Chapter 2821 — The Way Back

Right! Wei Zhao started, suddenly recalling what had struck him as wrong earlier. When the Five Baleful Dragon's skills collided with Tian Chan's martial techniques, the power unleashed had been nearly equal to that of his own true qi bombs—yet the dragon's cavern had suffered not the slightest damage. And yet, back in the Uulangkhot Mountains, or at the school gates, his true qi bombs had always been able to shatter rock and blast out deep craters.

"So it seems my proposal won't work after all..." Wei Zhao gave a rather helpless, bitter smile.

"It's not that it won't work. I can trigger my martial technique, gouge a hollow in the rock face and grab hold of it. But with my strength, even at full stamina and true qi as I am now, I could only sustain three of my strongest techniques. And given the height I can jump, it would take at least twenty leaps or so to reach the summit—I couldn't hold out that long." Tian Chan shook her head somewhat helplessly. "Your proposal is workable in theory, but in practice it simply won't do."

"But what if, after those three times, you took a moment to recover your stamina and true qi?" Something stirred in Wei Zhao's heart, and he asked suddenly.

"With both hands and both feet dug into the cliff face, in that state of tension, how am I supposed to circulate my mental cultivation method and its incantation? I'd have to pour every ounce of strength and focus into gripping the cliff with my hands and feet!" Tian Chan shook her head. "Otherwise one slip and I'd fall to my death. Besides, my mental cultivation method and incantation can only be circulated when I'm seated cross-legged and calm."

Wei Zhao nodded. Tian Chan was right. His own mental cultivation method and incantation did not require him to sit cross-legged in calm; but she was right—at such a moment all one's attention would be fixed on gripping the cliff with hands and feet. How could one circulate a mental cultivation method and its incantation then?

The slightest relaxation or distraction, and you would plummet to your death. This method still had its flaws. Wei Zhao had meant to work with Tian Chan—he would channel stamina and true qi into her, and she need only circulate her internal cultivation method and incantation. But the situation now was that Tian Chan could not circulate her method and incantation while clinging to the cliff face!

"I have a way..." Wei Zhao said after a moment's hesitation.

"You have a way?" Tian Chan was slightly taken aback.

"Yes. I know a martial technique called Heaven-Sent Spring Rain. It consumes my own stamina and true qi to swiftly restore a comrade's stamina and true qi," Wei Zhao said. "When the time comes, you won't need to circulate your method and incantation—just focus on gripping the cliff face. I can restore your stamina and true qi for you."

"Heaven-Sent Spring Rain? Eh? Isn't that a martial technique of the Tomorrow Upon Tomorrow Sect? You actually know it?" Tian Chan was a little startled—but she had clearly heard the name of this technique before.

"Is that so?" Wei Zhao was taken aback as well; he had not expected this technique to have come from the Tomorrow Upon Tomorrow Sect. "I obtained it from a friend. It has little to do with the Tomorrow Upon Tomorrow Sect."

"You really do have no end of formidable techniques. Before, your true qi could heal my wounds; now your true qi can be used by me as well. You're carrying quite a few secrets." Only now did Tian Chan feel that Wei Zhao's step-by-step ascent through the Hidden Level and his beginning to assail the Ancient Level were no accident—he truly had the strength for it. Only, Tian Chan was very curious: a lone cultivator—how on earth had he come this far? Tian Chan resolved that once she returned, she would thoroughly investigate Wei Zhao's path of growth. For the first time, she was so curious about a person.

"Heh heh. Then can you keep it a secret for me?" Too many of Wei Zhao's secrets had already become known to Tian Chan. Though the two of them seemed on good terms now, that was founded on the circumstance that neither could leave this place. Once they got out and parted ways, Wei Zhao feared Tian Chan might, under pressure from her sect, say something—and then his secrets would be exposed.

"All right..." As if possessed by some ghost, Tian Chan actually nodded and agreed to Wei Zhao's request. After agreeing, even she found it incredible—she had actually agreed to keep his secret? Was it because he had saved her? Perhaps. She was not one to forget a kindness.

"Thank you." For some reason, Wei Zhao believed Tian Chan's words as well. He always felt there was some indescribable connection and trust between them—just what it was, Wei Zhao could not say either. "Then now, let's still figure out how to get out of here."

"Even with your Heaven-Sent Spring Rain, we'd still have a hard time leaving this place." Tian Chan shook her head. "First, even if you can use the technique to restore my stamina, you might restore me once, or twice—but can you restore me a third time? I'm an expert at the peak of the late Heaven Rank. To begin with, the stamina and true qi in my body is greater than yours; even if you gave me every last bit of stamina and true qi in your body, it would only buy me two more leaps—hardly decisive. And besides, how are the two of us supposed to jump up there together?"

"Those two worries of yours aren't really problems." Wei Zhao waved a hand. "First, I can restore my own stamina and true qi and keep triggering the technique. Second, you tie me to your back—that way, when you jump, you'll carry me with you."

"You can restore your stamina and true qi?" Tian Chan was startled. "How long would that take? As far as I know, once you've triggered techniques in succession and used up all the stamina and true qi in your body, it's impossible to recover without a good stretch of cultivation to replenish it, isn't it?"

"It only takes me a little while." Wei Zhao smiled. "Look at me—I healed my own wounds, then healed yours, then grilled fish. That must have used up no small amount of stamina and true qi, and yet my stamina and true qi are now abundant."

Tian Chan was startled and looked at Wei Zhao in astonishment. And Wei Zhao deliberately circulated his mental cultivation method and incantation, letting Tian Chan sense a clear, unmistakable surge of vigor. After a long while, Tian Chan said, "You really are formidable. There aren't many people I admire—you're one of them..."

"Heh heh. If we weren't sharing adversity right now, I wouldn't be telling you so many secrets." Wei Zhao shrugged. "So, how about my proposal?"

"That would work... but tying you to my back..." Against her will, an extremely ambiguous and infinitely alluring scene floated up in Tian Chan's mind! Wei Zhao's whole body pressed against her back, and then the two of them leaping up the cliff face together... (To be continued.)

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