Chapter 3488 — And You? And Me? Yet What She Truly Thought, Only She Herself Could Know

"Heh, good. Then I'll just make pills in there—and have a look at what other treasures the Ice Palace has stashed away." Wei Zhao had not expected Bingtang to grant him access to the treasure vault before he had even brought up the matter of consulting that secret manual.

That was quite the abrupt about-face, was it not?

"Look at whatever you like." In Bingtang's heart, nothing outweighed the Ice Heart Jade Bone Pill. Since Wei Zhao had offered of his own accord to refine a few more for the Ice Palace to pass down through the generations, she would have paid any price the palace could bear.

"..." Wei Zhao smiled wryly. Things had gone too smoothly; somehow that made them feel less like a challenge.

The two of them arrived at the door of the treasure vault. Bingtang opened it and let Wei Zhao in, then thought for a moment and said, "I'll have Xiaoxiao come keep you company. I'm going to take the pills..."

"All right!" Wei Zhao nodded. He had rather missed Feng Xiaoxiao too, but since Bingtang had not brought it up herself earlier, he had not asked.

Inside the vault, Wei Zhao located the ingredients for the Ice Heart Jade Bone Pill—enough to make up four full portions, which meant five more pills could be refined! Even so, Wei Zhao did not portion them out so precisely. Instead, he dumped all four-plus portions of the medicinal ingredients into the cauldron!

Sure enough, after he pressed the confirm key, the tablet emitted two crisp, drawn-out beeps of "di-di," and Wei Zhao saw the display read: "Pill-refining script generated. Based on automatic analysis of the cauldron's contents, this batch contains four-point-six portions of ingredients. Estimated refining time: three hours and twenty-nine minutes. Please accumulate physical stamina and true qi in advance! Estimated pill yield: six!"

Six! Four-point-six portions—not even five—could yield six pills. That struck him as rather good. Still, Wei Zhao noticed that refining time varied with each batch: whenever the quality and quantity of the ingredients differed, so too did the time required!

Wei Zhao sat cross-legged and began refining. Before long, however, the vault door swung open, and Feng Xiaoxiao's excited voice rang out: "Hubby Wei Zhao!"

"Xiaoxiao, I'm refining pills—go amuse yourself for a bit." Only Wei Zhao could get away with this; he could still talk while channeling true qi. Anyone else would have botched the batch on the spot!

"Ah!" Feng Xiaoxiao gave a start. She immediately fell silent, stuck out her tongue, and said, "Sorry, I didn't know..."

"It's fine. You can talk." Wei Zhao smiled.

"Huh? What kind of pill cauldron is this, so advanced—it even has an LCD display?" Feng Xiaoxiao knew Wei Zhao would not lie to her, so she came over. But the sight of the cauldron in his hands filled her with wonder.

"This is a cauldron Han Jingyi modified." With that, Wei Zhao told Feng Xiaoxiao all about Han Jingyi.

"I see. So the cauldrons you sell are all modified by her? Then she must be truly formidable! Xiaoxiao really must meet her someday—I admire her so much!" Feng Xiaoxiao said with genuine feeling. "She can be a right arm to Hubby Wei Zhao, but Xiaoxiao cannot. Xiaoxiao is quite envious of her..."

"Xiaoxiao, don't say that. You have your own mission. Your mission is to open Cloud Terrace Island. That is equally indispensable!" Wei Zhao said to her. "I need to go to Cloud Terrace Island too—and I must go..."

"Oh? Hubby Wei Zhao wants to ascend the heavenly path as well?" Feng Xiaoxiao was somewhat surprised. She knew that in the past Wei Zhao had been resistant to the idea. She had never imagined that today he would actually want to go.

"Because I have reasons I cannot avoid going. For one, because of all of you... the seven Inheritors. Apart from that Elder Tang of Snow Valley, with whom I've had little contact, the others are almost all the people closest to me. How could I not go?" Wei Zhao smiled bitterly. "And I have other reasons besides..."

"Ah?" Feng Xiaoxiao's eyes went wide. "Seven... six of them, and the remaining one is Sister Tang Zhi..."

Feng Xiaoxiao said no more. It seemed Wei Zhao had not yet recalled the matter of Tang Zhi, so naturally she would not bring it up either. "Good heavens, Hubby Wei Zhao, you're amazing—you've monopolized all the Inheritors!"

"It's just coincidence, surely." Though he said so, Wei Zhao felt a faint stir of doubt within. Was it truly coincidence? He told Feng Xiaoxiao about Yu Xiaoke and the pangolin, and recounted some of the things that had happened to him recently.

The pills, too, were successfully refined!

The moment they came out of the cauldron, fragrance spilled in every direction, and six Ice Heart Jade Bone Pills lay quietly within the vessel...

"My heavens, six pills in one batch?" Feng Xiaoxiao's eyes went wide. She might not know how to refine pills, but she had heard enough about it—and she had never seen a pill refiner capable of producing six Ice Heart Jade Bone Pills in a single batch!

"Mm. That's thanks to Han Jingyi as well." Wei Zhao smiled. "This cauldron can refine pills in tandem... But you must keep it secret, all right?"

"Yes, yes! Of course Xiaoxiao will keep it secret, Xiaoxiao is no worse at keeping secrets than Shushu!" Feng Xiaoxiao nodded.

At the mention of Shen Yushu, Wei Zhao felt a sudden pang of sorrow. Everyone had left. Still, they would be reunited soon enough, wouldn't they? At the thought of that reunion in the near future, his spirits lifted again...

Wei Zhao then told her about Wang Xinyan, and Feng Xiaoxiao was naturally astonished by her constitution. She began helping Wei Zhao search for the secret manual...

"I remember the cultivation manuals are all on the shelves over there. Sister Bingtang brought me here a few times, and I've searched here for mind-formula mantras before." Feng Xiaoxiao pointed to the last shelf on one side.

"Oh, over here..." Only when Wei Zhao reached the spot did it suddenly strike him: what was the manual called? There was a whole mountain of manuals here—how could he possibly know which one that senior of the Ice Palace had cultivated? Wei Zhao froze. "Xiaoxiao, I forgot to ask Aunt Qing what the manual is called!"

"That's no problem—I'll go ask for you!" Feng Xiaoxiao was just about to leave the vault when she heard the door stir. Bingtang had actually come back...

Bingtang's appearance caught Wei Zhao completely off guard. She had finished taking them that quickly?

And Wei Zhao was not refining pills but instead pacing back and forth with Feng Xiaoxiao before the bookshelves—which left Bingtang equally puzzled. Had Wei Zhao finished refining? Or had he not yet begun?

"Wei Zhao... you... finished refining the pills?" Bingtang stared at him in astonishment.

"Mm. And you... finished taking them?" Wei Zhao asked in surprise. "So soon?"

"Yes, that soon... I'm done. And you?" Bingtang gave a slight nod, then revealed the full might of her peak late-stage Heaven rank, great-perfection cultivation, as if to prove her words, before asking in return.

"I'm done too." With that, Wei Zhao set the six Ice Heart Jade Bone Pills before him, smiled faintly, and said. (Second update—begging for votes for the new book *The Top Cultivation Tyrant Young Master*!) RL