Chapter 3514 — Borrowing the Tiger's Hide to Raise the Banner
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
At this thought, Wei Zhao heaved a sigh. Xue Li had not been wrong—Snow Valley had, on the whole, shown him kindness. Yet something still puzzled him. "Tang Zhi is already a legacy-bearer, and I would never force her to give that up. In fact, Gu Mengyao, Shen Yushu, and Yu Ning all entered their respective sects as trial participants with my blessing. So what are you guarding against? Why must you make me forget Tang Zhi? What did you do to me?"
"The mantra and oral formula of our Snow Valley's heart method differ from those of other sects. Not all legacy-bearer sects are the same," Xue Li said. "What Snow Valley cultivates is the Art of Heartlessness. One must be heartless before one can break through to the heaven tier's great perfection. True, legacy-bearers face no barriers in their cultivation, but if their own mantra and oral formula cannot break through, it is useless all the same. Our original plan was to let Tang Zhi forget you and then cultivate the Art of Heartlessness. But Tang Zhi feared you would suffer the pain of such a parting, so she gave you the heartless herb liquid to drink. And so you forgot her. That way, she would bear the pain of love alone and cultivate slowly; and since you had forgotten her, she would no longer harbor any longing for you, and could thus cultivate smoothly. Now Tang Zhi has only the final step left. Though you have remembered her, I hope you will not disturb her and will let her ascend smoothly to the heaven tier's great perfection. Otherwise, it will throw the entire legacy plan and the Cloud Tier Island plan into disorder."
"So that is how it is..." Wei Zhao drew a deep breath and nodded. "Very well. For the greater good, I can refrain from disturbing her. But once she has ascended to the heaven tier's great perfection, may we then acknowledge each other?"
"...Yes." Xue Li hesitated a moment but did not refuse, because she too knew that even if she wanted to refuse, Wei Zhao would not agree. His asking at all was merely a show of respect for her.
Besides, once Tang Zhi ascended to the heaven tier's great perfection, her next step would be ascension to the heavenly dao. At that time, how that ascension would proceed was still unknown, so Xue Li did not want to dwell on it.
"Good," Wei Zhao answered. From the corner of his eye he glanced at Tang Zhi, not far away. How he longed to take her into his arms. What a fine girl she was—to spare Wei Zhao pain, she had taken the suffering upon herself!
How Wei Zhao longed to tell her that he missed her, that she had suffered much these days. But his promise to Xue Li forbade him from doing so. "Take Tang Zhi and go. I am going to lure out the Dragon of the Five Baleful Breaths."
Xue Li nodded without a word and walked toward Tang Zhi.
Tang Zhi had been waiting anxiously the whole time for some outcome. She did not know what Xue Li and Wei Zhao had discussed, nor had she used the senses of a heaven-tier expert—because the moment she did, Xue Li would surely notice.
Still, though Tang Zhi did not know what Xue Li and Wei Zhao had said, it was obvious that the two had reached some agreement. Tang Zhi sighed and withdrew to one side with Xue Li.
The most disappointed of all were Feng Xiaoxiao, Gu Mengyao, and Shen Yushu. All of them had been hoping that Wei Zhao and Tang Zhi would acknowledge each other; Shen Yushu and Feng Xiaoxiao had even agreed beforehand to shout "Together, together, together!" when the moment came.
But Xue Li and Wei Zhao had given them no chance at all.
Wei Zhao walked toward the Dragon of the Five Baleful Breaths' cavern, while Tian Chan organized the legacy-bearers to take cover to one side of the cave mouth.
Tiptoeing into the dragon's cavern, Wei Zhao found that the Dragon of the Five Baleful Breaths seemed to have known long ago what was happening outside. It was staring fixedly at the cave mouth, and at the sight of Wei Zhao it gave a somewhat surprised yawn. "Roar—why is it you?"