Chapter 1543 — The Promise of Two Years: "The Heavenly Tier Assembly!" the Ice Palace Master Said. "I Wonder Whether You Have Heard of It?"
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
Even now Wei Zhao did not know where the assignment had come from; Old Man Wei had never told him, perhaps because the time had not yet come. But Wei Zhao did not regret it, for it was this assignment that had truly shown him the meaning of life!
In Songshan City he had found friendship, love, a career, and ideals and aspirations of his own!
Though danger pressed in upon him every single day, his days were wonderfully full!
"What is it?" the Ice Palace Master asked.
"Did your master leave thirteen years ago?" Wei Zhao asked.
The Ice Palace Master's expression froze. She stared at Wei Zhao with some astonishment. "How did you know?"
"So it really was thirteen years ago?" Wei Zhao smiled ruefully. "I am afraid my master went away for this very same affair..."
"You? You have a master? Were you not an independent cultivator?" the Ice Palace Master asked in surprise.
"Once my master left, I was the only one remaining — doesn't that make me an independent cultivator?" Wei Zhao said.
"You belong to no sect? You have only a master?" The Ice Palace Master was more surprised still. "Was your master a Heavenly Tier expert as well?"
"Whether he was a Heavenly Tier expert, I could not say..." Wei Zhao shook his head.
"In that case, do you not know of Cloud Steps Island?" the Ice Palace Master asked. "Did he not tell you that once you broke through to the Heavenly Tier you were to go to Cloud Steps Island?"
"He did not," Wei Zhao said. "Perhaps he left in too much of a hurry and said nothing at all."
"That may well be. In fact, it was Aunt Qing who told me, long afterward; I was only six at the time and did not really understand these matters — all I knew was to bury myself in cultivation day after day." The Ice Palace Master spoke with a touch of feeling. "But that is all I know, and I have now told you everything."
"In other words, this affair may be dangerous, or it may not be — everything is unknown. Is that it?" Wei Zhao asked.
"You could say so." The Ice Palace Master nodded. "Well then? Have you decided?"
"How about this. You wait two years, and in those two years do not let Xiaoxiao receive the inheritance; let her cultivate only an ordinary technique. If I truly become a third-rank or higher alchemist and can refine the Ice Heart Jade Bone Pill, then I will refine one for you, and you will be the one to receive the inheritance. What do you say?" Wei Zhao pondered a moment, then set down his own proposal.
"And what if you cannot become a third-rank or higher alchemist?" the Ice Palace Master shot back.
"Then I will receive the inheritance!" At this, Feng Xiaoxiao herself spoke up!
"That will not do; there would not be time. The moment Cloud Steps Island opens falls within these next two years. If you have no Ice Heart Jade Bone Pill and Xiaoxiao receives the inheritance again, we may well run out of time," the Ice Palace Master said. "She is not like me. She has no strength of her own, whereas I stand at the peak of the late Heavenly Tier. Once she receives the inheritance, she must digest it herself before she can break through to the Heavenly Tier!"
"Then what do you propose?" Wei Zhao said. "If I really do refine the Ice Heart Jade Bone Pill within two years, then I won't stand for letting her take the inheritance!"
Wei Zhao had put it very plainly, and his meaning was unmistakable: whether the Ice Palace Master herself was in danger when she took the inheritance was none of his concern — but Feng Xiaoxiao, that was another matter entirely!