Before the blow could take shape, Wei Zhao, still healing Tang's mother without so much as turning his head, sent out a lance of Five Elements killing energy. The bearded man came fast and left faster—with a yowl he was blasted away, sharing the exact fate of the two mid-Foundation Establishment experts before him, slamming down heavily dozens of meters off and unable to rise again.

A dead silence fell over the scene. The way everyone looked at Wei Zhao now held not a shred of doubt—so the fellow hadn't been boasting after all. He truly had the capital to hold these Heavenly Dao experts in contempt.

This time Yu Zhengliang's eyes nearly popped out of his head. He had assumed the other party had merely profited from a sneak attack to deal so easily with two mid-Foundation Establishment disciples, never imagining that even the bearded man was no match for a single exchange. And the bearded man's strength, after all, was only a notch below his own.

Only Fei Yangsheng had expected this. After all, even Xue Jianfeng had met such an end—to say nothing of these Qiangkun Sect people. Earlier, watching Xue Jianfeng get thrashed, he had felt a pang of sympathy; but now that the victims were Qiangkun Sect men, Fei Yangsheng felt an inexplicable rush of satisfaction. These arrogant, supercilious bastards deserved a beating!

"There we go, ma'am, try moving around a bit." Wei Zhao examined every injury on Tang's mother carefully, and only when he was sure nothing remained amiss did he finally rise and gesture for her to take a few steps.

Before everyone's eyes, Tang's mother danced a whole routine of square dancing. Only when the routine was done did she exclaim in lingering delight, "It really is all healed! Not a single injury, not a bit of pain—Little Yi, you're positively miraculous!"

"As long as the pain's gone. Rest here a moment, ma'am, and watch me get even for you." Wei Zhao smiled, then turned and walked toward Yu Zhengliang.

"What do you think you're doing?" Yu Zhengliang could not help but betray a trace of nervousness. Seeing what had become of the bearded man, even a fool knew Wei Zhao was not to be trifled with. Proud as he was—the senior disciple of the Qiangkun Sect, a mighty expert of Foundation Establishment perfection—he truly had no confidence when faced with Wei Zhao.

Unfortunately he was now riding a tiger and could not get off. He had come to Snow Valley in a fury to seize disciples, and now not only had he failed to seize anyone, but all his subordinates had been cut down. From the look of things, even he himself was in dire straits. He could neither advance nor retreat—and as the lofty senior disciple of the Qiangkun Sect, surely he could not abandon his junior brothers and bolt?

"Nothing much. Just blood for blood, tooth for tooth. Whatever you did to the people of Snow Valley before, now you'll naturally pay back double. What goes around comes around—you're from the Tai Gu Alliance, after all; surely you're not so lacking in even that most basic awareness?" Wei Zhao sneered and cracked his knuckles, pop-pop-pop.

At the sound, Yu Zhengliang was frightened back two steps in spite of himself, and said in a fierce tone that belied his heart, "Just who in the world are you?"

"You flatter me—I'm no one of consequence, just a humble native of the secular world. Nothing compared to your lofty Tai Gu Alliance! Your Tai Gu Alliance is so mighty—seizing whomever you please. That sort of thing won't do here in our secular world. Human traffickers are the vilest of criminals; they get rounded up and shot for five minutes straight." Wei Zhao's tone was mocking.

Even if Yu Zhengliang could not grasp the full meaning, he could tell it was certainly no compliment. His haughty face turned purple with rage, baleful energy surging around him, and he snarled, "Boy, even if your strength isn't weak, you're only at Foundation Establishment perfection. You think you alone can challenge the Tai Gu Alliance? If you have any sense, lower your head and admit your fault, and we'll call it a day. I can let these Snow Valley disciples go. But if you keep pressing, then wait for the Tai Gu Alliance to wipe out your whole sect!"

Wei Zhao was taken aback at this, and looked the man up and down. "If I understand correctly, this sounds like you're begging for mercy?"

"..." Yu Zhengliang was speechless. To propose ending things here and guarantee the Snow Valley disciples' release—that was indeed begging for mercy. Wei Zhao's earlier display had been too astonishing; a one-on-one fight to the death with him offered no certainty of victory, and in such circumstances, a voluntary retreat was the wisest choice.

It was just that experts all wanted to save face. He considered this at most a negotiation of terms—how could the lofty senior disciple of the Qiangkun Sect possibly beg mercy of a secular-world native?

"Begging for mercy with such dignified bearing and refined elegance—I do believe this is the first time I've seen the like. A kindly reminder: next time you beg, at least show a little professionalism. That tone of yours makes it easy to mistake for provocation, and provocation gets you beaten." As he spoke, Wei Zhao glanced at Fei Yangsheng not far away.

Speaking of professional mercy-beggars, that fellow over there was the true paragon—down on his knees at the drop of a hat, no hemming and hawing about it.

Yu Zhengliang's face went from green to white and back again; only after a long while did it return to normal. He thought to himself that though this fellow's tongue was venomous, he was at least sensible enough not to smash the pot and challenge the entire Tai Gu Alliance. He gave a cold snort: "The green hills remain, the river flows on..."

"Hold it right there!" Wei Zhao cut him off at once, curling his lip. "Spare me the 'we'll meet again' routine. Did I ever say you could leave? Begging for mercy with such insincerity, and you still think I'll indulge you—as if I were your father?"

"You go too far!" Yu Zhengliang was beside himself with fury. Never in the Tai Gu Alliance had he suffered such humiliation. Casting all thought of the power disparity aside, he charged over in a frenzy.

In the blink of an eye, Yu Zhengliang had closed on Wei Zhao, a formidable true qi coiling around each of his palms—two energies utterly different in nature, one sharp as a blade, the other weighty as a mountain; the former for attack, the latter for defense. It was the Qiangkun Sect's signature technique: the Heaven-and-Earth Palm!

"Fine palm technique. Pity the man falls a bit short." Wei Zhao smiled faintly, unhurried, and with a slight turn of his body evaded Yu Zhengliang's ferocious first palm. Anyone else caught by such an easy feint would have exposed an opening, yet Yu Zhengliang could still guard flawlessly with his other palm—he was, after all, a figure who could hold the senior disciple's seat of the Qiangkun Sect, and his strength was real.

With this Heaven-and-Earth Palm alone, Yu Zhengliang's strength ranked among the foremost of Foundation Establishment perfection experts. Even Xue Jianfeng, hailed as the Tai Gu Alliance's strongest at Foundation Establishment perfection, would find the odds against him roughly even—at best, a slight edge in his favor.

But if even Xue Jianfeng was not worth watching before Wei Zhao, Yu Zhengliang's fate could hardly be better. Even at the same Foundation Establishment perfection realm, when Wei Zhao's methods were turned against such peers, the scene could only be described in five words: beating up little children.

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