Chapter 1469 — The Yu Family Arrives

Even the most supreme of inner cultivation arts could not possibly catalyze alchemy fire of so many attributes!

Was he a genius, or a fool? Wei Zhao smiled bitterly. He might be able to catalyze alchemy fire of all five elements, but that proved nothing at all. Jiao Yazi had said long ago that the true qi within his body was all-purpose true qi; since it was of an all-purpose nature, there was nothing remarkable in being able to catalyze alchemy fire of any attribute whatsoever. The crux of the matter was that Wei Zhao could not sustain control over the heat and temperature of the alchemy fire, and so even when he did catalyze it, he could not refine any high-grade pill. At his present level he could only refine the most ordinary of pellets, which did not even deserve to be called first grade of the Yellow Rank. A pellet, as such things were called, was merely the ingredients of a pill formula fused into a ball; there was no need for it to take pill form at all. And because of that, a pellet's effects were far inferior; it could not be spoken of in the same breath as a true pill.

Yet Wei Zhao was not greatly disappointed. Learning alchemy was, after all, no more than a pastime for his idle hours; whether he mastered it or not made no difference whatsoever to his present life, and he had no need to pursue it too deeply.

Wei Zhao had no master to guide him, after all — only a single notebook of an alchemist's insights, whose dry, lifeless words were utterly unfamiliar, things he had never once encountered before. After a few days, to have achieved what he had was already quite good.

So Wei Zhao meant to study it slowly, while in his spare moments he took to practicing the catalyzing of alchemy fire of different attributes with both hands at once. In the past he had only tried catalyzing one kind of alchemy fire with his left hand, and once that fire died out, catalyzing another with his right; never once had he attempted to catalyze two alchemy fires of different attributes simultaneously.

Of course, Wei Zhao did this purely for amusement. His thought was that in the future, when they went out to barbecue, he could put on a little show for Tang Yun, the young miss, and Xiaoshu — they would surely be delighted... He wondered whether Xiaoxiao would have awakened by then.

Only, this journey to gather the Fire Spirit Holy Fruit had grown rather difficult by now. The Ice Palace, appearing out of nowhere like a tiger blocking the road, had filled the path ahead with the unknown.

In the morning, Wei Zhao left the inn as usual and went out to the inn's parking lot to check on Feng Xiaoxiao. Although every night when he cultivated, his perception was locked onto Feng Xiaoxiao, he still wanted to look at her again each day.

In truth, the climate here no longer required an ice coffin at all; without one, a body would still be frozen stiff.

After locking up the vehicle, Wei Zhao was about to return to the inn when several cars came driving up from not far off — bound, it seemed, for this very parking lot.

Wei Zhao was not surprised. Having heard Zhao Qitan's words earlier, he knew that the other trial participants should be arriving within these next couple of days as well.

He did not know these people, nor did he care to exchange many words with them. Better to let Zhao Qitan go and strike up the conversation first; Wei Zhao need only stand quietly to one side and gather the intelligence he wanted. Say too much, and one was all the more likely to give oneself away.

Only, once these cars had parked, out of one of them stepped an acquaintance of Wei Zhao's!

Seeing him, Wei Zhao's heart stirred slightly. Had they met on some other occasion, Wei Zhao might have feigned ignorance and passed him by; but here, Wei Zhao urgently needed someone he could trust to talk things over with, and this man fit that requirement precisely.

There were things Wei Zhao did not wish to look back upon. Thinking of his former self, he sometimes felt a pang of emotion. The hidden families, was it... Those who had once seemed so lofty and remote — and now several of those families had become his enemies, perhaps even including the hidden Yu family!

Though Elder Yu did not know that he was Wei Zhao, with the affair of the mundane Yu family standing as it did, the hidden Yu family might well choose to intervene.

Wei Zhao stood where he was and did not move. The man had clearly caught sight of him as well; he started slightly, and paying no heed to those beside him, came striding over toward Wei Zhao!

"Yu Bing. It has been a long time," Wei Zhao said with a faint smile to the newcomer.

"You... what are you doing here too? Are you here for the Ice Palace trial as well?" Yu Bing found it almost inconceivable; he could not understand why Wei Zhao should appear in this place!

"Once you have checked in, come and find me. I am in room 201 — Ling Yi." Wei Zhao reminded him of the name at the last, trusting that Yu Bing would understand.

"Very well, then. I will see you shortly, Brother Ling!" Yu Bing nodded and took his temporary leave of Wei Zhao.

Given his ties through Yu Ning, it was only natural that he should address Wei Zhao as brother; this was no presumption on his part. After all, if matters went as they might, Wei Zhao would be his brother-in-law — and what sense would there be in calling one's brother-in-law elder brother?

Wei Zhao nodded, then quickly entered the inn and went upstairs.

Just then Yu Shan came over as well. Glancing at Wei Zhao's receding back, he said in that sneering, insinuating way of his: "Well, well — who would have thought my eldest brother had such ability? Barely arrived, and he has already roped in an ally?"

"A friend I made while out training in the past." Yu Bing clearly had no mind to introduce much to Yu Shan. Yu Shan and he were not of the same kind; how could he possibly tell him Wei Zhao's true identity?

"Truly admirable, the son of a family head — he even gets to go out and train, while the rest of us can only stew inside the clan. If not for this trial, I would not know in what year or month I might ever get out!" Yu Shan said, curling his lip.

Behind Yu Shan's car was the car of the hidden Pi family; they had met along the road. Behind them came several others from other hidden families and sects, but Pi Zhishan and Pi Zhihai had never seen Wei Zhao in person, having only heard his name, and so at this moment they did not suspect that the man before them was Wei Zhao.

Watching the Yu family's juniors, who had begun sniping at one another the moment they reached the inn, Pi Zhishan let a trace of mocking amusement rise to the corner of his mouth. By comparison, he and Pi Zhihai got along far better — Pi Zhihai had his heart set on cultivation and no mind at all for clan affairs.

Against Yu Shan's barbs and sneers, Yu Bing was utterly helpless. Who could help it that the younger generation of the Yu family were all so outstanding? It was a blessing for a clan — and a tragedy as well. Brothers scheming against one another would drag the family down toward ruin.

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