Chapter 4956 — You Think You Can Escape?

Chang Minghui need not have closed in so near. With his powers he could have taken a man's head from three hundred meters away with ease, but he felt that would be letting Wei Zhao off too lightly. To vent his fury, he meant to crush Wei Zhao's whole body with his own hands and let him die in endless agony—only thus could he make an example of him, so that the world might see what became of anyone who crossed Chang Minghui!

A wind-attribute titan, as expected! Wei Zhao had foreseen this. Every time Chang Minghui appeared or made his move, he came wrapped in a howling gale. That his speed should be so great was only natural; after all, the rare wind-attribute spirit root was prized for speed above all else—Huang Xiaotao was proof enough of that.

An instant later, Chang Minghui, without deigning to use any martial technique at all, simply raised a hand and reached for Wei Zhao's throat. Were he, a late-stage Kaishan cultivator, to unleash his signature arts against a mere Wei Zhao, he would have made himself a laughingstock.

By now he was only a meter and a half behind Wei Zhao, almost pressed against his back, shadowing his every step. Wei Zhao had no way to shake him off.

Yet Wei Zhao had never imagined he could outrun the man on speed alone. The moment Chang Minghui's hand shot out, Wei Zhao whipped around and flung forth a single strike of Seven-Element Five-Phase Killing Qi!

Setting aside questions of cultivation rank, the Five-Phase Killing Qi was in itself an exquisitely refined and profound martial art; now infused with ice and mist attributes, it was all the harder to guard against. Zang Zili's earlier humiliation was proof enough of that.

Of course, Wei Zhao did not expect this one move to cause Chang Minghui any real trouble—that was simply unrealistic. He had only one aim in doing it: to slow the man's speed as much as possible. Nothing more.

With a low, sonorous dragon's roar, the Seven-Element Five-Phase Killing Qi hurtled at Chang Minghui beyond all doubt, striking him square and full in the face. Even Chang Minghui could not react in time.

Wei Zhao's heart leaped with joy. He had feared the blow might miss—this was, after all, a late-stage Kaishan expert whose speed was outrageous—yet it had landed with surprising ease. The man had clearly been careless; though in truth, whoever faced a mere early-stage Xuansheng cultivator with a late-stage Kaishan cultivation would inevitably underestimate him.

In an instant Chang Minghui was engulfed by the Seven-Element Five-Phase Killing Qi. Wei Zhao sought no kill, only delay. He knew the Killing Qi's power might not do the man much harm, but the ice energy woven everywhere through it should be enough to dull his movement technique somewhat—just as it had against Zang Zili before.

Wei Zhao did not wait to see how Chang Minghui would respond. Without another word he turned and fled, his movement technique pushed once more to its utmost—yet before he had gone two steps, Chang Minghui's mocking sneer rang out beside his ear: "Tricks no better than a parlor magician's, and you think you can beat my wife to that state?"

The jade pendant's warning shrieked madly. With no time to be shocked, Wei Zhao instinctively threw himself into a tumbling roll off to the side. Ungainly as it looked, it carried him clear of a formless, invisible wind blade in the very last instant, and he broke out in a cold sweat.

A titan of the late Kaishan stage indeed—this Chang Minghui was truly terrifying. Before him, the Seven-Element Five-Phase Killing Qi could not manage even a moment's obstruction. Had the jade pendant not warned him, Wei Zhao might well have lost his head on the spot.

"Hmph. Sharp senses, I'll grant you. But with trifling strength like yours, I truly cannot see what could match an early-stage Kaishan cultivator. It seems I guessed rightly—Zhuang Yifan must be behind this!" The more Chang Minghui thought, the more convinced he became. After this one exchange, he had concluded that Wei Zhao, though far from weak, could never have beaten Zang Zili to that state alone. Something was afoot behind it all.

Wei Zhao, naturally, would not disabuse him. From where he stood, the better Chang Minghui laid it all at Zhuang Yifan's door—best of all if he forced Zhuang Yifan to act, and spared Wei Zhao all this desperate scheming for survival.

Unfortunately, even if Chang Minghui suspected Zhuang Yifan, there was no chance he would let Wei Zhao go now. His wife and son had been reduced to that wretched state, and Wei Zhao was partly to blame. One way or another, Wei Zhao had to die tonight!

Wei Zhao was not so naive as to think otherwise. Having barely dodged the invisible wind blade, he turned without a word and fled on toward the League branch—the plan he had settled on long ago, and one he could not afford to fail.

"Hmph. You think you can escape?" Chang Minghui's brows knit slightly at the sight. Both moved with great speed, and though only an instant had passed, they were now halfway to the League branch. If they drew much closer, Zhuang Yifan would surely be alerted—and then not only would he fail to kill Wei Zhao, he might well get himself caught in the bargain.

At the thought, a gale erupted around Chang Minghui. A small tornado swiftly took shape, swallowing both him and Wei Zhao, thirty meters ahead, into its embrace.

In an instant Wei Zhao felt as though he had sunk into a bog. Under the tug of the ferocious winds around him, he could forget about keeping up his astonishing speed—he could scarcely take a single step. Every stride was a struggle.

Chang Minghui's voice drifted unpredictably through the tornado, a moment ago seeming hundreds of miles away, the next right at his ear: "Boy, I find I've suddenly lost the taste for killing you. So long as you bear witness that Zhuang Yifan secretly tampered with things to harm my wife, I'll show mercy and spare your life. How's that?"

Wei Zhao was startled at the words, but a moment's thought made the other man's meaning plain. This Chang Minghui, it seemed, had no more regard for him than for some small fish or shrimp; he meant to seize on the matter and turn his spearhead toward Zhuang Yifan!

And so he did. Chang Minghui had never submitted to Zhuang Yifan. If Zhuang Yifan could find pretext to covet his town of Dingcheng, then Chang Minghui could just as well covet the Guild Master's seat.

True, with his own strength and standing, displacing Zhuang Yifan was hardly realistic—but Zhuang Yifan was not invincible either. If he went to the Mystic-Rank Sea Region and worked his connections a little, it was not certain he could not bring the man down. And if fortune favored him, he might even come away with the Guild Master's chair himself.

"Is that so? Sounds fine enough—but how do I know you won't cross the river and burn the bridge behind you? Besides, Zhuang Yifan is a man of what stature, and I'm no more than a shrimp. Set myself against him? That's the old birthday god hanging himself—plain sick of living," Wei Zhao sneered, noncommittal.

"Boy, you don't seem to understand your position. Do you imagine you still have room to bargain?" Chang Minghui's towering figure flickered in and out of view within the tornado, like a god of the wind, striking awe into the heart.