護花近衛 - 第2916章 小九的沉默 - 翰墨軒

"Sister Qiqi, it would be a lie to say I never thought about my own family. When I was little, I did wonder what my real parents and family were like. But as time went on, I long ago came to see you, Brother A-Yi, my adoptive father and adoptive mother as my closest kin..." Xiao Jiu said softly. "And then suddenly, I have a family, and I feel as if I don't know what to do with myself... Sister Qiqi, let me have a little time to calm down, all right? Let me think it over, and then I'll get in touch with you..."

"All right..." Yang Qiqi nodded. "Xiao Jiu, then take some time to be quiet."

After hanging up, Yang Qiqi did not go straight to Wei Zhao. Instead she called Mother Zhou. Mother Zhou was another of Yang Qiqi's father's wives, skilled in hacking, and Xiao Jiu's teacher. To have her talk Xiao Jiu around was likely the most fitting choice.

But no matter how Xiao Jiu decided on her end, the trial at the Xuandan Sect had finally ended, and the trial's award ceremony was set for the next morning, in the square of the Xuandan Sect's inn.

It was called an award ceremony, but in truth it was merely a matter of handing out a symbolic certificate and recording each trial participant's request. If the pill they wanted was in stock, they could naturally take it with them; if not, they would have to place an order.

Few participants had successfully passed the trial—so few, in fact, that one might call the number pitifully small. A total of more than forty cultivators of Earth Rank or above had entered this trial, and reckoning that the spirit beasts had been killing two Earth Rank or higher experts every day, excluding the several days when the Five Demons Dragon had posted its mission earlier and the five-day extension after the fifteen days, roughly close to thirty Earth Rank or higher experts had been lost during the intervening ten days.

Yet the number of cultivators who passed this trial was also the highest of any year, so even with so many dead, no one would suspect anything.

Feng Shihua exchanged his reward for a Great Return Pill, and so did Ge Xian, Zhao Qilei, and Li Ciba—each of them exchanged for a single Great Return Pill. Feng Shihua wanted the Great Return Pill entirely for Feng Nitian; Ge Xian was a lone cultivator, and a Great Return Pill would serve to protect himself; Li Ciba was an external-school expert, for whom other pills were of little use—only the Great Return Pill could heal his wounds. As for Zhao Qilei, even he himself did not know why he had exchanged for a Great Return Pill.

Elder Bi was already dead, and the Great Return Pill was of no use to the Zhao family for the time being. But the finished pills the Xuandan Sect could offer were few, and he had only one trial spirit herb in hand; by the rules, he was not permitted to name a future delivery of a pill. Of course, such things also depended on the Xuandan Sect's mood—if the Xuandan Sect agreed, there would be no harm in it—but Zhao Qilei did not wish to stir up trouble.

Because of Zhang Naipao, what was exchanged was a Marrow-Washing and Bone-Transforming Pill. The Xuandan Sect had none of these in stock, but out of consideration for the Tomorrow and Tomorrow Sect, Tian Canbian agreed to let Kang Jingming refine one such pill for Zhang Naipao.

When it came to Wei Zhao's turn, however, Wei Zhao said directly to Kang Jingming: "Great Return Pill!"

Kang Jingming was taken aback, and Tian Canbian, sitting behind the scenes not far away, was startled as well. Was it not the Ice Heart Jade Bone Pill that Wei Zhao wanted? How had it become the Great Return Pill? Kang Jingming had already made up his mind: if Wei Zhao wanted the Ice Heart Jade Bone Pill refined, Kang Jingming would gladly agree. Even though Wei Zhao had only one trial spirit herb in hand, that did not matter—his plan was that once Wei Zhao brought the materials over, he would tell Wei Zhao the refinement had failed, and let Wei Zhao waste a whole pile of materials for nothing. RS