Chapter 2963 — Who Said You Could Leave?

The onlookers stared at this dramatic turn of events with bewilderment. Elder Pi and the others in particular could not fathom what kind of temper the Silkworm Mutation was venting. If this were truly about fairness and justice in the Xuandan Sect trials, then simply punishing the black-clad elder would have sufficed; there was no need to consult Wei Zhao or take his feelings into account. Yet now it seemed as though Wei Zhao was the one who mattered most.

Could it be that this was the Xuandan Sect deliberately putting on a show of being trial-taker-centered, so that more trial-takers would trust them and sign up for the next round of Xuandan Sect trials?

"Since Wei Zhao has forgiven you, we will let it go this time," Tian Die warned. "There had better not be a next time!"

"Yes, yes! Rest assured, Young Master Tian!" the black-clad elder hastened to promise. Then he yanked Zhao Qibing up from the ground. Zhao Qibing might have lost an arm, but as long as his legs remained, the Thousand Legs cultivation would not suffer. "Young Master Tian, then I shall take my leave..."

"Wait." Tian Die spat out yet another word that made the black-clad elder's heart leap into his throat.

"Young Master Tian, is there something else?" the black-clad elder asked cautiously.

"You are free to go, but he is not! He has not knelt yet!" Tian Die said.

"He... he is only my disciple, he has nothing to do with this, does he? Besides, he has already fainted..." the black-clad elder said, somewhat helplessly.

"A moment ago, were you not all in this together?" Tian Die countered.

"This... fine!" The black-clad elder had no choice. He brought his palm down hard on the back of Zhao Qibing's neck and roused him awake.

"Master... Master, save me..." Zhao Qibing cried out in terror the instant he came to.

"Stop shouting and kneel to Wei Zhao and apologize at once, then I will take you out of here!" The black-clad elder, unwilling to linger in this place of humiliation, snapped at him.

True, the Dark Night Palace's people were all masters of trimming their sails to the wind and shamelessness besides, but even so, it was a rather ugly sight.

"What?" Zhao Qibing was stunned, staring at the black-clad elder in confusion. "Kneel to Wei Zhao? To him? We are members of an ancient sect!"

"I have already knelt, so why will you not? What is all this nonsense!" the black-clad elder roared. "Hurry up!"

Zhao Qibing was somewhat dazed, but then he suddenly caught Tian Die's icy gaze and trembled from head to toe. Though unwilling, he nonetheless knelt before Wei Zhao, and the humiliation of it nearly killed him.

Why? Why, when he was already a disciple of an ancient sect, did he still have to kneel to Wei Zhao—a lone wandering cultivator, a defeated foe of the hidden Zhao family? This psychological whiplash was driving Zhao Qibing to the brink of madness!

That very morning, he had come to Wei Zhao full of smug delight, certain he could turn Shen Yushu into a crippled girl right before Wei Zhao's eyes. Yet in the end, it was he himself who had become a one-armed cripple...

"I am sorry, I was wrong..." At this single kneel, Zhao Qibing nearly burst into tears. He had yielded to Wei Zhao before, but things were different now. Back then Wei Zhao had been the strong one and he merely the weak.

But now, when he was clearly the strong one and Wei Zhao the wounded, he had still knelt and still had to apologize—and that was just too damn galling.

Looking at Zhao Qibing kneeling before him, so arrogant not so long ago; at the black-clad elder with a face like iron, not daring to show his fury but not daring to speak either; and then at the Silkworm Mutation, serene and indifferent as though nothing in the world was worth his notice—Wei Zhao finally understood one thing.

To make one's voice heard in the world of the strong, one had to be stronger still! A powerful faction standing at one's back was the Silkworm Mutation's greatest source of confidence today. The Dark Night Palace might also have peak late heaven-tier experts, but surely not as many as the Xuandan Sect—and that was the confidence that emboldened the Silkworm Mutation to order the black-clad elder about.

No matter how strong one's personal power, no matter how well one could fight above one's tier and slay opponents in an instant, without a powerful overall faction behind you, it was no use. If his own subordinates were all heaven-tier experts, forming a force to rival an ancient sect, would the Dark Night Palace still dare behave like this?

Of course, even having grasped all this, Wei Zhao could not remedy it for the moment. Compared with the ancient sects, he lacked deep reserves, and without raising his own strength he had no way to raise his subordinates' either. This was a textbook case of one man attaining the Way and even his dogs and chickens soaring into heaven—unlike the ancient sects, which produced talents in every generation and possessed many means of elevating their strength.

Thinking all this through, Wei Zhao knew he had indeed been somewhat rash, stepping onto the ancient stage too early. He was only a late earth-tier expert; he might be able to slay a mid heaven-tier in an instant, but he was still only late earth-tier!

If he were heaven-tier and could refine Qi-Gathering Pills, then his subordinates would surely all be early heaven-tier experts. In that case, would the Dark Night Palace still dare behave like this?

The exhilaration of earlier fighting above his tier had made Wei Zhao lose sight of his true self, blinding him to the constraints of cultivation rank, until he believed that so long as he could kill a higher-tier enemy, his own rank did not matter.

But the truth was otherwise: elevating one's true strength was the only great Way.

"Young Master Tian, is that enough now?" the black-clad elder asked once Zhao Qibing had begged forgiveness.

"Hand over the Great Return Pills you carry and give them to Wei Zhao as recompense. Then you may go," Tian Die said.

"What?! Our Qi-Gathering Pills? Why must we surrender those too?" The black-clad elder was utterly beside himself. The Silkworm Mutation's relentless pressure had finally made him explode. "We have already apologized! Why should we give up what is ours? Does the Xuandan Sect not stand for fairness and justice? Then why must we surrender what belongs to us?"

"If a wrong is committed and an apology is all it takes, then may I kill you and simply say sorry to the Dark Night Palace?" Tian Die said, her face expressionless. "You may refuse, but then the Qi-Gathering Pills are gone! This is my decision—one third-grade pill is hereby confiscated."

"What? The Qi-Gathering Pills... gone?" The black-clad elder's furious expression softened at once. The Qi-Gathering Pills were meant to raise the strength of Palace Mistress Wan'er—how could they be gone? If they were lost, the Supreme Elder would flay him alive when he returned!

At that thought, the black-clad elder had no choice but to fish a small box from his breast pocket and toss it in Wei Zhao's direction. "Fine! The Great Return Pills—we give them to you!"

Wei Zhao's limbs had not yet recovered, making it inconvenient for him to take anything, so Wu Chengtian beside him caught the small box. He opened it, glanced inside, and nodded. "Not bad—these are indeed Great Return Pills!" (To be continued)

For the fastest updates, please read without pop-ups.