Chapter 1092 — One Must Be Cautious
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"I let go of that long ago. If I hadn't been ruthless enough to castrate myself straight off back then, Patriarch Mad Bull would never have taken a liking to me, made me his nominal disciple and taught me the Great Bee-Absorbing Art, so that my cultivation sprouted wings." Zhang Naipao shook his head with indifference. "Brother Liang, as the saying goes, where there is gain there must be loss. My aptitude may be tolerable, but if I hadn't castrated myself without hesitation, I could never have stood out among these disciples!"
"Oh? Paozi, your aptitude is tolerable?" Zhong Yongliang was rather surprised. Cultivation demanded talent — that much he knew well enough — but he had never imagined that Zhang Naipao's aptitude was actually rather good.
"That's right. Cultivating demonic arts also requires talent. Still, according to Patriarch Mad Bull, the more wicked and venomous a man's nature, the easier it is for him to practice devil arts. With this kind of cultivation that absorbs bee venom, an upright man simply cannot practice it!" Zhang Naipao said.
"Ha ha, when it comes to being wicked and nasty, we three brothers are second to none!" Zhong Yongliang cackled. "By that reasoning, I'm rather suited to cultivating this art too — only, having a whole swarm of venomous bees sting me, the very thought of it frightens me. Forget it! By the way, Paozi, what is your strength now?"
"My strength has already reached the peak of the late Yellow rank. I'll break through before many days pass. And when I break through to the Mystic rank, that will be the day Wei Zhao dies!" Zhang Naipao said with great confidence. "By then I'll come down the mountain and settle a score for you, Brother Liang!"
"You mustn't!" Zhong Yongliang was startled — on the one hand astonished that Zhang Naipao's strength had risen so swiftly, on the other unwilling to let him go down the mountain to his death.
"Mustn't? What do you mean?" Zhang Naipao could not help but be taken aback.
"Paozi, from what I know, Wei Zhao is at least at the early Mystic rank now!" Zhong Yongliang said. "What's more, even an external-style expert of the mid Mystic rank is no match for Wei Zhao — he has already been crippled by him. You must not be careless in the least!"
"What? How did Wei Zhao become that formidable? When I left, he was only at the mid-to-late Yellow rank!" Zhang Naipao was instantly dumbfounded. He had never expected that Wei Zhao had improved during this time as well!
You must understand: the orthodox cultivation methods absorb the spiritual energy of the natural world, and practicing them is incomparably slow! Even in places rich in spiritual energy, their speed cannot match that of the devil sects, let alone in a city!
Just how had this Wei Zhao been cultivating?
"Yes!" Zhong Yongliang nodded gravely. "That's right, Paozi. Wei Zhao truly is that formidable. An internal-style expert of the early Mystic rank, he can easily wound severely; we absolutely must not be careless! Until we hold absolute power over an enemy, we must never make an enemy of him! Only when we have absolute strength, enough to kill Wei Zhao in a single blow, may we strike! From what I know, that brat Wei Zhao can not only cripple experts of his own rank, he can even fight above his level against stronger opponents. He is truly a tough one to deal with!"
"That formidable?" Hearing Zhong Yongliang's words, Zhang Naipao's expression immediately turned grave. He knew very well what sort of man Zhong Yongliang was — he would never gratuitously boost others' morale while diminishing his own. If he said such a thing now, there had to be good reason for it, and so Zhang Naipao could not but be cautious, and then doubly cautious. So he said: "In that case, unless I reach the late Mystic rank or even the Earth rank, I could never fully defeat Wei Zhao. It seems I will not be able to leave the mountain for some time yet!"