Chapter 966 — A Mad Idea

"Oh?" Wei Zhao was rather intrigued by Uncle Qing's words. The cultivation method of the Sun family was somewhat similar to his own, and yet entirely different. They had to labor through each layer of advancement just to gain the ability to heal one more person, while he — he had stopped at only the first layer of the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art, and already his energy was all-purpose!

"That is why the sons and daughters of the Sun family are the ones every great house wishes to draw into marriage. What family would not want such a trump card for preserving life?" Here Uncle Qing's face was crossed by a flicker of bitter grief. "Never mind... let us speak no more of it. You and the Sun family, I suppose, can have no connection at all..."

"Naturally. My surname is Lin, not Sun." Wei Zhao nodded. "But Uncle Qing, you seem to have something you are holding back? It sounds as though you and this Sun family share a deep bond?"

"Xiaoyi, there are matters I have never spoken of to Mr. Gu, because he is not a man of the jianghu, and I did not wish to trouble him with such things." Uncle Qing sighed. "But you are, after all, a man of the jianghu. So let an old man ramble to you a while. Hear it, and let it go... I reckon my life will end as it is. To recover my strength is impossible. Once I have poured out these things to you, I shall settle down and be a contented old steward."

"Mm... go on, Uncle Qing." Wei Zhao had long since seen that Uncle Qing was a man with a story. Many times when he looked at Wei Zhao, he would stop on the verge of speaking. This time he was wounded, and knew his strength could never be restored; his heart was heavy, and he wished for someone to talk to — and Wei Zhao was a good listener.

"Xiaoyi, you guessed rightly. My wife was of the Sun family!" Here, in Uncle Qing's clouded eyes, a trace of keen light seemed to flash, as though he had returned to the days of his youth. "And my true name is not Li Fu!"

"Oh?" Wei Zhao had not expected that Uncle Qing's wife would be of the Sun family. "Then you before..."

"My former station — better left unspoken... Failure, failure!" Uncle Qing sighed. "It was twenty years ago. In those days I was riding high — as the... young sect master, I already possessed the peak strength of the late Mystic rank, counted among the foremost of every sect. And I took a woman of the Sun family to wife. With her help, I broke through to the Earth rank in one stroke. You might say I was a young man whose star was rising..."

"What! You were an Earth-rank expert?" Wei Zhao's eyes went wide, staring at Uncle Qing in disbelief. Uncle Qing had been an Earth-rank expert — and yet before this he had plainly possessed only Yellow-rank strength...

"An inner-family expert of the early Earth rank!" Uncle Qing nodded, a touch of pride shining in his eyes. But in the next breath his face turned bitter and he sighed. "Then disaster struck... the sect was destroyed, my wife was killed, my daughter vanished without a trace, the sect's greatest treasure was seized — and I do not even know who my enemy is!"

"What!" Wei Zhao was shaken beyond measure. Had he not known Uncle Qing so long, and known that he was not one to lie lightly, he might even have thought Uncle Qing was spinning a tale.

"I have hidden my name all these years, quietly searching for the truth of the matter, but I have found not a whisper. In these years my desire for vengeance has faded. When I see Miss Gu, I feel as though I am seeing my own daughter, and so I care for her with all my heart, and find some comfort in it." Uncle Qing let out a long sigh. "Does it not sound rather fantastical?"

Wei Zhao nodded without evasion. "You were once an inner-family expert?"

"After my meridians were ruined, I hid my name and began again, cultivating outer-family arts. At the time I was bent on standing at the summit once more, to avenge my wife, my daughter, my sect. But now I do not even know who my enemy is, let alone take revenge!" Uncle Qing shook his head. "I tell you this because it weighs on my heart. Take it as a story, and when you have heard it, let it go!"

Uncle Qing did not expect Wei Zhao to be able to help him. These secrets had been pent up in his heart too long, making him gloomy and stifled; now that he had spoken them, he felt rather relieved.

Wei Zhao knew that Uncle Qing had been vague in his telling, that many details had been left unsaid, and that he had given only the broadest account of his past. Yet though Wei Zhao was puzzled, he could not well press him — these were wounds in Uncle Qing's heart, after all, and to question him would only wound him deeper.

If Uncle Qing wished to tell him, then in time he would reveal the truth. If Uncle Qing did not wish to, then asking was of no use.

"You were once an inner-family expert? And of the Earth rank?" In Wei Zhao's heart, a mad idea suddenly took shape!

"Yes!" Uncle Qing nodded and smiled. "But a hero does not boast of his bygone days! It is all past. As I said, take it as a story and let it be..."

"Uncle Qing, if there were a chance to restore your strength, would you wish to try?" Wei Zhao asked after a moment's thought.

"Restore my strength?" Uncle Qing was plainly taken aback, but then he smiled bitterly. "You would have me cultivate outer-family arts from the beginning again? I have no confidence left... Xiaoyi, I understand you wish to rouse me, but I truly have given up! I thought I might break through in the outer-family arts, but all these years I have remained at the peak of the late Yellow rank, and a breakthrough to the Mystic rank seems forever out of reach! You must understand, outer-family and inner-family are wholly different matters. The higher one climbs, the harder the breakthrough!"

"Heh, I meant inner-family," Wei Zhao said with a smile.

"Inner-family?" Uncle Qing was briefly stunned, and then a look of astonishment flashed in his eyes. In the next moment he said, uncertainly, "You mean... you can make it possible for me to cultivate inner-family arts again? But my meridians... you..."

"I can repair them!" Wei Zhao nodded, and said it with certainty.

This was the mad idea in Wei Zhao's heart. Uncle Qing was an Earth-rank expert — would it not be a great pity to leave his strength unrestored?