Chapter 4961 — Zhuang Yifan's Little Scheme

Once Liu Ziqi was seated, Wei Zhao immediately channeled true qi into her back to heal her wounds, while at the same time treating his own injuries. Neither of them was lightly hurt; Liu Ziqi in particular had not only been wounded but had expended a vast amount of vital essence, and her whole condition now seemed somewhat unsteady and hollow.

"Your true qi can actually heal wounds?" Liu Ziqi was startled to feel her injuries recovering swiftly wherever Wei Zhao's true qi passed. She had never seen such a rapid rate of healing!

"Mm. My true qi is rather unique." Wei Zhao nodded. Ordinarily such a secret should not be casually revealed to outsiders, but after tonight's battle, treating Liu Ziqi as an outsider would have been utterly heartless.

Simply because of one sudden request from him, Liu Ziqi had gone to risk her life in a bloody struggle against Chang Minghui, whose strength far outstripped her own. From this moment on, Wei Zhao regarded her as a true elder of his own—an elder to whom he could safely entrust his back.

"You really are a remarkable man," Liu Ziqi said with an involuntary smile, then changed tack: "That last step of your plan just now—you were hoping Zhuang Yifan would step in and kill Chang Minghui, weren't you?"

"Exactly. A pity it fell short at the final hurdle." Wei Zhao gave a somewhat dejected, bitter smile. From luring the enemy to laying the formation, everything before had gone perfectly. Yet that alone clearly would not be enough to kill Chang Minghui; whether the plan could succeed in slaying him hinged entirely on the last step—on whether Zhuang Yifan would act in time!

In truth, everything Wei Zhao had arranged beforehand came down in the end to making Zhuang Yifan act. Even the ambush site had not been chosen at random: it could not be too far from the League branch, or it would likely fall beyond the range of Zhuang Yifan's spiritual perception; nor could it be too close, lest Chang Minghui see that things were going badly and give up the pursuit. Only the spot he had chosen—neither far nor near—was just right.

By all reasoning, Chang Minghui and Liu Ziqi had fought at the ambush site for so long that the commotion was earth-shattering; the League branch could not possibly have failed to notice a thing. It was just a pity that Zhuang Yifan had, in the end, arrived too late, letting Chang Minghui escape calamity.

"Zhuang Yifan is no ordinary man, after all. Borrowing that great cleaver of his to kill someone is no easy matter." Liu Ziqi too felt it a shame. Though the reason Zhuang Yifan gave was perfectly reasonable, neither she nor Wei Zhao believed he could truly be so slow-witted. If they were not mistaken, Zhuang Yifan must have acted deliberately.

"Mm. I had assumed a man of his power and position would put profit above all else, and would in all likelihood seize this chance to take down Chang Minghui and thereby bring Dingcheng Town under his control. I never expected him to remain unmoved. The minds of such great figures really are impossible to fathom." Wei Zhao sighed.

In his thinking, the alchemy skill he had displayed earlier was already enough to make the other party eager to court him, especially since he had also put out word that he was striving to become a second-grade Mystic-rank alchemist. Were he in Zhuang Yifan's position, he would absolutely seize this chance to take down Chang Minghui and control Dingcheng Town, while at the same time reducing him to tears of gratitude—killing two birds with one stone. How could Zhuang Yifan fail to take the bait?

What he did not realize was that he had, in fact, been undone by his own doing. Had he been merely a first-grade Mystic-rank alchemist, Zhuang Yifan might well have made his move. But now, in name at least, he was an alchemist striving for the second grade of the Mystic rank—and that, on the contrary, made Zhuang Yifan abandon the notion.

A future second-grade Mystic-rank alchemist was someone Zhuang Yifan, given his present strength, simply had to bind tightly to himself no matter what. To draw their relationship closer, it clearly would not do for him alone to beg favors of Wei Zhao; conversely, Wei Zhao too must have need of him. Only when each had value to exploit for the other could such a relationship of interest remain firm and secure.

That was why he had deliberately left Wei Zhao with Chang Minghui as a threat—a form of nurturing the bandit to enhance his own importance. Every time Chang Minghui appeared, Zhuang Yifan's standing in Wei Zhao's eyes would grow a little weightier. The baseline was simply to keep Wei Zhao alive; this was a sure-win, no-loss bargain.

"Zhuang Yifan is a man of deep calculations. You would do well to keep your guard up when dealing with him in the future. Though you are already a first-grade Mystic-rank alchemist, the gap in strength between you is far too vast—trouble comes easily." Liu Ziqi offered the warning, then shook her head with a sigh: "What a pity, letting Chang Minghui slip away this time. True, he took no light wounds and should lie low for a while, but when he comes back again, he will not be so easy to deal with."

Wei Zhao nodded in deep agreement. This time both Heaven's timing and Earth's advantage had been on their side, and Chang Minghui had stepped blindly into the trap. Next time it would not be so easy; then the enemy would be in the dark and they in the light, and Wei Zhao would not even have the chance to prepare in advance, let alone scheme to trap and kill the man.

"I myself am actually fine. I have no intention of lingering in the Eastern Continent anyway—once I return to the Northern Isle, all will be well." Wei Zhao shook his head dismissively, then said with concern: "What worries me more is you, Aunt Liu. You have offended Chang Minghui this time, and he will certainly not let it go."

Wei Zhao could simply walk away, but Liu Ziqi, as vice-headmaster of the Morning Pride Academy, plainly could not do the same. And though she was a fine hand of the mid Mountain-Opening stage, she still fell short against Chang Minghui—and with a nature as vengeful as his, he would not let her off.

"There is no need for you to fret over that. Given my strength, even if I cannot beat him, protecting myself is always no problem. If he dares come and run wild on the Morning Pride Academy's territory, he will be lucky to escape with his skin intact—does he truly think the Morning Pride Academy is easy to bully?" Liu Ziqi said dismissively.

Hearing this, Wei Zhao breathed a sigh of relief. He had just been wondering whether to invite Liu Ziqi along to the Northern Isle to lie low for a while—she was an old acquaintance of Shangguan Tianxia's, after all, and could simply be paying a visit to an old friend's home. But since Liu Ziqi had made her position so clear, there was no need for such superfluous measures.

She was a titan of her region, after all. Even if her strength fell somewhat short, a character like Liu Ziqi's would truly not fear the man; it might even spur her on to climb another level.

"All right, this healing true qi of yours is quite useful—my wounds are nearly healed already." Clicking her tongue in wonder, Liu Ziqi gestured for Wei Zhao to withdraw his true qi and rose to her feet: "You are not lightly hurt yourself. Hurry and heal your own injuries; no need to mind me."

With that, not waiting for Wei Zhao to speak, Liu Ziqi went out of the room on her own, leaving Wei Zhao alone to continue healing.

Wei Zhao shook his head with a helpless laugh. This Aunt Liu's style really was straightforward, with not a trace of dawdling; in handling matters she was far more crisp and decisive than many men. Yet it was fortunate she was such a person—otherwise she would never have so readily left herself in Wei Zhao's hands earlier.