Chapter 2903 — Great Understanding

"Then what are we to do?" For the first time, the Earth Drill Star realized that getting the young master of an ancient sect to accept a loose cultivator as his leader was no easy matter—and the difficulty lay not with the young master of the ancient sect, but with the loose cultivator himself...

"When is the man delivering the earth-attribute essence liquid supposed to arrive?" the Earth Tyrant asked after a moment's thought.

"Tomorrow, I should think. He's coming by private jet, so the travel time shouldn't be long," the Earth Drill Star said.

"Good, then tomorrow it is. While the earth-attribute essence liquid is being delivered, I'll explain to Senior Lin how to use it, and take the chance to acknowledge him as my leader and see how he reacts!" the Earth Tyrant said.

"That works," the Earth Drill Star said with a nod.

After leaving the Earth Tyrant's room, Wei Zhao did not return to his own quarters. Instead he went to Yang Qiqi's room and knocked at the door.

Yang Qiqi was on the phone with Xiao Jiu when she suddenly heard the knock. She found it odd—who would come knocking at this hour? Hadn't Wei Zhao gone to treat the Earth Tyrant?

"Who is it?" Yang Qiqi called out.

"It's me," Wei Zhao said.

"Ah!" Hearing Wei Zhao's voice, Yang Qiqi hastily lowered her own and whispered to Xiao Jiu, "Xiao Jiu, Brother A-Yi is here, I have to go—I'll get the door!"

"Mm..." Xiao Jiu sounded a little disappointed. She had wanted to ask Yang Qiqi to hand the phone to Wei Zhao, but then she thought: what could she possibly say if the phone were passed to him? Over the years her relationship with Wei Zhao seemed to have grown so distant—nothing more than the questions and answers exchanged between teammates. If she truly picked up the phone now, she would not know what to say.

Yang Qiqi opened the door, and at the sight of Wei Zhao her cheeks flushed before she knew it. "Brother A-Yi, you came..."

"Mm. I came by on the way from the Earth Tyrant's room to check on you," Wei Zhao said. "My name now is Wei Zhao. 'A-Yi' and the 'Ying' that came later were only code names. Just call me by my current name—I'm still not quite used to 'A-Yi'..."

"Sure." What Yang Qiqi liked was Wei Zhao the person, not the name A-Yi; whatever he was called made no difference—he would always be the childhood sweetheart of her heart. "But Brother Wei Zhao, your room is over that way and the Earth Tyrant's room is the other way. Coming here isn't exactly on the way!"

"Uh..." Wei Zhao had only said it in passing and had not expected Yang Qiqi to see through the flaw in his words. A little embarrassed, he said, "All right, I came specially to see you."

It was only a careless remark on Wei Zhao's part, yet it set Yang Qiqi's heart racing. Across her cool little face flashed a trace of bashfulness. "Is that so... Little Seven is so happy..."

"Mm, and there's something even happier. The earth-attribute essence liquid—I've secured it, two vials of it, and the Yellow Earth High Sect has promised to deliver it as soon as possible," Wei Zhao said.

"Really!" Yang Qiqi was thrilled. "Brother Wei Zhao, you cured that Earth Tyrant? They're so quick about it—Xiao Jiu is finally saved."

"Not cured—only kept alive. His meridians are still severed," Wei Zhao said with a shake of his head. "But even so, they're already very happy."

"Only that much?" Yang Qiqi was rather surprised. Was the Yellow Earth High Sect really so easy to satisfy? She simply did not know how important the Earth Tyrant was to the Yellow Earth High Sect.

"Mm. In a little while, go tell the Ninth Princess the good news and let her be happy too." The real reason Wei Zhao had come was to let Yang Qiqi and Xiao Jiu share in the joy a little sooner.

"Brother Wei Zhao, why don't you call her yourself? You have her contact information anyway," Yang Qiqi said.

"You... know that I'm in contact with her?" Wei Zhao was startled. His contact with Xiao Jiu was one-way only—such had been the rule of the assassin organization in the past. By rights, Yang Qiqi should not have known. But...

"You're an assassin of the Assassin Group, of course. Any assassin carrying out missions in the outside world is in contact with Xiao Jiu; it's only that many of them don't know who the others are. But Brother Wei Zhao must surely know who Xiao Jiu is," Yang Qiqi said.

"I'd forgotten that..." Wei Zhao could only laugh wryly at this. "Then... you won't blame me for never coming back to find you all, or for never contacting you?"

"Of course not. Father said that after an assassin finishes a mission, he shouldn't contact his teammates under his original identity—if one person runs into trouble, it could easily drag the others down. That's exactly why Little Seven hasn't made up her mind to go looking for Brother A-Yi all these years..." Yang Qiqi shook her head. "I never thought fate was written in the stars, and Little Seven would run into Brother A-Yi again. But from the look of it now, Brother Wei Zhao, you're no longer an assassin—you've set foot in the cultivation world?"

"Mm. An assassin is confined to the mundane world. In truth, if not for certain people and certain things, I might never have had anything to do with the cultivation world in my whole life. But the people and things around me forced me to swim against the current and step onto a higher plane—if I don't go after them, they come after me and the people close to me..." Wei Zhao said. "Like this time. Without my reputation in the cultivation world, no matter how much Tianchan helped, there was no way the Yellow Earth High Sect would have handed over two vials of earth-attribute essence liquid so willingly."

"That's true enough. I never expected Brother Wei Zhao to be so formidable—good at whatever line of work he takes up. In the cultivation world, he's actually carved out a place for himself too! From now on, Little Seven will follow Brother Wei Zhao and make her way with him!" Seeing Wei Zhao's strength made Yang Qiqi happier than if it had been her own.

Wei Zhao knew Yang Qiqi's character well. Though she seemed cold and aloof on the surface, she was in fact a girl with a tough exterior and a fragile heart. She was not cut out to be an assassin. Because of her parents, she had been trained as one from a very young age; she had walked that path not out of any personal preference.

At first Yang Qiqi had been somewhat resistant, but after they came to know each other, Wei Zhao could sense that she trained for his sake—and by now, she was striving for Xiao Jiu's sake.

In the trials of the Ice Palace and at the cultivators' market, Yang Qiqi had shed tears, laying bare the fragile side of her heart. Beneath that cool disguise, Yang Qiqi's strength came only from a single unwavering conviction.

One could feel just how hard the years had been for Yang Qiqi. Once, the assassin organization had been renowned far and wide in the mundane world, but in the cultivation world it counted for nothing at all. Everything had to start over; the background of the past was nothing but passing clouds. RS