Chapter 4800 — Name Your Price
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"Who are you?" Wei Zhao asked again. Until he had gotten to the bottom of things, he would not toss over the Beauty Pill, no matter how much pity stirred in him.
Yang Qianshuang paid him no heed, still sobbing and shrieking in blind panic, her spirit wholly unmoored; by the look of her, she was past all reasoning.
Wei Zhao sighed. After motioning Ning Xuefei to step aside, he moved to steady the woman. He could promise no miracles, but calming her for the moment should be no hard task.
Yet before he could get close, the jade pendant gave a warning throb, and a furious shout came crashing down from overhead: "Courting death!"
An incomparably vast true qi bore down with it. Wei Zhao was aghast—an assault of that magnitude might well be more than even he could withstand. Fortunately the pendant's warning had bought him a heartbeat's notice; he at once used the Transcendent Butterfly Microstep to spring backward, and only just scraped clear.
Looking up, he saw a tall, slender young man with a cold, severe air standing before him, Yang Qianshuang gathered in his arms. She still gave the occasional terrified shriek, but was plainly much calmer now; the two appeared to be dao companions.
"Was it you who wounded Qianxue?" The young man regarded Wei Zhao coldly, his gaze like a blade, stinging the eye.
"That's right. She burst in out of nowhere to snatch my Beauty Pill, so of course I struck back." Wei Zhao eyed him with a shade of wariness. That descending blast of true qi had already told him the man was an expert of the early Profound Ascension stage—but certainly no ordinary one.
With Wei Zhao's present strength, an early Profound Ascension cultivator—even one at the peak of that stage—was nothing he could not kill with ease. Yet against this man he had no assurance of victory. By his rough estimate, the fellow's true power was at least equal to the late Profound Ascension stage, perhaps greater still.
"Beauty Pill?" The young man's expression shifted slightly. He glanced at the box in Wei Zhao's hand, then down at the trembling Yang Qianshuang in his arms, and said abruptly, "Give me the Beauty Pill, and we will call today's business even."
Wei Zhao was briefly dumbstruck, staring speechlessly at the pair entwined before him. Birds of a feather truly do flock together. The woman had come charging in to seize the Beauty Pill, and given her plight that was at least understandable; now here came a man behaving in just the same fashion. Was there not a single sane person in all of Xiangyun Academy?
"I don't believe you have the situation straight, sir. Yes, I wounded her—but she struck first, to rob me. That makes us even at most. What gives me any reason to hand you the Beauty Pill?" Wei Zhao had a temper of his own. Had the man asked civilly, he could have restored the woman's face even without the pill; but by force—then there was nothing left to discuss.
"I say again: give me the Beauty Pill, and today's business is even." The young man remained unmoved, plainly with no intention of reasoning. And in truth, reason was not on his side.
"Then there is nothing to discuss." Wei Zhao's face turned cold, and the box holding the Beauty Pill vanished in an instant, right under the other man's nose. He said flatly, "Please leave. And one parting word: pity is not a bargaining chip to be used against others. It is pitiable that her face was ruined like that. But what of it?"
"Who are you calling pitiable?" The young man's already frigid air took on a sharper edge of anger.
"Haven't you worked it out yet, Leng Rufeng? In this boy's eyes the two of you are a pair of sorry wretches—hahaha!" Ren Zhongyuan's laughter came from the courtyard gate, and he strode in with careless swagger, Yi Xiaotian and the others at his back.
At the sight of them, Wei Zhao's heart stirred. Thinking back, there had been something odd about the whole affair today—could these fellows be pulling strings behind the scenes?