Chapter 3026 — The Strange Little Shu (Part One): Fiery Cloud Sees Shen Yushu Addressing Gu Mengyao as Elder Sister and Concludes She Must Be Wei Zhao's Concubine, Yet He Dare Not Offend Her, and Can Only Ask Meekly
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 3
"High school?" Fiery Cloud was taken aback once more. He knew nothing of how Zhang Naipao had taken a master, and since Zhang Naipao was so formidable, he had assumed the man had cultivated within the Tomorrow Upon Tomorrow sect since childhood as one of its core disciples. But if Gu Mengyao was his high-school classmate, and she looked to be no great age herself, then Zhang Naipao could not have joined the Tomorrow Upon Tomorrow sect long ago. He asked at once, "Might I ask what year you are in now?"
"First year of university. Why do you ask?" Gu Mengyao found Fiery Cloud's question rather odd.
"Then... that means Zhang Naipao joined the Tomorrow Upon Tomorrow sect three years ago at most?" Fiery Cloud found it unbelievable that Zhang Naipao could possess such strength in so short a time. Was the Tomorrow Upon Tomorrow sect simply that formidable, or was Zhang Naipao's talent simply that monstrous?
"Less than a year, even," Gu Mengyao shook her head. "His advancement has indeed been fast, even a little faster than Wei Zhao's. At the very beginning, Wei Zhao was a Yellow-Rank expert and Zhang Naipao was an ordinary man, but now both Zhang Naipao and Wei Zhao are early Heaven-Rank experts..."
"Pfft... cough, cough, cough..." Gu Mengyao's words sent Fiery Cloud into a fit of coughing from sheer shock! Zhang Naipao's rapid advancement he could accept, for that was the Tomorrow Upon Tomorrow sect after all, one of the mightiest of the ancient sects. But Wei Zhao was a lone wanderer, a loose cultivator, and he too had climbed from the Yellow Rank to the Heaven Rank in under a year. What kind of concept was that?
One had to understand that advancement for a loose cultivator was a thing of immense difficulty, and Wei Zhao was moreover young, rising at breakneck speed. To Fiery Cloud this was beyond imagination! How was this Zhang Naipao faster than Wei Zhao? Plainly Wei Zhao was faster than Zhang Naipao by no one knew how many times over!
How could a loose cultivator and the scion of a sect even be compared? And besides... Fiery Cloud suddenly realized something: had Wei Zhao not previously been a late Earth-Rank expert? In the trials, with only late Earth-Rank strength, he had defeated Zhang Naipao of the early Heaven Rank. Yet now, after so short a time, Wei Zhao had stepped into the early Heaven Rank? Did that not make him all the more formidable?
In Fiery Cloud's eyes, the true worth of Wei Zhao's early Heaven Rank far exceeded Zhang Naipao's. If Zhang Naipao remained at the early Heaven Rank now, then Wei Zhao could crush him utterly.
"What is the matter with you?" Gu Mengyao looked at Fiery Cloud in bewilderment. In truth, she had deliberately brought up Wei Zhao's strength out of lingering distrust for Fiery Cloud: by laying out Wei Zhao's power, she ensured that if Fiery Cloud truly harbored ill designs, he would not dare act rashly.
"Nothing... Brother Lin is formidable indeed. Might I ask when Brother Lin will return?" Fiery Cloud asked.
"That is hard to say. If you wish to see him, you may come by often to check," Gu Mengyao said.
"Then... might I trouble you to let me stay here a while and wait for Brother Lin's return?" Fiery Cloud asked. His thinking was entirely in the manner of the martial world; to him, paying a call on someone and lodging in their home was the most natural thing in the world, for many ancient sects were tucked away in remote mountains and ancient forests where inns were exceedingly rare, and most visitors simply stayed within the host sect's grounds.
"That would be rather inconvenient, would it not? We are hardly well acquainted," Gu Mengyao said, refusing Fiery Cloud's request.