"It's absolutely true—so Senior Brother Yin, you must stand up for us in this matter!" Sun Baimei and Fei Yangsheng were both rather good actors, and they now wore the expressions of men who had suffered the gravest injustice under heaven.

"Hmph, rest assured. With me holding the line, what waves could a mere primordial spirit at the peak of early Foundation Establishment possibly stir up?" Senior Brother Yin gave a cold laugh. Spirit-beings like primordial spirits had always been the quarry he hunted down wherever they fled; before him, a primordial spirit was nothing but food waiting to be devoured—hardly worth a fart.

Upstairs in his room, Wei Zhao observed all of this with perfect clarity, and upon hearing these words he could not help but curl his lip. That fellow Sun Baimei could really spin a tale—every one of those types he had encountered before, Ren Zhongyuan and the rest, had been carved from the same mold. Were all villains simply born with the innate skill of lying through their teeth and sowing discord?

A moment later, Sun Baimei and the other two arrived at the door of the room, kicked it open without the slightest hesitation, and immediately spotted Wei Zhao lounging lazily across the sofa.

"Oh, you've come." Wei Zhao did not even glance at the three of them, keeping his eyes on the entertainment program playing on the television. Come to think of it, he had not watched television in over three years, and now it felt rather nostalgic.

"You actually didn't leave?!" Sun Baimei was startled at the sight. Though he had brought Senior Brother Yin along this time as hired muscle, he had not actually held much hope of finding Wei Zhao and the woman—after all, the fellow had been badly wounded last time, and in his shoes Sun Baimei would have long since fled to some safer, more hidden place. Who would stay behind and wait for death?

He had never imagined this primordial spirit would truly remain. The fool had to be operating on some other plane of stupidity—did he think that after giving them such a heavy loss last time, he could sit back and relax without a care?

"Leave? Why would I leave?" Wei Zhao's eyes remained fixed on the television as he spoke without turning his head. "You don't actually think those two losers could scare me off, do you? Don't make me laugh. I'm watching TV here."

"Hmph, bold words. As expected of an extraordinary primordial spirit—coming here really was the right move!" A trace of fanatic gleam now surfaced on Senior Brother Yin's face. Like Sun Baimei, he was utterly greedy and feverish when it came to any spirit-being such as a primordial spirit, and he possessed absolute confidence in himself.

"And what about that Leng Leng? Don't tell me she's gone into hiding?" Sun Baimei searched through several rooms and, failing to find any trace of Leng Leng, grew somewhat anxious. He was determined to have this primordial spirit Wei Zhao, to be sure, but that treasure on Leng Leng's person was likewise something he absolutely had to obtain. In the long run, after all, that treasure's value still surpassed this primordial spirit's!

"Oh, she went back to the Ancient Small Jianghu," Wei Zhao said lightly.

"What? Impossible! The Ancient Passage won't close for another year—only a month has passed, how could she possibly have gone back so soon!" Sun Baimei was alarmed. This time spent tempering himself in the secular world was his only opportunity to seize that treasure from Leng Leng; once she returned to the Ancient Small Jianghu, his chances would become vanishingly slim—especially if word of this reached Leng Leng's sect. He might not even be able to protect himself.

The Ancient Passage? Wei Zhao raised an eyebrow slightly. That last remark had been a deliberate test, and it had indeed produced results—only, what exactly were this Ancient Small Jianghu and Ancient Passage?

"Junior Brother Sun, if that Leng Leng fled, then let her flee. It's of no great consequence—at worst we inform her sect when we return and let them mete out punishment on our behalf. There's no need to make such an issue of it, is there?" Senior Brother Yin cut in. He did not know about the treasure on Leng Leng's person, so naturally it seemed inconsequential to him; only the powerful, materialized primordial spirit before his eyes was his target.

"This..." Sun Baimei and Fei Yangsheng exchanged a glance. Since they had already told their lie, they dared not change their story now, and could only nod at each other helplessly. For the moment they would deal with this primordial spirit first, and worry about Leng Leng afterward.

"Since Senior Brother Yin has spoken, we'll deal with this primordial spirit first. But this thing can manipulate pill fire—last time it burned my Blood Spirit Cats to ashes. Senior Brother Yin must not be careless," Sun Baimei warned. With the three of them against a mere Wei Zhao, the odds of capsizing in a ditch were theoretically infinitesimal, but precautions still had to be taken.

"Pill fire? A primordial spirit that can actually manipulate pill fire—now that is truly an anomaly. Interesting." Senior Brother Yin's expression showed considerable intrigue, but it was plain he did not truly regard Wei Zhao as a threat. Their lineage specialized in subduing spirit-beings—how could they possibly fear a mere primordial spirit?

At that moment Wei Zhao suddenly cut in with an impatient remark: "Are you lot done yammering? It's getting annoying. Can a man not watch a bit of television in peace? Have you no sense of common decency?"

Aiya! Senior Brother Yin and Sun Baimei both darkened at once. It had merely been a fluke last time that he had caught them with a dirty trick—and this primordial spirit actually dared to push his luck to such a degree? Did he truly believe the three of them could do nothing about him?!

"Go die!" Sun Baimei, unable to contain himself any longer, struck first. Last time's loss had not only been because that troublesome woman with the shattering-ice constitution, Leng Leng, had restrained him—the main reason was his own underestimation of the enemy and carelessness. In a simple one-on-one, he did not for a moment believe he would lose to a primordial spirit like Wei Zhao, especially with the stronger Senior Brother Yin backing him up this time.

This time he went all out from the very first move, the Universe Arrow in his left sleeve and the Spirit-Seizing Art in his right sleeve surging forth at once. Though the nine ferocious Blood Spirit Cats were gone, Sun Baimei's aura at this moment was fiercer than ever before—utterly unlike his former style of lurking and striking from the shadows.

"So fierce? Seems you're dead set on keeping me from my television." Wei Zhao sighed.

Had this been before, to say nothing of the more powerful reinforcements trailing behind his opponent, even against Sun Baimei alone he would have had to weigh his options carefully—especially in a situation like this, where he might well have had to avoid the man's edge. After all, the Spirit-Seizing Art in that right sleeve alone was quite troublesome, and now the Universe Arrow in the left sleeve was added on top of it!

But times had changed. Though an expert like Sun Baimei still posed no small threat to Wei Zhao, the balance of power between them had now completely reversed, and Wei Zhao no longer needed to treat him as a mortal peril the way he once had.

With a slight sway of his body, Wei Zhao effortlessly evaded the Universe Arrow from his opponent's sleeve, and in the next instant his whole figure appeared startlingly before the man—so fast that there was simply no time to react.

Sun Baimei was delighted at the sight. He thought Wei Zhao had been drawn over by his Spirit-Seizing Art—only to find that when Wei Zhao reached him, the man abruptly halted, and without the slightest warning pressed a hand onto his face... (To be continued.)