Chapter 2567 — The Zhuang Family's Sincerity

"It is nothing. No one can be blamed for what they did not know." Wei Zhao did not care to pursue the matter any further. Nor could he say the Hidden Zhuang family had been in the wrong—their information had simply been unequal to the truth. Had they known Chen Xi's background, they would never have laid a hand on her.

He followed Old Master Zhuang into the Zhuang estate. The Zhuang brothers, Birdgun and Birdcannon, did not dare walk at Wei Zhao's side, and trailed several paces behind. Old Master Zhuang treated Wei Zhao as an honored guest of the highest order, leading him straight to the most lavish and imposing reception hall of the Hidden Zhuang family—a place ordinarily reserved for the heads of other hidden families and visitors from the ancient stratum. That it was now used to receive Wei Zhao was proof enough of how highly the Zhuang family regarded him.

"Senior Lin, this whole affair was a misunderstanding. This time our Hidden Zhuang family would like to seize the occasion to turn hostility into friendship—if Senior Lin would be willing to accept us?" Old Master Zhuang had some measure of Wei Zhao's character, knew he preferred plain speaking to beating around the bush, and so dispensed with pleasantries altogether, stating outright his intention to pledge allegiance.

"Heh heh..." Wei Zhao smiled. "And what can you offer? If I take the Zhuang family under my wing, then when trouble comes knocking at your door, I'll have to be the one to settle it..."

"Our Zhuang family will of course follow none but Senior Lin. Naturally, to express the sincerity of our Hidden Zhuang family, we shall offer up every treasure we possess, for Senior Lin to choose from as he pleases!" Old Master Zhuang said, his face grave.

"Oh?" Wei Zhao was somewhat surprised at Old Master Zhuang's words. He had not expected such a tempting offer—exactly the same as the Hidden Han family had once made! After all, when the Hidden Han family had submitted to Wei Zhao, it had been under a degree of duress; they had had no choice but to lay out all their finest treasures for Wei Zhao to pick through. The Hidden Zhuang family was different. They had merely offended Wei Zhao and abducted Chen Xi; offering up one or two items of consequence should have been enough to settle the matter.

Yet the Hidden Zhuang family had laid all its cards on the table at once. It seemed they were desperate to pledge allegiance, with no intention of haggling with Wei Zhao.

"Then let us go and have a look." Wei Zhao nodded, and in his heart he had more or less accepted the Hidden Zhuang family. Wei Zhao was a straightforward man who liked straightforward people. Had they hemmed and hawed, he would have been too impatient to deal with them; instead, the Zhuang family's approach met with his approval.

"After you, Senior Lin!" Old Master Zhuang breathed a sigh of relief, a smile spreading across his face. If Wei Zhao could say that much, then the Hidden Zhuang family's acceptance was as good as settled—no further complication was likely, unless Wei Zhao went back on his word, or the treasures in the vault proved so poor that Wei Zhao scorned them all. "The vault is here in the estate, in the cellar beneath my courtyard."

Zhuang Birdgun and Zhuang Birdcannon's eyes lit up as well. Neither of them had ever been to the family vault; this time, thanks to Wei Zhao, they would get to go inside and have a look for themselves.

Wei Zhao carried Chen Xi on his back without waking her. He could tell she seemed short on sleep, and took this chance to let her rest a while longer. The girl had a hard life—besides her studies every day, she had to scavenge to help make ends meet at home.

The design of the vault was much like that of the Hidden Han family's. Wei Zhao even wondered whether the two families had been of one mind, or had hired the same designer—at any rate, the setup was much the same. After Old Master Zhuang verified his fingerprint and passcode, the vault door swung open.

"Birdgun, Birdcannon, what I am about to say, you may hear and that is all—do not breathe a word of it to outsiders! These words I have never spoken even to your fathers!" Old Master Zhuang said. "This is the core secret of our Hidden Zhuang family, passed down from one head of the family to the next. But now that our Hidden Zhuang family is throwing in its lot with Senior Lin, naturally we cannot keep such things from him."

"Yes, Grandfather, we won't talk!" Zhuang Birdgun and Zhuang Birdcannon hastily promised.

Wei Zhao was rather astonished. What secret did the Hidden Zhuang family hold that even the Zhuang brothers knew nothing of?

"Senior Lin, the truth is that our Hidden Zhuang family's ancestors came from the Tomorrow Upon Tomorrow sect. Our ancestor was a disciple of the Tomorrow Upon Tomorrow sect, but he fell out with the sect leader of that time and left to establish a school of his own. Yet one man alone is weak—though the Hidden Zhuang family flourished for a time and was once nearly as powerful as the ancient stratum, we of the later generations have produced no truly outstanding talents. By now we are classed merely as a hidden family. Much time has passed since those events, and even the Tomorrow Upon Tomorrow sect itself no longer knows of this. Nor do we dare proclaim that the martial techniques and mental methods of our Hidden Zhuang family came from the Tomorrow Upon Tomorrow sect—that would only invite the hostility of the great orthodox sects, and we fear the Tomorrow Upon Tomorrow sect might come demanding the fine treasures our ancestor carried off in those years." Old Master Zhuang explained it all in one breath.

"So... you are a branch of the Tomorrow Upon Tomorrow sect? That is a formidable lineage indeed!" Wei Zhao said in surprise. "I have a grudge against the Tomorrow Upon Tomorrow sect—have you thought this through?"

"One might say the grudge goes back to our ancestors as well. If word of this got out, we would gain nothing by it," Old Master Zhuang said with a bitter smile. "Besides, if Senior Lin does not speak of it, would the Tomorrow Upon Tomorrow sect even bother with small fry like us?"

Wei Zhao nodded. "Let us see what fine treasures you have in your collection."

"Very well. The vault is this way, and the scripture pavilion that way. Which would Senior Lin like to see first?" Old Master Zhuang asked.

"Mm... let us look at the treasures first," Wei Zhao said after a moment's thought.

Mental methods and martial techniques were, for the time being, not what Wei Zhao lacked—unless something was extraordinarily heaven-defying. So he put his attention on the treasures first, to see whether there was anything he needed.

"Here we are!" Old Master Zhuang led Wei Zhao into one of the rooms and gestured to a row of display racks before them. "This is the collection our Hidden Zhuang family has accumulated over many years!"

Wei Zhao glanced at the objects on the racks and could not help but be struck dumb. In truth, there were not many things on the racks; all were stored in small bottles and little boxes, and beneath each item was a label stating what the bottle or box contained.

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