Chapter 4474 — Devoured by Black Qi
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 3
Wei Zhao kept his guard up, locked in standoff with the other man, while in his mind he replayed the earlier exchange, analyzing and extrapolating, searching for a countermeasure.
That punch from Wu Baoliang, sheathed in black qi, had plainly not been delivered with full force, and yet its power had been simply appalling. Wei Zhao's Wild Fire Thousand Kicks could not match it head-on; had he not promptly shielded himself with true qi, that blow would likely have crippled his entire leg.
Looking at the cackling Wu Baoliang, Wei Zhao suddenly felt a sense of crisis!
From the moment he had achieved his perfect breakthrough into the Golden Core stage until now, he had weathered no small number of dangers—especially his many bouts against Nascent Soul masters. But truth be told, Wei Zhao had never truly felt a sense of crisis. Instead, almost without noticing, he had developed a rather inflated opinion of himself.
After all, he was the strongest Golden Core master to have achieved a perfect breakthrough; against Nascent Soul masters in particular, he had virtually never come off worse, and had instead repeatedly gained the upper hand. Let that go on long enough, and anyone would grow a swelled head. A little more arrogance, and they might even start to think themselves invincible.
Wei Zhao was of course not so foolishly conceited, but he could hardly avoid being a touch overconfident—otherwise he would never have assumed, before ever crossing blows with Wu Baoliang, that he was certain to handle the man.
Fortunately, he had come to his senses before it was too late. Cultivation was the cultivation of the heart; had Wei Zhao gone on cultivating in that frame of mind without ever noticing, then in later years, upon reaching the Nascent Soul stage or even higher realms, it could very well have festered into a heart demon—at best leaving him unable to advance a single inch, at worst driving him to qigong deviation. That would have been real trouble indeed!
So Wei Zhao truly owed Wu Baoliang his thanks, for making him see himself clearly again.
"All that tough talk, and you still don't dare make a move? Scared off by a beating, are you? Getting ready to tuck yourself away like some spineless turtle?" Seeing Wei Zhao's expression, as though facing a great enemy, Wu Baoliang grinned a gleeful, twisted grin and snarled, "Since you won't come at me, I'll take the initiative and send you on your way—Raging Sand Thousand Bursts!"
As the words fell, the black qi around Wu Baoliang grew ever more rampant and savage, spreading until it had swallowed nearly half the platform. Everywhere it passed, the yellow sand of the platform and the surrounding ground rose floating into the air, swept howling into the black qi to form a sky-high tempest of sand. So swift was it that the whistling of air being torn sounded again and again, chilling the heart.
Wei Zhao's heart instantly tightened. That earlier punch had been no more than a trial run; this was Wu Baoliang's true strength, unleashed in earnest. He had not yet sampled the specific power of this move, but from the eerie, sinister array before him alone, he could tell it was no small matter!
Within the black qi and raging sand, Wu Baoliang's silhouette flickered in and out of view—only those triangular yin-yang eyes remained perfectly clear, carrying a faint, indefinable horror, like a god or demon descended, too terrible to look at directly.
A cackling laugh rang out, and Wu Baoliang slowly drove a punch toward Wei Zhao. In an instant, black qi bearing the raging sand swept toward him.
Below the platform, Qi Wenmo and the others were instantly alarmed. In any other open space, even if they could not match the attack head-on, there would at least be a sliver of a chance to dodge and maneuver.