Chapter 966 — A Mad Idea
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
"After my meridians were ruined, I hid my name and began again, cultivating outer-family arts. At the time I was bent on standing at the summit once more, to avenge my wife, my daughter, my sect. But now I do not even know who my enemy is, let alone take revenge!" Uncle Qing shook his head. "I tell you this because it weighs on my heart. Take it as a story, and when you have heard it, let it go!"
Uncle Qing did not expect Wei Zhao to be able to help him. These secrets had been pent up in his heart too long, making him gloomy and stifled; now that he had spoken them, he felt rather relieved.
Wei Zhao knew that Uncle Qing had been vague in his telling, that many details had been left unsaid, and that he had given only the broadest account of his past. Yet though Wei Zhao was puzzled, he could not well press him — these were wounds in Uncle Qing's heart, after all, and to question him would only wound him deeper.
If Uncle Qing wished to tell him, then in time he would reveal the truth. If Uncle Qing did not wish to, then asking was of no use.
"You were once an inner-family expert? And of the Earth rank?" In Wei Zhao's heart, a mad idea suddenly took shape!
"Yes!" Uncle Qing nodded and smiled. "But a hero does not boast of his bygone days! It is all past. As I said, take it as a story and let it be..."
"Uncle Qing, if there were a chance to restore your strength, would you wish to try?" Wei Zhao asked after a moment's thought.
"Restore my strength?" Uncle Qing was plainly taken aback, but then he smiled bitterly. "You would have me cultivate outer-family arts from the beginning again? I have no confidence left... Xiaoyi, I understand you wish to rouse me, but I truly have given up! I thought I might break through in the outer-family arts, but all these years I have remained at the peak of the late Yellow rank, and a breakthrough to the Mystic rank seems forever out of reach! You must understand, outer-family and inner-family are wholly different matters. The higher one climbs, the harder the breakthrough!"
"Heh, I meant inner-family," Wei Zhao said with a smile.
"Inner-family?" Uncle Qing was briefly stunned, and then a look of astonishment flashed in his eyes. In the next moment he said, uncertainly, "You mean... you can make it possible for me to cultivate inner-family arts again? But my meridians... you..."
"I can repair them!" Wei Zhao nodded, and said it with certainty.
This was the mad idea in Wei Zhao's heart. Uncle Qing was an Earth-rank expert — would it not be a great pity to leave his strength unrestored?