Chapter 4952 — What Do You Mean by That?

Yet Chang Minghui paid him no mind at all. After that burst of wild wind, he swept straight past the man and through the banquet hall's great doors, striding like a dragon and pacing like a tiger, utterly unrestrained and arrogant.

"What do we do?" The guards at the Mountain-Opening stage all turned to their captain at once. Chang Minghui might be formidable, but so many skilled Mountain-Opening hands were no pushovers. If it truly came to blows, one Chang Minghui would never be their match—otherwise, would the Academy Alliance have poured a fortune into keeping them fed for nothing?

The captain raised a hand to bar the way. Chang Minghui had forced his way into the Alliance branch headquarters in defiance of all rules, so he had every right to seize the man on the spot. But this man's weight was too great, and he had no wish to provoke such a figure rashly. Besides, Zhuang Yifan himself was inside the banquet hall. Even if Chang Minghui broke in, what could he possibly do?

"Who is Wei Zhao? Get out here and show yourself!" The moment Chang Minghui stepped into the banquet hall, he unleashed his killing intent without the slightest scruple and bellowed at the top of his voice.

In an instant, the celebration banquet—its atmosphere so recently warm and joyous—fell dead silent. Everyone stared with astonishment at the hideous man who had burst in uninvited. Some knew him, some did not, and all of them were whispering and trading speculation.

Wei Zhao was briefly taken aback. He did not know Chang Minghui, yet deep down he had already guessed the man's identity. After all, ever since he had brought down Chang Laiting and Zang Zili, this outcome had been all but inevitable. He simply had not expected the man to arrive so quickly.

"So you're Wei Zhao? The Wei Zhao who beat my wife and wounded my son?" Following the direction of the crowd's gaze, Chang Minghui found his man in an instant and strode straight toward Wei Zhao.

"That's right, I am." Wei Zhao rose to his feet with a calm expression, utterly unmoved by Chang Minghui's menacing approach. Instead he smiled faintly. "And how should I address you?"

"A man about to die has no need to know my name." Chang Minghui sneered, and all at once a wild wind rose from nowhere around him, carrying an incomparably cold and dangerous aura as it lashed toward Wei Zhao.

Late Mountain-Opening? Wei Zhao's eyelids twitched slightly. He had long since reasoned that a man with a wife like Zang Zili could not possibly be weak. Even so, the late Mountain-Opening level surpassed anything he had imagined—this was simply not something he could contend with as he was now.

Quite apart from anything else, this single gust of wind—seemingly ordinary yet in truth utterly lethal—was already far from simple. Wei Zhao knew in his heart that without unleashing a major technique, he could never withstand it. In fact, even if he brought out a top-tier killing move like the Thunder Burial, whether he could put up a fight at all was very much in doubt. Wei Zhao had not a shred of confidence.

Yet faced with Chang Minghui's sudden assault, Wei Zhao remained as calm as if he had seen nothing at all. Not only did he not move, he did not even blink twice. To onlookers, he looked as though he had been scared stiff.

But just as it seemed Wei Zhao would be shredded by the gale, that murderously fierce wind suddenly dissolved into nothingness, as though everything a moment before had been an illusion. Wei Zhao could not help glancing at Zhuang Yifan, who sat serenely to one side. Worthy of a top-tier master at the late Earth-Opening stage—this technique of moistening things so silently was far more breathtaking than Chang Minghui's.

"President Zhuang, what do you mean by that?" Chang Minghui's gaze fell upon Zhuang Yifan. He did his utmost to appear savage and arrogant, but Wei Zhao could plainly see in his eyes an indescribable wariness. Quite apart from anything else, at least in this Yellow-Rank sea region, Zhuang Yifan, president of the Alliance, still commanded no small reverence.

"Heh. Town Lord Chang, I was about to ask you the same thing." Zhuang Yifan still held his wine cup, took a most contented sip, and did not even glance at Chang Minghui. "Forcing your way into the Alliance branch's stronghold, striking at my honored guest without leave—and doing it right before my eyes, no less. That hardly seems appropriate, does it?"

"So President Zhuang means to shelter this brat surnamed Lin?" Chang Minghui was not cowed, and continued to glare at Wei Zhao with an ill-favored expression.

"What do you think?" Zhuang Yifan smiled noncommittally.

Chang Minghui was abruptly at a loss for words. He was accustomed to crushing others with his sheer presence, but before Zhuang Yifan that was utterly useless. In both strength and authority, Zhuang Yifan stood a cut above him—what did he have to crush the man with?

He had not truly believed Zhuang Yifan would protect Wei Zhao so staunchly, for by any reckoning, offending Chang Minghui over a mere Wei Zhao was a poor bargain. With profit foremost, a man like Zhuang Yifan would never act on sentiment. But who could have foreseen this turn?

He could hardly fall out with Zhuang Yifan to his face. That would only bring suffering upon himself. Chang Minghui was, after all, a man who had risen to become town lord of Dingcheng—he was never as simple and brutish as he appeared.

"President Zhuang, you are the Alliance's president. You must handle matters fairly and justly. Otherwise, with rumors flying everywhere, I fear your face would not look good either," Chang Minghui could only say, forcing himself to be patient.

"Quite right, fairness and justice are called for. Does Town Lord Chang mean to suggest that I, Zhuang, am not fair and just enough?" Zhuang Yifan replied with a smile.

"Of course not enough. Right here on your Alliance branch's own ground, my wife and son were beaten half to death by this brat—my wife especially, who I believe your esteemed President Zhuang went to great lengths and great expense to invite here. She came to harm in this place, and from what I hear it happened right under your nose. Shouldn't President Zhuang offer a word or two of explanation?" Chang Minghui said coldly.

"Oh, so that is what Town Lord Chang means. That is simple enough. In truth, by both feeling and reason, I ought indeed to have held her back. But Town Lord Chang surely knows your lady's temper better than I do. She declared publicly that I was not to interfere, and that life or death was her own affair. Tell me, what was I supposed to do?" Zhuang Yifan smiled, unconcerned.

"She truly said that?" Chang Minghui was stunned. He had been quite certain that Zhuang Yifan must have been pulling strings behind this; otherwise, with Zang Zili's early Mountain-Opening strength, she could never have suffered such a loss.

But thinking it over now, Zang Zili's misfortune had come precisely of her early Mountain-Opening strength. With her temper, she would never have regarded a mere early Mystic Ascension cultivator as worth her notice—especially after seeing her own son beaten into that state. Her declaring such a thing in public was all but inevitable. If she had not, she would not have been Zang Zili.

Who could ever have imagined that a mighty early Mountain-Opening expert—a figure of the giant stage—would suffer such a loss at the hands of a mere early Mystic Ascension cultivator? The odds of capsizing in a ditch like that were so small as to be negligible. Not only would Zang Zili never have believed it, but even Chang Minghui himself would not have.

"If Town Lord Chang does not believe me, by all means go and ask around. You need not look far—just find the disciples of Dingcheng Academy. Surely they would not perjure themselves on behalf of an outsider?" Zhuang Yifan pursed his lips faintly. (To be continued.)