Chapter 1502 — Yang Qiqi's Grievance

Take the present Yang Qiqi: if she only flees and never strikes back, then Zhang Nai Pao will not use the Bee-Absorbing Divine Art. A golden-finger cheat of that sort, used too often, invites envy—and envy invites a fatal calamity.

Though at the Profound Rank Zhang Nai Pao might well be called an invincible existence, what of the day he met one of Earth Rank? Against an early Earth Rank he could still risk injury and use the Bee-Absorbing Divine Art, but against the peak of early Earth Rank he could not; that lay beyond the limit of what he could use.

So though he was arrogant, he was by no means blinded by conceit.

And besides, speed of advancement was not his chief aim. His chief aim was to break through the first layer of the Chrysanthemum Treasure Codex's mental cultivation and enter the second—that was the whole meaning of his entering the trial. He was searching for the moment of breakthrough.

Mere growth in strength Zhang Nai Pao did not, in truth, prize; so long as he cultivated the second layer of the Chrysanthemum Treasure Codex, his strength would advance of itself.

As matters stood, he had already reached great perfection in the first layer, a single step from the second.

It was only that the jade box holding the second layer's mental cultivation method could not be opened, no matter what. Even with the first layer brought to great perfection, Zhang Nai Pao still could not open the jade box of the second layer; the mystery upon it he still could not fathom.

He remembered that opening the jade box of the first layer had cost him no effort at all—he had been nothing but an ordinary man then, and had opened it with ease. Yet now, having spent every ounce of strength he possessed, he still could not open the box of the second.

"You think to slip away under my nose—who do you take yourself for?" Zhang Nai Pao said coldly, eyeing Yang Qiqi. "I, for one, disdain to raise a hand against a little girl. Hand over the natural treasures you carry, and I'll let you go. Don't force me to act."

"No!" Yang Qiqi bit her lip and cursed Zhang Nai Pao inwardly as a bandit. How could a man be so wicked? He would not go seeking natural treasures himself, but robbed others of theirs instead!

At any other time, though, if she could not beat someone she could always outrun them; her family's inherited lightness-skill cultivation method was no joke—generations had studied and tempered it to produce what it was.

But now she was gravely wounded, and could not run swiftly at all, let alone trade blows with anyone.

"Hmph!" Zhang Nai Pao gave a cold snort, and the next moment his figure drifted to Yang Qiqi's side. With a mere wave of his hand, the pack holding her natural treasures fell into his grasp. "Since you're a woman, I won't turn you into a cripple."

"Give it back..." Yang Qiqi came close to despair. She wanted to snatch her natural treasures back, but how could she be Zhang Nai Pao's match? By now he had long since drifted away, standing again where he had first stood.

"Lord Pao is formidable indeed—not only does he have his divine art to guard his body, his lightness skill is extraordinary too!" Zhuangniao Pao exclaimed in admiration. He had not known before that Zhang Nai Pao possessed any skills beyond the Bee-Absorbing Divine Art; seeing it now, he understood that the people of the ancient sects were truly no simple matter.

Anyone who supposed Zhang Nai Pao knew only the Bee-Absorbing Divine Art and nothing else would be badly mistaken.

"Indeed, once Lord Pao makes his move, it's all in the bag!" Zhuangniao Qiang chimed in, flattering him.

"So-so," Zhang Nai Pao said indifferently. Then he glanced at Yang Qiqi's pack and took out the natural treasures within. As for the other women's things, he had no interest; at present he had no interest in things for men or for women alike—he was a being set above all that.

"Only two natural treasures? You're a poor one indeed!" Zhang Nai Pao frowned. He had not expected Yang Qiqi's bag to hold only two natural treasures; it was almost too few.

Yang Qiqi was sick with chagrin. If you think it too few, then don't take it! Give it back to me!

"Hmph!" Yang Qiqi gave a cold snort.

"Eh?" The next moment, when Zhang Nai Pao stowed Yang Qiqi's two natural treasures in his own bag, he cried out in astonishment—for he saw that his electronic points card had suddenly surged by more than a thousand points.

And before that he had held only three hundred points, and those had come from robbing several squads.

"Over a thousand points? What are these two things of yours?" Zhang Nai Pao had not examined Yang Qiqi's natural treasures closely before, merely tossing them into his bag. Now he hurriedly pulled them out for a look, and his gaze fell at once upon that Snow Ganoderma. He could not help exclaiming, "A five-hundred-year Snow Ganoderma? You really are a little rich woman—you can find a heaven-defying natural treasure like this? I truly underestimated you! Still, my thanks indeed. Over a thousand points—it looks as though first place in this trial is mine for the taking!"

"Congratulations, Lord Pao, congratulations! Lord Pao's fortune is boundless!" the brothers Zhuangniao Pao and Zhuangniao Qiang hurried to offer their congratulations, envy beyond measure in their hearts—but this was surely Zhang Nai Pao's now, and they dared not ask for it.

"Haha, no need to fret. From now on, whatever natural treasures we seize will be yours; I've got enough here!" Zhang Nai Pao laughed. To Yang Qiqi he said, "Little girl, I owe you my thanks again!"

Yang Qiqi was so chagrined she could have spat blood. Hearing Zhang Nai Pao and the others gloating, tears of grievance welled up and streamed down her face. This Snow Ganoderma was what she had won through a thousand hardships, doing battle with a giant python—and now these villains had simply taken it! They were truly despicable.

The more she thought, the more aggrieved and bitter she felt. That exchange privilege had already been in her grasp, and now she would have to begin all over again. But wounded as she was, could she still gather other natural treasures?

Ordinary ones, perhaps—but what of the natural treasures guarded by wild beasts? Those she surely could not obtain...

"You say there's a five-hundred-year Snow Ganoderma up ahead? Truly?" Even Wei Zhao, who had seen no small number of precious medicinal materials, was thoroughly startled to hear such news from the Heavenly Thunder Pig.

A five-hundred-year Snow Ganoderma might be of no use to Feng Xiaoxiao, but it was still the stuff of legend among natural treasures. Zhang Liju's notes on the art of pill-refining mentioned it: a five-hundred-year Snow Ganoderma was one of the raw materials for refining many fourth- and fifth-grade pills, incomparably precious.

So this single Snow Ganoderma alone might well offset countless points—enough to pass the trial outright, and not impossibly so.

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