Chapter 3031 — Little Eleven's Discovery

Before long, Qiu Lingshan had arrived at the gates of Wei Zhao's villa. There she found Fire Burning Cloud roasting something over a fire, and she said to him, "Sir, this is a residential neighborhood. Open flames like that can easily start a fire. I'll have to ask you to leave."

Fire Burning Cloud blinked in surprise, but then he withdrew the flames from his hands and looked up at Qiu Lingshan. "Where exactly is this open flame you speak of? I have no grill, no fuel—I'm just doing a bit of magic with my own hands. Is that not allowed either?"

"..." Qiu Lingshan had not expected that the fire was kindled from his own true qi. No doubt it was either a martial technique or pill fire, and there was nothing she could do about that. After all, the affairs of cultivators were not hers to meddle in—and Fire Burning Cloud truly had not used an open flame, so she really had no grounds to intervene. "Very well, carry on then. Just be careful."

With no other choice, Qiu Lingshan could only turn back the way she came—which left Shen Yushu, who had been watching the outside from inside the villa all along, furious beyond words. This Fire Burning Cloud was a shameless pest, squatting at the gate and refusing to leave no matter what, leaving her utterly helpless!

Had he been an ordinary man, Shen Yushu could have played tricks on him until he fled in fright. But the crux was that he was a cultivator, and her little pranks had no effect on him at all. So Shen Yushu found herself stymied, her hatred for Fire Burning Cloud growing by the moment.

Day after day passed, and Fire Burning Cloud simply settled in at the villa's gate. Shen Yushu was at her wit's end, and could only ignore him…

During this time, Wei Zhao's mastery of the Fuxi Nine Needles had begun to bear fruit. The use of heaven-tier divine weapons was divided into three grades—early, middle, and late—corresponding to the power levels of early heaven-tier, middle heaven-tier, and late heaven-tier. As for the early peak, that too fell under the broad category of early grade.

Given Wei Zhao's current level, by rights even using an early-grade divine weapon should have been a struggle. Yet perhaps because some peculiar trait of his body was remarkably similar to Zhang Lifeng's in those days, or perhaps because of his five-element, seven-attribute constitution, his grasp of the Fuxi Nine Needles was exceptionally deft.

He could not yet bring the early-stage usage mantras to their fullest expression, but wielding them proficiently was no problem at all! As for the might they could unleash, there was nothing Wei Zhao could do about that—his own power level was what it was. And the Fuxi Nine Needles' usage mantras were no heaven-defying art like the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams Palm that could punch above its weight; they could only produce effects commensurate with one's actual level.

Even so, this was already quite good, and Wei Zhao was well satisfied. It also eased somewhat the gloom that had hung over him these past days from his failure to fully master the forging flame! At least in the use of heaven-tier divine weapons, Wei Zhao had regained the confidence he once had when unleashing his martial techniques.

Of course, every heaven-tier divine weapon required a matching bodily attribute to be used. The Fuxi Nine Needles, for instance, could only be wielded by one with a true fire-attribute constitution. The other three heaven-tier divine weapons Wei Zhao had obtained earlier from Zhang Lifeng's tomb were of the ice and mist attributes, usable only by those with a true ice-mist constitution.

Of course, ice and mist both belonged to the water element, and among these three attributes one could interchangeably wield water-, ice-, and mist-attribute heaven-tier divine weapons—only the effects would not be as good as with a matching attribute.

Wei Zhao happened to possess the true fire attribute within his body, so naturally he could wield the Fuxi Nine Needles with skill. Any other cultivator with a true fire attribute could likewise master them.

After all, a heaven-tier divine weapon was merely a combat aid; so long as it matched the attribute within one's body, there was no problem in using it.

However, there were also cultivators of false attributes who, even upon reaching heaven-tier power, could not use heaven-tier divine weapons. Even if they did, they could not draw out much effect—just like an ordinary man swinging an ordinary broadsword, at most a little stronger for his brawn!

As for external cultivators, their heaven-tier divine weapons could not be infused with true qi, nor did they require a matching attribute—but their divine weapons belonged to an entirely different category. Some external cultivators used them, some did not; with bare fists alone they were already formidable.

After all, for an external cultivator to find a well-suited heaven-tier divine weapon was all the harder, and sometimes using a divine weapon was less convenient than going without.

The only regret was that Wei Zhao could use the Fuxi Nine Needles only as a heaven-tier divine weapon, not as a miraculous healing artifact. According to the records, the Fuxi Nine Needles could raise the dead and regrow flesh from bone, but the methods for wielding these wondrous powers had been lost—even Zhang Lifeng did not know them.

Yet Wei Zhao had always felt that using the Fuxi Nine Needles as a weapon was merely one branch of their function; their primary purpose was still to heal the wounded!

Or rather, to heal cultivators. Wei Zhao believed that if this set of Fuxi Nine Needles was truly as the legends described, then repairing a cultivator's dantian and meridians should be no trouble at all!

Of course, as for the methods of healing and treatment, Wei Zhao would have to find a way to probe them out himself—otherwise the Fuxi Nine Needles could only remain a mere heaven-tier divine weapon.

……………………

Following the instructions of Patriarch Xuanchen, Little One conducted a thorough and detailed investigation of the secular Sun family. Yet the results of that investigation left Little One with knitted brows—fortunately, Little Eleven, who had accompanied him in the inquiry, found a description of the Sun family in another ancient text, one that revealed certain secrets known to few. Only then did Little One breathe a grudging sigh of relief!

Upon receiving this news, Little One immediately hurried to the Xuandan Sect, intending to report the results of his investigation to Patriarch Xuanchen and let him decide.

Tagan Long's injuries were grave, on par with Wei Zhao's earlier wounds. The one respect in which Tagan Long had fared better than Wei Zhao was that his dantian was not completely shattered—only half. Thus, if a top-grade fourth-tier Great Return Pill could be taken, he could still recover.

But the crucial problem was that no one could refine a top-grade fourth-tier Great Return Pill!

So to cure Tagan Long and restore his ability to cultivate, his meridians and dantian would have to be repaired. That meant someone from the Sun family would have to have cultivated the second layer of the mantra before they could treat Tagan Long!

Or two at the first layer would do! RS