Chapter 3995 — The Origin of the Pills
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
At this, even Steward Linghua had nothing left to say.
The doubt Xu Lingchong had raised was one that everyone present secretly shared; they had merely reckoned it likely concerned private matters, and since it was none of their own affair, there was naturally no need to play the villain and make enemies.
But now that Xu Lingchong had asked outright, they were only too glad to hear Wei Zhao's explanation.
In truth, with Steward Linghua as witness, the authenticity of the two top-grade Foundation Establishment golden pills was beyond doubt; the only question Wei Zhao now faced was where the pills had come from.
Xu Lingchong had said it before as well: Wei Zhao, like Kang Jingming, was a pill refiner. So the one remaining question on everyone's mind was simply this—had these two top-grade Foundation Establishment golden pills actually been refined by Wei Zhao's own hand?
To be sure, a mere newcomer of the Azure Cloud Pavilion refining top-grade Foundation Establishment golden pills sounded like a tale from the Arabian Nights, but after all, there was the precedent of Zhang Lifeng; however slim the possibility, it still existed.
What was more, quite apart from refining them himself, it was equally far-fetched for a mere newcomer of the Azure Cloud Pavilion even to produce two top-grade Foundation Establishment golden pills. Yet the facts now lay before their eyes, and they had no choice but to believe.
"Wei Zhao, don't you mean to give everyone a proper explanation? If you can't offer a fitting account, we are fully entitled to suspect these are stolen goods—that you took plunder and gave it to Junior Sister Lan'er as a birthday gift. This is no laughing matter; what the consequences would be, I need hardly spell out." Xu Lingchong, thinking he had seized Wei Zhao's fatal weakness, sneered again and again.
With every eye in the hall upon him, Wei Zhao was taken aback for a moment and could not help falling into hesitant silence.
By his original reckoning, Wei Zhao had not wished anyone to know he could refine top-grade Foundation Establishment golden pills. After all, an innocent man is guilty for possessing a jewel; once word of this spread, it would surely stir up a monstrous storm and could well bring consequences beyond all reckoning.
With his present paltry strength, he might very well be seized outright by those with ulterior motives and turned into a pill-refining machine. This, too, was why he had never had dealings with the Dan Hall. His strength was simply too low—had he been at the Golden Core stage, things would not have come to this.
That was why he had deliberately handed the gift to Shangguan Lan'er in private today: to avoid prying eyes and keep the matter from being spread abroad by the ill-intentioned.
His choice to give Shangguan Lan'er top-grade Foundation Establishment golden pills had been purely out of goodwill. With a woman like Murong Zhen eyeing her covetously, it was safer for Shangguan Lan'er, even as the eldest young miss, to raise her own strength as quickly as possible.
And for one like Shangguan Lan'er, who had no love of cultivation, a Foundation Establishment golden pill—an experience pill free of any side effects—was simply the perfect gift.
Moreover, since the Devouring-Heart Luminous Grass was already secured, Wei Zhao himself had no worry of lacking Foundation Establishment golden pills for the time being; so giving these two ready-made ones to Shangguan Lan'er was hardly improper.
What he had never in his wildest dreams expected was that through a freak twist of circumstance these two top-grade Foundation Establishment golden pills would be exposed before the crowd. This truly caught Wei Zhao off guard. Had he known, he would never have given any Foundation Establishment golden pills at all.
But matters had already come to this pass; it was too late for regret.