Chapter 2460 — The Problem of a Heaven-Rank Spirit Beast

The feeling of that embrace carried Wang Xinyan back to those frigid nights during military training, to the day and night the two of them had shared in the wild during the field exercise...

She was still lost in thought when the hum of a helicopter motor came down from the sky. Wei Zhao breathed a sigh of relief at last. He could no longer sense any danger—the great soft-shelled turtle had likely withdrawn—but who was to say it would not wheel about and come charging back?

And besides, if this valley held one Heaven-Rank Spirit Beast in that great turtle, might there not be others as well? After all, there were two Heaven-Rank Spirit Beasts on the Wulonghaote Range.

"Here! I'm over here!" Catching sight of the approaching helicopter, Kang Jinglong was overcome by the feeling of having survived a catastrophe. He waved both arms frantically, desperate for the people aboard to spot him.

Wei Zhao curled his lip and glanced at Kang Jinglong. At the volume he was shouting, no one in the helicopter could possibly hear him; and as for being here, they would see him whether he waved or not.

The helicopter drew nearer and nearer, then lowered a rope ladder that hung straight down into the valley. The loudspeaker aboard crackled with You Panhu's voice: "Brother Kang, get on board!"

Kang Jinglong was beside himself with excitement and instinctively reached for the ladder to climb up—but Wei Zhao seized him and pulled him back down. "Wait a moment. Let Xinyan go first. You go up last!"

Cultivator though he was, this valley was not something one could simply climb out of. Never mind that in winter the cliffs were plastered with snow and ice—even in summer, with no footholds to speak of, scaling them would be no easy task. Wei Zhao did not possess the Bingtang girl's unearthly lightness skill; he could not simply fly up.

So Wei Zhao meant to send Kang Jinglong up last, lest the fellow board the helicopter and simply flee, which would be a fine damned mess.

"Oh..." Kang Jinglong was plainly disappointed, though he understood Wei Zhao's misgivings well enough. In truth, he had never meant to abandon Wei Zhao—after all, Wei Zhao had just saved his life. Or rather, saved it twice; though the first time, Wei Zhao had only been looking out for himself.

So however unreasonable Kang Jinglong might be at this moment, he could not possibly leave Wei Zhao behind. Besides, if he and You Panhu returned without Wei Zhao, how would they ever answer to Bai Lingtou?

Wang Xinyan eyed the swaying rope ladder with some fear and did not dare climb it alone. But the ladder was only wide enough for one person at a time—there was no way Wei Zhao could steady her as she went. She supposed he could climb beneath her to catch her if she fell, but that would put Wei Zhao face to face with her backside, which would mortify her even more.

Gritting her teeth, Wang Xinyan reached out and took hold of the ladder, hauling herself upward. She was a resilient girl; frightened as she was, she needed only to hold on a little longer and it would be over.

Wei Zhao was not worried. Even if Wang Xinyan fell, he could catch her. He had been confident of catching her when she fell from the very top of the mountain—to say nothing of a drop from the helicopter's height.

At last Wang Xinyan reached the helicopter safely. Wei Zhao let out a breath and quickly set foot on the ladder himself, climbing aboard.

Kang Jinglong was the last to board, his face ashen. Catching sight of You Panhu, he nodded with the air of one still shaken and said, "Brother You, there's a great water monster in that valley—scared me half to death!"

"A water monster? What sort of thing?" You Panhu blinked in surprise.

"A Heaven-Rank Spirit Beast. We nearly died," Wei Zhao said flatly.

"Sss—a Heaven-Rank Spirit Beast?" You Panhu started, a look of dread flashing across his face.

The spirit beast had nothing to do with Wei Zhao; if anything, they were adversaries. There was no need for Wei Zhao to keep it secret—and whether the hidden You family dared provoke such a beast was not Wei Zhao's concern.

"If your You family has the nerve, you can go catch it," Wei Zhao said.

"..." You Panhu's expression was more pitiful than a weeping face. "A Heaven-Rank Spirit Beast—forget it. Who'd dare provoke one? And catching it would be useless anyway; it couldn't be made to guard the You family."

"Oh? Heaven-Rank Spirit Beasts are precious things. Your You family has no need of one?" Wei Zhao asked, betraying nothing.

"Precious or not, you need your life to catch it," You Panhu said with a shrug, and said no more.

Yet Wei Zhao could not shake the feeling that You Panhu's words held something more. Yellow-Rank and Mystic-Rank Spirit Beasts seemed to be highly sought after, yet toward a Heaven-Rank Spirit Beast, You Panhu showed no interest at all, behaving quite indifferently—which struck Wei Zhao as odd.

Of course, what You Panhu said might well be true. Heaven-Rank Spirit Beasts were exceedingly difficult to bind to a master; even using a special contract to turn one into a puppet spirit beast was impossible. Comparatively speaking, Yellow-Rank and Mystic-Rank Spirit Beasts were easier to capture.

What Wei Zhao did not know was that while Heaven-Rank Spirit Beasts were rare in the secular world—scarce enough to be called precious—the hidden You family was one of the few who knew the truth: finding a Heaven-Rank Spirit Beast was not difficult. It was exactly as You Panhu had said—you still needed your life to catch one.

The helicopter flew straight back to the resort and set down on the open ground there. Wei Zhao, Wang Xinyan, Kang Jinglong, and You Panhu disembarked one after another. You Panhu exchanged a few words with the pilot, and the helicopter slowly lifted off, leaving the resort and flying back to the hidden You family.

Kang Jinglong was in low spirits. Not one part of the plan he had laid out beforehand had come off perfectly; worse still, he had ended up covered in injuries. For him and You Panhu alike, it was a textbook case of losing the lady and the troops into the bargain.

His fiancée had been embraced by Wei Zhao; the You family's men were one dead and one wounded. That proverb might have been tailor-made for the two of them, a pair of brothers in misery! The ancients truly had wisdom—they could even predict the future, Kang Jinglong thought gloomily.

Entering the resort with Wang Xinyan, he found Bai Lingtou already waiting anxiously in the lobby. Seeing Wei Zhao and Wang Xinyan return safe and sound, the knit of his brows smoothed out. He thought very highly of Wei Zhao and meant to groom him as his successor—only Wei Zhao seemed to have some obstacle when it came to pill refinement, which left Bai Lingtou somewhat hesitant.

Bai Lingtou's greatest skill was pill refinement; his medical art was merely supplementary, and could even be said to be inferior to Wei Zhao's. So if Wei Zhao were to study only medicine, there would be little point—learned or not, it made no difference. But as for pill refinement, Bai Lingtou felt that Wei Zhao's case was highly unusual, and the solution could only be found slowly.

In any case, Bai Lingtou did not want anything to happen to Wei Zhao.

"Wei Zhao, how are things? Nothing wrong, I hope?" Bai Lingtou asked, without so much as a glance at Kang Jinglong.