Chapter 3514 — Borrowing the Tiger's Hide to Raise the Banner

At this thought, Wei Zhao heaved a sigh. Xue Li had not been wrong—Snow Valley had, on the whole, shown him kindness. Yet something still puzzled him. "Tang Zhi is already a legacy-bearer, and I would never force her to give that up. In fact, Gu Mengyao, Shen Yushu, and Yu Ning all entered their respective sects as trial participants with my blessing. So what are you guarding against? Why must you make me forget Tang Zhi? What did you do to me?"

"The mantra and oral formula of our Snow Valley's heart method differ from those of other sects. Not all legacy-bearer sects are the same," Xue Li said. "What Snow Valley cultivates is the Art of Heartlessness. One must be heartless before one can break through to the heaven tier's great perfection. True, legacy-bearers face no barriers in their cultivation, but if their own mantra and oral formula cannot break through, it is useless all the same. Our original plan was to let Tang Zhi forget you and then cultivate the Art of Heartlessness. But Tang Zhi feared you would suffer the pain of such a parting, so she gave you the heartless herb liquid to drink. And so you forgot her. That way, she would bear the pain of love alone and cultivate slowly; and since you had forgotten her, she would no longer harbor any longing for you, and could thus cultivate smoothly. Now Tang Zhi has only the final step left. Though you have remembered her, I hope you will not disturb her and will let her ascend smoothly to the heaven tier's great perfection. Otherwise, it will throw the entire legacy plan and the Cloud Tier Island plan into disorder."

"So that is how it is..." Wei Zhao drew a deep breath and nodded. "Very well. For the greater good, I can refrain from disturbing her. But once she has ascended to the heaven tier's great perfection, may we then acknowledge each other?"

"...Yes." Xue Li hesitated a moment but did not refuse, because she too knew that even if she wanted to refuse, Wei Zhao would not agree. His asking at all was merely a show of respect for her.

Besides, once Tang Zhi ascended to the heaven tier's great perfection, her next step would be ascension to the heavenly dao. At that time, how that ascension would proceed was still unknown, so Xue Li did not want to dwell on it.

"Good," Wei Zhao answered. From the corner of his eye he glanced at Tang Zhi, not far away. How he longed to take her into his arms. What a fine girl she was—to spare Wei Zhao pain, she had taken the suffering upon herself!

How Wei Zhao longed to tell her that he missed her, that she had suffered much these days. But his promise to Xue Li forbade him from doing so. "Take Tang Zhi and go. I am going to lure out the Dragon of the Five Baleful Breaths."

Xue Li nodded without a word and walked toward Tang Zhi.

Tang Zhi had been waiting anxiously the whole time for some outcome. She did not know what Xue Li and Wei Zhao had discussed, nor had she used the senses of a heaven-tier expert—because the moment she did, Xue Li would surely notice.

Still, though Tang Zhi did not know what Xue Li and Wei Zhao had said, it was obvious that the two had reached some agreement. Tang Zhi sighed and withdrew to one side with Xue Li.

The most disappointed of all were Feng Xiaoxiao, Gu Mengyao, and Shen Yushu. All of them had been hoping that Wei Zhao and Tang Zhi would acknowledge each other; Shen Yushu and Feng Xiaoxiao had even agreed beforehand to shout "Together, together, together!" when the moment came.

But Xue Li and Wei Zhao had given them no chance at all.

Wei Zhao walked toward the Dragon of the Five Baleful Breaths' cavern, while Tian Chan organized the legacy-bearers to take cover to one side of the cave mouth.

Tiptoeing into the dragon's cavern, Wei Zhao found that the Dragon of the Five Baleful Breaths seemed to have known long ago what was happening outside. It was staring fixedly at the cave mouth, and at the sight of Wei Zhao it gave a somewhat surprised yawn. "Roar—why is it you?"

"Why not me?" Wei Zhao smiled wryly.

"Why is it always you?" asked the Dragon of the Five Baleful Breaths.

"..." Wei Zhao was somewhat speechless. "Do me a favor—lend me your cavern for a little while, then come out and take a stroll with me. We'll pretend to fight, a great battle of three hundred rounds. How about it?"

"Boring." The Dragon of the Five Baleful Breaths shook its head. "I have already touched the threshold of the heavenly dao. I have no time to comprehend the heavenly dao, and no wish to do pointless things."

"Senior Gui, this Dragon of the Five Baleful Breaths is somewhat disobedient. Look, why don't you come out and teach it a lesson..." Wei Zhao began to borrow the tiger's hide to raise the banner...

"If you did not have a great patron behind you, I would have thrown you out long ago. Do you think I would be speaking with you so calmly?" The Dragon of the Five Baleful Breaths was instantly glum. "Fine, stop calling for him. I'll cooperate with you. Truly, seeking trouble where there is none!"

"Hehehe, actually I have one more presumptuous request. In a moment, I'll draw a little less of your blood—why don't you give me some of your blood?" Wei Zhao asked with a certain brazenness.

"Now you're pushing your luck, aren't you?" The Dragon of the Five Baleful Breaths glared, fixing Wei Zhao with angry eyes.

"Senior Gui, it won't give me any..." Wei Zhao said.

"What the hell else can you do besides calling for your patron!" The Dragon of the Five Baleful Breaths grew even glummer at this. "Fine, I'll give it to you, all right?"

"Thank you!" Wei Zhao grinned. In truth, Senior Gui was asleep—there was no way he would bother with such a trifle. Unless Wei Zhao's life hung in the balance, he generally remained dormant, not even communicating with Wei Zhao, let alone coming out to teach the dragon a lesson.

But as it happened, the Dragon of the Five Baleful Breaths did not know what the relationship between Wei Zhao and Gui Dongxi really was. It feared that Wei Zhao might truly summon Gui Dongxi and give it a fright, so it simply agreed to Wei Zhao's request.

"All right then. We'll pretend to fight, then I'll be wounded, you take some of my blood, and then I'll pretend to be no match and flee. When you're done using the cavern, I'll come back," the Dragon of the Five Baleful Breaths said to Wei Zhao.

"OK!" Wei Zhao nodded in satisfaction.

A furious roar was heard, and Wei Zhao came running out of the Dragon of the Five Baleful Breaths' cave mouth, with the dragon in hot pursuit behind him. No one knew how Wei Zhao had offended it—it looked utterly frantic.

Seeing the Dragon of the Five Baleful Breaths leave the cavern, Tian Chan led the legacy-bearers quickly inside. Then, following the positions Tian Chan had assigned beforehand, each of them took up one of the five elemental positions and began to circulate their mantra and oral formula, empowering the legacy, and prepared to withstand the pressure of the other five baleful breaths, ready to ascend and break through!

Behind them stood the members of their sects, protecting them in their cultivation, while Tian Chan aided Guan Xin's protection and coordinated the whole endeavor!

Wei Zhao ran out of the cavern and led the Dragon of the Five Baleful Breaths toward Kang Jingming's direction. As he ran, he shouted at the top of his voice, "The Dragon of the Five Baleful Breaths is coming! Everyone, get ready for battle!"

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(ps: Recommending Butterfly's new book "The Road of Heavenly Awakening," ISBN 3206900. Those who like this genre can go take a look!) RL