Chapter 717 — Even the Gods Cannot Save Him

Elder Zhu too was thunderstruck. Only now did he understand that he had lost with full justification: his opponent was a healer no less accomplished than Dr. Wang himself — small wonder the man had come through it all in one piece, hale and kicking!

"What do we do now?" Li Cihua asked.

"There is nothing we can do — for the moment." Dr. Wang shook his head. "Unless someone can dissolve the true qi sealed inside Li Dilei's body at the very instant I draw the needles, that qi will spread through him and wreak havoc on his flesh and meridians."

"Then..." Li Cihua's face soured. If even Dr. Wang could do nothing, was there any saving Li Dilei? Those silver needles could not simply be left in him for one day, two days — and neither could he go on pulling them out for the rest of his life. Judging by the places they had been set, once they were all drawn Li Dilei's whole body would mortify; he would never survive it.

"Whoever tied the bell must untie it. Wei Zhao and I do not belong to the same sect, so our methods of ruining a man differ. I do not know their sect's tricks, and this lies beyond me." Dr. Wang laid the whole of the blame upon the fact that he and Wei Zhao were not fellow disciples — his failure was no matter of incompetence, but simply that every sect kept its own peculiar art.

"Dr. Wang, are you saying I should go and seek out Wei Zhao?" Li Cihua's expression turned odd. What good would seeking Wei Zhao do now? Their hatred had long since become irreconcilable — where was the room for any smoothing over?

"Or I could consult the people of my own sect and see whether they have any notion," Dr. Wang said.

"Then I'll have to trouble you, Dr. Wang." Li Cihua thanked him hastily. So long as there was a single glimmer of hope, he had no wish to go begging Wei Zhao — going to the man would be little short of courting humiliation.

"All I can do is ask. After all, where sects differ, so do the directions of their study." Dr. Wang spoke thus to exonerate his master's house.

"I understand!" Li Cihua nodded.

Dr. Wang went off at once to telephone his sect for counsel, but they had no sure remedy either — partly because none of them had ever laid eyes on Li Dilei in person, and partly because this was the first time they had ever heard of such a technique.

"Well? What did they say?" The moment Dr. Wang hung up, Li Cihua pressed him eagerly; Li Dilei too wore a face full of hope.

"There is a way — but it cannot be carried out." Dr. Wang would not come out and say there was no way; that would make his sect look far too incompetent.

"Cannot be carried out? However difficult, so long as it saves Li Dilei's life — that is all that matters." Li Cihua spoke hurriedly. "Whatever you need, Dr. Wang, only say the word!"

"It would take an expert of the Earth tier or above, who at the instant I draw the needles would channel his power at once and dissolve the true qi inside Li Dilei's body." Dr. Wang paused. "But that would cost the man a great deal of his own true qi; as a rule, no one is willing to risk a drop in his strength to do it."

This was the more general expedient Dr. Wang offered; but when it came to actually doing it, no one would run the risk. Whose strength, after all, had not been wrung from years of bitter cultivation? Why squander one's own true qi on a stranger? Was one a fool?

Dr. Wang's words fell on Li Cihua like a bucket of cold water, quenching his temper in an instant. An Earth-tier expert — where on earth was he to find one? Mystic-tier practitioners were already as rare as phoenix feathers or unicorn horns, let alone Earth-tier! And even if he did find one, the man would be neither kin nor friend to Li Dilei; how could he ever be expected to risk dropping a rank in order to save him?

Li Cihua truly did not want to seek out Wei Zhao — but neither could he stand by and watch his cousin die.

"Brother, why don't you go to Wei Zhao? Whether it works or not, we have to give it a try. If he won't lift a finger, then I'll just die, and that's the end of it — I've only my own wretched fate to blame..." Li Dilei had not a shred of thought of revenge, and for good reason: even Young Master Bing had been beaten into a cripple by Wei Zhao, so what was he? With strength like his, going to Wei Zhao for payback would be pure nonsense. If Wei Zhao were so easy to take revenge upon, would Young Master Bing still be sitting in a wheelchair?

Li Cihua thought it over and saw the sense of it, and found his eyes drifting toward Young Master Bing — after all, the feud between Bing and Wei Zhao ran deep. If he went crawling to Wei Zhao now, would that not amount to showing weakness?

"Dilei has done a great deal for the Zhao family too; I cannot very well leave him to die." Young Master Bing waved a hand. "Just pretend I know nothing of it — and it will serve to sound Wei Zhao out besides!"

It had to be said that Young Master Bing was a past master at buying men's hearts — which was precisely why the Zhong father and son sold their lives to him. He had not spent so much as a single cent, yet he had handed Li Cihua and Li Dilei a favor for nothing.

"Thank you, Young Master Bing! The two of us brothers are truly fortunate to be allowed to work for you!"

"Enough. Go and find Wei Zhao, quickly. From now on, make more money for the Zhao family and for me — that is worth more than anything." Young Master Bing waved his hand, though in his heart his hatred for Wei Zhao deepened yet another layer. He was already turning over in his mind how to snuff out Wei Zhao once and for all and be rid of this lingering threat — one lethal stroke, if possible, leaving the man no room to strike back.

Otherwise, with a dangerous fellow like Wei Zhao loose in Songshan City, he would have to watch his every step in all he did — and who knew when he might bump into the man and take another beating from him? Would there be any life left in him then?

Li Cihua dared not dither; he dialed Wei Zhao's number straightaway. Wei Zhao's phone was no great secret — it was easy enough to look up, and Li Cihua had long since learned it from An Jianwen.

The four of them — Wei Zhao, Gu Mengyao, Shen Yushu and Tang Yun — had barely climbed into the car when a mobile phone began to ring. Wei Zhao picked it up and saw an unfamiliar number on the screen.

"Hello?" Wei Zhao answered.

"Wei Zhao? This is Li Cihua." Though fury raged inside him, Li Cihua kept his surface perfectly calm.

"Oh — Brother Cihua. What can I do for you?" Hearing Li Cihua's unhurried tone, Wei Zhao answered in the same unhurried vein, as if he had not the least idea what the call was about.

But that address — "Brother Cihua" — rang a little mocking in Li Cihua's ears. Did Wei Zhao even need to call him big brother? It rather seemed he did not need to at all!

This was the second time Li Cihua had spoken directly with Wei Zhao. The first had been in the Geili Fuyun Bar, where he had alternated threats with blandishments — only for Wei Zhao to pay him no mind whatsoever while, as an afterthought, dispatching the two Yellow-tier experts at his side. The venture had cost Li Cihua dearly.

"Forget it — let's not beat around the bush. My cousin Li Dilei's injuries — you did that, didn't you?" Li Cihua dropped all pretense; the rift between him and Wei Zhao could no longer be bridged.

"Is he hurt? He was bouncing about quite merrily when I left." Wei Zhao smiled. "By the way — don't tell me you were foolish enough to pull those silver needles out of him? That would be a terrible pity. Even the gods couldn't save him then."

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