Chapter 3000 — The Ninth Form of the Mad Fire Eight-Trigram Palm!

Now that he had reached the Heaven rank, if he used the martial technique Spring Rain From Heaven, could it provide more stamina and true qi? He wondered whether, by working together with Han Jingyi, he might be able to refine Heaven-rank pills.

Yet there was one more crucial point: Wei Zhao was desperately short of money right now. The pharmaceutical company was barely scraping by, which did not mean it had weathered the storm. Once this batch of medicine was delivered to the distributors, there would inevitably be a gap period!

Previously, the distributors had paid first and taken delivery later. But after everything that had happened, which distributor would be foolish enough to pay upfront now? None of them would release the hawk until they saw the rabbit—they would wait for the goods to arrive before paying. That meant Kang's Pharmaceuticals would have no money to produce the next batch of medicine.

Fatty Lai had already told Wei Zhao all of this, but at present Wei Zhao truly had no way out! Among his underlings, the richest had been the secular Liu family, and now the secular Liu family was finished. Wei Zhao really had nowhere left to find money!

The richest in the Hidden Layer were the Hidden You family and the Golden Bell Sect, but those two families were only paying him lip service out of fear of Wei Zhao. If he truly demanded money from them, it would probably be impossible. Surely Wei Zhao could not just show up at their doors and extort them?

With no justifiable cause, the Ancient Layer would likely step in to interfere, and that was not something Wei Zhao wanted to see. Wei Zhao had already had more than enough troubles lately. They had just settled down, and he did not want to stir up any more.

He could only take things one step at a time. After settling his underlings for the time being, Wei Zhao came to the backyard of the villa, preparing to try unleashing the Mad Fire Eight-Trigram Palm.

Back when he was in the late Earth rank, Wei Zhao had already been able to skillfully unleash the eighth form of the Mad Fire Eight-Trigram Palm, though he could not unleash the ninth form. As for the ninth form, the Mad Fire Fist, Wei Zhao had long since been able to unleash it with ease. So now Wei Zhao circulated the mental cultivation formula and incantation of the ninth form of the Mad Fire Fist, then gathered his true qi into his palms, and, using the unleashing method of the Five Elements Eight-Trigram Palm, rapidly released it!

"Boom!" A thunderous blast rang out in the courtyard. Although Wei Zhao had only unleashed it into the air, its power was still not to be underestimated. The tremendous explosive force gave all of Wei Zhao's underlings inside the villa a fright, but they were mostly delighted—Wei Zhao seemed even more formidable than before!

This was the equivalent of unleashing the fifteenth form of an ordinary martial technique. Wei Zhao had previously been able to kill a mid Heaven-rank expert in a single strike, and now he felt he should be able to kill an expert at the peak of mid Heaven rank in a single strike. But whether he truly could, only a test would tell.

To Wei Zhao's regret, after unleashing the ninth form, it actually drained every last drop of stamina and true qi from his body, leaving him collapsed limply on the ground. The fifteenth form was generally something only mid Heaven-rank experts could unleash; for Wei Zhao to unleash it now naturally consumed far more stamina and true qi.

Wei Zhao also discovered that the higher the level of the Mad Fire Eight-Trigram Palm, the harder it was to unleash. It was no longer as easy as it had been back in the Earth rank, when he could leap levels and unleash it in one go. Now every time Wei Zhao unleashed it, he had to give his all, and he could not unleash it consecutively.

After rapidly recovering his stamina and true qi, Wei Zhao began attempting to unleash the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth forms of the Mad Fire Fist. However, these three forms came to him as if he had long known them by heart—flowing smoothly and effortlessly, without a trace of obstruction—until the thirteenth form, where it came to an abrupt halt.

And even after unleashing the twelfth form, Wei Zhao did not feel the same true qi exhaustion as after unleashing the ninth form of the Mad Fire Eight-Trigram Palm.

Afterward, Wei Zhao tried again and found that he could now unleash the eighth form of the Mad Fire Eight-Trigram Palm at most twice in succession. In other words, he could now kill two mid Heaven-rank experts in a row with a single strike each.

Compared to before, this was clear progress, yet it still fell short of Wei Zhao's expectations. One could say that the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art had held a very obvious advantage before the Mystic rank, and the Universal Martial Technique had likewise held a very obvious advantage before the Earth rank.

But now, having stepped into the Heaven rank, Wei Zhao had yet to find an advantage of his own. He therefore pinned his hopes on the third stone gate that was about to open.

The news of Wei Zhao's recovery spread through the entire Ancient Layer as if on wings.

And the Night Palace, naturally, had received the news early on as well. Zhao Qibing had already returned and was now sitting upright and proper in the meeting room.

"That lone cultivator Wei Zhao actually recovered his strength and even advanced to the early Heaven rank? How is that possible? Wasn't he poisoned? Zhao Qibing, tell me, what exactly happened? Wasn't it Kang Jingming who administered the poison?" The Grand Elder was beside herself with fury. She had thought she could strut about and collect the two third-grade Great Return Pills in Wei Zhao's possession, but now not only had she failed to collect them, Wei Zhao had actually grown even stronger!

"The poison was indeed fine, but this Wei Zhao cannot be measured by common sense! It has been like this several times before. Wei Zhao would seem finished, done for, and only after his enemies went to check would they discover that Wei Zhao had been faking, deliberately playing tricks on people!" Zhao Qibing said with a bitter expression. "Once, Kang Jingming and I personally witnessed Wei Zhao, who by all rights should have been unconscious from qi deviation, suddenly stand up and unleash a major move that reduced several of our experts to ashes."

"You boost others' morale and diminish our own prestige. Your strength is too low. I will go in person, and that Wei Zhao will kneel and beg for mercy!" The Grand Elder gave a cold laugh. "Never mind, let's not talk about that. How did your trip to the Mystic Pill Sect go this time? Has the grudge with the Mystic Pill Sect been resolved?"

"Reporting to the Grand Elder, Elder Kang said they will refine the Qi-Gathering Pills for our Night Palace as a priority, and it will be completed very soon. He is very pleased about this matter!" Zhao Qibing said hastily.

"Good, then." The Grand Elder nodded. Last time, the black-robed elder and the Heavenly Silkworm Transformation had clashed, and the Grand Elder had feared it would affect relations between the two sects, so the Mystic Pill Sect had deliberately made things difficult and refused to refine Qi-Gathering Pills for the Night Palace. It just so happened that Zhao Qibing had such a plan, so she had sent him on the trip, and now it seemed the desired effect had been achieved. "You did well on this matter!"

"Thank you for your praise, Grand Elder!" Though Zhao Qibing said this, inwardly he was somewhat dismissive of the Grand Elder. This was a classic case of bullying the weak and fearing the strong—a groveling grandson before the Mystic Pill Sect, and a lordly master before Wei Zhao!