"Elder Lin, since Senior Sister Duanmu has said as much, I think we had best let it drop, no? Perhaps without our meddling she'll get on even better by herself?" Fei Yangnian could not help but cut in from the side. Wei Zhao's proposal had given him a violent start; to his mind, going through with it was simply courting death, and the first to die would certainly be Fei Yangnian himself, since he was the weakest of them all.

Wei Zhao, however, paid him no mind at all and addressed Duanmu Yu directly: "Frankly, I want to join forces with you not purely for your sake, but for my own. If there is a chance to do away with that Dharma Protector, then one way or another I must try."

"What? You want to kill him?" This time it was not only Fei Yangnian but Duanmu Yu herself who was stunned. What she had considered before was at most how to escape; she had never imagined that Wei Zhao would want to eliminate the Dharma Protector outright. Was this not a bit too insane?

"Do you know what his strength is?" Duanmu Yu at once set about enlightening Wei Zhao on basic common sense. She had spent these several days in contact with the Dharma Protector; though she had never seen him fight in earnest, the mere tip of the iceberg she did know was enough to make her abandon such unrealistic, foolish notions.

A monster of that kind was simply not an existence that cultivators of their level could contend with; the gulf in strength between them was far too vast.

"I don't know, but I have a rough idea, because I've crossed hands with the Brain-Eating Worm," Wei Zhao said. Since the Dharma Protector and the Brain-Eating Worm were existences of the same rank, their strength was naturally comparable. At most they differed in the abilities each excelled at.

"You've crossed hands with the Brain-Eating Worm? And you came away whole?" Duanmu Yu was taken aback again. Though she had stayed inside the great tent the whole time, the commotion outside had been tremendous, and she knew exactly what had happened. Suddenly it came to her: "No wonder. No wonder it named you and came hunting. And no wonder you'd harbor such a dangerous notion. If I'm not mistaken, your chief concern is Leng Leng and the others, isn't it?"

"Correct." Wei Zhao nodded. With his endless parade of abilities, even if the Brain-Eating Worm and this Dharma Protector joined forces to hunt him, he would not need to worry overmuch. But Leng Leng and the others could not withstand a crisis of that order. So he must strike first.

"You're a good man, better than the vast majority of people I've met." Duanmu Yu gave Wei Zhao a long, deep look.

"Uh..." Wei Zhao could not help but feel embarrassed. What was this situation? Before he had even confessed his feelings, he had suddenly been handed a nice-guy card. Had they wandered off topic?

"Even so, I still think it's unreliable, the odds are slim." Duanmu Yu abruptly changed tack. Even if Wei Zhao could come away whole from the Brain-Eating Worm, that did not mean he had the wherewithal to face the Dharma Protector, let alone kill him.

"True. The odds really are slim, but if we join forces, then however slim, it is still a chance. Isn't it?" Wei Zhao did not give up and pressed on: "If I go it alone, the chance may be only one in a hundred, but if I add your help from within, my chance can grow tenfold, to one in ten."

"One in ten?" Duanmu Yu frowned.

"That success rate is indeed not high, but I think it's worth a try. Of course, if you believe your own plan's success rate is higher than our joining forces, then do it your way; there's no need to force yourself," Wei Zhao said earnestly.

Duanmu Yu did not act on impulse. She did carefully weigh and calculate the matter, and at last reached her conclusion: "My plan's success rate is not as high as yours. But it has one advantage: the risk after failure is far lower than if you and I join forces. If I play my cards right enough, the most I'll suffer is being confined; at least I can drag out a wretched existence. But if I join forces with you, failure means certain death."

"That's true. Joining forces with me means success or death, no third possibility," Wei Zhao nodded. If a woman merely fled her marriage, her husband would not go so far as to kill her; but if that woman plotted to murder her own husband, then he would certainly crush her to death without mercy. Given the Dharma Protector's strength, should the attempt fail, Wei Zhao himself might still escape, but Duanmu Yu would be certain to die.

Duanmu Yu was still weighing the two options, while Fei Yangnian watched her eagerly from the side, silently praying that she would refuse. Otherwise the unlucky ones would not be Duanmu Yu alone, but Fei Yangnian as well.

Fortunately, the drift of Duanmu Yu's words had been plain enough. As the saying goes, while there's green mountain, there's no fear of no firewood; keeping a useful body was better than impulsively throwing one's life away. Since Duanmu Yu had analyzed it so clearly, she must be a rational, sensible person.

After a moment, Duanmu Yu finally made up her mind: "All right. I'll join forces with you."

"..." Hearing this, Fei Yangnian nearly dropped to his knees. Duanmu Yu might be a sensible person, but he had misjudged one thing: this woman was not rational in the least.

"Have you thought this through?" Wei Zhao asked. Though the proposal was his, to be honest he had not much expected her to agree; after all, for Duanmu Yu this was a profoundly dangerous decision.

"Rest assured, I've thought it through clearly. My own way may leave me a life after failure, but as someone's dual-cultivation concubine, dragging out a wretched existence—I don't want to live a single day of it. Better to die outright," Duanmu Yu said bluntly.

"Good." Wei Zhao nodded. Since Duanmu Yu had that resolve, it was all the better for him. Had she truly refused, then he would have had a real headache on his hands.

"Then what's your plan? Let's work it out quickly," Duanmu Yu said, getting straight to the point.

But before Wei Zhao could answer, he suddenly vanished into thin air, turning into his primal spirit state and hiding in some inconspicuous corner. Duanmu Yu and Fei Yangnian had not yet reacted when the handsome man's voice came from outside the tent door.

"Wife, have you finished speaking with your family?" With the voice, the handsome man walked straight in. This was his domain; permitting Duanmu Yu to speak a few words alone with Fei Yangnian was already a rare boon. He could enter whenever he wished, and even Duanmu Yu must not show the slightest displeasure.

"We've finished," Duanmu Yu said. She glanced at Fei Yangnian and suddenly added: "Since he's my family, I don't wish him to die in this place. Could you send him out?"