Chapter 1438 — Buy Another Villa

"Yes, yes—I told you, I'm Yushu the Prophet!" Shen Yushu nodded. "So you're not allowed to go back on your word!"

"But last time what we agreed on was that you'd stay in the villa. If you're going off to university in another city, then obviously it's not staying in the villa anymore," Wei Zhao said.

"The villa..." Shen Yushu thought for a moment, then hit on an idea. "When we go to another city, we can buy a villa there too, right, Uncle Gu?"

Gu Pengzhan was the one with the money here, so Shen Yushu naturally looked to him.

Gu Pengzhan was happy to have Wei Zhao stay as well, so he nodded. "Of course we can. That's no problem at all—it was my plan to begin with. Otherwise, when Uncle Qing and I go to visit you, we'd have nowhere to stay, wouldn't we? On weekdays you'll live at the school, and on weekends you can come back to the villa."

"Yes! See, Brother Arrow—what we said before was 'a villa,' but it never said which villa. So as long as it's a villa, it counts, right, Sister Yaoyao?" Shen Yushu took Gu Mengyao's hand and asked.

"How would I know what the two of you agreed on?" Gu Mengyao said. Though she acted as if she didn't care, she was secretly pleased. This little Yushu really did have foresight—every time, by some happy accident, she landed right on the mark.

"All right, then. Since it's a promise, I suppose it will have to be that way." Wei Zhao smiled wryly. "Uncle Gu, then I'll leave the matter of school to you."

"What's this about leaving it to me? You're the one looking after Yaoyao and Xiaoshu—if anything, I'm the one troubling you." Gu Pengzhan laughed. "By the way, when do you plan to set out? Is there anything you need to prepare?"

"Nothing much to prepare, really. I'll see how things look over the next few days—once I've settled the family business, I'll be off." Wei Zhao smiled. "The Fire Spirit Sacred Fruit doesn't have legs; it won't run away. So things at home have to be properly arranged first. I plan to have Wu Chengtian fill in for me for the time being, to protect Yaoyao and Xiaoshu."

"That's fine... but Wu Chengtian's strength..." Over this period, Gu Pengzhan and Uncle Qing had learned about Wu Chengtian too, and seeing how devoted and dutiful he was, they had come to accept him—only they were rather uneasy about his strength.

"His strength is no problem. I've already forcibly raised his internal power to the early Xuan rank. Right now he's an expert in both internal and external arts—not much weaker than I am. He's more than enough to protect Yaoyao and Xiaoshu!" Wei Zhao said.

Gu Pengzhan had already heard from Uncle Qing about Wei Zhao's ability to forcibly raise another's strength, so he was not surprised—but raising Wu Chengtian to the early Xuan rank gave Uncle Qing something of a shock. "You can... raise a person's strength to the Xuan rank now?"

Though the ambitions of Uncle Qing's youth, the pursuit of ever higher realms, had faded greatly with the passing of the years, being able to advance his own strength a step further would mean one more measure of assurance in protecting Gu Pengzhan and Gu Mengyao.

"I can. This time, while exploring the ancient tomb, I worked out a method for raising strength. After testing it on Qiu Lingshan and Chen Yutian, I've confirmed it's reliable and effective. So in a little while, Uncle Qing, if you've nothing else to do, come back to the villa and I'll help raise your strength!" Wei Zhao had seen through Uncle Qing's thoughts, and so he said.

"Good! Then I'll come back as soon as I've dropped Miss Gu and the others off!" Uncle Qing was truly impatient to raise his strength—after all, for a cultivator, this was an irresistible temptation!

Gu Pengzhan looked to Wei Zhao and settled the itinerary that would follow, then left the villa with Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu, with Uncle Qing seeing them off to work and school.

Wei Zhao stayed behind in the villa, waiting for Wu Chengtian's breakthrough. Though at this moment there was no need for Wei Zhao to stand guard, he was still afraid someone might break in and harm him—at this stage, Wu Chengtian had no ability to resist at all.

After everyone had left, Wei Zhao rose and returned to the room, only to see Wu Chengtian covering his lower body pitifully, stark naked, searching for clothes. Seeing Wei Zhao come in, he was immediately embarrassed. "Boss Wei Zhao, while I was breaking through, I accidentally blew my clothes to shreds..."

"Heh... that's normal. It happens to everyone." Wei Zhao was not surprised. "Just find something to put on. You and I are both grown men—what's there to be shy about?"

"It's not that I'm shy about being seen... it's that mine's a bit small..." Wu Chengtian grew embarrassed and took his hand away. "I was afraid you'd laugh at me, Boss Wei Zhao..."

"...Once you have a girlfriend, I'll make it bigger for you. For now, put your clothes on!" Wei Zhao was speechless.

"Huh? It can get bigger? Then thank you, Boss Wei Zhao!" Wu Chengtian was overjoyed, dancing about—happier than he had been at breaking through and advancing. He went off cheerfully to find clothes.

"How do you feel now?" Wei Zhao asked.

"It feels just wonderful. I never imagined I'd become an early Xuan-rank expert—and I cultivate both internal and external arts. I feel like I could even give my grandfather a fight!" Wu Chengtian said. "Crippling Uncle Zhu will be child's play!"

"Mm. Let's leave the matter of Uncle Zhu for a couple of days—until your strength has settled. Your real strength right now is still that of an early Huang-rank external expert; your internal cultivation method exists only to support the external, and it has no offensive techniques whatsoever. So you'd best strike while the iron is hot and raise your external skills as well—that's the proper course!" Wei Zhao knew Wu Chengtian's situation inside out, and he pointed straight at his weakness.

Although Wu Chengtian was also at the early Xuan rank, he differed from Qiu Lingshan and Chen Yutian. Qiu Lingshan and Chen Yutian had been internal experts to begin with, so after their breakthroughs they possessed the corresponding strength. He differed from Uncle Qing as well: Uncle Qing had once been an external expert, but that came later in his training—the method he had first cultivated was a superior internal one. So after Uncle Qing was raised, it amounted to using the external to support the internal, not using the internal to support the external as in Wu Chengtian's case.

In cultivating both internal and external arts, one still takes precedence and the other plays a supporting role; it is exceedingly rare for both to be superior methods. And the reason Wei Zhao had never continued training the external arts was precisely that he had never found a truly suitable, truly superior external method—so over the years he had made the internal his focus.

"I understand! Don't worry, Boss Wei Zhao—I know my limits and won't act on my own." Wu Chengtian nodded. "I'll work hard to raise my external strength!"

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