Chapter 2654 — The Ice Palace and Bingtang

"That does make sense!" Yu Bing was rather moved by Zhao Qiwu's words. He had not expected Zhao Qiwu to be so thoroughly consistent, inside and out, and so truly loyal to Wei Zhao and Zhao Qilei. Still, Yu Bing thought about himself: if it were he who had obtained the pills, would he have set them aside for Wei Zhao?

The answer was obvious. Of course Yu Bing would have done so! That he had kept his life under Yu Shan, that he had been able to remain in the Ice Palace to cultivate, that he had become an outer-court steward—all of it was thanks to Wei Zhao. Without Wei Zhao, he might well have died far from home.

So Yu Bing's gratitude toward Wei Zhao was no less than Zhao Qiwu's. When Zhao Qiwu proposed setting the pills aside, he understood the other man's thinking at once, yet he still advised, "After so long, Chief Wei Zhao has surely broken through the Mystic Rank and advanced to the Earth Rank. For all we know, he may be on the verge of the Heaven Rank even now. From what I see among these pills, you should take the Lesser Qi-Gathering Pills yourself, and keep the Greater Qi-Gathering Pills for Chief Wei Zhao."

"Actually, the Lesser Qi-Gathering Pills were meant for Young Master Tan..." Zhao Qiwu smiled. "Yu Bing, there is no need to try to persuade me. My mind is made up, and I will not touch these pills. I would rather keep grinding away at my cultivation!"

"Good. In that case, let us strive together!" Yu Bing nodded.

In truth, how Feng Xiaoxiao longed to give these pills straight to Wei Zhao! But she could not. Bingtang had made a pact with Wei Zhao: if Wei Zhao failed to refine the Ice-Heart Jade-Bone Pill within two years, then she must accept the inheritance. And if Wei Zhao could become a peak late-stage Heaven Rank expert, or an alchemist of the third grade of the Yellow Rank or above, then Bingtang would become Wei Zhao's littlest-little-little-little wife. So it was impossible for Feng Xiaoxiao to secretly help Wei Zhao—and Bingtang would not permit it either.

Therefore, the only thing Feng Xiaoxiao could do now was distribute these pills among Wei Zhao's underlings and let them grow as much as they could, so that they might become his supports in the future. What she had not expected was that Zhao Qiwu would be so loyal as to set the pills aside for Wei Zhao!

What Feng Xiaoxiao did not know was that while she was missing Wei Zhao, Bingtang was also secretly watching him! Though Wei Zhao had promised her that he would refine the Ice-Heart Jade-Bone Pill within two years, Bingtang did not quite believe it, and so she naturally paid him a little more attention.

Of course, there was another reason as well: Bingtang had once boasted that if Wei Zhao became an alchemist of the third grade of the Yellow Rank or above, or a peak late-stage Heaven Rank expert, she would marry him and be his littlest-little-little-little wife. Bingtang feared that Wei Zhao might, by some slip, actually achieve that goal—and then, when the time came, would she marry him or not?

This was a knot that greatly vexed Bingtang, especially as she watched Wei Zhao's strength advance by leaps and bounds, from the late Mystic Rank he had held when he first arrived at the Ice Palace to his current peak mid-stage Earth Rank. His growth could only be called swift!

And what astonished Bingtang most was that Wei Zhao had actually taken a great pile of second-grade pills to the marketplace of the Cultivators' Commerce Guild to sell—and pills of exceedingly fine quality at that. Could it be that in such a short time, Wei Zhao had already become a second-grade alchemist?

After all, many alchemists could never reach the second grade in their entire lives. And even a second-grade alchemist could not possibly refine pills as plump and full as those Wei Zhao had made. This discovery left Bingtang both delighted and conflicted.

But these matters she would never tell Feng Xiaoxiao. Though Feng Xiaoxiao was already a vice-palace master of the Ice Palace, she was only responsible for affairs within the palace. The Ice Palace's external contacts and intelligence gathering remained in Bingtang's hands; the information gathered through Steward Li was something Feng Xiaoxiao could not meddle in.

……………………

That evening, after the movie, Wei Zhao left by car with Gu Mengyao, Shen Yushu, and Wang Xinyan. Zhong Yongliang had succeeded in taking Gu Mengyao out on one date, but their relationship had made no progress at all—and because of his loose tongue, it was even worse than before...

"Brother Liang, it's all because of that Tang Yuqi fellow. If not for him, we wouldn't have been so humiliated today!" Gao Xiaofu said indignantly.

"Tang Yuqi... never mind, leave him for now." Zhong Yongliang frowned. "I can see it clearly now. Shen Yushu is an ingrate—no kindness will ever fill her belly. However many favors I give her, she turns around and sells me out the next moment! The biggest obstacle to getting close to Yao Yao isn't Wei Zhao—it's her!"

"Oh? Then what do we do? Get rid of her?" Gao Xiaofu drew a finger across his throat. Over this period he had seen too much bloodshed in the Tomorrow-and-Tomorrow-and-Tomorrow Sect, and he had grown cold toward human life.

"Getting rid of her probably won't work. That would be rather difficult—Wei Zhao is no pushover, and if Shen Yushu died for no apparent reason, he would certainly suspect me!" Zhong Yongliang said. "But to keep the little wench from causing trouble during my match with Wei Zhao, and to make a little trouble for him as well, I plan to have the Hundred-Drunken Centipede bite Shen Yushu before the match and put her into a coma, so she can't stir up any chaos."

"Right, that's a good idea. It punishes the little wench and gives Wei Zhao some trouble at the same time—two birds with one stone." Gao Xiaofu agreed.

"Then it's settled!" With a few words, Zhong Yongliang laid out the plan. "Tomorrow morning, I'll go to the school's broadcast room and announce that I am challenging Wei Zhao!"

This time the school's charity gala had been a great success. The total amount raised exceeded a hundred million, and of course Zhong Yongliang and Zhao Qibing had accounted for the lion's share. The other bosses and social elites had not donated nearly so much—the most generous gave over ten million, while others gave a few million, a few hundred thousand, or a few tens of thousands; donations of a few thousand were also very common.

The sum raised amazed the school; it was far more than in previous years. Of course, this was thanks to Zhong Yongliang and Zhao Qibing. Though no one knew why the two had bid so high, it was enough that they were charitable. Since they did not say, no one would go digging for the reasons...