Chapter 2925 — Zhang Naipao's Bottleneck

"Chunyang, what has happened to Paozi? Why has he come back in this state? Did he not pass the trial successfully and secure a Marrow-Cleansing and Bone-Tempering Pill for me? That is a good thing, is it not?" Zhong Yongliang looked at Pure Yang Heavenly Venerable in puzzlement. "Do you know why?" "I am not clear on it either. In a little while I will go and ask him, and then report back to you, Venerable Master. How would that be?" Pure Yang Heavenly Venerable shook his head as he spoke. "Very well." Zhong Yongliang nodded. Although a portion of the primal spirit within his body now belonged to Patriarch Wild Dragon, his concern for Zhang Naipao was nonetheless heartfelt; he had always regarded Zhang Naipao as one of his capable subordinates. Pure Yang Heavenly Venerable knew this as well, and knew of Zhang Naipao's extraordinary standing within the Tomorrow Upon Tomorrow Sect, so he did not dare be negligent and went straight to the place where Zhang Naipao cultivated. "Naipao!" Pure Yang Heavenly Venerable walked into Zhang Naipao's room, yet Zhang Naipao was still sitting there in a daze, so absent that he did not even notice Pure Yang Heavenly Venerable's arrival! By rights, Zhang Naipao was already a Heaven-rank expert, and his powers of perception were exceedingly sharp; that he failed to sense Pure Yang Heavenly Venerable's coming could only mean that his mind was elsewhere and his spirit had left him. "Ah! It is you, Venerable Master..." Only when Pure Yang Heavenly Venerable called out to him did Zhang Naipao come back to himself. He raised his head and looked at Pure Yang Heavenly Venerable. "Venerable Master, you sought out your disciple—is there some matter?" "Naipao, did something happen to you during this trial?" Pure Yang Heavenly Venerable looked at Zhang Naipao and asked. "Venerable Master..." Zhang Naipao hesitated a moment, then still told the truth. "You are right, Venerable Master. This trial dealt your disciple a heavy blow indeed!" "Oh? What happened? You clearly passed the trial, and even obtained the trial's spirit medicine, exchanging it for a Marrow-Cleansing and Bone-Tempering Pill for Venerable Master Wild Dragon. These are all good things, so how is it that you were dealt a heavy blow?" Pure Yang Heavenly Venerable was bewildered, unable to make head or tail of it. "Venerable Master, do not praise your disciple. This time, if not for Wei Zhao, your disciple would likely have died with no place for burial, and by now you would not be seeing him at all—he would long since have been left behind in that savage wilderness of the Five Baleful Lands!" Zhang Naipao said with a bitter smile. "What do you mean? Are you saying... Wei Zhao saved you?!" Pure Yang Heavenly Venerable was rather astonished. Were Wei Zhao and Zhang Naipao not sworn enemies all along? How could Wei Zhao have saved Zhang Naipao? What exactly had happened? Had the two made peace? That did not seem right! "You are right... and yet, the reason your disciple nearly died with no place for burial was also Wei Zhao. You might say it was Wei Zhao who made me and Wei Zhao who undid me!" Zhang Naipao nodded and said. "What does that mean now? Wei Zhao defeated you, and then saved you?" Pure Yang Heavenly Venerable found it more and more inconceivable! "Venerable Master, the truth of the matter is this..." Zhang Naipao simply told Pure Yang Heavenly Venerable in full detail everything that had happened back in the savage wilderness of the Five Baleful Lands! Including how Wei Zhao had finished off his right-hand men! And only at this moment did Pure Yang Heavenly Venerable learn that Mo Ba had been killed by Wei Zhao, and that Mo Jiu had been beaten into a living corpse by Wei Zhao as well—that these two had not, during the trial in the savage wilderness of the Five Baleful Lands, fallen to attacks by spirit beasts. The true culprit was Wei Zhao! Only, Pure Yang Heavenly Venerable was deeply aghast at heart: Wei Zhao, a