Chapter 2226 — The Great Fire Lion Strikes
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
Seeing how the Great and Little Fire Lions behaved toward Wei Zhao, Tagan Long found it passing strange — why did they seem so intimate with him? Could it be that they had come back expressly to do Wei Zhao a service? The more he thought, the more wrong it seemed: the Little Fire Lion had been hunted down by Wei Zhao — why would it help him?
Yet for all his outward airs of a worthless, lecherous, self-important fop, Tagan Long was no fool. He knew the Fire Lions' nature: grateful for kindness, exact in their debts. If that was so, then Wei Zhao must have helped the Fire Lions at some point, and they had come back to repay him...
Helped... yes! He recalled how, time and again, just when the Little Fire Lion seemed at its last gasp, spent and staggering, it would run to Wei Zhao, trade a blow or two with him, and spring back full of vigor. Wei Zhao must have been working tricks in secret!
And Wei Zhao, suppressing his strength to come up the mountain on this mission — plainly there was something wrong in that. A mid Earth-rank expert, how could he sell his life for a single Spirit-Gathering Pill? Still less would he care about those five Spirit-Gathering Pellets! Then add to that how the Great Fire Lion had later given Wei Zhao a sham beating — everyone else died, and only Wei Zhao lived. If that was not suspicious, what was?
It seemed this Wei Zhao had been a spy from the very start, secretly aiding the Little Fire Lion!
Having worked it out, Tagan Long shot Wei Zhao a venomous look, and while the Great Fire Lion, the Little Fire Lion, and the Thunder Pig all had their attention fixed on Wei Zhao, he prepared to flee — and to drag Sun Jingyan along with him!
But no sooner had Tagan Long reached out to seize Sun Jingyan than the Thunder Pig, alerted, gave a "chirp chirp" cry.
"Roar—" The Great Fire Lion bellowed at Tagan Long and lunged, frightening him and Lazi out of their wits; abandoning all thought of Wei Zhao and Sun Jingyan, the two fled in panic down the mountain!
By then Sun Jingyan had recovered from her fright. Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined the Thunder Pig to be so formidable as to summon both Fire Lions — and the Fifth Protector had simply met his doom.
"Thunder Pig, Great Fire Lion, Little Fire Lion — thank you, truly!" Sun Jingyan breathed a sigh of relief. She too could see that though Wei Zhao's injuries were grave, he was not dead; and so long as he lived, all would be well. His healing powers were something she knew well.
"Chirp chirp!" The Thunder Pig nodded smugly, though it made clear that this was merely what it ought to have done.
The two Fire Lions, meanwhile, smiled with a guileless, apologetic air; they did not feel they had helped Wei Zhao at all. In their eyes, it was the Little Fire Lion who had brought harm upon Wei Zhao, drawing Tagan Long's revenge down on him.
"Let's get out of here first, and find somewhere safe for him to heal."
The Thunder Pig wrote in the dirt with its claw. When it had finished, and Sun Jingyan had read it, it wiped the words away entirely, leaving no evidence behind.
The Great Fire Lion gave a gentle flick of its foreclaws and lifted Wei Zhao onto its back. Then the Little Fire Lion led the way in front, the Great Fire Lion bore Wei Zhao in the middle, and Sun Jingyan and the Thunder Pig followed behind, and together they set off toward the central range of the mountains...
The central range was the territory of the Fire Lion clan, and the Little Fire Lion led them straight to their home...
In truth, though it was called the Fire Lion clan, the whole clan numbered scarcely a few; apart from the Great and Little Fire Lions there was a single lioness — a family of three, plainly put. Only the lioness's cultivation was not high, and she had little fighting strength to speak of.