Chapter 3382 — The Song Keqing

"All right, then I'll have to start from the day you fell unconscious..." Wei Zhao did not refuse. Wang Xinyan had been out cold for so many days and had only just woken up; it was only natural to sit with her and talk.

Hearing Wei Zhao's account, Wang Xinyan understood that although he had told it lightly, the danger lurking beneath must have been immense. Simply running into Kang Jingming among the Paoli clan was trouble enough. Kang Jingming was a petty, narrow-minded man who had always resented her for being with Wei Zhao instead of his brother. Encountering Wei Zhao now, how could he resist making trouble?

Yet by Wei Zhao's telling, it sounded as though *he* had been the one to run into Kang Jingming, taken a dislike to him, had his Paoli clan friends finish off Little Yi, and then spared Kang Jingming's life only because the man still owed him a Qi-Gathering Pill. By any measure, it looked as though Wei Zhao had been the one bullying Kang Jingming!

Of course, Wang Xinyan knew Wei Zhao was not that sort of person, but she did not voice any doubt either. She simply listened quietly. Looking at the energy stones piled around her, she was rather astonished. "You're saying that the jade pendant on your chest can recharge energy stones?"

Wang Xinyan and Wei Zhao often slept in each other's arms, so naturally she knew he also had a jade pendant, though she had never asked about it. Only today, hearing him speak of it, did she learn just how remarkable his pendant was—it contained not only a storage space but could also recharge energy stones.

"That's right. The only pity is that living people can't go inside. If they could, I'd simply put you in there, and I'd never have to worry about your body lacking energy again." Wei Zhao spoke with some regret. Toward Wang Xinyan, he felt a trust he could not quite put into words, and so he had told her about the pendant.

Besides, with Wei Zhao's current strength, there was no longer any need to conceal such things. Times had changed. The enemies he had once feared were now the ones fearing him.

"It doesn't matter. Energy stones are the same either way—if I recharge from them and then draw the energy out, I'll be just as full of vigor." Wang Xinyan suddenly realized how fortunate she was. Wei Zhao had braved deadly perils and crossed mountains and rivers to obtain these energy stones for her sake... "Tell me more about what happened before? I want to hear it..."

"All right." Wei Zhao knew she had been unconscious before. Even now, with energy stones in ample supply, deep down she still feared she might faint again. At a time like this, talking with her more would make her feel secure.

Gradually, Wang Xinyan grew drowsy. Nestled in Wei Zhao's embrace, she slowly drifted off to sleep, the contented, joyful smile still lingering on her face.

Wei Zhao drew a deep breath, entered the jade pendant's space, and began once more attempting to accelerate his cultivation using the fragrance from Wang Xinyan's body!

True, after several upgrades his strength had already reached the mid Heaven Rank—power forcibly raised by consuming Qi-Gathering Pills—so raising his level any further would not be easy. Yet the third layer of Wei Zhao's Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art was already approaching perfection, and he now found himself quietly anticipating the benefits the fourth layer would bring!

Wei Zhao had not come to the school for some time. Returning to East Sea Engineering University, he could not help feeling a little dazed. In the blink of an eye, two people were missing from his side—Han Jingyi and Gu Mengyao would no longer appear on campus.

Ever since Han Jingyi's identity was formally exposed, she had stopped coming to school; her former identity had, it seemed, existed only to deceive Wei Zhao. As for Gu Mengyao, after going to the Dark Night Palace, she had never returned.

After this, it would probably be Xiaoshu's turn, wouldn't it? Xiaoshu's time at this school was running short as well...

But once he arrived at the school, Wei Zhao suddenly discovered that there was no one there at all!

"Right—it's the holidays..." Wei Zhao gave a self-mocking bitter smile. "Why didn't any of you remind me?"

"Huh? Oh?" Shen Yushu lifted her head. "Arrowhead Bro, where are we going?"

Hearing Shen Yushu's words, Wei Zhao could not help but smile. It seemed that these past few days it was not only he whose heart had been heavy and who had gotten things muddled—Xiaoshu was the same. She had clearly had no idea they were going to the school at all; she had simply followed Wei Zhao out in a daze.

"It's nothing. We just came out for a drive." Wei Zhao shrugged.

"I... I was unconscious so long I lost track of time. I thought school had started..." Wang Xinyan felt a little embarrassed too.

"All right, let's go home." Wei Zhao smiled and started the car...

……………………

At the Overseas Cultivators Association, He Dantou had received an invitation to this year's Heaven Rank Trial Assembly as well—and he was the first to receive one. As the younger brother of Ancestor Xuanchen, acting sect master of the Five Luminaries Sect, Ancestor Xuanchen had notified him only out of their family connection. In truth, Ancestor Xuanchen held out no hope at all that He Dantou would send anyone to attend; after all, the journey was long, and the rewards of the Heaven Rank Trial Assembly were hardly enough to move He Dantou.

Yet He Dantou truly was moved!

What moved him, of course, was not the rewards or anything of the sort—it was that Wei Zhao would be attending this Heaven Rank Trial Assembly!

This was stated in a family letter Ancestor Xuanchen had appended to the back of the invitation. Ancestor Xuanchen intended to send his disciple Xiao Er and Tian Candou, the young master of the Xuandan Sect, to strike together and kill Wei Zhao!

Wei Zhao—He Dantou could be said to hate him to the bone. So he, too, wanted a part in what Ancestor Xuanchen had proposed.

"Elder Wang, go and call Song Keqing here. I have something to discuss with her," He Dantou said after pondering for a moment.

"Huh? Song Keqing? President, are you perhaps planning to have her..." Elder Wang had also seen Ancestor Xuanchen's invitation and family letter, and knew something of He Dantou's thinking.

"Yes. I've thought it over and over, and Song Keqing is the only one somewhat familiar with the Central Plains, and her strength is beyond question."

He Dantou nodded.

"But Song Keqing agreed to do three things for our Overseas Cultivators Association. She has already done two, and only one remains..." Elder Wang sighed. "If Song Keqing hadn't owed us a favor from back in the Global Assassin Devil Trial Competition, she never would have agreed to those three things. But now only the last one is left, President He—are you certain you want to send Song Keqing?"