Chapter 1758 — A Strange Turn of Events, Part One
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"A grand gift won't be necessary. Let the matter drop—I'm only a guest here, and I won't say another word about it." Wei Zhao did not specify what sort of guest he was: a guest of the Ice Palace, or merely a traveler passing through the town.
"Many thanks!" The man clasped his hands before him, relief plain on his face. As he saw it, an Earth Rank expert like Wei Zhao had said he would not hold it against them, and so naturally would not stoop to quarrel with Yellow Rank nobodies like themselves; having given his thanks, he and his men hurried away.
Wei Zhao, for his part, drew a deep breath. So it seemed that here there really did exist an ancient sect called the Dark Night Palace. He wondered how it compared with the Ice Palace. But even knowing this much, Wei Zhao had no thought of paying them a visit.
To say nothing of the fact that his strength was now only at the early Earth Rank—lofty and unattainable in the eyes of horse bandits, perhaps, but after witnessing the might of the Ice Palace, Wei Zhao knew that his little store of power amounted to no more than that of an inner sect disciple there, hardly worth mentioning.
Thinking of this, Wei Zhao grew all the more curious about the black phoenix in his hands. Would eating this thing really do a person any good?
"Come on, let's head back," Wei Zhao said to Tang Zhi and the others.
"Brother Shield, that Dark Night Palace the man spoke of just now—is it the same Dark Night Palace the hunter selling game mentioned? Does it really exist?" Shen Yushu asked, full of curiosity.
"It very likely does exist." Wei Zhao nodded. "But it may well be something on the order of the Ice Palace. Best not to go poking around. We'll spend the night here, then be on our way."
With these mysterious ancient sects, Wei Zhao wanted no great entanglement; at least, he had not yet climbed to such heights, and he would have no further dealings with them.
Once the group had returned to the hotel, Wei Zhao set about dressing the "black phoenix," preparing to make a pot of phoenix soup for everyone.
To that end, Wei Zhao had specially rented an induction cooker from the hotel, so that he might cook the game for the women.
"All right, I'm going off to cultivate. Keep an eye on the pot, and top up the water from time to time. This meat is tough—it needs a good long stewing," Wei Zhao instructed Tang Zhi and the others.
"Got it," Tang Zhi said with a nod.
Wei Zhao, meanwhile, went back to his own room to cultivate. All along this journey, whenever he had a spare moment, he would cultivate. At present his strength stood at the early Earth Rank, but not yet the grand consummation of the early Earth Rank; there was still some distance between him and the barrier before the peak of the early Earth Rank. So Wei Zhao meant, after entering the stone gate of the mountain cave, to raise his strength to the grand consummation of the early Earth Rank, so that when he cultivated the second level of the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art, he might swiftly advance to the peak of the early Earth Rank.
The black phoenix was indeed no ordinary pheasant: half an hour in the pot, and it showed not the slightest sign of turning tender. Yet watching a pot is a sore trial of patience, so the three women talked it over and decided that two would go inside to watch television while one stayed to mind the pot and keep adding water.
Tang Zhi stayed first; half an hour later Shen Yushu took her turn, and last of all Gu Mengyao...
At about the half-hour mark, Tang Zhi was on her way to swap shifts—but the scene that met her eyes stopped her dead!
Gu Mengyao had suddenly lifted the pot lid, pulled the black phoenix out of the pot, and was about to stuff it straight into her mouth and swallow it!
"Yaoyao, what are you doing?" Tang Zhi was frightened half out of her wits and cried out at once.