Chapter 2661 — An Old Friend's Visit

"Heh heh, Mr. Lin, so you remember me..." Yu Dake was instantly delighted that Wei Zhao had called him by name right away—it saved him the trouble of introducing himself.

"Of course I remember. But what brings you here?" Wei Zhao wondered why Yu Dake would show up at his door. Could it be that You Panhu had discovered Han Jingyi's tablet was a new one containing nothing but study notes, and had sent Yu Dake to plead on his behalf, still hoping to trade for Han Jingyi's alchemist's notes?

"Mr. Lin, you saved me back at the Hidden World Clan Summit, and I said then that I would repay you!" Yu Dake said solemnly. "All this time I've been looking for a chance to come find you, Mr. Lin, but no suitable opportunity ever came. You know how it is—serving the Hidden You Clan, I can't just leave whenever I please..."

"Oh, repayment and all that—never mind it. I saved you because the moment called for it, and out of my connection with your sister, I would naturally step in." Wei Zhao said, "Don't stand around talking at the door. Come inside."

"All right." Yu Dake nodded, and went into the villa together with Wei Zhao, Gu Mengyao, and Shen Yushu, while Han Jingyi and Han Xiaochao returned to their own villa.

Once inside the living room, Yu Dake seemed somewhat constrained and in awe of Wei Zhao, standing there not daring to sit.

"Sit down!" Wei Zhao had not expected Yu Dake to be so nervous, and could not help smiling. "Your sister and I are on very good terms. No need to stand on ceremony."

Back at the Hidden World Clan Summit, Wei Zhao had deliberately not appeared too close to Yu Dake, fearing someone might notice. But now, at home, his manner was far warmer—naturally, this was also because he and Yu Xiaoke had grown closer after the business at the cultivators' market.

"Very well, then thank you, Mr. Lin." Yu Dake rubbed his hands together and sat down on the sofa.

Gu Mengyao poured Yu Dake a glass of water, somewhat puzzled. "Wei Zhao, who is this? And who's his sister?"

"Oh, I never told you two. This is Yu Dake, Yu Xiaoke's elder brother—though the two were separated when they were little!" Wei Zhao introduced him. "At present, Yu Dake is a retainer of the Hidden You Clan. I first met him at the Hidden World Clan Summit."

"Ah! So he's Yu Xiaoke's brother!" Shen Yushu said in sudden understanding. "Then why did he say you saved him? What happened?"

"You two must be Mr. Lin's wives. Allow me to explain it myself—it happened like this..." Before Wei Zhao could speak, Yu Dake recounted the whole situation to Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu.

Hearing Yu Dake call her Wei Zhao's wife, Gu Mengyao felt a little shy, yet she did not contradict him; Shen Yushu, even more unabashed, happily accepted the title. After hearing Yu Dake's account, Shen Yushu flared up at once. "The Hidden You Clan really is a disgrace—they can't even bear to part with a few pills..."

"Forget it. I'm their retainer. Only by doing their business can I claim a reward; if I don't, they have no obligation to give me pills..." Yu Dake smiled bitterly. "For an alchemy clan like the Hidden You Clan, there's no shortage of rogue cultivators coming to pledge themselves to them. They won't miss one more like me..."

"Oh, so this visit is to thank Brother Arrowbrand, is it? And how do you plan to thank him?" Shen Yushu asked.

"Brother Arrowbrand?" Yu Dake was slightly taken aback, but guessed it must be a nickname of Wei Zhao's and paid it no mind, speaking directly instead. "Mr. Lin, to be frank, I am a rogue cultivator with no sect and no school. You know as well as I do that for rogue cultivators, advancing and breaking through is terribly hard. We rogue cultivators are nothing like scions of great houses such as yourself, Mr. Lin. We have no renowned masters to guide us, no cultivation resources. The pills those clan children eat like candy are worth a fortune to us, and we cannot even get them; when we fail to grasp some point of inner-energy method, we can only puzzle it out ourselves; when we advance or break through, no expert is there to guard the rites for us. So everything, absolutely everything, is so very difficult..."

"Er... hold on. Let me make one thing clear first: I count as a rogue cultivator too..." Wei Zhao shook his head with a bitter smile. In the eyes of outsiders, he was actually the scion of a great house? How absurd. But then, given the formidable strength Wei Zhao now displayed and his terrifying speed of advancement, such misunderstandings were only natural. In truth, Wei Zhao knew perfectly well that what Yu Dake described was precisely the hardship he himself had endured all these years!

Sometimes, seeing Zhao Qibing suddenly become an Earth-rank expert, Wei Zhao truly felt a twinge of envy—though strength raised by pills was unstable. Without proper reinforcement and training, such a cultivator was no match at all for one who had advanced step by step, footprint by footprint.

First of all, their practical combat experience fell far short. And comparing the two was like comparing two people of identical weight—one puffed up with fat, the other pure muscle. Their fighting indices were surely worlds apart!

So Zhao Qibing, for all his strength, was like a man who had never turned fat into muscle: his combat power fell far below that of experts of the same rank. And yet that inconceivable speed of cultivation still left Wei Zhao endlessly envious!

Wei Zhao had two masters, but neither had taught him anything about cultivation itself. One had taught him the arts of assassination and the Butterfly Subtle Step, a lightness skill whose speed rivaled that of Heaven-rank experts; the other had taught him medicine and helped temper his constitution.

But as for cultivation, Wei Zhao had groped his way forward bit by bit on his own. The only one who understood a thing or two and could offer him guidance—Jiao Yazi, Old Jiao, half a master to him—was a man with fragmented and incomplete memories, who knew nothing of what he was asked. It was agony beyond words for Wei Zhao.

One could say that Wei Zhao owed his present achievements entirely to his own bitter cultivation. In public he cut a splendid figure, able to overawe Heaven-rank experts—but who knew the hardship he endured in private while cultivating?

One minute on stage, ten years of toil off it—that was the principle. Now Wei Zhao no longer feared revealing his identity as a rogue cultivator, for he had gradually taken control at the clan level, and at the hidden-clan level he was already quietly ascendant. Only the ancient level remained—and at that level, feigning a mysterious background was meaningless. Your strength was plain for all to see; no amount of pretense would avail you unless you truly had an expert behind you who could step forward in person.

"What? Mr. Lin is a rogue cultivator too?" Yu Dake stared at Wei Zhao in shock, his eyes full of disbelief.

"Heh heh, naturally," Wei Zhao said with a smiling nod.

"Surely not! Mr. Lin, you're now an expert at the peak of the mid Earth rank, able to kill Heaven-rank experts in an instant—and you're a rogue cultivator? I always assumed there was an expert behind you, Mr. Lin, guiding you!" Yu Dake did not think Wei Zhao was lying; he was simply too stunned for words.