Chapter 96 — Shopping with Us

"There is," Jiao Yazi said with a certain nod.

"What other functions?" Wei Zhao brightened at once, thinking to himself that Jiao Yazi really did know, and pressed him eagerly.

"But the specific functions, I do not know." Jiao Yazi shook his head. "This was something my grand-uncle master altered with his own hands. I never wore it, so how would I know? Once you can open the stone door at the back, there should be detailed instructions inside, I expect."

"Should be?" Wei Zhao asked, none too sure.

"I have never been inside that stone door. How would I know?" Jiao Yazi wore a look that plainly said, do not ask me, for I do not know either.

"All right..." Wei Zhao was somewhat disappointed, though only for an instant. To have gained what he had today was already quite good. He only hoped all of it was not a dream...

By the time Wei Zhao woke, the sky was fully bright... by the look of it, already around eight or nine in the morning. He had slept a very long while. Wei Zhao could not help stretching mightily, and sat up in bed.

"Wait..." Wei Zhao suddenly recalled the night before, that dream of his, Jiao Yazi in the dream, and the cultivation space...

Wei Zhao instinctively felt at his own body. In the dream, his clothes had burst apart into scraps the moment he broke through the first layer of the Xuanyuan Dragon-Slaying Art.

But when Wei Zhao touched the pajamas on his body, intact and undamaged, his heart sank at once. Could it truly have been only a dream? At the thought, Wei Zhao could not help feeling disappointed.

He had thought that at long last he had broken through, that he could meet this five-year deadline and open the stone door without trouble... and yet all of it was only a dream?

"Boy, when you enter the jade pendant, only your spirit enters the virtual cultivation space. Naturally, the clothes you wear outside will not be torn."

Suddenly a voice sounded in Wei Zhao's mind, giving him a start. But the very next moment, Wei Zhao was overjoyed. Jiao Yazi, it was Jiao Yazi's voice!

"Elder Jiao, is that you?" Wei Zhao asked instinctively.

"Of course it is me," Jiao Yazi said. "When you speak with me, you need only use your thoughts. There is no need to speak aloud."

"Can that work? Elder Jiao, can you hear what I am saying?" Wei Zhao spoke to Jiao Yazi in his mind.

"I can," Jiao Yazi answered flatly.

"Elder Jiao, since you can communicate with me through thought, why did you not remind me sooner to enter the cultivation space inside the jade pendant?" Wei Zhao asked, rather puzzled.

"Before you entered the cultivation space of the jade pendant, I had no way to establish a mental connection with you." Elder Jiao gave a cold little snort. "Only after you entered the cultivation space did your mind establish a link with it. Or did you imagine the jade pendant was still hanging on your body?"

"Is it not?" Wei Zhao was startled, and his hand instinctively went to the jade pendant at his chest, but closed on empty air. The jade pendant that had hung at his chest had vanished. "Where is the jade pendant? Elder Jiao?"

Hearing the alarm in Wei Zhao's voice, Elder Jiao could not help feeling rather smug. "The jade pendant has already established a bond with you and is now merged into your body. It has completed the process of recognizing its master, so it will not easily be taken from you again. Under ordinary circumstances, therefore, it hides itself within your body. But you can also summon it forth with your will."

"Oh?" Wei Zhao was taken aback. He had not expected the jade pendant to have a master-recognition function as well. Following Elder Jiao's words, Wei Zhao summoned the pendant with his thoughts, willing it to reappear at his chest.

Very quickly Wei Zhao felt at his chest the jade pendant he had worn for nearly ten years, and he breathed a long sigh of relief, then sent the pendant back into his body. This was better after all; there was no longer any fear of the jade pendant being lost.

In the past, after Wei Zhao had obtained the jade pendant, though he had not made a show of it, and the pendant did not look like much, he had still feared it might be stolen by someone. This time, at last, Wei Zhao could set aside that worry.

To think that everything from last night had not been a dream, Wei Zhao was in exceptionally good spirits. Above all, having smoothly broken through the first layer of the Xuanyuan Dragon-Slaying Art filled Wei Zhao with even greater delight.

When he got up, Wei Zhao washed up quickly and then left the room. To his surprise, Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu were already awake, leaning back on the sofa watching cartoons on television.

Seeing Wei Zhao come out of the room, Gu Mengyao merely glanced at him. Thinking of what had happened the day before, she wanted to say something, yet did not know what to say, and could only shift her gaze back to the cartoons.

Shen Yushu, however, rolled her eyes at the sight of him and waved a hand. "Hey, Chewing Gum, come shopping with me and Yao Yao in a bit, how about it?"

"Me?" Wei Zhao blinked and pointed at himself.

"That's right. You can carry our bags." Shen Yushu nodded.

"Can I say no?" Wei Zhao smiled bitterly. Carry bags? That did not sound like such a great job.

"Ahem—toilet paper—" Shen Yushu coughed twice with great theatricality and spoke to Wei Zhao in a sly, wheedling tone.

"Uh..." Wei Zhao was incandescent with rage. This little minx was treating it like a livelihood now? Bringing it up once a day? Would it never end?

"Xiao Shu, why are you coughing? You haven't caught a cold, have you?" Hearing Shen Yushu cough and ask for toilet paper again, Gu Mengyao hurriedly handed her the tissue box from the coffee table.

"Huh?" Shen Yushu was briefly startled, then realized Gu Mengyao had misunderstood. She stuck out her tongue, pulled out a tissue, and gave a couple more feigned coughs.

Wei Zhao found it so funny that he shook his head with a grin and went back to his room to change.

In any case, until Gu Pengzhan assigned him his task, the only thing he could do was continue at Gu Mengyao's side. Since she was going out shopping, naturally he would go along.

By the time Wei Zhao had changed and come out, Qing Bo had just arrived with breakfast: century egg and lean pork congee made by the hotel's master chef, along with several exquisitely prepared little pickles.

Wei Zhao helped Qing Bo set breakfast on the dining table, and Qing Bo took the meal boxes from the night before and left. Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu turned off the television and came over to the dining room to eat.

Seeing Wei Zhao turn to leave, Gu Mengyao pressed her lips together. She wanted to call him back to eat with them, but a certain reserve kept her from opening her mouth.

"Chewing Gum, why don't you eat with us? We have to go shopping after this, no time to wait for you to eat on your own." Before Gu Mengyao could speak, Shen Yushu had already called Wei Zhao back.

Gu Mengyao was rather annoyed. How had Xiao Shu beaten her to it? She had wanted to make a friendly gesture herself, on account of what had happened yesterday, but... in the end she had not even opened her mouth... Forget it, this was fine too. She was Wei Zhao's employer. She paid his salary. Why should she make up to him? He should be the one making up to her.

Thinking this, Gu Mengyao felt somewhat more at ease.