Chapter 2568 — Yet Another Batch of Qi-Gathering Pill Ingredients

Seeing the disappointment in Wei Zhao's eyes, Old Master Zhuang's heart tightened. Only then did it occur to him that Wei Zhao had also won no small amount of treasure at the Hidden Families Summit, and—most crucially—that Wei Zhao had previously visited the Hidden Han family. Word had it that the Hidden Han family owed its rise to the discovery of an ancient ruin. If that was so, the Han family's treasures were bound to outstrip those of the Hidden Zhuang family. Wei Zhao's disappointment, then, was only natural.

"Senior Lin, I fear these things are beneath your notice, but they are the fruit of many years of collecting by our Hidden Zhuang family!" Old Master Zhuang said with a bitter smile. "The most valuable among them are likely these two sets of ingredients for refining the Qi-Gathering Pill. It is only that our family has no third-rank alchemist and cannot refine third-rank pills. These Qi-Gathering Pill ingredients have been preserved for a thousand years and are of little use..." Old Master Zhuang pointed to a box on one of the shelves.

"Oh? Qi-Gathering Pill ingredients?" Wei Zhao was somewhat surprised—he had not expected the Hidden Zhuang family to possess such a thing as well!

"Indeed. My ancestors brought them back from the Tomorrow Upon Tomorrow sect, but third-rank alchemists are far too rare, and the Mystic Pill Sect would never deign to refine pills for us, so there they have sat ever since." Old Master Zhuang explained. "Could it be that you have taken a fancy to these Qi-Gathering Pill ingredients, Senior Lin?"

Old Master Zhuang was a little astonished. The ingredients for refining the Qi-Gathering Pill were fine things, yes—but fine things though they were, they had the feel of chicken ribs: tasteless to eat, yet a pity to throw away. They had lain here for over a thousand years to no purpose whatsoever. Several generations of Old Master Zhuang's ancestors had failed to find an alchemist, and Old Master Zhuang did not believe he would find one now to refine them.

So the things had sat here, and he harbored not the least hope for them. Yet in his eyes, Wei Zhao was probably just as he himself had been when he first learned of these ingredients—back then Old Master Zhuang too had been full of confidence and lofty ambition, but as the years wore on he came to understand that overthinking only multiplies one's troubles.

"Correct. I have taken a fancy to these Qi-Gathering Pill ingredients," Wei Zhao nodded.

"If you favor them, Senior Lin, then take them," Old Master Zhuang said, quite readily. However precious the things might be, they were utterly useless to him—better to use them to curry favor with Wei Zhao.

"Old Master Zhuang is straightforward indeed. Then I shall not stand on ceremony. One day, when I succeed in refining the Qi-Gathering Pill, you shall not go without your share," Wei Zhao said. He greatly admired forthright men like Old Master Zhuang, who did things without dragging their feet.

"Heh heh, then I shall look forward to it!" Old Master Zhuang laughed. In truth, he was unimpressed. He did not believe Wei Zhao could become a third-rank alchemist—not from any lack of faith in Wei Zhao, but because Wei Zhao could hardly devote too much energy to the alchemical path; cultivation was the true way. After all, those who devoted themselves single-mindedly to alchemy, like the Mystic Pill Sect, were hardly common.

Wei Zhao too could see that Old Master Zhuang had little interest, and he understood the man's thinking. Had the Qi-Gathering Pill been so easy to refine, Old Master Zhuang would never have handed over its ingredients so readily.

"I will not look at the rest. Old Master Zhuang, I merely wish to ask—do you have such materials as blue crystal, pure yellow jade, or colored steel?" Wei Zhao had roughly scanned the Zhuang family's treasure vault; it was all the same sort of thing, and he could not be bothered to search further, so he asked directly.

"Blue crystal, pure yellow jade, colored steel... Hmm, we have no pure yellow jade, but we do have pure purple jade. Will that do?" Old Master Zhuang thought for a moment, then asked.

"Pure purple jade? No need for that." Wei Zhao shook his head. "The Qi-Gathering Pill ingredients are quite enough. These will do!"

"Er... you will not look any further?" Old Master Zhuang felt somewhat uneasy. The Qi-Gathering Pill ingredients were precious to be sure, but in his view they were chicken ribs. Wei Zhao might think he had obtained a treasure now, but once he returned and found he could not refine them, these things would be of no use to him, and he would surely feel the trip had been wasted—that he had not obtained anything better.

"No more looking. Let us go to the scripture pavilion and see the martial techniques and mental cultivation methods," Wei Zhao said. He was not a greedy man. Since Old Master Zhuang had pledged allegiance to him, he could come back for whatever he needed at any time; there was no need to cart everything off in one go.

"That will do as well..." Old Master Zhuang in truth did not think much of mental cultivation methods and martial techniques. Though a family's methods and techniques were never taught to outsiders, in his view these were even more like chicken ribs to Wei Zhao.

Wei Zhao was now a formidable expert at the peak of the mid-Earth rank; it was absolutely impossible that he would scrap his own internal-family mental cultivation method and start over. And the Zhuang family had no external-family methods either, so there was no use in Wei Zhao examining the Zhuang family's methods.

As for martial techniques, each corresponded to the attributes of a mental cultivation method, and not everyone could use them. What was more, mastering even one technique to true comprehension was arduous enough. Wei Zhao already possessed formidable martial techniques—why should he bother studying another's?

So in Old Master Zhuang's eyes, Wei Zhao's trip to the scripture pavilion would be nothing more than a look around, at most copying a volume or two for his collection. There was practically no real use to it.

But since Wei Zhao had asked, he could only follow him and turn toward the scripture pavilion.

Zhuang Birdgun and Zhuang Birdcannon, for their part, rather envied the Qi-Gathering Pill ingredients in Wei Zhao's hands. This was the Qi-Gathering Pill! If it were successfully refined, whoever ate it would reach the Heaven rank. They could not understand why their grandfather was so lukewarm about it.

The two were still too young, and they did not understand much about pills—hence such thoughts. Old Master Zhuang was different: old age had sharpened him, and he no longer harbored the unrealistic hopes of his youth.

Following Wei Zhao into the adjoining scripture pavilion, Zhuang Birdgun and Zhuang Birdcannon stood respectfully to one side, while Old Master Zhuang began to introduce the books kept within.

The Hidden Zhuang family's scripture pavilion held far more books than that of the Hidden Han family. After all, books were not like treasures, which were gone once used up or given away; books could be copied and reproduced even when traded with others. And with the Hidden Zhuang family's long history, it was hardly surprising that they possessed a great many volumes.

"So many? Are these all mental cultivation methods and martial techniques?" Wei Zhao asked.

"The useful ones are in fact just these few volumes on this shelf. The rest of the collection is all useless martial techniques and methods, kept for show." Old Master Zhuang smiled bitterly. "Most were obtained in trade with others, and what is traded away is always the unimportant stuff—no one parts lightly with anything useful. These few volumes on this shelf, for instance, are what my ancestors brought back from the Tomorrow Upon Tomorrow sect all those years ago. Apart from our own Zhuang family, only you have seen them, Senior Lin."