Chapter 1422 — A Little Sweetener

Generally speaking, whether one cultivated the internal school or the external, training began in childhood. Once a person was past the proper age, further cultivation was unlikely to yield much progress, for by then the meridians and bones had already taken their final form; no amount of diligence would produce any great result.

Zhao Qibing had of course missed that golden window, and so had never gone back to cultivating. In this he was just like Chen Yutian of old — had Chen Yutian not met Wei Zhao, he might well have trained his whole life away without ever achieving anything.

Of course, it was not that no means existed to remedy this defect. Wei Zhao's method was effective enough, but it was far too miraculous; an ordinary person could never hope to replicate it. So for the sects and the hidden clans there was another way to reshape a person's meridians and bones — a pill known as the Foundation Establishment Pill.

The Foundation Establishment Pill was not, in truth, a pill of any especially high grade, yet only a handful of people from the ancient sects knew how to refine it. The process was complicated, the success rate pitifully low, and the cost correspondingly outrageous. Unless one was a person of importance to the family, one would never be given such a pill.

That Zhao Qibing was permitted to take one meant that the Zhao family intended to formally bring him into its core ranks and raise him as a core descendant.

"All right. I will speak to your father at once. You make your preparations — I will send someone to fetch you back at any time," Zhao Guangyin said gravely.

"Yes, Father!" Zhao Qibing answered again and again. After all these years he had still never formally entered the Zhao family; this time would mark the true beginning of his march toward his dream.

...

Wei Zhao had not expected the little creature to be so stubborn. General Weiwu had been chattering away with it for quite a while now, and still it seemed reluctant to leave, wanting to go on living inside the tomb.

But the Thunder Pig was plainly no fool, and its deep attachment to Zhang Liju was understandable enough.

General Weiwu talked with the Thunder Pig a while longer, and then the Thunder Pig turned and led the general at a run toward a stone chamber at the back.

Seeing this, Wei Zhao rose at once and followed with Yu Xiaoke.

Inside that stone chamber, Wei Zhao found medicinal herbs of every kind piled on the ground like a mountain. Though many had long since dried, he could tell from their appearance that among them were no few rare and precious specimens.

And once the Thunder Pig had trotted in, it casually scooped up several of the herbs with its two front paws, stuffed them into its mouth, and began chewing with great relish.

The sight left Yu Xiaoke staring blankly, but Wei Zhao was prepared for it. He had read Zhang Liju's medical notes and knew that this creature raised its own strength by eating all manner of medicinal herbs; that it treated herbs as food was hardly surprising.

"Woof, woof!" General Weiwu said something more to the Thunder Pig, and the Thunder Pig said something back.

After that, General Weiwu raised its head and looked at Wei Zhao. It pointed a paw at the pile of herbs, then at the Thunder Pig, then waved its paw and pointed toward the door...

"You mean there are no herbs like these outside, so it doesn't want to leave this place — is that it?" Wei Zhao had more or less grasped the general's meaning, and asked hesitantly.

"Woof, woof!" General Weiwu nodded hurriedly, confirming that Wei Zhao had it right.

"So that's how it is." Wei Zhao looked at the mountain of herbs. Getting them all out would be a considerable undertaking. He had no legendary storage ring, and there was no machinery in this ancient tomb he could borrow; the difficulty of hauling these herbs out could well be imagined.

Yet if he did not move them, the Thunder Pig probably would not come with him either. The little thing was not so foolish as to miss the point: stay here and it could grow stronger; go out and that advantage would be gone. So it seemed its reluctance was not entirely out of fondness for Zhang Liju.

But if he took it out and then had to buy it such treasures of heaven and earth to eat, Wei Zhao truly did not have that much money to spare. And these things were not to be underestimated — a single crate of ginseng, lingzhi, and the like such as lay before him would cost a small fortune.

Nor could Wei Zhao trick the Thunder Pig into leaving first and then renege on his promise, for if the little creature were to turn stubborn on him, he would be powerless to do anything about it — and he still needed its help to find the Fire Spirit Sacred Fruit.

How was he to solve this problem? Wei Zhao found himself in a quandary...

That's it! Wasn't the Thunder Pig's aim simply to grow stronger? Well then — if he could strengthen General Weiwu, he could certainly strengthen the Thunder Pig as well!

At present the Thunder Pig was only at the mid Yellow rank, and he could raise it to the early Profound rank! Dangled such a prospect, would the little creature follow him?

Having finished the herbs, the Thunder Pig's true qi had increased slightly. Wei Zhao could sense it, but it was so very slight — negligible would be the word for it.

His mind made up, Wei Zhao strode over and came to stand beside the Thunder Pig.

The little creature seemed a little afraid of Wei Zhao, but it likely understood that he was an expert at the peak of the mid Profound rank, more than it could contend with; so though frightened, it dared not flee.

Wei Zhao bent down and laid a hand on the Thunder Pig, then worked the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art and passed a thread of energy into it.

The energy entered the Thunder Pig's body and in an instant became true qi, merging with its own — and just like that, its strength rose a level. Wei Zhao had transmitted only a tiny bit of energy, yet it far exceeded what the Thunder Pig had gained from all the herbs it had just eaten. The difference was nothing less than that between heaven and earth.

And Wei Zhao had given it only the merest taste of sweetness.

Seeing his idea succeed, Wei Zhao breathed a sigh of relief. It appeared that this little creature, like General Weiwu, practiced no mental cultivation formula at all; the true qi in its body was drawn in purely by passive means, much as it made use of treasures of heaven and earth.

Perhaps this was where spirit beasts differed from human cultivators.

This single act of Wei Zhao's made the Thunder Pig's eyes go wide, and it stared at him in something like disbelief. The little creature was no fool; it could naturally tell how vast the difference was between this thread of energy from Wei Zhao and the effects of the herbs it had been eating.

The benefit Wei Zhao had just given it was far greater than eating dried herbs for years on end.

Fastest updates; for pop-up-free reading, please visit.