With that, the Five Baleful Dragon turned and walked away, offering no explanation and giving Wei Zhao no chance to speak—leaving him with nothing but a head full of question marks.

Another plane of existence? We might meet again? Wei Zhao had no idea what the Five Baleful Dragon meant, but of one thing he was certain: he would never set foot in the Baleful Wilderness again. Unless forced by circumstance, he would never come here of his own accord.

Carrying Yang Qiqi on his back, Wei Zhao passed through the teleportation array together with Tianchan, Zhang Naipao, and the Sky Thunder Pig, and at last returned to the rear mountain of the Xuandan Sect. But there were no Xuandan Sect disciples waiting here anymore—the trial was over.

Gazing at the familiar scenery, Wei Zhao let out a long breath. He was finally out. The events of the past few days felt like a lifetime ago. Yet although they had escaped safely in the end, Wei Zhao knew this was also the moment he and Tianchan must part.

During the registration stage of the Xuandan Sect trial, Wei Zhao had never seen Tianchan, which meant she had not been staying at the inn before. And considering her special status in the Five Luminaries Sect, the Xuandan Sect likely could not treat her like an ordinary trial participant.

"You..." Wei Zhao hesitated for a moment, then spoke.

"I..." Tianchan began at the exact same moment. Both were taken aback, and Tianchan could not help but smile. "I have to go. Follow the road down the mountain—it will take you straight back to the Xuandan Sect inn."

"Mm..." Wei Zhao looked at Tianchan with a touch of melancholy. "Will we... ever meet again?"

"Perhaps..." Tianchan did not know how to answer that question. Some things concerning the future—even she did not understand them, and had no say in them.

"Then... until we meet again," Wei Zhao said. He knew Tianchan might have her own difficulties. The Five Luminaries Sect was a very domineering sect, especially under the leadership of Ancestor Xuanchen.

"Why do I feel like you're treating me as if I were the Five Baleful Dragon?" Tianchan found Wei Zhao's words rather odd.

"Don't kick me!" Wei Zhao laughed.

"I'm going to kick you!" Tianchan laughed too.

"Ahem... I say, could you two stop flirting?" Zhang Naipao could hardly stand to watch.

"If you're in a hurry, you can go on ahead. You don't need me here," Wei Zhao said.

"Let's just go back together..." Zhang Naipao hesitated. He really was a little afraid. Even though they were out, he still feared running into trouble, and being with Wei Zhao gave him a strong sense of safety—they had turned peril into safety every time before.

"I'm leaving..." Tianchan fell silent for a moment, then summoned her courage. "Your phone... give it to me."

"Mm!" Without a second thought, Wei Zhao rattled off his number. "159xxxx..."

"Mine is 139xxxx..." Tianchan gave him her private number too. "When you have time... get in touch..."

"Mm..." Wei Zhao drew a deep breath, turned around, and headed down the mountain with Zhang Naipao.

Tianchan sighed softly and quickly made her way toward the direction of the detached palace.

When Wei Zhao and Zhang Naipao returned to the inn together, Manager Sun was utterly baffled. Weren't these two enemies? Wei Zhao had just crippled Mo Jiu not long ago—how could the two of them come back together? Had they made up?

"Zhang Naipao, why hasn't Yang Qiqi woken up yet?" It had been nearly a full day, and Yang Qiqi still had not awakened, which made Wei Zhao a little worried.

"How would I know? I definitely absorbed the baleful qi from her body, but as for when she'll wake up, I can't say for certain..." Zhang Naipao shook his head. "All right, Wei Zhao, the two of us have walked back to the inn together—it's time we went back to being enemies. Next time we get a chance, we'll fight again!"

"Heh, next time. I hope so." Wei Zhao knew Zhang Naipao was telling the truth. Zhang Naipao had absorbed Yang Qiqi's baleful qi, and Wei Zhao had checked afterward and found no problems. Perhaps Yang Qiqi had simply been exhausted these last two days and had eaten very little, which was why she had slept so long.

No one had come back to the inn for a long time. Now that someone had suddenly returned today, the trial participants inside were all astonished, wondering who could be so formidable as to return safely from the Baleful Wilderness after twenty days.

But when these people saw that the one who had returned was actually Zhang Naipao, they all showed a degree of fear; and when they saw Wei Zhao, their expressions changed even more! Rumor had it that during the trial, Zhang Naipao and Mo Ba had both been finished off by Wei Zhao. Although everyone was puzzled that Zhang Naipao had come back alive alongside Wei Zhao, no one dared to ask.

As for Zhao Qitan, Feng Shipian, Li Ciba, and Ge Xian, seeing Wei Zhao return filled them with both shock and joy!

"Boss, you're back!" The four of them immediately hurried out from the crowd of onlookers.

"You four made it out safely too—not bad!" Wei Zhao breathed a sigh of relief at seeing his four underlings safe and sound.

"Boss, how come Zhang Naipao came back with you? And wasn't he insane?" Zhao Qitan asked, somewhat perplexed.

"It's a long story. Let's talk about it in the room!" Wei Zhao waved his hand and pointed toward the upstairs.

Zhang Naipao returned to his room, somewhat dejected. He could tell that although the trial participants here still held him in the same awe, there was a glint of schadenfreude in their eyes when they looked at him. Mo Ba and Mo Jiu were both done for; the three of them had come, and only one had returned—and even he had nearly failed to make it back.

Wei Zhao returned to his own room and first laid Yang Qiqi on the bed, then recounted to them everything that had happened afterward in the Baleful Wilderness—including, of course, why he had chosen to save Zhang Naipao.

"So it was all for Yang Qiqi's sake!" Zhao Qitan said in sudden understanding. Otherwise, given Wei Zhao's temperament, seeing the crazed Zhang Naipao, he would have been doing well just not to kill him outright—how could he possibly have awakened him? Wouldn't that be a pointless extra step?

"Exactly. So I let him off for now," Wei Zhao said. "Are you all doing all right? After I left, no one gave you any trouble, did they?"

"That, no. When we mentioned your name, Boss, which of these trial participants didn't know it? Those two turncoat pieces of trash from the Dark Night Palace may be scum, but they did serve as a loudspeaker, spreading word of your deeds far and wide," Zhao Qitan said. "Oh, that's right, Boss—after you left, the young sect master of the Xuandan Sect came to pay a visit once..."

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