Within the dark, winding passage, whenever Zhang Tie remained still, the effect of the Concealment Technique rune made his body seem to melt into the rock walls themselves, without the slightest trace of breath.
Under such circumstances, the ambushing knights ten thousand meters away could never have discovered that Zhang Tie had stopped not far from them.
Though Zhang Tie's body did not move, his mind was racing. Thoughts and possibilities collided in his head like shooting stars, seeking a way to resolve the situation before him.
If he did not take a vicious bite out of this fat chunk of meat delivered right to his doorstep, Zhang Tie would feel he was simply wasting heaven's gifts. Gao Tianzhao's true strength was unknown, but as a Phantom Knight of the Heaven-Piercing Sect, Zhang Tie assumed that Gao Tianzhao could not possibly be weaker than Occam. Faced with such a prepared and unfathomably powerful Phantom Knight, even Zhang Tie himself did not have absolute confidence that he could keep Gao Tianzhao here.
Gao Tianzhao would be difficult to keep, but if he could be kept, then the Bloodline Fruit and Fruit of Radiance brought by a Phantom Knight, the absorption of a complete Water Chakra, and all the other benefits would greatly increase Zhang Tie's strength. Such temptation was hard for Zhang Tie to refuse.
Gao Tianzhao was a tough bone, but if he did not give it a try, Zhang Tie would never be willing to accept it.
And even if he wanted to gnaw through Gao Tianzhao, that tough bone, he needed a strategy—he absolutely could not expose his true strength.
The fact that the Devil Race and the Heaven-Piercing Sect had been able to send a Phantom Knight and eight Devil Race knights to set this killing trap