Chapter 1463 — Someone Else Has Arrived

"It seems... I have no choice but to stop here for now!" Wei Zhao shook his head. "I cannot tell whether the fault lies with me, or whether it is simply that there is no true qi left in reserve to sustain it."

Yet Wei Zhao did not give up. If the fire-kind pill fire would not answer, were there not also metal-kind, earth-kind, water-kind, and wood-kind pill fire? Wei Zhao tried them one after another; he refused to believe that he could not find a single pill fire suited to his own use.

So in the days that followed, Wei Zhao began experimenting with catalyzing water-kind pill fire. With the experience he had gained from the fire-kind pill fire, the process of catalyzing the water-kind was far easier than before. It took Wei Zhao only a single day to catalyze water-kind pill fire.

In any case, Wei Zhao had the jade pendant's space to sustain him, so he had no fear that his true qi would fail to keep up. Alchemists who cultivated as Wei Zhao did were truly rare, past or present! Most people, having failed with one kind of pill fire, would simply give up. The drain on true qi that experimentation brought was more than anyone could bear; even a Heaven-rank expert would need a spell of recovery before daring to attempt the next kind of pill fire. They did not simply switch to another the moment one failed, as Wei Zhao did, unburdened by the slightest pressure.

Wei Zhao's advantage was plain enough, yet the result disappointed him all the same. The water-kind pill fire had indeed been successfully catalyzed, but when Wei Zhao tried to alter the intensity and temperature of the flame, he failed once more.

"..." Wei Zhao sighed. Fortunately he had not wasted much effort, so he was not too disappointed. Were there not still metal-kind, wood-kind, and earth-kind pill fire he had yet to test? There was still a chance.

With fire-kind pill fire in his left hand and water-kind pill fire in his right, Wei Zhao toyed with them for a while, switching back and forth, and then began cultivating metal-kind pill fire.

But just as Wei Zhao succeeded in catalyzing metal-kind pill fire, a burst of voices came suddenly from outside the inn! Startled, Wei Zhao at once stopped cultivating and in a flash appeared at the window ledge, gazing out.

What Wei Zhao had not expected was that in the parking area before the inn's entrance there now stood a BMW X6 SUV. Before this, that parking area had held only Wei Zhao's own Grand Cherokee and the owner's Land Rover Discovery; this BMW X6 had clearly just arrived.

This small town lay in an extremely remote region to begin with, and hardly any traveler ever came here. And until now, apart from Wei Zhao's single room of guests, there had been no other guests in the whole inn at all!

When Wei Zhao had first arrived, he too had been curious about the place. He had wondered why a hotel in a small town should be so vast, and why its interior should be so exquisitely furnished. Only the name was rather old-fashioned: the Ice Mountain Inn. On the inn's signboard there was also a mark in the pattern of an ice flower, as though it were the chain logo of some company.

Wei Zhao was very curious: how could such a grand hotel stand in a small town where by all appearances no outsider would ever come? Was the owner not afraid of losing money? Of course, Wei Zhao was newly arrived, and where such business secrets were concerned, it would not do to ask outright.

And today, someone had come here again — which was what left Wei Zhao somewhat puzzled. What astonished him most, of course, was the BMW's license plate: it was a plate from Donghai City, near Songshan City. In other words, this person ought to come from roughly the same place as himself!

Once the BMW X6 was parked, two young men got out. Though the driver and the passenger were dressed much alike, from the driver's tone and manner he was plainly somewhat deferential, evidently treating the passenger as the one in charge.

The two must be master and servant.

"Young Master Tan, this is the hotel the invitation told everyone to report to. It is called the Ice Mountain Inn!" The young driver pointed at the Ice Mountain Inn's signboard as he spoke to the young passenger.

"Not bad. It seems we have arrived rather early; not many people have come here yet." Young Master Tan glanced at Wei Zhao's Grand Cherokee and the innkeeper's Land Rover beside their car. "Just as well — we can familiarize ourselves with the surroundings. Arriving early has its advantages; we can use the chance to court the other clans and sects, and see whether there is any possibility of cooperation!"

Young Master Tan plainly paid little heed to Wei Zhao's car or the owner's. After the young driver locked the car, the two walked straight into the Ice Mountain Inn's lobby to register their lodging.

"Hello. We are of the Hidden Zhao family of Donghai. This is the invitation we received. Might I ask when the Ice Palace's trial begins?" The young driver went up to the front desk and drew out a letter — precisely the letter bearing the ice flower mark that Zhao Guangyin had once held in his hand.

Large as the hotel was, there was not a single attendant in the lobby; only the owner sat alone behind the bar. Hearing the young driver's words, he said with a blank face, "Everyone who comes here knows about the trial. Otherwise, who would come? Show me your identity cards and register, then take your keys and go back to your rooms and wait."

"This... yes!" Young Master Tan nodded awkwardly. He had not expected this innkeeper to be so utterly sparing of courtesy, yet he did not dare feel the slightest displeasure. This was a place designated by the Ice Palace, so its owner must be one of the Ice Palace's people as well. And when it came to the Ice Palace's people, even an ordinary man was not someone the Hidden Zhao family could afford to offend!

Between hidden clans and ancient sects there was simply no comparing their weight — just as with the relationship between ordinary clans and hidden clans.

"Zhao Qitan, Zhao Qijiu — do you two want one room or two?" the owner asked, having registered the two men's identities.

These two were, of course, Zhao Qitan of the Hidden Zhao family and the outer-surname disciple Zhao Qijiu. Though Zhao Qijiu also bore the surname Zhao, it was a surname the Zhao family had given him after he came to them; the character qi in the middle showed that he was of the same generation as Zhao Qibing, Zhao Qitan, and the rest, while the number nine after it was simply a number. Other outer-surname disciples of the Zhao family were named Zhao Qishi, Zhao Qishiyi, and so on...

Some families deliberately choose a shared character in their names according to generation, while others care nothing for such things and would never name their children that way.

The Yu family and the Hidden Yu family, for instance, mostly chose names at random, never deliberately selecting a character to mark a generation; yet the Song family of Qiu Lingshan and the Chen family of Chen Yutian both gave their children a shared character in their names.

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