Chapter 3539 — The Cave Encounter, Part Two

"Appear again?" Wei Zhao was taken aback. "You're leaving?"

"Not leaving. It's hard to explain—you'll understand when the time comes," Jiao Yazi said.

"All right." Wei Zhao knew Jiao Yazi's ways well enough: if he did not wish to speak of something, no amount of asking would draw it out of him, and odds were he did not even know himself. "Then what's inside this little box?"

"Nothing much. Won't you find out for yourself once you're back? Why ask me?" Jiao Yazi laughed. "As things stand, whatever I know, you know nearly all of it. My mission, I suppose, is more or less complete."

"Very well." Wei Zhao sighed and turned to leave the cave. There was still some time before daybreak; he sat cross-legged at the cave mouth and waited for the sky to lighten, and waited on until the stone door had shut completely before he rose and left the place, returning to the inn in the little town.

Though nothing of value remained in the Xuanyuan Cave Mansion, it was a piece of Wei Zhao's own memories, and he had no wish for others to find the place or despoil it. That was why he had waited until the stone door was fully sealed before departing.

Back at the town inn, it was time for Wei Zhao to go. He took his leave of Old Man Wei—this parting might last a few months, or it might last years; everything depended on whether his affairs on Cloud Terrace Island went smoothly.

Old Man Wei, however, was wholly in favor of his going to Cloud Terrace Island. When Wei Zhao told him of his decision, the old man merely nodded and smiled. "Very good. In the secular world you had no patron to lean on, and you have made your way to this day on your own strength; on Cloud Terrace Island, too, you can carve out a place for yourself by that same strength!"

What Wei Zhao did not say was that Zhang Lifeng of Cloud Terrace Island might also count as a patron—though whether he would meet Zhang Lifeng at the outset, and whether his own level would even qualify him for an audience, was all unknown.

Most likely it was only after he had reached a certain tier that such a patron could be of any use; before that, he would have to rely on himself.

What Wei Zhao did not know was that it had been the same in the secular world: only after he had risen to a certain level had Lin Dongfang stepped forward once, to settle for him that unforeseen complication, the Blood-Clad Yellow Springs Sect. At all other times, he had relied on himself alone.

Bringing the women back to Yanjing City, Wei Zhao did not linger in Donghai City but went straight to find Feng Tianlong and Qiu Lingshan. He meant to cure the two of them, and then summon all his underlings from the secular world for a unified meeting, to discuss and arrange everything for after his departure.

Healing Feng Tianlong and Qiu Lingshan and raising their strength to the peak grand perfection of the late Heaven Rank was no difficulty for Wei Zhao. He had originally fretted over the ingredients for the Qi-Gathering Pills, but now that he had Tianchan, young sect mistress of the Xuandan Sect, those ingredients were his for the asking.

The underlings who would not be going with him to Cloud Terrace Island were all gathered together as well—Wei Zhao had even sent for Brother Dafeng and Kun Cun.

These underlings, Wei Zhao had to make sure, would all know one another and be able to help one another, united in common cause against a common foe.

Some of them knew each other already, some did not; but with a guiding spirit like Wei Zhao among them, they could all be drawn together well enough.

Wei Zhao also told them that he might be gone for months or for years, and that they were to stand united, to stir up no trouble—but to fear none either—and to submit themselves to the unified management and deployment of Qiu Lingshan's Bureau of Mysterious Investigation.

To this, naturally, none of them objected; they agreed with wholehearted conviction. In their eyes Wei Zhao was a being akin to a god—that he had raised each of them to the peak strength of the late Earth Rank, and then produced so many Qi-Gathering Pills for them to take and advance further, was simply too marvelous for words.

Kang Xiaofeng and Fat Lai had come too. Though he knew raising their strength would be of little use, Wei Zhao raised them anyway; Zou Ruoming included—Wei Zhao raised him to the Mystic Rank, and no higher, for at his level there was no call for greater strength in any case.

Having settled all this, Wei Zhao took his leave of Sun Jingyan, Yang Qiqi, Xu Shilan, Cheng Yiyi, and Ying Ziyu one by one. Then he suddenly thought of Chen Xi, and could not help turning to Tianchan. "Tianchan, where's Chen Xi?"

"She's well. Tian Die'er is looking after her—she goes by Tian Xi now. When I leave for Cloud Terrace Island, I mean to bring the two of them along," Tianchan said.

"Er—who is Tian Die'er? And Chen Xi is already a grand-perfection expert?" Wei Zhao was rather shocked. How long had it been since Chen Xi left?

"She ate lesser and middling Qi-Gathering Pills and the like until she reached the mid Earth Rank. But haven't you got piles of Qi-Gathering Pills? I'll take some back with me, and won't that make her grand perfection?" Tianchan said carelessly. "As for Tian Die'er, she's the one who came to your home to rescue you that time—my personal maid."

"I see..." Wei Zhao was somewhat at a loss for words.

With everything settled, it was time for Wei Zhao to set out and return to the Five Luminaries Sect inn. The sect had not yet summoned everyone, but it would be just as well for Wei Zhao to go back and wait in advance.

As for the matter of Tang Zhi, Wei Zhao had now found a way, only he had not yet told Tang Zhi and the others—first, because it touched on his own greatest secret: the jade pendant's space.

Second, because Wei Zhao was not yet fully prepared; to speak of it now would be premature.

The little box Wei Zhao had taken from behind the fourth stone door still held two scrolls. One was the mnemonic of the fourth layer of the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art—except that what was written upon it said that it could be cultivated only at the moment of breaking through to the Heavenly Dao, or at the Heavenly Dao and above; that at the moment of breaking through to the Heavenly Dao, it could serve to aid the assault upon the pass.

Cultivation below the Heavenly Dao was of no effect—at best one would suffer qigong deviation, at worst one's body would burst and one would die. And this Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art bore a rather cool name as well: Seizing Heaven.

Naturally, Wei Zhao was not so foolish as to go testing it. Though it was said one could cultivate it at the moment of breaking through to the Heavenly Dao, when exactly did one count as breaking through to the Heavenly Dao? Was it when one took a Heavenly Dao Golden Pill, or...?

All of this was unknown at present, and Wei Zhao dared not try it rashly. If he happened to suffer qigong deviation at such a time, that would be a fine mess indeed. So Wei Zhao intended to find an occasion to ask Old Jiao. These past days of ceaseless busyness had left him not even a chance to slip into the jade pendant space for a chat.

The second silk scroll concerned the further refinement of the jade pendant's space, and what was written upon it astonished Wei Zhao greatly!