But Wei Zhao was different — Wei Zhao could compress his true qi, which meant that within the same span of time he could push far more of it through. The effect produced by Wei Zhao's move therefore far surpassed Grandpa Zhu's; indeed, it was potent enough to deal with high-level cultivators!

A tiny wisp of true qi, you can refine — fine, I'll dump a whole heap of it on you and watch you try. Even if you manage to absorb it, it won't happen overnight; and swallow too much of it and you may well suffer qi deviation. See if I don't finish you off!

Was that not precisely the Medicine King's situation at present? His entire body bristled with silver needles, and beneath each one lay compressed energy sealed there by Wei Zhao. Unless the Medicine King poured out every last ounce of his cultivation to refine it away bit by bit, or possessed some miraculous elixir, or enjoyed the aid of a master — and as things stood, the Medicine King had none of these!

All he could do was go about his days with that whole mass of needles stuck in him, fuming, yet utterly helpless.

But what Grandpa Zhu never anticipated was that the instant he reached out to channel the energy into Xie Yufeng's body, things went awry.

To Grandpa Zhu's astonishment, Xie Yufeng sidestepped the strike with ease, shifting his body aside, his gaze hardening with incredulous shock. "An expert at the peak of the late Profound stage?"

"An expert at the peak of the initial Profound stage?" Grandpa Zhu was taken aback himself!

He had meant to teach Xie Yufeng a lesson, only to discover that the fellow before him was an expert too! Was this not a bit too theatrical? Scavenging junk along this very beach, of all places, and he had to run into a Profound-rank expert!

While Grandpa Zhu marveled at how young Xie Yufeng was, a knot of wariness tightened in his chest. It was not the man's strength he feared, but the exposure of his own identity. All these years, under orders from the family head, he had stayed at Chen Xi and her mother's side, swallowing his pride and never once slipping up — and now, of all times, things had gone wrong.

Fortunately, Chen Xi knew nothing of the martial world's rankings of strength, and could not possibly make sense of what Xie Yufeng had just said. At that thought, Grandpa Zhu's heart settled.

"Boy, apologize to us and we'll let this matter drop. If not — hmph, hmph." Now that the other side already knew his true strength, there was no point in Grandpa Zhu playing soft-spoken; he delivered his threat in a cold voice.

"Apologize? Which family do you belong to?" Xie Yufeng was not afraid; he simply stared down the old man. In his view, the fellow must belong to some clan, and once he named the Yu family, he doubted the old man would dare lay a finger on him.

"And which family are you from?" Grandpa Zhu frowned.

"I am of the Yu family!" Xie Yufeng declared with arrogance. "If you've any sense, scram and don't get in the way of my important business — or else, hmph, hmph!"

"The Yu family? Which Yu family?" Grandpa Zhu asked mildly.

"The Yu family of Yanjing — you've never heard of us? The foremost of the nine great clans!" Xie Yufeng snorted coldly.

"I thought you meant the hidden Yu family — turns out it's only the secular Yu family," Grandpa Zhu said flatly. "Since you won't apologize, take a palm strike from me!"

With that, Grandpa Zhu raised his hand to backhand him.

But before the slap could land, a voice rang out: "Hold on!"

"Wei Zhao — what are you doing here?" Xie Yufeng ground his teeth, his eyes bloodshot.

The great expert Lin was at it again! Hearing that voice, Xie Yufeng nearly coughed up blood on the spot, so furious did it make him. Pitting his peak initial Profound strength against an expert at the peak of the late Profound stage had been daunting enough; now Wei Zhao had suddenly turned up as well, which meant he could not very well stop concealing his true strength — and wouldn't that leave him nothing but a punching bag?

Yet the most vexed of all at that moment was not Xie Yufeng, but Grandpa Zhu!

Hearing Xie Yufeng cry out the name "Wei Zhao," he started violently and hastily withdrew the true qi from his body. Weeks of investigation had already told him exactly who this "Wei Zhao" of Chen Xi's was; he had been racking his mind for some way to keep the man from ruining things — and before he had even hit upon one, he had run into Wei Zhao himself.

The reason Wei Zhao appeared at that moment was to probe this so-called Grandpa Zhu at Chen Xi's side. In Wei Zhao's eyes, an expert at the peak of the late Profound stage lurking beside Chen Xi was nothing short of incomprehensible.

A Profound-rank expert out scavenging junk? Unless he had some peculiar hobby, he had to be out of his mind.

Of course, for all his looking, Grandpa Zhu did not strike one as deranged; and yet as a hobby it hardly held up either — Wei Zhao had never heard of any expert with such a pastime. Unless... it served some purpose.

At that thought, Wei Zhao's gaze hardened, and he rose to his feet and strode over.

"Nothing much. I know this young lady — consider it a plea on her behalf, and let the whole matter go." Wei Zhao indicated Chen Xi. He called it a plea, but his tone brooked no argument, leaving Xie Yufeng nothing to rebut.

Xie Yufeng knew this was hardly the moment to fall out with Wei Zhao, and he naturally had to give the man face. So he took the out readily: "Since he's a friend of classmate Lin's, then let it drop!"

"Good — then carry on." So saying, Wei Zhao pulled Chen Xi aside. The message was plain enough: I know this little girl, but I don't know the old man — you and he can carry on.

Xie Yufeng blinked in surprise — yet he clearly felt the old man before him withdraw his true qi as well. That gave him pause. He himself feared Wei Zhao might see through his strength; did the old man fear the same?

Otherwise, why was it that the moment Wei Zhao arrived, the man hid his strength?

Grandpa Zhu drew back his gaze, turned, and walked toward Wei Zhao and Chen Xi, not another word for Xie Yufeng. And now Xie Yufeng was all the more certain of what he had suspected: the old man too was terrified of having his strength exposed.

Had that not been the case, how else to explain that moments ago the old brute had been howling for him to take a palm strike, and now was acting as if nothing had happened?

Xie Yufeng worked it over carefully and arrived at a conclusion: the old man and Wei Zhao had a secret between them — much like his own, he reckoned. The thought hit him like a shot of adrenaline, and he grew instantly feverish. He jabbed a finger at Grandpa Zhu: "Old brute, don't you walk away! Didn't you want to hit me? Take a palm of mine first!"

The words had hardly left his lips before he swung his fist and drove it straight at the old man's back.

Grandpa Zhu had never imagined Xie Yufeng would refuse to let it go, and fury boiled up in him at once — yet he was also in a bind. Remembering the great charge laid upon him, this was precisely the one moment he absolutely could not reveal his strength before Wei Zhao; so he had no choice but to brace himself and take Xie Yufeng's punch without drawing on a shred of true qi.

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