Chapter 4368 — The Skilled Wang Xinyan
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
But it had never crossed his mind that Wei Zhao's side did not judge the balance of power in anything like the same way.
On paper, the strength of three Nascent Soul cultivators was indeed not to be underestimated. But gathered here were Wang Xinyan and Huang Xiaotao, two of the finest talents Morning Star Academy had ever acknowledged, and beside them the even more formidable and heaven-defying Wei Zhao. Before such a trio, all of it was no more than passing clouds.
One could only say that however crafty and cunning Wei Zhaotong might be, his was still the thinking of a mortal. Before top-tier prodigies like Wei Zhao and his companions, long accustomed to cutting down foes a realm above their own in a single blow, any attempt to gauge the situation with a mortal's reasoning was sheer folly. From first to last, the two sides were not even on the same plane.
Raging Fire Eight-Trigram Combined Palm! Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao struck with perfect tacit accord, two Eight-Trigram Palms landing almost simultaneously upon the retainer on the left.
A dignified Nascent Soul cultivator, this man committed the very same error as Wei Zhaotong: he misjudged the situation and, worse still, underestimated his foes.
So it was that he had not even a moment to react. Struck by both palms, his eyes rolled back on the spot, and amid the startled cries of the gathered clerks and servants he hurtled backward like a kite with its string cut, sailing clean out of the Hong Clan Merchant Guild. For a long while there was no further sign of movement—whether he lived or died, no one could tell.
At the same moment, Wang Xinyan struck on the other side. The martial art she employed was neither fist nor palm, neither leg technique nor weapon. Her only movement was to press her palms together before her.
The others had yet to notice anything amiss, but the retainer standing to her right suddenly turned deathly pale. He felt a ceaseless, rolling sound rise on every side, high and low, unbroken as a range of mountains stretching a hundred miles—a sound that not only unsettled the mind, but, more terrifying still, seemed to bewilder the spirit, so that even the true qi coursing through his meridians slowed and stalled.
The retainer was thrown into panic, yet his first instinct was not to fall back, but to advance—charging straight at Wang Xinyan!
That this man could become a skilled retainer of the Hong Clan Merchant Guild spoke well of his abilities, and his reaction here, almost pure battle instinct, was truly worthy of praise. Had he chosen to turn and flee, the opening he left at his back would only have been greater, and his death would only have come the sooner.
Yet though his choice to advance rather than retreat was not wrong, it was a pity he had so vastly underestimated Wang Xinyan—this direct disciple of the East Sea Divine Nun.
Unlike Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao, Wang Xinyan was a genuine early-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, and with her extraordinary aptitude, together with more than a year of the East Sea Divine Nun's meticulous guidance, one could only say that the Wang Xinyan of today was no longer an existence any ordinary Nascent Soul cultivator could contend with.
The retainer was already swift, but before he could reach Wang Xinyan, the unbroken sound pouring in from every direction grew louder and louder, its grip on his spirit ever tighter. He jerked his head up and gasped, drawing a sharp breath of cold air: behind Wang Xinyan, at some unknown moment, a black-mist phantom had appeared.
That phantom bore down like a towering mountain, and at a glance one knew it was no mortal thing. The transcendent aura faintly emanating from it plainly stood above all in the dusty world, and a dignified Nascent Soul cultivator before it felt as a lowly creature feels before a higher being—his body trembling by instinct, he dared not take another step forward. (To be continued) R466