Chapter 2801 — The Local Bully
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
Such a thing was truly bewildering. From where Wei Zhao stood, he could not make out the details, but he guessed that this might be some formidable martial technique of Zhang Naipao's. Could it be a technique that reflected other people's martial arts back at them?
But that did not add up either. This Local Bully was an expert at the peak of the early Earth Rank; even if he had unleashed the Eighth Form of Heaven and Earth Overturned, it should not have been enough to leave him crippled on the ground. Zhang Naipao was an early-stage Earth Rank expert and had taken that very technique head-on, yet a single Lesser Restoration Pill had been enough to nullify the damage—while the Local Bully had been crippled by his own technique. That seemed a bit far-fetched.
Wei Zhao was utterly baffled. He had heard of martial arts like the Great Shift of the Universe, which could redirect another's attack back upon them, but Zhang Naipao's situation was clearly different. It seemed Zhang Naipao had not fully redirected it—because he himself had been injured too.
By Wei Zhao's estimation, the power of the Eighth Form of Heaven and Earth Overturned would normally be enough to make Zhang Naipao cough blood—that fell within the range of normal performance. So it was clear that Zhang Naipao had still taken the hit. But then how had the Local Bully been wounded?
Truly uncanny! Still, when he thought about it, Zhang Naipao's Bee-Absorbing Divine Art from before had been even stranger. Wei Zhao could not help shaking his head. It seemed he had still underestimated Zhang Naipao. Thank goodness he had reacted quickly yesterday and had not attacked Zhang Naipao directly—otherwise the one lying on the ground might well have been him.
Until he understood what cards Zhang Naipao held, Wei Zhao could not rightly judge whether he was a match for him.
The Local Bully's underling cast Zhang Naipao a look of hatred, scooped up his master, and turned and fled quickly. He had to find someplace to treat the Local Bully, and he had been thoroughly shaken by what he had just witnessed. Knowing himself no match for Zhang Naipao, he simply did not strike again.
Having laid out the Local Bully, Zhang Naipao's self-confidence swelled to monstrous proportions. He gave a great laugh and turned to look at Wei Zhao in the dining hall. "Wei Zhao, care to give it a try as well?"
Wei Zhao said nothing and simply ignored Zhang Naipao's question. In truth, Wei Zhao's own heart was pounding. Though he wore a mid-grade Golden Cicada Inner Garment, Zhang Naipao was now an Earth Rank expert, and the mid-grade Golden Cicada Inner Garment offered him no protection whatsoever.
And if it had been yesterday, Wei Zhao still had one card to play—the refined dark iron staff in his backpack, which could attack any cultivator below the Earth Rank, piercing through protective true qi to deliver its strike.
But what Wei Zhao had never anticipated was that overnight Zhang Naipao had advanced to the Earth Rank, rendering that card utterly useless—with nowhere left to play it.
And so, for now, both Wei Zhao and Zhang Naipao remained in a stage of mutual probing. Neither was fully confident, and neither wanted to be the first to strike. Such was the case with Wei Zhao—and Zhang Naipao, too, was wary because of how Wei Zhao had crippled Mo Jiu with a single move the day before.
Seeing that Wei Zhao would not rise to the bait, Zhang Naipao felt rather foolish. He gave a snort, then left the dining hall together with Mo Ba, and they were quickly gone.
Only then did the dining hall return to its former clamor. But the cultivators at the tables near Wei Zhao's all rose and moved away without a word, either going to sit with disciples of sects they knew, leaving every table around Wei Zhao empty.
In their hearts, Wei Zhao had already become as terrifying an existence as Zhang Naipao. Zhang Naipao was uncanny—but was Wei Zhao any less so? (To be continued.)