Chapter 2878 — Caring for Each Other

"Ah?" Only then did Tianchan notice the extra object at her waist—the very sachet she had given Wei Zhao earlier. She had never expected him to return it to her.

"There's still time if you go now," Wei Zhao said to Tianchan. "Hurry!"

Tianchan had not expected Wei Zhao to still be thinking of her at a moment like this, and her heart was deeply moved, and a little sweet as well. Was this what it felt like when two people cared for and looked after each other? How lovely... She felt that it had been worth it after all to have risked coming back to find Wei Zhao—only, could she really leave on her own now? If she left, what would become of Wei Zhao?

"I want to fight alongside you." Tianchan made her decision in an instant. It was a thoroughly irrational decision, a world apart from the calm, cool-headed Tianchan of days past—but in this moment she was Tianchan, and she did not regret it!

"If I can handle them, then there's no use in your staying. And if I can't handle them, your staying would be a pointless sacrifice," Wei Zhao said.

"But..." Tianchan thought it over carefully, and in truth Wei Zhao was not wrong. Indeed, if she stayed here, she would be of no help at all! A late-stage peak expert at the Heaven rank was utterly insignificant before these spirit beasts.

"If you don't leave now, there won't be time!" Wei Zhao cut her off.

"It's already too late!" Though Zhang Naipao did not know why Wei Zhao wanted Tianchan to leave, or what he was relying on, he had no time to ask just then and simply told Wei Zhao and Tianchan what he had discovered. "The spirit beasts are coming from every direction—she can't escape!"

"What!" Wei Zhao drew a deep breath. It seemed the Five Baleful Dragon had made up its mind this time, resolved to do away with them all.

"Roar—"

"Awoo—"

"Whooo—"

"Coo-coo—"

The footsteps and cries of the spirit beasts drew closer and closer, and in the blink of an eye they appeared before them. Just as Zhang Naipao had said, dozens of spirit beasts had surrounded them from every direction, leaving them no path of escape at all.

"Roar—"

"Awoo—"

"Whooo—"

"Coo-coo—"

What puzzled Wei Zhao and the others, however, was that once these spirit beasts had them surrounded, they made no further move. They merely encircled them—they did not attack, nor did they press forward. Not a single beast made the first provocation, yet they held Wei Zhao and the others trapped in the middle!

"What's the meaning of this?" Wei Zhao looked at the Sky Thunder Pig in some confusion.

"Squeak, squeak—(What do you want?)" the Sky Thunder Pig asked the spirit beasts encircling them.

"Roar, roar—(The Five Baleful Dragon told us to surround you. It's coming here in person right now!)" one spirit beast answered.

"The Five Baleful Dragon is coming," the Sky Thunder Pig wrote on the ground.

"What? The Five Baleful Dragon... it's actually coming itself?" Wei Zhao was stunned. He had thought that if these spirit beasts were not attacking, there might still be room to negotiate—but now it seemed that with the Five Baleful Dragon coming in person, there was likely nothing left to negotiate.

Zhang Naipao's face had darkened as well. He did not know what ill fortune he had stumbled into that would bring the Five Baleful Dragon out in person. "Looks like we're not getting out of here today!"

"Roar-woo—" With a furious howl, the Five Baleful Dragon drifted down out of the sky—and Wei Zhao was astonished to discover that it could actually fly! There was in fact a pair of fleshy wings growing along its spine, just not very conspicuous—small and miniature. Wei Zhao was baffled that such wings could actually lift it into the air. Was this not the classic case of a pony pulling a cart, or a 0.8-liter engine dragging a tank...?

Yet fly it did. Apart from looking a little ungainly, it flew with incomparable smoothness and ease, like a helicopter, able to rise and descend straight up and down, and it came down directly before Wei Zhao and the others.

"I have to admit, you little creatures are quite clever, making use of every resource available to you—you actually made it all the way here," the Five Baleful Dragon said, rolling its eyes at Wei Zhao and the others. From its tone, one could not tell whether it was angry or something else.

"So you've been toying with us this whole time?" Wei Zhao felt anger surging up inside him, yet there was nothing he could do. From the moment the Five Baleful Dragon had first flung them off the cliff, he realized he had never escaped the Five Baleful Dragon's control. It seemed the Five Baleful Dragon meant to play him to death.

"That's right. The first time you and this little girl came to the Five Baleful Mountains, I threw you off the cliff, and you climbed back up on your own. But I decided to let you go, so I paid you no more mind—who would have thought you'd come again? I can tolerate something once, but that doesn't mean I'll tolerate it twice!" The Five Baleful Dragon gave a sinister laugh. "The reason I didn't wound you before throwing you off the cliff the second time was precisely so I could toy with you—let you see a glimmer of hope for survival, and then, after you'd climbed back up, let that hope crumble away bit by bit!"

"So that's how it is..." Wei Zhao could not help but smile bitterly. "Then you came in person because you want to finish us off yourself?"

"I didn't originally plan to finish you off myself, but I suddenly realized that I had underestimated you before. Still, getting to personally kill cultivators with such high intelligence—that's quite a satisfying thing to do!" said the Five Baleful Dragon.

"Madman!" Wei Zhao was somewhat speechless at the Five Baleful Dragon's words. Had this creature suffered some setback in its childhood? How could its mind be so twisted?

"You're right—I am a madman. I've been stuck in this Five Baleful Wildlands far too long, and when something a little interesting finally comes along, how could I let it slip by so easily?" The Five Baleful Dragon regarded Wei Zhao and the others with a mocking look. In its eyes, they were nothing but its playthings.

"Then how do you want us to die?" Wei Zhao asked.

"Hmm... let me think!" The Five Baleful Dragon put on a show of pondering. "How about this—you kill each other, and the last one left alive, I'll let leave. How's that?"

Wei Zhao immediately furrowed his brow. The Five Baleful Dragon was truly as wicked as could be. Making such a demand was plainly just so it could watch a show—and as for the last survivor, it would have some other excuse to kill them too. This was obviously just toying with them.

Yet a flicker of hesitation crossed Zhang Naipao's eyes. But then he thought that Wei Zhao was stronger than he was, so if anyone died, it would be him—and Zhang Naipao dismissed the idea of killing one another. Besides, there was still Tianchan, whose strength was unknown; who knew whether she had some hidden card to play?

"What? Don't you believe what I said?" Seeing Wei Zhao and the others unmoved, the Five Baleful Dragon grew somewhat irritated. "The chance comes only once—miss it and it's gone. Does none of you want to live? Want to leave this place?"

Wei Zhao and the others said nothing. Tempting as the Five Baleful Dragon's words were, none of them were fools.

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