Chapter 4875 — Come Out and Let Us Have a Look

Good heavens! Everyone covered their faces in unison, speechless, inwardly lamenting how utterly, wonderfully naive they had been to believe a word of this creature's nonsense. To hell with the Thunder Academy disciples—any one of them would have gladly beaten the bastard themselves!

Wei Zhao too was caught between laughter and tears at the sight of the fellow. The other side bids a hundred thousand spirit jade, and if you seriously mean to compete, you ought at least to bid a hundred and ten thousand—but a hundred thousand and one? Was that not simply asking for a beating?

Like father, like son—that saying had never rung truer. Other traits he could not yet discern, but where roguish conduct was concerned, Lu Xiaozhong had learned a full ten-out-of-ten from his old man!

"Master Lin, those fools from Thunder Academy are throwing their weight around again. What do you say we get in on this too? Uphold justice, strike down the strong, champion the weak!" Lu Xiaozhong urged, his eyeballs rolling like beads in their sockets.

Wei Zhao could hardly be bothered to answer him. Coming out of that mouth, the words sounded dubious no matter how he listened to them...

Still, even without Lu Xiaozhong's goading, the presence of Huo Yudie meant Wei Zhao could not simply slip past and pretend nothing was happening.

Of course, had Huo Yudie not been there, Wei Zhao would certainly never have chosen to wade blindly into these troubled waters. Since Thunder City was the seat of Thunder Academy and also the headquarters of the Yellow-Rank Academy Alliance, there were bound to be a thousand tangled threads connecting the two—offend Thunder Academy, and one might well find oneself making an enemy of the entire Yellow-Rank Academy Alliance!

Wei Zhao did not fear trouble, but he had never gone looking for it either—especially not when he knew full well the other party was not to be trifled with. All the less was he willing to make enemies of anyone for no rhyme or reason.

In truth, even setting aside their backing, the seventy-odd Nascent Soul Great Perfection experts before him were enough to make anyone weigh his steps. Though with his present strength Wei Zhao could handle Xuan Ascension experts with ease, a handful of Nascent Soul Great Perfection cultivators need not enter his eyes—still, numbers themselves carried a formidable deterrent.

But now the two sides stood with blades drawn, and even if only for Huo Yudie's safety, Wei Zhao could not possibly stand by and do nothing. In any case he had often enough provoked powerful enemies for a beauty's sake in times past—he was long since accustomed to it.

"Master Lin, better to have one trouble fewer than one more. Let us be on our way," Bao Zuoliang said, glaring at Lu Xiaozhong.

"Quite right. Thunder Academy is not to be provoked, and besides, Morning Pride Academy is a sworn enemy of our own—we cannot help anyone but them, can we? Best we hurry ahead and find a tribulation point first!" Su Kesheng chimed in.

The one thought in both their minds now was to find a tribulation point at once and use the Lightning-Commanding Banner to do away with Wei Zhao. Beyond that, they wanted no complications.

"Rubbish! With that little courage, calling you two cowards would be a compliment. Even if you found a tribulation point, it would be taken from you soon enough—better to have a proper go of it here!" Lu Xiaozhong said, casting them a contemptuous sidelong glance.

"What did you say?" Bao Zuoliang's temper flared again on the spot. Were it not for his fixation on using the banner to kill Wei Zhao, he would have liked nothing better than to strangle the bastard where he stood.

Everyone looked at one another in dismay. Before anything had even begun, their own side was on the verge of coming to blows—if they truly joined the melee, who could say whose hand any of them might end up dying by?

All the Morning Star Academy disciples fixed their eyes on Wei Zhao, waiting for his final decision. Though none of them wished to wade into troubled waters, Wei Zhao was the Morning Star captain after all.

"I have decided to stay and see how this plays out. Of course, anyone with other plans may form their own group and scout ahead," Wei Zhao said after a moment's thought. He could not very well drag everyone's will along for the sake of his own private concerns—this was the only choice he could make.

With Wei Zhao making his position plain, Wang Xinyan and Huang Xiaotao would of course stay; Lu Xiaozhong, that lover of excitement, could hardly have wished for more; Bao Zuoliang and Su Kesheng, each with his own hidden purpose, naturally would not leave either. That left the rest in a quandary, unable to advance or retreat.

At heart they naturally wished to press on, but stripped of Wei Zhao and the strongest fighting force, the rest of them—even gathered together—would struggle to hold their own against the other academies, and more to the point, they would not gather together at all. Each would refuse to yield to another, and in the end they would splinter apart.

What came of splintering was plain from the scene before their eyes. Any tribulation point easy to find would be snatched up by those academy squads that kept together in tight packs. If the rest hoped to pick up scraps, they would have to rely on pure luck.

In the end not a single one of the Morning Star group left—all stayed behind. True, this was because no strong figure stood at their head, but one had to admit these people knew which way the wind blew. At least there were no idiots among them foolish enough to bite off more than they could chew.

Wei Zhao fixed his gaze from afar on Huo Yudie amidst the crowd, and his heart could not help stirring. Yet he had no intention of simply walking up to her; that would invite misunderstanding far too easily. Better to get a clear picture of the situation first.

"You know someone in there?" Wang Xinyan and Huang Xiaotao beside him asked softly in some surprise. Both were sharp-eyed by nature, and Wei Zhao's peculiar manner could not escape them.

"Yes—Huo Yudie, of Morning Pride Academy. I have told you about her," Wei Zhao said, nodding.

"Really? Which one, which one?" The two girls were instantly intrigued. Both had heard Wei Zhao speak of the West Island trial, and this sister they had never met filled them with freshness and curiosity, tinged with a measure of gratitude—had she not stayed loyal and true to him then, Wei Zhao might well have died.

"You will know in a moment," Wei Zhao said, amused by their gossiping expressions.

Hardly had he spoken when a long-haired man from the Thunder Academy camp stepped slowly forth under everyone's watchful eyes. Judging by the awe on the faces of the Thunder Academy disciples, this man was surely their leader.

"I have long heard that Morning Pride Academy produces rare beauties. How about you girls keep us company for a night? Serve us well, and I might just be able to arrange to give this place over to you. I hear one of the three fairies, Huo Yudie, is among you—which one is she? Come out and let us have a look, see whether she is really as fine as the legends say. Is it the one in the veil?" the man called out with an easy, unbridled leer.

The confrontation between the two sides had been tense enough already—together they numbered over a hundred and fifty Nascent Soul Great Perfection experts, and the combined pressure of such an aura was comparable even to a Xuan Ascension Great Perfection master. Ordinary folk could never have withstood such might. Yet this man strolled through the very center of it as though taking a leisurely walk in the courtyard, showing not the slightest strain.