Chapter 3539 — The Cave Encounter, Part Two
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"Appear again?" Wei Zhao was taken aback. "You're leaving?"
"Not leaving. It's hard to explain—you'll understand when the time comes," Jiao Yazi said.
"All right." Wei Zhao knew Jiao Yazi's ways well enough: if he did not wish to speak of something, no amount of asking would draw it out of him, and odds were he did not even know himself. "Then what's inside this little box?"
"Nothing much. Won't you find out for yourself once you're back? Why ask me?" Jiao Yazi laughed. "As things stand, whatever I know, you know nearly all of it. My mission, I suppose, is more or less complete."
"Very well." Wei Zhao sighed and turned to leave the cave. There was still some time before daybreak; he sat cross-legged at the cave mouth and waited for the sky to lighten, and waited on until the stone door had shut completely before he rose and left the place, returning to the inn in the little town.
Though nothing of value remained in the Xuanyuan Cave Mansion, it was a piece of Wei Zhao's own memories, and he had no wish for others to find the place or despoil it. That was why he had waited until the stone door was fully sealed before departing.
Back at the town inn, it was time for Wei Zhao to go. He took his leave of Old Man Wei—this parting might last a few months, or it might last years; everything depended on whether his affairs on Cloud Terrace Island went smoothly.
Old Man Wei, however, was wholly in favor of his going to Cloud Terrace Island. When Wei Zhao told him of his decision, the old man merely nodded and smiled. "Very good. In the secular world you had no patron to lean on, and you have made your way to this day on your own strength; on Cloud Terrace Island, too, you can carve out a place for yourself by that same strength!"
What Wei Zhao did not say was that Zhang Lifeng of Cloud Terrace Island might also count as a patron—though whether he would meet Zhang Lifeng at the outset, and whether his own level would even qualify him for an audience, was all unknown.
Most likely it was only after he had reached a certain tier that such a patron could be of any use; before that, he would have to rely on himself.
What Wei Zhao did not know was that it had been the same in the secular world: only after he had risen to a certain level had Lin Dongfang stepped forward once, to settle for him that unforeseen complication, the Blood-Clad Yellow Springs Sect. At all other times, he had relied on himself alone.
Bringing the women back to Yanjing City, Wei Zhao did not linger in Donghai City but went straight to find Feng Tianlong and Qiu Lingshan. He meant to cure the two of them, and then summon all his underlings from the secular world for a unified meeting, to discuss and arrange everything for after his departure.
Healing Feng Tianlong and Qiu Lingshan and raising their strength to the peak grand perfection of the late Heaven Rank was no difficulty for Wei Zhao. He had originally fretted over the ingredients for the Qi-Gathering Pills, but now that he had Tianchan, young sect mistress of the Xuandan Sect, those ingredients were his for the asking.
The underlings who would not be going with him to Cloud Terrace Island were all gathered together as well—Wei Zhao had even sent for Brother Dafeng and Kun Cun.
These underlings, Wei Zhao had to make sure, would all know one another and be able to help one another, united in common cause against a common foe.
Some of them knew each other already, some did not; but with a guiding spirit like Wei Zhao among them, they could all be drawn together well enough.
Wei Zhao also told them that he might be gone for months or for years, and that they were to stand united, to stir up no trouble—but to fear none either—and to submit themselves to the unified management and deployment of Qiu Lingshan's Bureau of Mysterious Investigation.