Chapter 2273 — Rescued

Meanwhile, Pi Zhishan rode the Wind-Thunder Purple-Lightning Beast around to the door of the single-story house. The door was locked, but to Pi Zhishan the lock might as well not have existed—one punch shattered it, and he pushed the door open and strode in.

Wang Xinyan, gagged and bound to a stool, was startled by the sudden commotion, staring at the stranger before her with terror in her eyes. Small wonder—she had never seen Pi Zhishan before and took him for one of the kidnappers, bent on doing her harm.

But then Pi Zhishan spoke, and the heart that had been hanging in her throat dropped back into place all at once.

"Sis-in-law, I'm Pi Zhishan, one of the brothers under Boss Wei Zhao. I'm here to get you out!" Pi Zhishan said.

His form of address made Wang Xinyan blush, but at a time like this, how could she fuss over such a trifle?

As for the ropes binding her, Pi Zhishan gave them a light tug and they snapped. Wang Xinyan tore the tape from her mouth. "Thank you so much..."

"Say no more—it's only our duty as brothers to take some of the burden off the boss!" Pi Zhishan waved a hand. Having already accepted Wei Zhao as his leader, he would not presume to claim credit for himself. He pointed at the Wind-Thunder Purple-Lightning Beast and said, "You get on the beast first. I'll go out and check on my grandfather!"

"All right..." Wang Xinyan nodded. She knew the Wind-Thunder Purple-Lightning Beast—the other day Wu Chengtian had ridden it in pursuit of her, and she had seen it plainly enough from the car. Only, even Wu Chengtian and the beast together had been no match for the man in black, and that left a knot of worry in her chest...

Yet who would have thought that within a single day, a far more formidable subordinate of Wei Zhao's would come to her rescue.

Pi Zhishan stepped out of the house and saw that though his grandfather had been wounded, he had also finished off the man in black. He breathed a sigh of relief. "Grandfather, are you all right?"

"I'm fine. We need to leave this place quickly—there's something very strange about this enemy!" Old Master Pi said with a frown. "This is no place to linger. If a few more opponents like that one show up, I'm afraid this is where we'll meet our end!"

Pi Zhishan nodded. Following the trail to the mastermind behind it all was something he would have been only too glad to do, but if Old Master Pi said so, then it meant the enemy was too powerful, and they had best make themselves scarce while they could.

Since the man in black was already crippled, the sensible thing was to haul him back and hand him over to the police for investigation. He would not go meddling in it himself. Getting Wang Xinyan out alive—that was what mattered most.

The Wind-Thunder Purple-Lightning Beast was a large creature, and carrying four people was no burden at all—in fact it was rather roomy. Soon the beast was back at the villa.

Wu Chengtian had not expected Old Master Pi to settle the fight so quickly. He was about to offer a word or two of praise, but one look at the old man's face told him that he had suffered serious internal injuries.

This had been a stroke of luck, really. An ordinary early Heaven-Rank inner-school expert might not have disposed of Test Subject No. 2 so easily—after all, the thing could withstand ten full-force blows from an early Heaven-Rank master. Ten blows, at full power—how hard was that to manage?

But Old Master Pi was an outer-school cultivator, skilled in fist techniques. His Divine Fist carried boundless force. Even if he could not match Er Goudan's prowess, he at least had the power to split mountains and shatter stone, so a few punches were all it took to finish Test Subject No. 2.

The price he paid, however, was rather steep. An early Heaven-Rank inner-school expert facing Test Subject No. 02 might not have been wounded so badly—after all, inner-school masters have true qi to shield their bodies, and Old Master Pi did not.

When An Jianwen had created the test subjects, he had overlooked the factor of outer-school masters. Otherwise, this business might not have been resolved so neatly.

"My grandfather's wounded too," Pi Zhishan said with a bitter smile. "We beat the enemy and took him alive, but it's no clean victory—a hard-won one at best."

"Doesn't matter. As long as he's alive, the boss has a way!" Seeing that Pi Zhishan and Old Master Pi had come back alive, Wu Chengtian was unconcerned. He chuckled and said, "How about you two stay here for now and wait for the boss to come back?"

"Then we'll be imposing on your hospitality!" Pi Zhishan had been hoping for exactly that. For one thing, Old Master Pi needed quiet to rest and recover; for another, they could bring Pi Zhihai over and wait for Wei Zhao's return. The Pi family had rescued your wife for you—surely you couldn't keep putting off the matter of healing Pi Zhihai now?

"By the way, young friend Wu, what's to be done with the kidnapper?" Old Master Pi asked.

"That... best leave him to the police. The fact that you two took action shouldn't be made public," Wu Chengtian said.

"Very well!" Old Master Pi nodded. That was the safest course. Concealing the Pi family's interference in the secular world was in fact a violation of the Hidden Clan Arbitration Association's pact with the ancient circles. Though it had been done without a trace and no one had noticed, it was still best to keep a low profile.

"Thank you... thank you all..." After the upheaval of that night, Wang Xinyan had only truly relaxed now that she had reached Gu Mengyao's villa and seen Wu Chengtian. She hurried to express her gratitude to Old Master Pi and Pi Zhishan for saving her.

"Think nothing of it." Pi Zhishan waved his hand with a smile. "Then I'll trouble you, Brother Tian, to call the police. I'll help my grandfather to his rest first—we'll keep out of sight for a while."

"Will do!" Wu Chengtian nodded and asked Granny Sun to prepare rooms for Pi Zhishan and Old Master Pi.

That done, Wu Chengtian noticed Wang Xinyan still standing there. "Sis-in-law, have a seat..."

"Ah... oh..." Wang Xinyan was a little embarrassed by the way he addressed her, but under the circumstances it was hardly worth dwelling on.

Seeing that Wang Xinyan was not much inclined to talk, Wu Chengtian said no more and dialed Qiu Lingshan's number.

"Wu Chengtian?" Qiu Lingshan had his number saved, so she knew at once who it was.

"Yes, it's me. Wang Xinyan has been rescued, and the kidnapper's been caught too. But the Pi family's involvement shouldn't be made public—best keep it low-key," Wu Chengtian said. "So, you bring your people to take him into custody. When the time comes, just claim the credit as yours?"

"What? She's already been rescued?" Qiu Lingshan had not expected Gu Mengyao's side to move so fast. Still, she felt rather undeserving of such a great merit. Thinking back, she had rarely cracked a case without Wei Zhao's help... and this time, though Wei Zhao had not helped in person, it had been his subordinates who acted, and the credit still fell into her lap? (To be continued.)