Chapter 4930 — The Kaishan Stage Is Nothing Much

The Alliance Chairman stared at him, momentarily struck dumb, while the crowd around them exchanged bewildered glances. Wei Zhao's words were plain enough to understand, but to say such a thing to a Kaishan-stage titan like Zang Zili—when he was merely a master of the early Xuan Ascension stage, no matter how formidable—was surely far too arrogant for spoken words. Had the man lost his mind?

Before the Alliance Chairman could open his mouth, Zang Zili threw his head back and howled as though he had just heard the greatest joke in the world, rocking back and forth with laughter, then fixed Wei Zhao with a look of pure mockery. "Hahahaha! No wonder you dared lay hands on my Ting'er. You've got a mouth on you, boy, and I'll tell you plain: if you can beat me to death today, you'll answer for nothing, but if you can't—hmph—I'll let you taste what it means to wish you were dead!"

"Excellent. With you saying that, I'm reassured." As he spoke, Wei Zhao extended his right arm. Arcs of lightning seethed wildly along it, and the aura around his whole body burst fully open in an instant, startling all who saw it.

"A lightning cultivator—no wonder you dare act so brash!" Zang Zili's expression shifted slightly at the sight. The lightning attribute was among the rarest of the strange-spirit-root attributes; because of the peculiar nature of lightning power, lightning cultivators were at nearly all times synonymous with overwhelming, domineering force. Ordinary cultivators simply could not contend with them.

Had Wei Zhao been a peak Xuan Ascension master rather than an early-stage one, Zang Zili might well have been inclined to withdraw of her own accord at this moment—for as the weakest of the Kaishan stage, she would have had little hope of victory against a lightning-attribute Xuan Ascension master at the peak. But as things stood, he was merely a master of the early Xuan Ascension stage, and the gap in strength was enough to crush everything before it.

"Then let this be my chance to sample the strength of a Kaishan-stage titan." As Wei Zhao spoke, the arcs dancing at his fingertips swelled violently into a terrifying deep-blue pillar of lightning—none other than the newly unveiled Thunderous Thousand Bursts.

In the blink of an eye, Thunderous Thousand Bursts hurtled straight for Zang Zili at a speed beyond the limit of the naked eye. The distance between them was no more than a few zhang; practically the instant it appeared, it had already struck dead at Zang Zili's face, and no one nearby had time even to react.

But Zang Zili reacted in time.

She was of the early Kaishan stage after all. Even if she was an alchemist unsuited to combat, she was still a titan-realm master through and through, and her reaction speed was far beyond anything the onlookers—at best early Xuan Ascension masters—could hope to match. Besides, she was no fool; having just seen that Wei Zhao was a lightning cultivator, she had long since been on guard against precisely this move.

As everyone knew, what made lightning cultivators so troublesome was not only their tremendous destructive power but the near-limit speed of their lightning. In essence, the moment they made their move, the lightning had already struck the opponent, and even the most basic attempt to dodge was a vain hope.

Under such circumstances, one facing a lightning cultivator had to make an accurate prediction in advance, for no one could evade lightning purely by reacting on the spot—otherwise, no matter how strong, one could only become a lightning rod.

Though Zang Zili was unsuited to combat, she was a Kaishan-stage titan after all, and she knew this most basic principle. So even before Wei Zhao raised his hand, she had in fact already reacted.

Faced with the onrushing Thunderous Thousand Bursts, Zang Zili showed not the slightest intention of retreating. She was a Kaishan-stage titan—to actively back away before a mere early Xuan Ascension master? That would be a laughingstock!

Zang Zili pressed her palms together and, before Thunderous Thousand Bursts could close in, thrust out a super-grade fireball. Its color was not the common dark red or deep crimson, but a dazzling, almost blinding white!

Boom! A thunderous explosion rang out, and Thunderous Thousand Bursts and the white fireball proved evenly matched. The shockwave from their collision blew the surrounding Yuan Ying peak masters clean off their feet; only the early Xuan Ascension masters managed to hold their ground, and even they barely did so.

White flame? Wei Zhao could not help but frown at the sight. It meant the temperature of her flame far surpassed his own elixir fire. As expected of an early Kaishan alchemist—she might be good for nothing else, but when it came to playing with fire, few titan-realm masters of her level could likely match this Zang Zili.

As elixir fire's temperature rises, its color changes accordingly—from red at the start, to orange as it climbs, and then to gold at a further stage. But Zang Zili's white fireball far surpassed even gold in temperature; its power was truly extraordinary.

"Seems I underestimated this woman a little. She is an early Kaishan master, after all—one careless move and it's death," Wei Zhao thought with a chill. Fortunately, she was unsuited to combat; had that white flame been unleashed through some powerful fire-attribute martial technique rather than as an ordinary fireball, his Thunderous Thousand Bursts would likely not have been a match, and he would have suffered badly.

While Wei Zhao was secretly alarmed, Zang Zili was in fact more shocked than he was. She was not as haughty and ignorant as she appeared; she knew full well how much she was worth. That white fireball could not deal with masters of her own level, but it had always been invincible for crushing Xuan Ascension masters—so how had it come out evenly matched against this opponent?!

It did not show on the surface, but panic began to stir in Zang Zili's heart. As an alchemist she had no powerful martial techniques worth boasting of; her ability to improvise on the spot was third-rate at best. Her only recourse was to crush the enemy head-on through the sheer disparity in strength—there was no other way.

But once she could no longer crush them, what then?

"You've got some skill, boy. In that case, I can even less afford to spare you today!" Zang Zili said viciously, her face dark and cold. The stronger the opponent, the more she must root him out entirely—if a mere early Xuan Ascension master could already trade blows head-on with her, what would happen once he grew stronger in the years to come?

"Is that so? Then I shall open my eyes wide and see clearly—so this is the so-called Kaishan-stage titan. Nothing much after all." Wei Zhao gave a cold smile, and as his voice fell his figure suddenly flickered, appearing before Zang Zili in the blink of an eye like a ghost.

Facing a Kaishan-stage titan, after all, he had spared nothing—employing the utmost limit of his Butterfly Microstep, all to catch her off guard.

Zang Zili had meant to toss out a few more harsh words, but the words died at her lips and were swallowed back. A Kaishan-stage titan, and she had been genuinely startled by the speed Wei Zhao displayed in that instant; her first reaction was not to face the enemy head-on, but to draw back and retreat.

Not far off, the Alliance Chairman and the others could only shake their heads at the sight. Wei Zhao's strength was indeed unimaginably formidable, but this woman Zang Zili truly was weak to a remarkable degree—her sense for combat was simply garbage.