Chapter 2244 — Fleeing to Heal

The old fellow occasionally appeared in the upper veins of the Ulanghot Mountains—and it was not that the Grand Protector was unaware of him, but rather that he knew him quite well!

Because the Heaven-Rank Madman was one of the people he was charged with watching. It was only that the old fellow was addled and crazed, and his strength was terrifying besides, having reached the very pinnacle of the martial arts of this world—the late-stage peak of the Heaven Rank. So the Grand Protector would not lightly provoke him, and simply let him wander up and down the veins of the mountains.

The man was muddle-headed anyway; for all his late-stage Heaven-Rank peak strength, he was not much given to vigilance, and never even noticed that the Grand Protector was watching him.

As for rounding up more men to seize the old fellow—it was not that the Grand Protector had never considered it. The crux was that the man's martial skill was formidable; quite apart from the trouble of capturing him, even if he were caught, they would likely get nothing useful out of him.

The man's speech was all topsy-turvy, not one word of it to the point. Better to let him roam about the mountains—if that thing really was hidden away by him, perhaps one day he would recall it and dig it out, and then the Grand Protector could reap the rewards without lifting a finger.

Today, however, the fellow's appearance could not have come at a worse time, and the Grand Protector was thoroughly vexed!

The old fellow had plainly come to stand up for Wei Zhao and Sun Jingyan, leaving the Grand Protector no choice but to clash with him head-on! True, the Grand Protector was a personal disciple of that place, a cut above ordinary experts of the same rank—but the old fellow's strength was several tiers above his own, and his heart was none the steadier for it!

"Old fellow, there's nothing here that concerns you. What have you come for?" the Grand Protector demanded.

"Li'er, your master will avenge you! Take Yue'er and go first—there's a cave over there. Wait for me there!" The Heaven-Rank Madman gave a strange cackle as he spoke, then raised the black meteoric-iron staff in his hand and brought it smashing down at the Grand Protector!

Enormous blazing true qi wrapped itself around that black meteoric-iron staff, driving straight for the Grand Protector's brow!

The Grand Protector's expression shifted slightly, and he had no choice but to swing his long whip up to meet the blow. To his relief, though, the old fellow had not used any martial technique, relying wholly on true qi to command the weapon—which set the Grand Protector's heart somewhat at ease.

"Boom!"

Whip and staff crossed once more, loosing a heaven-shaking roar. The collision of such powerful true-qi currents threw up a vast blast field, and for a time sand and stones flew whirling through the air...

"What tremendous power..." Wei Zhao had taken advantage of the interval to recover most of his injuries—only in part, of course. The inner meridians and the five viscera and six bowels had been repaired, but only enough to guarantee that he would not die of them; his ribs and the like were still broken. That hardly mattered, save that it made him look rather wretched.

Since the Heaven-Rank Madman was there to help, Wei Zhao naturally would not stay and throw his life away. He scooped up Sun Jingyan and, following the direction the Heaven-Rank Madman had indicated, ran off together with the Heavenly Thunder Pig.

Wei Zhao was also in urgent need of a quiet place to treat his wounds. The Grand Protector's earlier lashes had dealt him a tremendous injury, and if he did not tend to himself at once, he feared he truly could not hold out much longer. And he certainly dared not heal himself on the spot, so close to the Grand Protector—if the old dog, catching his cheap master off guard, were to land him another blow or two, that would be the end of him.

Sure enough, in the direction the Heaven-Rank Madman had pointed, Wei Zhao found a cave. Inside were some simple household vessels and the traces of a burnt-out fire—evidently this was where the Heaven-Rank Madman made his home!

Most likely, the Heaven-Rank Madman had come here after that parting to wait for his "disciple"—namely, "himself"—and today he must have sensed the true-qi fluctuations from the Grand Protector's lashes, and so come hurrying over.

"Are you all right?" Wei Zhao asked once he had set Sun Jingyan down.

"I'm fine. I only scraped my arm—a flesh wound, nothing more," Sun Jingyan said, shaking her head. "What about you? Are you badly hurt? If you can't manage, I... I can heal you!"

Sun Jingyan had struggled inwardly before speaking those words. She had so far cultivated only the first layer of the Sun family's heart art—which meant that if she went no further, she could heal only one person in her whole life. If she healed Wei Zhao, then it would be impossible for her ever to heal anyone else...

And what her relationship with Wei Zhao would be hereafter went without saying.

But Sun Jingyan saw how grievously Wei Zhao was hurt—far worse than the day before; his chest had been beaten concave by the Grand Protector. In her eyes, even if Wei Zhao could heal himself, with injuries this severe, could he truly pull through alone?

That was why Sun Jingyan made the offer.

"Ha... if you heal me, what happens after that?" Wei Zhao was taken aback for a moment at her words, then asked with a smile.

"I... I can't worry about afterward. I only don't want anything to happen to you!" Sun Jingyan said solemnly.

"Don't worry, it isn't that bad. I can handle it myself." Wei Zhao smiled. He had not expected Sun Jingyan to resolve to take such a step, and it comforted him greatly. It seemed this girl was loyal and true—his trip out with her had not been wasted.

"Mm... if you can't manage, you must tell me..." Sun Jingyan said, still rather uneasy as she looked at his injuries.

Wei Zhao nodded and said nothing more. He closed his eyes and set the second layer of the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art in motion, swiftly repairing his injuries. He had to recover as quickly as he could; though he had a master of late-stage Heaven-Rank peak strength out there fighting on his behalf, Wei Zhao could never quite set his mind at ease.

This master of his was a little unreliable. If the old man fought halfway and then, for no reason at all, simply ran off, and the Grand Protector came looking, then he and Sun Jingyan would be in trouble again!

So the pressing matter was to heal his wounds first, then go and see whether his master had finished off that Grand Protector. If he had, then he could rest easy.

Sun Jingyan knew Wei Zhao was healing himself and dared not disturb him. She simply sat quietly to one side, carefully watching for any sign of movement from him.

When she saw Wei Zhao's face gradually take on a healthy flush, and the sunken ribs in his chest slowly visibly knitting back together, Sun Jingyan marveled at how wondrous he was—and at last breathed a sigh of relief!

Wei Zhao was actually more formidable than the Sun family's heart art? An injury this severe, recovered so easily? Did that not mean that so long as Wei Zhao had a breath left in him, he simply could not die? At the thought, Sun Jingyan was startled herself!

This was simply too powerful, wasn't it? She had known, more or less, of some of Wei Zhao's wondrous qualities before, but seeing them with her own eyes now, Sun Jingyan was still taken aback.

Half an hour later, Wei Zhao opened his eyes. The injuries on his body had healed completely...

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