Chapter 2222 — Come and Take It Yourself

The instant the Eighth Protector made his move, Wei Zhao moved too—a true qi bomb in his left hand, the fourth form of the Frenzied Fire Fist in his right—and lashed out with both at once!

"Frenzied Fire Fist, fourth form! Vacuum Wave Fist! Go die!" In that single instant, Wei Zhao erupted.

All that idle talk with Tagan Long had been Wei Zhao gathering his true qi bomb. This Eighth Protector before him was a skilled man of the mid Earth rank, the same grade as himself—killing him in a single blow would not be easy at all.

But killed in a single blow he had to be. Wei Zhao could not afford a drawn-out fight; once it dragged on, it would go badly for him and for Sun Jingyan alike.

Because over there stood the Fifth Protector, whose strength had reached the very peak of the late Earth rank—and even if this young master Tagan Long was a worthless fool, he was still of the early Earth rank.

Wei Zhao had to wipe one of them out and clear away a hidden threat. The fourth form of the Frenzied Fire Fist could not, with one strike, slay a fighter of his own rank; but Wei Zhao meant to pair it with the true qi bomb. The compressed time in the bomb was not long and its effect was not great, yet he was making the Frenzied Fire Fist the main assault and the true qi bomb the supplement, aimed at the Eighth Protector.

Scalding flame-true-qi burst from Wei Zhao's right fist, forming a vast wall of heat that in an instant bore down on the Eighth Protector's chest!

"Boom!"

With a thunderous roar, the Eighth Protector, utterly unprepared, was blasted away by the fourth form of Wei Zhao's Frenzied Fire Fist! His eyes were filled with disbelief—how could a fighter of the mid Yellow rank possibly use a martial technique? And the fourth form at that?

No... this was not the fourth form. This was the fifth!

"You... you..." The Eighth Protector's mouth fell open. He wanted to say something.

"You can go die now!" Wei Zhao gave him no chance to speak. Before the Eighth Protector could make his next move, the true qi bomb in Wei Zhao's left hand came crashing after him!

Strike a man while he is down. If Wei Zhao did not finish the Eighth Protector here and now, leaving him alive would be a great calamity and a lurking danger—he had to be eliminated first.

"Bang!"

Another heaven-shaking blast. The Eighth Protector watched helplessly as a gaping hole was blown clean through his own chest; he died with his eyes wide open. In death he finally understood one truth—that Wei Zhao was not of the mid Yellow rank. But by then he could no longer speak.

Having killed the Eighth Protector in a single blow, Wei Zhao returned to Sun Jingyan's side. He greatly feared that while he dealt with the Eighth Protector, Tagan Long might do her harm.

But Tagan Long plainly had not. Wei Zhao guessed that, nine times out of ten, Tagan Long still dreamed of finishing him off and carrying Sun Jingyan away—and so would not harm her now.

Earlier Wei Zhao had considered two plans of battle. One was to catch the ringleader first, seizing Tagan Long as a hostage; but that was far too risky. If he controlled Tagan Long, he could not keep Sun Jingyan safe—the Eighth Protector and the Fifth Protector, even Lazi, might take her hostage and use her to bind Wei Zhao's hands in turn!

So in the end Wei Zhao chose to kill the Eighth Protector first and then find a way to deal with the Fifth Protector. As for Sun Jingyan—if Tagan Long had designs on her, he could not possibly let her come to grief now; at most he would hold her under control and try to drag her back with him, but he would certainly not harm her yet.

Clearly, Wei Zhao's reasoning had been right.

In a flash he was back at Sun Jingyan's side, and he looked coldly upon Tagan Long. "A man should not be too greedy! All this could have passed peacefully—yet you had to stir up trouble!"

"You... you're Earth rank?" Tagan Long was no fool; if he still could not tell that Wei Zhao was a skilled Earth-rank fighter by now, he deserved to die. "You've been disguised all along?"

"That has nothing to do with you," Wei Zhao said flatly. "But aren't you a mid Earth rank yourself? Yet you have been releasing mid Yellow rank true qi all this while?"

At these words Tagan Long's expression changed at once! This was his great secret—how did Wei Zhao know? Along the whole journey he had never made a move, never released mid Earth rank true qi; little did he know that Wei Zhao had a golden finger that let him see a man's strength at a glance.

This man absolutely could not be left alive! Only a few protectors and core figures within the Tagan family knew that Tagan Long was of the mid Earth rank. If the news spread, it would harm the Tagan family—and that place would never permit him to reveal his strength this early. The tallest tree catches the wind; this truth Tagan Long knew well!

"Fifth Protector, destroy him!" Tagan Long looked to the Fifth Protector and spoke grimly.

"Boy, you spoke true—a man should not be too greedy!" The Fifth Protector had by now finished healing and came pacing slowly toward Wei Zhao. He was furious; he had never imagined he could capsize in a ditch.

Wei Zhao had been suppressing his strength all along, and while he himself was healing, the boy had killed the Eighth Protector and come within a hair of threatening Tagan Long's safety!

In truth, Wei Zhao was somewhat vexed as well. After killing the Eighth Protector, he had meant to go straight for the healing Fifth Protector; but seeing that the Fifth Protector had already closed his cultivation and risen to his feet, he gave up the notion of a sneak attack.

Against a fighter like the Fifth Protector, a sneak attack was useless—with his healing complete, it would be an honest clash of blade and spear.

"Give me those two spirit beast essence cores and I'll leave you a whole corpse. Boy, you killed the Eighth Protector by ambush—don't think that makes you anything special." The Fifth Protector had already discerned Wei Zhao's Earth-rank strength; he simply believed the Eighth Protector had died because he had been too careless, never imagining Wei Zhao to be a fighter of his own grade, and so had been caught off guard and killed by surprise.

Of course, that reason did exist, but it was not the root of it. The Fifth Protector was judging the matter from his own standpoint; he himself felt he could likewise ambush and one-shot the Eighth Protector—but he overlooked that Wei Zhao was only of the mid Earth rank, not the peak of the late Earth rank!

"You mean to kill me, and you think I'll just stand here and let you?" Wei Zhao looked at the Fifth Protector with a cold smile.

"So what if I do? Your strength is weaker than mine; killing you is easy as turning my palm," the Fifth Protector said coldly. "Too much has happened today, and I don't wish to torment you. Hand over the things and I'll give you a clean death! As for your woman, young master Tagan Long will look after her for you."

"Heh heh, that's right—you must have guessed my meaning by now? Following me beats following this spineless man. Fine food and good drink from now on, and elixirs to aid your cultivation too!" Tagan Long said with a grin.

With the Fifth Protector at his side, he had no fear of Wei Zhao at all.

"If you want the things, come and take them yourself. You expect me to hand them over? Impossible!" Wei Zhao said lightly. (To be continued)

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