Chapter 4962 — Come With Me a Moment
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 3
Come to think of it, tonight's fishing plan had truly been fraught with peril at every turn. Even Wei Zhao himself could not help but feel a lingering chill of fear now. Chang Minghui's strength was simply beyond imagination; fortunately, luck had been on their side, and the man had been careless and underestimated his opponent. Otherwise, forget about stalling until the end so that Zhuang Yifan could make his move—Wei Zhao doubted he could even have survived the first step of luring the enemy. He would have died beneath Chang Minghui's wind blades before ever reaching the ambush point.
And in the end, if not for Zhuang Yifan's appearance, given the near-total exhaustion of both his and Liu Ziqi's strength at the time, facing a furious Chang Minghui would have meant a ninety percent chance of death. In that respect, Zhuang Yifan had actually done them a great service. Though he had not killed Chang Minghui as Wei Zhao had hoped, he had at least frightened the man off and preserved both his and Liu Ziqi's lives. This debt of gratitude had to be remembered.
"Hm?" As Wei Zhao healed himself and examined his internal state, he suddenly discovered that his composite eight spiritual roots had become far more consolidated than when he had first broken through, the attributes of each element fusing together with even greater seamlessness. Even the true qi within his body had grown a shade calmer and less turbulent!
This discovery instantly filled Wei Zhao with delight. Based on past experience, this was clearly the sign of having thoroughly consolidated the early Mystic Ascension stage. How long had it been since his breakthrough? He had originally thought it would take at least three months, perhaps even half a year.
On second thought, however, this outcome was not so surprising after all. Real combat was the best way to consolidate one's strength, and looking back on Wei Zhao's recent encounters—setting aside a weakling of the same level like Chang Minghui—the unfathomable vengeful spirit's primordial soul, Zang Zili of the early Mountain-Opening stage, and Chang Minghui of the late Mountain-Opening stage—every one of them had been an overwhelming battle. If his cultivation had failed to consolidate under such circumstances, that would truly have been strange.
While Wei Zhao rejoiced on his side, elsewhere Chang Minghui, fleeing in miserable haste atop the Ghost-Eyed Golden Eagle, was in the foulest of moods.
Not only had he failed to kill Wei Zhao, but he had been jointly schemed against by Wei Zhao and Liu Ziqi—a sword run clean through his chest and a lightning burial at maximum intensity. For a late Mountain-Opening expert like him, such injuries might not be fatal, but they were certainly no trifling wounds that would heal in a day or two.
What frustrated Chang Minghui even more than his injuries was that Wei Zhao was plainly on Thunderclap Plain Island, yet he could only watch helplessly and dare not strike again. Zhuang Yifan's sudden appearance had already given him a severe fright. Though Zhuang Yifan had not moved to detain him, if it happened a second time, who knew what Zhuang Yifan might do!
Amid his frustration, Chang Minghui finally understood: with his strength, killing Wei Zhao should indeed have been as easy as turning his palm. But Wei Zhao had a skilled expert like Liu Ziqi protecting him, and Chang Minghui could not achieve absolute suppression. Once things dragged on even slightly, Zhuang Yifan would certainly come to the rescue. Under such circumstances, killing Wei Zhao was all but impossible.
Yet having understood this, Chang Minghui had no intention of giving up. According to the rumors Wei Zhao had had Li Ren spread earlier, however, the time left for him to act was already short. Never mind letting Wei Zhao escape back to North Island—even if Wei Zhao merely returned to Morning Star Academy's territory, he would no longer be able to make a move.