Chapter 4940 — Huo Yudie Pleads for Mercy

Hearing the voice, Wei Zhao and the others turned back, and there was Huo Yudie, rushing over in a frantic fluster. Like Li Ren and the rest, she had heard the rumors aboard the ship, and so she had come flying here in a panic.

As for the uproar just now, because a few people from Morning Star Academy happened to be passing by, Huo Yudie actually knew more details than Li Ren did. She had heard not only that Wei Zhao had killed Chang Laiting, once one of the Four Princes of the Nascent Soul stage, and two late-stage Profound Ascension officiating alchemists of Dingcheng Academy, but even that Zang Zili of the early Mountain-Opening stage had been beaten within an inch of his life.

At this, even as her heart swelled with shock and pride, she was also genuinely frightened out of her wits. Killing those first three alone was already a colossal affair, and the most fatal part was that Wei Zhao had gone and finished off Zang Zili as well. That man was the only first-grade Profound-rank alchemist in the entire Yellow-rank sea region!

Once the Academy Alliance chose to handle this strictly—and especially if the higher-ups of Dingcheng Academy came forward to make a fuss as well—Wei Zhao's troubles this time would be immense, and he might not even be able to keep his life. How could Huo Yudie not come?

Seeing Huo Yudie appear, Wei Zhao felt a stir of gladness and gratitude in spite of himself. Yet she had not come alone; two others followed behind her—one was Liu Ziqi, and the other was Ren Zhongyuan.

When the trouble broke out, Liu Ziqi had still been in seclusion in her room, and Huo Yudie had dragged her out by main force, frantic and fuming. Hearing the whole tale of Wei Zhao along the way, she too turned pale with alarm. Her purpose in coming here was simple: to find some way to plead for Wei Zhao, and at the very least, no matter what, to preserve his life.

Though Liu Ziqi knew this might well be useless, she was, after all, a Mountain-Opening stage magnate and the vice-principal of Morning Star Academy, and so she still had some standing to speak before Zhuang Yifan. She believed that as long as she laid out Wei Zhao's background, Zhuang Yifan, once he had weighed the stakes, would not go so far as to put Wei Zhao to death, even if he refused to make light of the matter—for to do so would be to offend both North Island and West Island at once, and no sane person would commit such folly.

It was no surprise that Liu Ziqi had come, but that Ren Zhongyuan had tagged along to join the fun was not Huo Yudie's doing. His face wore a show of complicated feelings, yet the corners of his mouth plainly carried a delighted gloat. If he did not come in person to witness Wei Zhao's miserable end, then he would not be Ren Zhongyuan.

To speak of it, this fellow was in fact something of a talent. Ever since Wei Zhao had shouted him down on the Road of Magnates that time, he and Yi Xiaotian and the others had spent a long while before finally locating a tribulation site. Yet of all of them, he alone had ultimately succeeded in advancing to Profound Ascension—and what was truly remarkable was that he had not used a Thunder Profound Pill at all.

His father, Ren Tiansuo, was indeed a seventh-grade alchemist, but even the cleverest housewife cannot cook without rice. However great one's alchemical skill, what use was it without Thunder Profound Vine? One could hardly conjure it out of thin air.

And that rare elixir, the Thunder Profound Pill, could not be bought anywhere save at grand auctions, and even there the odds of it appearing were very low. Moreover, as at the Morning Star Grand Auction last time, whenever one did appear, it invariably set the great magnates of every faction scrambling and snatching with all their might. How easy could it be for Ren Zhongyuan to wrest a Thunder Profound Pill from the hands of such people?

Still, a breakthrough to Profound Ascension did not strictly require a Thunder Profound Pill; the pill was merely the first choice for weathering the thunder tribulation. To most people it was a thing only to be wished for, never obtained, and they could only settle for the next best—a seventh-grade Great Return Pill, for instance, was a decent alternative. True, it would greatly impair the fusion of one's spiritual roots, but so long as one's strength was sufficient and one's luck good, there was still a chance of breaking through to Profound Ascension; at worst, one could preserve one's life.

But what Ren Zhongyuan had used was not a seventh-grade Great Return Pill, but the sovereign healing elixir known as the Longevity Pill, refined from Longevity Root. Its effects were far superior even to the seventh-grade Great Return Pill. He and Yi Xiaotian and the others had gone to West Island last time chiefly to gather Longevity Root.

Relying on the Longevity Pill's near-heaven-defying healing power, Ren Zhongyuan had gritted his teeth and endured the thunder tribulation, and had even succeeded in advancing to Profound Ascension. In the eyes of ordinary folk, this was already quite formidable; Yi Xiaotian and Yao Jiali, at least, who had faced the same conditions, had failed to break through, and to this day still lay abed, their vitality unrecovered.

"Heh heh, so even a brat like you has come to this. The heavens really do have eyes!" Ren Zhongyuan gloated inwardly as he watched Wei Zhao being "arrested" by Zhuang Yifan himself.

Come to think of it, his success in advancing this time was, to a great extent, thanks to Wei Zhao. Had he not been tormented to the brink of death by Wei Zhao's Five Elements Killing Aura before, his willpower would never have been tempered so, and it would have been hard for him to clench his teeth through the thunder tribulation. In the end he would very likely have fallen short, just like Yi Xiaotian and the others.

Of course, Ren Zhongyuan was plainly not about to feel grateful to Wei Zhao—unless his brain had truly taken in water.

While Ren Zhongyuan secretly reveled, Huo Yudie had already rushed forward regardless of all else. Planting herself in front of Wei Zhao, she said to Zhuang Yifan, "Wei Zhao was only acting in self-defense, and it was those people from Dingcheng Academy who made the threats first. The fault lies not with Wei Zhao but with them. You cannot take Wei Zhao away!"

Even as she argued her case, Huo Yudie kept shooting glances at her master, signaling Liu Ziqi to step forward quickly, and plead.

But Liu Ziqi did not speak at once. Huo Yudie was too anxious to think clearly, but she had already sensed that something was off. At the very least, the look on Zhuang Yifan's face was plainly not that of a man come to make trouble; judging by their expressions, why did it seem more as though they had come for a friendly visit?!

"Hmph, plead all you like. This brat's stirred up such a storm that even the Alliance Chairman has come in person to arrest him. What good will pleading do? It'll only make him die faster and more miserably!" Ren Zhongyuan was another who could not read the situation. By now he was already imagining Wei Zhao being sliced to pieces by a thousand cuts—just the thought of it was immensely satisfying.

But before Ren Zhongyuan could savor his satisfaction, the very first words out of Zhuang Yifan's mouth made his expression change and nearly choke him to death.

"Master Lin, and who might this be?" Zhuang Yifan eyed Huo Yudie with some puzzlement. Though he said nothing overtly flattering, both his expression and his bearing plainly betrayed an indescribable deference—something even a fool could see.

"Mas… Master Lin?" Ren Zhongyuan promptly flopped down onto the ground with a thud. Zhuang Yifan was the august Alliance Chairman, and he was actually addressing this brat as Master?