late Earth-rank expert, was actually able to finish off Mo Ba and Mo Jiu, those two mid Heaven-rank experts? And by means of instant kills at that? That aside, Zhang Naipao's Infernal Yin-Demon Fist—Wei Zhao had actually managed to produce an Infernal Frenzied Flame Fist. What sort of thing was that? How had it come about? Zhang Naipao, now the successor of Lord Chiyou of the Chrysanthemum Treasure Canon, was actually unable to defeat a wholly unremarkable loose cultivator like Wei Zhao? That was simply too absurd! Yet the facts lay right before his eyes, and Pure Yang Heavenly Venerable did not think Zhang Naipao, looking so utterly dispirited, was telling lies. The only explanation available at present was that Wei Zhao was simply too formidable, and that no one else was a match for him! "Wei Zhao... has already grown powerful to such a degree?" Pure Yang Heavenly Venerable's brows knit together, and for a long while he could not loosen them. "In that case, if our Tomorrow Upon Tomorrow Sect wishes to move against him, unless an expert of my caliber takes the field, there is no hope?" "Not necessarily. If Wei Zhao had not been wearing a mid-grade Golden Cicada Inner Armor, even if he wished to wound me, it would not have been so easy!" Zhang Naipao said with a bitter smile. "In short, it was a tangle of mischances..." Pure Yang Heavenly Venerable patted Zhang Naipao on the shoulder, then rose to his feet. "These matters are a heart demon! Your cultivation has now stalled on this very point. Break through the heart demon, and you will be able to press bravely onward." "What do you mean?" Zhang Naipao was slightly taken aback. But Pure Yang Heavenly Venerable only shook his head, said no more, and turned to leave his room... Zhang Naipao sat alone in the room, sinking into deep thought. Pure Yang Heavenly Venerable, meanwhile, went straight to Zhong Yongliang. "Venerable Master Wild Dragon, I have now learned clearly the whole course of Zhang Naipao's participation in this trial! The matter is like this..." Pure Yang Heavenly Venerable told Zhong Yongliang everything he knew. "Oh? So then, Paozi suffered a blow during the trial, and has been unable to recover from it?" Hearing Pure Yang Heavenly Venerable's words, Zhong Yongliang immediately knitted his brows. "How has Wei Zhao become so formidable?" "Indeed, Zhang Naipao did suffer a blow! But in truth, this is also a good thing!" Pure Yang Heavenly Venerable said instead. "A good thing? What do you mean?" Zhong Yongliang was slightly taken aback, and then at once an expression of understanding appeared on his face. "Before the second layer of the Chrysanthemum Treasure Canon can reach great perfection and break through to the third layer, one must undergo the trial of a heart demon. Without the trial of a heart demon, there can be no breakthrough!" "Indeed, it seems you have thought of it too, Venerable Master." Pure Yang Heavenly Venerable nodded. Although Zhong Yongliang had fused with Patriarch Wild Dragon's memories, the time had been too short for him to thoroughly master and integrate them, and sometimes there would be pauses. "It seems Wei Zhao has done us a great favor after all!" Zhong Yongliang smiled slightly and said. "Only, if Paozi cannot successfully emerge from the heart demon and rouse himself again, will he not be trapped in this state for the rest of his life?" "Venerable Master, there is no help for it. You know as well that cultivating the Chrysanthemum Treasure Canon requires passing through these trials!" Pure Yang Heavenly Venerable spread his hands and said with some helplessness. "If the Chrysanthemum Treasure Canon were truly so easy to cultivate, could our Tomorrow Upon Tomorrow Sect still be held down by the Five Luminaries Gate?" "That is true enough. Let us hope Paozi can break through successfully!" Zhong Yongliang nodded. …………………… Within the Flaming Mountain Sect, in the Hakunamata Mountain Range. Yang Dingtian, the grand elder of Flaming Mountain, sat before Sect