

"Is that so?" Wei Zhao's brows lifted slightly. After a month and a half here, he had unconsciously begun to feel that the Eastern Continent's academies were nothing special—apart from Leng Rufeng, who had opened his eyes, not a single disciple of Xiangyun Academy had been worthy of his notice.

But now, after hearing Leng Rufeng's words, Wei Zhao's thinking shifted at once. It seemed that if the chance arose, he really would have to go and see this Mystic-Tier Seas for himself.

Leng Rufeng bowed his head and submitted to Wei Zhao. The Cold-Faced Blade God had formally become the ace enforcer of the Western Island Princess's consort—no one knew which busybody had spread the news, but it flew on wings and soon set all of Xiangyun Academy abuzz.

Though he had suffered a great loss in the Mystic-Tier Seas, Leng Rufeng remained a banner figure among the disciples of Xiangyun Academy. Everyone knew the fellow was full of pride, and now he was willingly becoming another man's subordinate—and that man was a Nascent Soul expert a full major realm below him. The whole affair was simply unbelievable!

Others merely treated it as gossip and argued it back and forth. But when Ren Zhongyuan heard the news, his vision went black and he took a great tumble on the spot. By the time he groggily came to, two days had passed, and his whole body was weak and feeble—he had, astonishingly enough, fallen gravely ill.

The five-element killing qi inside him was far more stubborn than expected; even with Ren Tiansuo personally intervening, it had yet to be fully dissolved. And he had been pent up with frustration all this time, so the sudden surge of rage to his heart meant he truly deserved this serious illness.

Yi Xiaotian came to visit him and was startled out of his wits at the sight of how frail he was. It was lucky Ren Tiansuo was there; otherwise, in Ren Zhongyuan's present state, any worsening of his condition would have been impossible to predict.

He had assumed Ren Zhongyuan had merely fallen ill from sheer fury, but he truly had never imagined that a perfectly healthy man could be angered into such a half-dead state. So there really were people in this world who could be angered to death!

"I refuse to accept this! I refuse to accept this!" Even reduced to such weakness, Ren Zhongyuan still could not stop brooding over Wei Zhao. He had no strength left to gnash his teeth, but the venom in his eyes grew ever more chilling and horrifying.

Yet what use was refusal to accept it? Leng Rufeng had now thrown in his lot completely with Wei Zhao, and with a henchman of such formidable strength guarding him, their earlier plans had become utter illusions. After all, being a henchman, how could he possibly abandon the leader's woman and leave her unattended?

Not only was his strength so great that there was no dealing with him, but more critically, Leng Rufeng knew every one of them inside and out—no stir or whisper could escape his eyes. Ren Zhongyuan and the others were all but helpless against him. How were they supposed to manage this?

What left Ren Zhongyuan most helpless of all was that even with him gravely ill like this, his father Ren Tiansuo still showed no intention of standing up for him. Instead he ordered him to rest and recover, and even imposed a grounding order. That was what chafed Ren Zhongyuan most—otherwise, if his old man had been willing to act, what the hell was a piece of trash like Leng Rufeng?

Faced with this outcome, Yi Xiaotian was also speechless. If it had been him who fell gravely ill, the old man would have grabbed his blade and charged into the fray long ago—how could he have remained as calm as Ren Tiansuo? Truly worthy of the academy's number two higher-up, a great figure who had risen to the rank of chief alchemist; such depth of scheming and temperament was genuinely beyond the reckoning of ordinary men.

The two stared at each other for a long while. Seeing Ren Zhongyuan on the verge of coughing up blood from frustration again, Yi Xiaotian suddenly said, "Actually, we still have one option—it just depends on whether you dare, Brother Ren."

"Out with it!" Ren Zhongyuan glared. "I'm already sick like this—what wouldn't I dare? As long as it can do Wei Zhao in, I'd dare do anything!"

"Heh heh, my method comes down to four words: borrow a knife to kill." Yi Xiaotian said with a cold smile.