Chapter 1652 — Thinking of a Way: "Mother, what are you saying!" Tang Zhi said. "I am still your daughter — I was before, and I am now. Whatever you have to say, say it; I am listening..."
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"That's right — if anything, it's me who had better watch my step, so that Yun-yun doesn't end up nursing a grudge against me..." Xiao Ming said, laughing too.
"In the end I still have to go back to the Ice Palace. This place — Mother and Aunt — I'm leaving them all to you, Tang Zhi. Take good care of them for me!" Bing Tang sighed. The warmth of a family like this was pleasant enough while it lasted, but it lay far beyond her reach; once she was back in the Ice Palace, she would be that aloof Palace Master again, high above everyone else.
After the meal, Wei Zhao, Tang Zhi, Feng Xiaoxiao, Xiao Qing, Xiao Ming, Bing Tang and Tang Zhi's parents made ready to set out for the Hidden Tang family. On this visit, Xiao Ming also meant to tell Old Master Tang that she would be staying in Songshan City from then on, but she dared not bring it up herself; that was a word only Bing Tang could say for her.
The eldest young lady and Xiao Shu wanted to come along for the fun as well, but it was the Hidden Tang family's birthday feast, and the two of them had no kinship with the Tangs at all — not the remotest connection — so they had no reason to go. And it probably would not be much fun in any case. Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu stayed behind at the house.
"Wei Zhao, come with me!" Before they set out, Bing Tang called Wei Zhao aside alone into Tang Zhi's room.
"Oh?" Wei Zhao blinked in surprise, but catching the hint in Tang Zhi's eyes, he followed Bing Tang into the room all the same.
"You still haven't recovered your strength, have you?" Once inside, Bing Tang glanced at him and asked, flatly.
"Not yet. You have a way?" Wei Zhao was somewhat startled that Bing Tang should raise the matter with him on her own, though he supposed Tang Zhi must have said something to her the night before.
Sure enough, Bing Tang went on: "If Yun-yun hadn't spoken up for you, I wouldn't be troubling my head over your affairs at all."
"Ha..." Wei Zhao laughed at himself. Yes — he, a fine Mystic-rank expert, was not even Mystic rank anymore. Without that connection by marriage, why would Bing Tang ever spend a thought on him? But Wei Zhao was a proud and stubborn man, and after the laugh he said only: "Count this as the second favor I owe you. When I get the chance, I'll pay them both back together."
"There's no need for that! This time, turn it over as I might, I still can't help you!" Bing Tang said. "If it were Xiaoxiao, I could use my own true qi — force it into her body by transmitting power, and help her break through, even at the cost of some of my own strength. So long as Xiaoxiao, Yun-yun and Mother are happy, I would do it for you. But your constitution and mine are worlds apart, and so are the arts we cultivate. Xiaoxiao tells me the art you practice is of the pure yang attribute; if I poured my true qi into you, you would practically fall into qi deviation! There is no way you could ever refine my true qi into your own!"
On this point Wei Zhao quite agreed with her. A small quantity of foreign true qi he could force-refine, but a great mass of a different kind — that was beyond even him.
At that moment Wei Zhao even felt a touch of envy for Zhang Naipao. That fellow's cultivation art really was formidable: he could refine the differing true qi of different people, refusing none, taking as much as came. Wei Zhao was the exact reverse — he could convert the all-purpose energy within his own body into true qi of another's attribute, in whatever quantity was wanted. He and Zhang Naipao were perfect opposites.
Compared side by side, each had its strengths; but at this stage, Zhang Naipao's art would have been rather more useful for Wei Zhao's present circumstances.
"Then... apart from waiting until next spring for me to mix up an antidote, there is no other way to rid myself of the poison?" Wei Zhao asked, a little disappointed.