Chapter 1638 — Zhao Qitan's Words

"That Wei Zhao is formidable!" To drive home just how formidable Wei Zhao was, Yushan held nothing back about the Zhang Naipao affair, recounting to the Yushan family patriarch how Wei Zhao had been drained of his true qi by Zhang Naipao, only to recover and even break through to a new level.

"So miraculous? His strength was gone, and yet he could recover it?" For the first time, the Yushan patriarch began to take real notice of Wei Zhao. It was not his cultivation method that drew the old man's attention—such a wondrous method, capable of swiftly restoring one's strength, was indeed formidable, but the Yushan patriarch knew well that cultivation methods had to match one's constitution. No matter how powerful the method, without the right constitution, it was useless even if handed to you. Worse, if you forced yourself to cultivate it, you would likely suffer qi deviation and die when your body burst apart.

Thus the Yushan patriarch had no interest whatsoever in seizing another's cultivation method. The Yushan family still had several formidable methods locked away in its coffers, but those required special constitutions. No one in the Yushan family met the requirements, so they simply could not cultivate them.

What made the Yushan patriarch take Wei Zhao seriously was the question of whether there was some backing behind him. To be able to take part in the Ice Palace's trial meant that Wei Zhao was not as simple as his outward appearance suggested. An ordinary person—even one from an ordinary great clan—would scarcely know of the Ice Palace's trial, yet Wei Zhao knew of it and had gone to participate.

That meant either a powerful force stood behind Wei Zhao supporting him, or a formidable master did. Of course, both could be true, because Wei Zhao also possessed the ability to swiftly restore his strength—and that could not help but set the imagination racing.

What astonished the Yushan patriarch even more was that Wei Zhao dared to oppose a disciple of the Tomorrow Upon Tomorrow sect, and had even crippled that disciple. This Wei Zhao was either recklessly bold to the extreme, or he had backing equal in strength to the Tomorrow Upon Tomorrow sect.

"Yes! Otherwise, even if your grandson were utterly worthless, he could not have lost so miserably!" Yushan said with a bitter expression.

"Xiaochen, investigate Wei Zhao's background for me! By whatever means, dig it out!" the Yushan patriarch ordered Yu Xiaochen.

"Father, whether this matter is true or false has yet to be confirmed..." Though Yu Xiaochen had no particular feelings about investigating Wei Zhao, did his father's order not amount to believing Yushan's words?

"Whether it is true or false can be confirmed in time. Investigating Wei Zhao does not necessarily mean moving against him," the Yushan patriarch said. "Let the matter rest for now. The Great Clan Arbitration Association is about to re-elect its grand elders, and I will see whether I can rise to that position. Do not come to me with trifling family matters."

"Yes!" Yu Xiaochen's expression turned grave as he hastily assented. He too understood the weight of the old man's words. If the Great Clan Arbitration Association truly re-elected its elders, then many of the rules constraining the hidden clans could be broken, and when that time came, it would be far easier for the Yushan family's Earth-rank experts to go out and get things done.

Even as they spoke, the door of the meeting room was knocked open, and in came Yu Liu, one of Yu Xiaochen's subordinates.

"Patriarch, a call has come in from the young patriarch of the hidden Zhao family!" Yu Liu said as he walked. Had it been an ordinary person calling, he would not have attached such importance to it, but a call placed personally by the young patriarch of the Zhao family, itself a hidden-world clan, carried a different weight entirely—so Yu Liu had to deliver it at once.

Yu Xiaochen glanced at his father. The Yushan patriarch nodded and said, "Take it. Ask him what the matter is—and while you are at it, ask about what Yushan said."

"Yes!" Yu Xiaochen hurriedly picked up the phone and said, "This is Yu Xiaochen, brother-in-law of the Zhao patriarch. I trust you have been well?"

The two families were related by marriage: Yu Xiaochen's younger sister, Yu Xiaojin, was Zhao Guangyin's wife, which made Yu Xiaochen and Zhao Guangyin exceedingly close.

"Patriarch Yu, the reason I am calling this time is that there is a matter I wished to verify with you!" Zhao Guangyin wasted no words and came straight to the point.

"Oh? What matter? I happen to have something to ask you as well—but you first," Yu Xiaochen said.

"It is like this..." With that, Zhao Guangyin recounted the affair of Wei Zhao being drained of his strength by Zhang Naipao and then recovering it. "I would trouble Patriarch Yu to ask Yushan, the disciple of your family, whether this is indeed how it happened."

"Oh? There is no need to ask—I was just about to ask you the same thing..." Yu Xiaochen had not expected Yushan to have told the truth. This Wei Zhao was indeed formidable. Still, he said, "I would like to ask: our Yushan says that our Yubing colluded with Wei Zhao to beat him grievously. Is that so?"

"Oh? I had not heard of this matter. Is your Yushan all right? How is he doing?" Zhao Guangyin asked, feigning concern, though in truth he did not care. His purpose was chiefly to confirm whether Wei Zhao was truly so formidable; as for the rest, he had no interest. "As for this matter, I had best ask my Qitan. Shall I have him speak with you directly?"

"Very well, that will do! Then have Qitan speak with me," Yu Xiaochen said. "I will ask him myself."

Zhao Qitan was now Wei Zhao's underling. How could he possibly make trouble for Wei Zhao in answering Yu Xiaochen's questions? So far from speaking up for Yushan, he instead put in a great many good words for Yubing. Only at the end did he say, "The Ice Palace's trial has its rules. So long as no life is taken, anything goes—that is the rule the Ice Palace set. So being injured in the trial is perfectly normal. If I were beaten and injured, I could only count myself unlucky. Wei Zhao may be formidable, but he did not violate the rules. Otherwise, the Ice Palace would long since have dealt with him."

Zhao Qitan's words were fair and impartial, favoring neither Wei Zhao nor Yushan unduly. Yet the more it was so, the more Yu Xiaochen found his words trustworthy—and the Zhao family likewise found Zhao Qitan to be a most smooth and tactful man.

Now that they already knew how formidable Wei Zhao was, if at this point they still egged the Yushan family on to play the fool and move against Wei Zhao, then when the Yushan family got beaten by Wei Zhao, they would surely blame the Zhao family. As things stood now, Zhao Qitan had objectively stated his view; if the Yushan family still went looking for trouble with Wei Zhao, they could hardly blame the Zhao family.

Little did they know that Zhao Qitan was only considering that Wei Zhao had not yet recovered his strength, and did not wish to bring trouble down on him.

But no matter what, Yu Xiaochen had heard what he wanted to hear. In his eyes, Wei Zhao was a minor figure of no consequence—whether they moved against him or not hardly mattered. The key was the question of Yubing's innocence.

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