Chapter 1516 — Zhang Naipao Seeks Help: Zhao Qitan and the Others All Believed That Wei Zhao Had Been Healing His Wounds All Along, and Though Some Time Had Passed, They Were All Cultivators and Knew Full Well That Even a Trifling Internal Injury Might Well Require a Day and a Night of Rest, Which Was Nothing Out of the Ordinary in the Least!

Only Yubing and Yang Qiqi exchanged a knowing glance, each reading a trace of worry in the other's eyes. Both knew well what heaven-defying healing arts Wei Zhao possessed; an injury as grievous as Yang Qiqi's had once taken him no more than a moment's work to mend.

Yet now Wei Zhao had spent an entire afternoon and still had not finished healing. How heavy, then, must his own wounds be?

But though the two of them fretted, neither spoke a word. This matter must never be allowed to reach anyone else's ears, least of all Zhao Qitan's.

"It's night, and you all must be tired. Rest first if you like. I'll hold the watch here." Seeing that darkness had fallen, Zhao Qitan spoke to Yang Qiqi and Yubing.

"That's not necessary. We are all cultivators; a night without sleep is nothing to us. Besides, the spiritual qi of heaven and earth here is thick and rich, and very well suited to cultivation," Yubing said. "Why don't we cultivate and keep watch by turns tonight?"

"That works as well," Zhao Qitan said with a nod, raising no objection.

In the latter half of the night, Wei Zhao regained his strength. To his slight regret, he did not break through again. Perhaps because his last breakthrough had come so recently, this time he recovered only to the late Mystic Level he had held before.

Yet were others to learn that Wei Zhao felt regret merely at regaining his strength, they would likely vomit blood on the spot. Zhang Naipao and Feng Nitian, for instance, were at this very moment a hundred times more wretched than Wei Zhao.

"Hoo!" Wei Zhao rose to his feet and let out a long breath. In an instant the strength of the late Mystic Level showed itself in full.

Yubing and Zhao Qitan alike had gone without sleep, sitting upon the ground cultivating as they waited for Wei Zhao to recover. So when Wei Zhao stood up, they all emerged from their cultivation. Zhao Qitan and Zhao Qijiu were unperturbed, but Yubing and Yang Qiqi hurried at once to their feet, delight written plainly on their faces.

It seemed Wei Zhao had recovered.

"Ling Yi, you've healed?" Yubing asked, overjoyed.

"Yes, I'm well. It was nothing to begin with, just a small wound." Wei Zhao understood what Yubing meant, but with Zhao Qitan present he wore an air of complete indifference.

"Then that's good!" Yubing understood his meaning in a flash. "Haha, it's only that I saw how gravely Feng Nitian was wounded and wondered whether you had taken serious hurt as well. But you recovered so quickly, so it must have been a light injury after all!"

"Naturally. Brother Ling is the foremost man beneath the Earth Level; how could he suffer grave wounds?" Zhao Qitan said, all flattery. "Among the Mystic Level, I doubt Brother Ling has a rival left. Even against an Earth Level expert, he would have the strength to give battle!"

"Enough, everyone rest. My thanks for guarding my cultivation earlier. Now it is my turn to keep watch, so you may all sleep at ease." Wei Zhao did not take Zhao Qitan's flattery to heart in the slightest. He was not a man who cared to be flattered. He knew precisely how much strength he had, and whether he could cross blades with an Earth Level expert was not a thing that words could settle.

"Ling Yi, aren't you going to rest?" Yubing asked, a little puzzled. But then she remembered that Wei Zhao had likewise replaced sleep with cultivation before, and understanding dawned. "That's fine too. Then we won't stand on ceremony. A good night's sleep, and tomorrow we rise and go on searching for natural treasures!"

Zhao Qitan was drowsy too, and hearing Wei Zhao say so, he did not stand on ceremony either. "Very well then. We'll trouble you, Brother Ling. We'll sleep a while."

In Zhao Qitan's eyes, with Wei Zhao here, no trial participant would be foolish enough to come looking for trouble with them. Would that not be the same as seeking death? Did they imagine themselves stronger than Zhang Naipao or Feng Nitian?

Unless, of course, Wei Zhao himself meant to move against him. But if Wei Zhao truly intended to strike at Zhao Qitan, then asleep or awake made no difference at all. Zhao Qitan absolutely did not believe himself stronger than Zhang Naipao or Feng Nitian. If Wei Zhao wished to strike, he could put him to death here and now; there was no need whatsoever to wait until he was asleep.

So Zhao Qitan dropped to the ground and slept, calm and untroubled, paying no mind to what dangers might come.

Seeing Zhao Qitan so utterly at ease, Yubing shook his head and smiled. This fellow really was a character; he was far more formidable than his own cousin by blood. Yet who would in the end head the Zhao house was not for Yubing to say. That was the Zhao family's own affair.

Yubing and his cousin had never been close. It was not as though the cousin's becoming head of the Zhao house would win Yubing any benefit. Relatives they might be, but where the interests of the house were concerned, interests came first.

And never mind a cousin; even a clan kinsman like Yushan could turn into an enemy over interests.

So Yubing had no real trouble dealing with Zhao Qitan; he merely thought the fellow's habit of trimming his sails to every wind made for poor character.

...............

At the seat of the Tomorrow and Tomorrow Sect, meanwhile, Zhang Naipao had by now rushed back to his own sect. He had driven to the nearest airport, then flown back to the city where his sect was located. His present strength could no longer sustain a long journey.

But this way, he had made rather better speed.

"Brother Naipao, how is it you? Weren't you taking part in the trial?" asked the disciple guarding the mountain gate, puzzled to see Zhang Naipao coming up the mountain.

"Mm..." Zhang Naipao's heart was afire with urgency; he had to see his master. He had no leisure now to say much to the gate-keeping disciple. His thoughts were a tangled mess; he did not know how he was to face his master.

He was the pride of the Tomorrow and Tomorrow Sect, a disciple even the sect's ancestral elders regarded highly. Yet in the trial his meridians had been severed one and all, and he had become a cripple. What face did he have left to meet these people who had pinned their hopes on him?

Watching Zhang Naipao's departing back, the gate-keeping disciple frowned, cursing inwardly: "Damnation, putting on airs! Just a dead eunuch, that's all he is. If I had castrated myself I'd surely be stronger than him! But I'm no fool. I know I've not the aptitude to advance to the Heaven Level, so once I've cultivated my way to the Mystic Level, I'll go out to the secular world and serve as a close guard, living the sweet life, personal bodyguard to some campus belle or the like. What a cushy life that would be!"

Of course, he did not yet know that Zhang Naipao was ruined. Had he known, he likely would not have uttered even that "Brother Naipao."

"Master! I beg you, Master, save me!" Zhang Naipao arrived before the gate of his own master, the present head of the Tomorrow and Tomorrow Sect, and fell straight to his knees upon the ground. He was terribly afraid, afraid his master would abandon him and drive him down the mountain. If that came to pass, Zhang Naipao would sooner be dead.