Chapter 1357 — Seen Through

So long as Wei Zhao was willing to lend a hand, turning the whole family into first-rate fighters would be no great difficulty... Well, it seemed he had better start thinking of the Chen family's interests too.

It did look as though his little sister and Wei Zhao were on excellent terms - and better still, Wei Zhao seemed to treat his little sister even more kindly than he treated Qiu Lingshan. So the hope of the Chen family's future had come to rest on his little sister's shoulders!

At the thought of it Chen Yutian grew excited. Once he and Qiu Lingshan attended the Clan Assembly as early Mystic Rank experts, the standing of the Chen family and the Song family was certain to soar, and by then everyone would take the two of them for a pair of young prodigies!

But only Chen Yutian himself knew what he really was. A genius? Genius, my foot - he had become a genius only by leaning on his sister, and that was the plain truth of it.

In the darkness Wei Zhao could not see either, so he could not locate Qiu Lingshan with any precision; only by passing briefly into the jade pendant space could he make her out.

When Wei Zhao saw the Song girl standing there stark naked not far in front of him - chin up, chest thrust out - he was instantly abashed. Wei Zhao stole a look... Wei Zhao looked again... Wei Zhao sneaked one more glance... It seemed Qiu Lingshan's bosom was no smaller than Xiaoshu's. What a fine sight @#$%!!

Still, Wei Zhao felt he had better look less. Wallowing in such thoughts at a moment like this was really doing Feng Xiaoxiao rather dirty. The proper business was to raise Qiu Lingshan's strength so that the two of them could take on Elder Rain together.

"What are you sticking your chest out for? Afraid I can't reach you? Turn around!" Wei Zhao rebuked Qiu Lingshan.

"Ah?" Qiu Lingshan had never imagined Wei Zhao could actually see her - and now he had seen through her purpose on the spot. She could not help blushing; and what made it worse was that Chen Yutian was not far off. Hadn't he heard everything?

Qiu Lingshan had a great mind to shriek that she was mad enough to die, but she recalled Wei Zhao's temper and turned around meekly.

"Use up some of your own true qi," Wei Zhao said, walking over.

"Oh..." Qiu Lingshan nodded, turned around, circulated her true qi, and began venting her discontent upon the stone wall of the passage. She pictured the wall as Wei Zhao and rained punches and kicks upon it, not daring to utter a word of it.

"Enough, that will do. Stand still." So saying, Wei Zhao laid his hand against the meridians of Qiu Lingshan's body and began compressing the energy. After a while, when it was nearly done, he told her: "There. Now circulate your own inner-cultivation method."

It was not the first time Wei Zhao's hands had touched Qiu Lingshan's body, but always before with clothes on; this naked was a first. Her whole body went rigid for a moment, a formless heat stealing through her, and she could not help remembering a certain scene in the dungeon of the kidney-harvesting syndicate.

Wei Zhao waited a while. Finding that Qiu Lingshan did not respond, but only grew hotter and hotter, he could not help feeling puzzled. "What are you doing? Hurry up and start!"

"Oh, oh, oh, oh!" Qiu Lingshan jumped, then hastily swept those amorous thoughts from her mind, set herself with single-minded concentration to her inner-cultivation method, and began to cultivate.

Qiu Lingshan's whole situation and the entire course of events were essentially the same as Chen Yutian's. This forced way of breaking through was effective enough; it was only that the process hurt a great deal more than a natural breakthrough would have. Qiu Lingshan, though, was a tough little thing: it hurt her badly, yet she gritted her teeth and held out to the end without so much as a murmur, which won Wei Zhao's genuine admiration.

The energy had already been passed on; from here it was up to Qiu Lingshan herself. While Wei Zhao entered the jade pendant space to cultivate, he was in effect standing guard over her, keeping watch on her condition, half afraid she might not hold on and something go wrong.

Fortunately Qiu Lingshan was strong enough, holding on through gritted teeth the whole while; and likewise the heaven-and-earth spiritual qi around her grew ever more abundant. Wei Zhao knew this was the prelude to a breakthrough.

"Hoo -" Qiu Lingshan at last let out a long breath and sprang up from the ground! She had broken through too! She had reached the peak of the late Yellow Rank earlier than Chen Yutian, so her yearning to break through into the Mystic Rank was that much the stronger; now that she had done it, how could she not be overjoyed?

Qiu Lingshan bounded up, flung herself at Wei Zhao, threw her arms around him, and planted a smack on his cheek. "Wei Zhao, I adore you - I broke through!"

Qiu Lingshan left Wei Zhao at something of a loss. He wanted to push her away, yet some part of him rather enjoyed it, and his impression of the Song girl improved by the day. Wei Zhao was only human: with enough contact the old revulsion and aversion simply fell away, and Qiu Lingshan was, besides, very beautiful - so the pressure on him was considerable.

In fact, had Wei Zhao wanted to keep his guard against Qiu Lingshan, he could have slipped free without any trouble. But he had never set his guard against her at all; caught in her embrace, he meant to push her away and yet hesitated, and that was how the present situation had come about.

"All right, put your clothes on quickly - Old Hei and the others will be back before long," Wei Zhao said lightly, his face betraying nothing.

"Oh..." Seeing that Wei Zhao seemed to feel nothing whatsoever toward her, Qiu Lingshan was struck with sudden disappointment. She let go of him and dressed with haste, for she too feared Old Hei might return without warning.

Wei Zhao breathed a sigh of relief, no closer to understanding how the Song girl had come to fancy him. Could she be a masochist? He berated her from morning to night, and she seemed not to take it the least bit to heart.

Once Qiu Lingshan was dressed again, Wei Zhao switched on his flashlight. Only now did Chen Yutian, who had been waiting to one side, come over; catching sight of Qiu Lingshan, he nodded to her and smiled. "Congratulations - you broke through successfully too."

"Same to you!" Before Chen Yutian, Qiu Lingshan had recovered her usual poised and gracious manner. "It seems the Chen family will be cutting quite a figure at the Clan Assembly this time."

Chen Yutian smiled knowingly.

"Rest a while, both of you. I am going to study Mighty General," Wei Zhao told Qiu Lingshan and Chen Yutian.

Since Qiu Lingshan and Chen Yutian could level up, then Mighty General ought to be able to level up as well. If it could be made into an advanced Mystic Rank dog, that would be a fine thing indeed - and from then on, the safety of Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu would be assured as well.

"Very well, go ahead and study. We will hold the mouth of the passage for you; the moment Old Hei returns, I will let you know at once," Qiu Lingshan said with a nod.

Wei Zhao cast a glance at Mighty General and said, "Mighty General, would you like to level up? Just like them?"

With that, Wei Zhao pointed toward Qiu Lingshan and Chen Yutian.

For the fastest updates and a pop-up-free reading experience, please visit.