Chapter 4261 — All Dead
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
But temporary safety did not mean safety thereafter. Wei Zhao had no wish to linger overlong in one spot, and he also wanted to learn just what trick Chu Bubai was playing, so he held Huang Xiaotao's hand in a firm grip with one hand while cautiously advancing on foot.
Yet they had not gone more than a few steps before the jade pendant began to warn again, and the farther forward they went, the more violent the warning grew. This time Wei Zhao was at last certain: there was definitely something extraordinary about this place, and beyond any doubt, something lay in wait ahead!
Once he understood this, Wei Zhao went no further. Taking Huang Xiaotao with him, he stopped once more where they stood.
"Aren't we going on?" Huang Xiaotao turned to look at Wei Zhao in surprise.
"Right, we're not going on." Wei Zhao nodded. He was no fool; to know full well that a dragon's pool and a tiger's den lay ahead and still drag Huang Xiaotao into it would not be called the boldness of a master, but a head full of holes.
"Then what are we..." Huang Xiaotao looked at the misty haze all around, the ghostly shadows that flickered past from time to time, and could not help shrinking her neck.
"It's all right. We'll just stay right here—there's no danger." Wei Zhao smiled in reassurance. Remaining in place allowed them to keep the greatest possible vigilance, and with the jade pendant able to warn them in advance, there was nothing to fear.
"All right." Huang Xiaotao nodded obediently. Nervous as she still was at heart, she would do whatever Wei Zhao said.
Time trickled away drop by drop, and in the blink of an eye the sky had begun to lighten, which meant a whole night had passed. Yet the mist did not scatter on that account; compared with the night, visibility was a shade better, but only very limitedly so.
And what surprised Wei Zhao was this: he and Huang Xiaotao had waited here a whole night through, yet they had encountered no situation at all—no danger, but no word of the people ahead either. Chu Bubai and Guo Dengtao and the rest seemed to have truly vanished into thin air.
Wei Zhao was puzzled at heart, but he was not anxious. A killer by birth, what he lacked least was patience.
And Huang Xiaotao, who was with him, had a girl's natural timidity and was somewhat frightened by this strange and uncanny place around them; yet she had spent these past years running trial missions, so her patience too was first-rate.
Thus the two of them waited in place a whole night through, without the least sign of impatience. After another three or four hours had passed, by their reckoning it should already have been around noon.
"Wei Zhao, shouldn't we go after all?" Huang Xiaotao looked at Wei Zhao with pleading eyes. It was not that her patience was exhausted, but that this place was simply too eerie. Especially the flickering ghostly shadows that appeared from time to time—she could never make out just what they were, and the more she thought, the more her scalp prickled, and her heart was truly quailing with dread.
"Let's wait a little longer." Wei Zhao comforted her, drawing Huang Xiaotao into his arms. Matters having come to this pass, turning back was indeed the safest course; after all, they had in hand the route map Chu Bubai had given them, and they had already come this way once, so retracing their steps should present no great difficulty.
But Wei Zhao did not want to give up just like that. Had he never smelled the medicinal fragrance of the infant ginseng, it would have been another matter. Now it was certain that somewhere nearby the infant ginseng must be!
To turn and walk away because of a mere unknown threat—no one in his place would be willing to accept it; even if they escaped safely, they would surely regret it afterward.