Chapter 1537 — Refusal

"Feng Xiaoxiao, I intend to take a disciple on my master's behalf, bringing you into the Ice Palace to study the supreme art of our Ice Palace!" the Ice Palace Master said. "What do you say?"

"I..." Feng Xiaoxiao was stunned on the spot. It had all come too suddenly, leaving her with no mental preparation at all, and she found it utterly baffling. Why would the Ice Palace suddenly want her to join?

Seeing Feng Xiaoxiao's expression, the Ice Palace Master assumed she was simply overwhelmed with excitement at the news. After all, the Ice Palace was an ancient sect, and countless people scrambled merely to compete for ten places as outer disciples, while Feng Xiaoxiao could not only become an inner disciple directly but would also be the Ice Palace Master's own junior sister, a position all but equal to the next Palace Master!

"I... why should I join the Ice Palace? Where is my hubby Wei Zhao? I want to see him!" Feng Xiaoxiao said blankly, unable to understand why the Ice Palace would suddenly make such a demand.

Feng Xiaoxiao's answer left both the Ice Palace Master and Xiao Qing stunned! From the sound of it, she did not want to join the Ice Palace? Could it be that they had all been indulging in wishful thinking?

"Feng Xiaoxiao, do you even understand your own condition?" the Ice Palace Master said with exasperated disappointment. "You possess a yin-cold constitution, a marvel unseen in a thousand years. That constitution was born to cultivate the supreme art of the Ice Palace! Under the guidance of the Ice Palace's art, all the yin-cold qi within you will be transformed into your own true qi, bringing your speed of cultivation benefits beyond imagination! Once you accept the legacy of the Ice Snow Spirit Mountain, you will be the next Ice Palace Master!"

"I..." Feng Xiaoxiao was also shaken by the Ice Palace Master's words. She had never imagined that she too could cultivate, and that she seemed to be a once-in-a-generation prodigy who might even become Master of the Ice Palace! So she could not help but ask instinctively, "Then... can I also become a Mystic-tier master?"

"Mystic-tier?" The Ice Palace Master froze, then laughed despite herself. "Your future attainments will surely surpass my own, and I am presently at the peak of late Heaven-tier!"

"Heaven-tier... peak of late Heaven-tier?" Feng Xiaoxiao's eyes widened in astonishment. Through her father and Wei Zhao she knew rather more about cultivators than most, and even Mystic-tier masters were already a rare sight in the secular world, yet the Ice Palace Master was a Heaven-tier master, and one standing at the very summit of Heaven-tier! From what she said, could she herself also become a Heaven-tier master one day?

"Exactly! Moreover, you may well become an existence beyond Heaven-tier!" the Ice Palace Master said.

Feng Xiaoxiao hesitated a moment, then said, "I have to ask my hubby Wei Zhao. If he tells me to stay, then I will stay."

"This is your own affair, why ask him?" Hearing Feng Xiaoxiao's words, the Ice Palace Master was nearly beside herself with anger. What she truly feared was that once Feng Xiaoxiao asked, Wei Zhao would refuse, and then matters would become truly difficult!

Judging by Feng Xiaoxiao's manner, if Wei Zhao did not agree, then even if she were kept here by force, she would never cultivate with a settled heart!

"I want to see him." No matter what the Ice Palace Master said, Feng Xiaoxiao insisted stubbornly.

"Do you realize the yin-cold qi inside you has only been suppressed for the moment? If you go back, you may not survive!" The Ice Palace Master hardly knew what else to say. "Will you agree or not?"

"I want to ask my hubby Wei Zhao." Feng Xiaoxiao repeated all the same.

"..." The Ice Palace Master was left speechless. Patting a forehead creased with exasperation, she said helplessly to Xiao Qing, "Aunt Qing, bring Wei Zhao in!"

"But... are men not forbidden from entering the inner court of the Ice Palace?" Xiao Qing asked, taken slightly aback.

"He is no outsider... he is the husband of our next Ice Palace Master..." The Ice Palace Master shook her head, so vexed she laughed at herself.

"Ah... very well!" Xiao Qing answered and left the room.

Hearing the Ice Palace Master send Xiao Qing to fetch Wei Zhao, Feng Xiaoxiao finally breathed a sigh of relief. Before this, although the Ice Palace Master and Xiao Qing had told her Wei Zhao was fine and waiting outside, Feng Xiaoxiao had not quite believed them.

After all, everyone here was a stranger. Though they had all been at her side when she awoke, and by all reason they must be her saviors, with Wei Zhao absent Feng Xiaoxiao could never feel entirely at ease.

"Do not worry, he is unharmed. The number one expert below Earth-tier is no simple figure..." The Ice Palace Master felt a headache coming on. Feng Xiaoxiao seemed utterly obedient to Wei Zhao's every word, forcing even someone as unskilled at flattery as herself to speak a few kind words about him before Feng Xiaoxiao!

For things had strayed from what she had foreseen. In the Ice Palace Master's view, once Feng Xiaoxiao awoke, she had only to propose taking a disciple on her master's behalf and Feng Xiaoxiao would gladly agree. She could not believe anyone would refuse such generous terms!

Yet after hearing it, Feng Xiaoxiao seemed utterly unmoved, as though joining the Ice Palace were nothing remarkable at all, and she even wanted Wei Zhao to decide for her. It nearly drove the Ice Palace Master to distraction!

To bring Feng Xiaoxiao into the Ice Palace, the Ice Palace Master could only humble herself and force out a few words of praise for Wei Zhao before Feng Xiaoxiao, hoping to leave a good impression on the girl. Should she truly refuse to join, the loss to the Ice Palace would be immense!

Admittedly, becoming an inner disciple of the Ice Palace was an exceedingly difficult thing for an ordinary cultivator, but likewise, for the Ice Palace to find a disciple after its own heart, one of outstanding talent, was every bit as hard as scaling the heavens!

That was why, all these years, the Ice Palace Master and Xiao Qing had searched in vain for one with the Ice Heart Jade Bones constitution, while Feng Xiaoxiao was precisely the person the Ice Palace sought. Indeed, her aptitude even exceeded the Ice Palace's expectations. How could the Ice Palace possibly let her go?

Powerful though the Ice Palace was, keeping Feng Xiaoxiao here to cultivate, to accept the legacy, and even to open Cloud Tier Island all required Feng Xiaoxiao's own willing consent. Otherwise, forcing her would be useless. They could hardly kill her, after all?

"The number one expert below Earth-tier? What does that mean?" At anything concerning Wei Zhao, Feng Xiaoxiao's interest quickened at once, and she hurried to ask.

The Ice Palace Master was by nature no lover of idle chatter, but since Feng Xiaoxiao had asked, and to build goodwill with her future junior sister, she had no choice but to patiently recount how Wei Zhao had taken part in the trial and sought medicine for her.

Feng Xiaoxiao listened entranced, and when she heard how Wei Zhao had carried her on his back and stood for fifteen days and fifteen nights before the gates of the Ice Palace without rest and without touching a morsel of food, she could no longer hold back her moved tears. "My hubby Wei Zhao is so good to me..."

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