Chapter 4534 — So You Know Each Other?
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 3
So it went for a full stick of incense's time, until he was at least a hundred li from the spirit beast assembly's grounds. Only then did Wei Zhao's suspended heart steady somewhat, and he let out a long breath of turbid air with lingering dread. This time he had truly escaped death; it was sheer luck.
Yet even so, Wei Zhao did not dare come to a full stop. He kept racing onward with the Super Butterfly Microstep. He had no idea whether the Vermilion Bird had fixed its eye on him, still less how far the Vermilion Bird's divine sense could reach. To be safe, of course, the farther he fled the better.
As for not continuing with the transcendent-limit Butterfly Microstep, that was simply out of necessity. That hyper-stimulated state was doomed to exact a tremendous price; let it last a little too long, and a great mass of cells within his body would promptly "die of overwork"—that would be an act of self-mutilation.
Even with his self-healing ability, Wei Zhao did not dare play so recklessly with his life. Good steel must be spent on the blade's edge; a trump card like the transcendent-limit Butterfly Microstep could only be used when necessary. Ordinarily it was wiser to stay with the Super Butterfly Microstep—after all, that speed was already very fast.
And as he fled, Wei Zhao exclaimed in glad relief within his heart, "I never would have guessed—this new King of Spirit Beasts is really a good man! Oh no, a good spirit beast!"
When those few spirit beast guards had earlier crushed him with the awe of their pressure, it might have looked as though he stood there unshaken, his face unmoved as if Mount Tai were collapsing before him—but how could that truly have been so?
His heart had nearly burst with fright just now. A single second's delay and he would have died with no place for burial. It had been far, far too damned close!
"That new King of Spirit Beasts feels a bit strange... Could it be, you brat, that you know each other?" Ghost Thing was likewise full of puzzlement at this moment. Even he had thought this time death was certain, yet against all odds they had survived the calamity—and in such a fashion, no less. It truly left one baffled.
"Pfft!" Wei Zhao nearly spat. His face odd, he said, "Senior, you were the former Azure Dragon elder and even you don't know it—how would I, a human cultivator who came up from the mundane world, have any way of knowing the King of Spirit Beasts?"
"That's true enough." Ghost Thing also thought it unlikely, yet that little doubt still coiled in his heart and would not disperse. "But if it doesn't know you at all, then what did those words of its mean? And the Great Fire Lion clan of the Rufeng Forest too—was that pure guesswork? That makes no sense. And from where it stands, there'd be no reason to step forward and save you..."
"Then I don't know. Maybe it really was a blind guess. I was the one who mentioned the Rufeng Forest, and there really aren't many spirit beasts left there now—likely the only ones of any whole clan still living there are the Great Fire Lions and the Great Spiders. So it's not as if it's completely impossible it guessed." Wei Zhao was thoughtful, then added, "Besides, even if it did know of me, it could never recognize me looking like this—I'm still wearing the Thousand-Silk Mask!"
"That you're wearing a mask is true enough, but it only changes your looks. Your build and your voice haven't changed at all. Fooling a stranger is one thing, but to truly deceive someone with a mind to see through you—that's impossible." Ghost Thing rejected the notion.
"That still makes no sense. I've had no dealings whatsoever with this new King of Spirit Beasts. It had never seen me before, and I had never seen it—I don't even know what kind of spirit beast it actually is." Wei Zhao shook his head, then suddenly his eyes lit up. "If we're really talking about some connection, then it's actually more likely to be you, Senior. Could it have sensed your aura?"