Chapter 3675 — What Comes Next
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 3
"Then... do you plan to go to the South Island next?" Wei Zhao asked cautiously.
"We'll see. In the state this old man is in now, what good would it do me to go back to the South Island? Without the strength to back it up, I'd rather keep it out of sight and out of mind!"
Ghost Thing mocked himself, paused a moment, then said, "When you've climbed to a certain level of strength, boy, this old man may ask a favor of you. But for now, you'd best settle down and cultivate in peace. With the paltry strength you have, if you dared set foot on the South Island, you wouldn't even be enough to fill the gaps between someone's teeth."
Wei Zhao gave a wordless, rueful laugh. What Ghost Thing said was true enough, but talk like that was a bit too discouraging.
Be that as it may, now that he had finally gotten to the bottom of Ghost Thing's origins, the heart Wei Zhao had kept hanging was at last set at ease, and he secretly counted himself fortunate besides. To have such a senior spirit beast for a backer—even if that senior no longer possessed any formidable strength—was still a vast treasure trove!
The night passed without incident. By the time Wei Zhao emerged from the jade pendant's space, restored to his full peak, it was already the second day. Since the Heart-Eating Linglong Grass was now in hand, the chief purpose of this journey had been achieved, and what remained for Wei Zhao carried a certain air of wanting nothing further.
Of course, wanting nothing further did not mean doing nothing at all. It was a rare thing to take part in a newcomer's trial; if he went back without claiming first place in points, Wei Zhao would feel he had let down the Heaven-Thunder Pig, that cheat of a treasure-finder.
After all, a Foundation Establishment Pill plus ten spirit jades as a reward was a prize enticing even to Wei Zhao.
The value of the Foundation Establishment Pill went without saying. Even if Wei Zhao had no use for it himself, to Xiao Che and Qiao Hongcai it was a prize they could only dream of. As the one who led the two of them, Wei Zhao owed it to them to fight for a little benefit, if only to keep them loyal to the death.
As for the ten spirit jades, Wei Zhao happened to be desperately short of spirit jades just now—and besides, with ten spirit jades coming to him so openly and aboveboard, that pack of unscrupulous fellows around Meng Jueming would surely scheme to swap them out with worthless jade.
In that case, the value to Wei Zhao would not be ten spirit jades but thirty at the least—and that was no small sum.
He released the Heaven-Thunder Pig, and set off: searching out nearby spirit herbs to rapidly pile up points on the one hand, and on the other using the map to fix his bearings as he made for Three Creeks Junction, where he had agreed with Xiao Che and the other to meet before the trial began.
With the great canyon—that landmark on the map—to serve as a reference, a little reckoning of direction was enough for Wei Zhao to confirm his position with relative ease.
By their prior agreement, he need only reach Three Creeks Junction by noon one day before the trial's end, and a full day still remained to spare. But Wei Zhao's present position was simply too far from Three Creeks Junction, and he had to spare effort along the way for gathering spirit herbs, not to mention the nights when travel was impractical. Setting out now was, in truth, not early at all.
After a whole day's tramping, with the help of the Heaven-Thunder Pig, that cheat of a treasure-finder, the points shown on Wei Zhao's back-basket had already shot up to one thousand six hundred and eighty—a score to rival the best results ever seen in any past newcomer's trial.