Chapter 3869 — Turning the Tables

Against an ordinary early Foundation Establishment expert, that one move was already lethal enough.

Wei Zhao's heart jolted. He had sensed Nan Tianguan's presence just now, but he had no way of knowing what Nan Tianguan had said to Yu Zhe. Who could have guessed that this lunatic would suddenly attack him as though possessed, apparently intent on killing him for real?

With an expert like Nan Tianguan watching from afar, the question of how to respond at a moment like this presented Wei Zhao with a genuine dilemma.

If he had only been dealing with Yu Zhe, there would have been nothing difficult about it. In a one-on-one fight, Wei Zhao held a considerable advantage. Even if he exposed his identity, it would not matter much. After all, even if he could not silence his opponent, he still held a fatal weakness of Yu Zhe's in his hands. He would have plenty of room to maneuver.

But under the present circumstances, Wei Zhao no longer dared expose himself so easily. Once it was confirmed that Wei Zhao was the Lin Er they were searching for, who knew whether Nan Tianguan, hidden in the shadows, would leap out and crush him to death with a single palm?

This time, Wei Zhao had no chance to condense another top-grade true-qi bomb. He simply had no way to deal with an expert like Nan Tianguan, who stood at the peak of Foundation Establishment!

If matters truly came to that, Wei Zhao supposed he would have no choice but to throw out Yu Zhe's fatal secret of murdering his own master ahead of time. Yu Zhe, that unfilial and treacherous disciple, would certainly be doomed. But whether Wei Zhao himself could survive afterward would depend entirely on Nan Tianguan's mood.

Perhaps Nan Tianguan would spare him. Perhaps he would deal with Wei Zhao as well. Life or death would rest on a single thought in the other man's mind.

Besides, Nan Tianguan would also wonder where this video had come from, and why Wei Zhao had been at the scene.

Wei Zhao's reaction could hardly have been called slow. The instant Yu Zhe made his move, he reached a decision: keep up the act!

Since Yu Zhe had attacked, Wei Zhao would simply evade. Unless matters reached a truly desperate point, he could not afford to use his real strength and expose his identity. Otherwise, the situation would become genuinely troublesome!

Relying on instinct, Wei Zhao narrowly dodged the fierce sword qi in Yu Zhe's hand, his movements looking distinctly strained. But after his first attack missed, Yu Zhe was not about to give up. He raised his hand and unleashed another Twenty-One Forms of the Life-Reaping Chain Sword, forcing Wei Zhao into an even more desperate and disheveled retreat.

Wei Zhao managed to evade it again, but the sword qi that grazed past him raked across his right arm, leaving a vivid streak of blood. He had only suffered a slight graze because he had moved quickly enough. Otherwise, his entire right arm might well have been severed.

This was the awkward predicament Wei Zhao now faced. Deciding to keep up the act had not been difficult, but actually doing so was another matter entirely.

If he wanted to avoid exposing his identity before Yu Zhe, he could not use any martial technique he had previously displayed in front of him. The techniques Wei Zhao knew best and relied on most heavily, such as the Frenzied Fire Eight Trigrams Palm, Frenzied Fire Fist, and Butterfly Flicker Steps, were all forbidden. The moment he used any one of them, Yu Zhe would see through him. That was the truly difficult part.

Against Yu Zhe, an expert at the middle Foundation Establishment stage, Wei Zhao had not only exposed the true strength of an early Foundation Establishment peak expert, he was also unable to use any of his signature techniques. It was only natural that he had fallen into such a wretched position.

Fortunately, although Yu Zhe carried murderous intent, he was not using his true strength. As long as he continued with only the Twenty-One Forms of the Life-Reaping Chain Sword, Wei Zhao might find it extremely difficult to cope, but he was not yet at the point of being completely unable to hold on.

After two or three exchanges, Yu Zhe saw that although Wei Zhao was doing everything he could to twist and dart aside, his own Twenty-One Forms of the Life-Reaping Chain Sword had still left several wounds on the man's body. The murderous intent Yu Zhe had deliberately released weakened considerably. At least judging from these exchanges, this Wei Zhao and the Lin Er he was searching for were unquestionably two different people.

Words could deceive, and even appearances could deceive. But once a real fight began, especially in the face of mortal danger, one's fighting style could not lie. Even if someone deliberately tried to conceal a martial technique, when danger arose, his body would react instinctively. That was a primal response beyond conscious control.

And the more powerful the cultivator, the stronger that instinct for self-preservation became. That was why the stronger an expert was, the harder it was to kill him by surprise. Even if his conscious mind had been lulled into complacency, his instinct for survival was far more difficult to deceive.

Ordinarily, that would have been a good thing. For Wei Zhao at this moment, however, it was not necessarily good news, because if this continued, he would soon be unable to hold on.

In fact, that was exactly what happened. After barely enduring a few exchanges, Wei Zhao was already struggling to suppress the true qi stirring restlessly within him. If Yu Zhe kept this up much longer, Wei Zhao might lose control and be forced to fight in earnest.

Yet at that moment, Yu Zhe suddenly stopped.

"We have no grudge against each other. Why are you trying to kill me? Do you not know what crime it is to ambush a newcomer from the Welcoming Pavilion?" Wei Zhao panted heavily, looking thoroughly battered. Part of it was an act, but he had indeed found it extremely difficult to maintain his disguise, and the multiple wounds covering his body were quite real.

"Cut the crap. If you want to stay alive, try using that Pillfire Bomb of yours. I will give you the chance!" Yu Zhe's face was cold as he spoke in a low voice.

"A Pillfire Bomb?" Wei Zhao stared in astonishment. While he wondered why Yu Zhe had suddenly changed tactics, he deliberately asked in surprise, "How do you know about the Pillfire Bomb?"

"Hmph. So you really can use that move. Then I truly came to the right place!" Yu Zhe's eyes lit up. After his earlier probing, he had essentially ruled Wei Zhao out as a suspect, but he still needed one final confirmation.

What he wanted to know now was whether this so-called Pillfire Bomb was the same technique as the devastating weapon Lin Er had hurled into Nan Tianyong's face that day.

A sudden idea flashed through Wei Zhao's mind, and he asked, "Did Kang Zhaoming tell you about the Pillfire Bomb?"

He did not know whether the Pillfire Bomb even existed on Cloudstep Island. But here in the Welcoming Pavilion, no one was more obviously connected with the Pillfire Bomb than Kang Zhaoming.

Yu Zhe could not help staring in surprise. There was nothing strange about Kang Zhaoming telling him that this Wei Zhao was an alchemist who knew how to use the Pillfire Bomb. But for Wei Zhao to identify Kang Zhaoming immediately was rather suspicious.

"What do you mean?" Yu Zhe asked in a low voice.

Wei Zhao sneered. "As for the Pillfire Bomb, who else in the entire Welcoming Pavilion, apart from that bastard, would inexplicably pin it on me? That bastard and I are sworn enemies. If he gets even the slightest chance to frame me, he will never let it pass." (Three updates a day are back. I originally said the burst would continue until the 19th, but Yuren held out until the 29th.) (To be continued...)

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