Chapter 2067 — How to Prove It
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
"A disciple I will not take—at my age I have no intention of taking disciples. But if you are willing, I can take you on as a follower!" Wei Zhao said. "Your loyalty, however, remains to be tested!"
"Thank you, Elder Lin!" At Wei Zhao's words Han Xiaohu rose quickly to his feet, cupped his fist and said, "Leader above, please accept this follower's bow!"
With that, Han Xiaohu bent at the waist and bowed to Wei Zhao with the utmost respect.
"You are quick to react, climbing the pole the moment it is offered—I had barely finished speaking and you were already on your feet!" Wei Zhao smiled faintly and waved a hand. "But fine words are cheap; what matters is how you perform from here on. When I take on followers, what I value is not your personal strength but your loyalty!"
"Elder Lin... no, Leader Lin, my loyalty is absolute, I swear I will obey the Leader's command from now on!" Han Xiaohu said hurriedly.
"Since you have loyalty, then I can give you strength," Wei Zhao said. "You asked to be my disciple because you wanted to raise your own strength, did you not? Well, my followers enjoy the same treatment! I trust the hidden Han family has already looked into my affairs, and knows how the few followers at my side stand—their strength before and their strength now is plain for you to see..."
"So that is it..." Han Xiaohu had indeed investigated the circumstances of those around Wei Zhao, and the whole hidden Han family had been puzzled—how was it that Wei Zhao's followers, and even the women close to him, had all seen their strength surge at once? Most had begun as early Huang-rank hands, and now they had become peak late Xuan rank outright—the speed of their advancement was simply a little unbelievable!
Of course, puzzled as they were, they could not see through to the secret behind it, and only now, when Wei Zhao spoke of it, did Han Xiaohu suddenly understand—so it was Wei Zhao's doing! At the thought that he too might raise his strength, a surge of wild joy rose in Han Xiaohu's heart!
Was this not precisely what he had been striving after all this time? If he could raise his strength—even if only to the peak of late Huang rank—then the family would bestow upon him twenty Spirit-Gathering Pills to help him break through from Huang rank into Xuan rank!
And then Han Xiaohu's strength would stand far ahead of the other third-generation juniors of the hidden Han family, and the position of third-generation young heir would belong to none but him!
"Leader, Xiaopo swears to heaven: for this life he will obey the Leader alone, and should I break this oath, let all my strength be stripped from me, let me never cultivate again, and let me become a useless cripple!" Han Xiaohu swore to heaven at once.
Oaths, Wei Zhao did not put much faith in—before absolute strength, an oath is sometimes no more than a joke.
And yet Han Xiaohu's was a vicious oath indeed: to lose all strength and never cultivate again would be a nightmare for any cultivator, and as a rule a cultivator of even a little integrity would not swear by such a thing. Han Xiaohu spoke it to show Wei Zhao his heart.
"How can you prove your loyalty?" Wei Zhao looked at Han Xiaohu and asked mildly.