Chapter 3922 — A Debt of Gratitude

Seeing Shangguan Lan'er look so utterly certain, Wei Zhao could not help falling silent. He was a cultivator, true enough, but fortune and fate were things elusive and insubstantial; at his present level he could neither touch them nor even form the faintest conception of them.

Still, that he could not yet touch them did not mean they did not exist. The so-called Great Compassion might well be a kindly lie Shangguan Tianxia had invented to comfort his granddaughter—but neither could one rule out the possibility that it was real.

For beyond the heavenly dao lay no mere tempering of the body, but the cultivation of truth itself.

Whether such a thing was true or false, only Wei Zhao himself, once he had reached that level and tasted it firsthand, could ever know.

Half a shichen later, Shangguan Lan'er's injuries had healed as if they had never been. Gazing at the delicate, newly reborn skin on her shoulder, she could not suppress a cry of delight and astonishment: "Not a single scar! And my skin is even better than before—Little Junior Brother, you really are amazing!"

She paused, her eyes darting this way and that, then leaned in with a coaxing grin. "Otherwise—Little Junior Brother, why don't you heal the rest of me too?"

"That would take getting hurt first, just like before. Only after an injury can there be renewal—aren't you afraid of the pain?" Wei Zhao was caught between laughter and tears. Truly, every heart held a love of beauty, and even this innocent, charming young miss was no exception.

"Not afraid, not afraid! Little Junior Brother, you don't understand women. A woman is a most wondrous creature, you know—compared to fair, smooth skin, what is a little pain?" Shangguan Lan'er wore an expression of lofty righteousness.

"Uh... then let's wait for another chance in the future. The back mountain is full of hidden dangers; expending too much true qi out here could easily get us into trouble." Wei Zhao had no choice but to put her off, speechless.

"Is that so... well, all right then. It's settled for now—no going back on your word once we're home! Here, let's pinky-swear!" Shangguan Lan'er promptly seized Wei Zhao's hand, and after hooking their little fingers, she made sure to press her thumb against his as a seal.

Wei Zhao shook his head helplessly and let her have her way, then drew out a dark-green, crystal-clear object and handed it to her. "This is the thousand-year tree crystal. Put it away for now."

"Wow!" Shangguan Lan'er took the thousand-year tree crystal, her eyes going wide and fixed. She had come for the thousand-year tree crystal, true, but in truth even she had not held out much hope.

After all, Half Moon Lake's deadliness ranked first among all the dangers of the back mountain's outer reaches, and she had seen with her own eyes how perilous Wei Zhao's crossing had been. That he had come away whole this time was already no small feat—Shangguan Lan'er had even begun to regret having sent him to do such a thing.

As for the thousand-year tree crystal itself, she had long since stopped daring to hope. Such a thing was found by chance, not by seeking, and even if Wei Zhao reached the giant cedar at the lake's heart, the odds of finding one were vanishingly small.

Especially since Murong Zhen's unforeseen crisis had arisen afterward—Shangguan Lan'er had put the thousand-year tree crystal entirely out of her mind. Yet who would have thought Wei Zhao had actually obtained it.

"It's so beautiful!" Shangguan Lan'er cradled the thousand-year tree crystal with great care, her eyes fairly glowing, and the way she drooled over it gave Wei Zhao a genuine chill.

One had to admit, the thousand-year tree crystal was flawless in appearance. A crystalline treasure imbued with a mysterious breath of life, it far surpassed dead things like spirit jade, and its pull on women was nothing short of lethal. Shangguan Lan'er was no exception.

Compared with the ten-thousand-year tree crystal now resting in Wei Zhao's jade pendant space, its value and uses were far greater—yet in appearance alone it was truly beyond praise. At first glance it was nothing but a charred, rotten stump of wood.

Only after a long while did Shangguan Lan'er finally, and most reluctantly, tuck the thousand-year tree crystal into her pouch. At the same time she turned away and furtively dabbed the drool from the corner of her mouth with a handkerchief.

Then this young miss composed herself into the dignified bearing of a senior sister and declared with solemnity: "Little Junior Brother, given the friendship between us, I won't stand on thanks with you. Your senior sister will keep it all in her heart, and there will be repayment in days to come."

"You're too kind, Senior Sister. It's only what I ought to do." Wei Zhao was choking back laughter, though his face cooperated admirably.

Unexpectedly, Shangguan Lan'er suddenly reached out and smacked him on the forehead, as if he were hopeless: "What do you mean, what you ought to do? Making your senior sister owe you a favor is the same as making my grandfather owe you one! I needn't tell you how precious the favor of the master of the Soaring Heaven Pavilion is—those great personages dream of having him owe them a favor! Little Junior Brother, you really are hopelessly dense!"

There was such a thing? Wei Zhao was struck dumb, and seeing the wink and grimace Shangguan Lan'er shot him, he was silently at a loss for words. So this girl was dead set on fleecing her own grandfather?

Still, for Wei Zhao, earning Shangguan Tianxia's favor would indeed pay endless dividends in the Tri-Stack Pavilion in days to come. Given Shangguan Tianxia's influence, a single casual word from him was enough that even the upper echelons of the Azure Cloud Pavilion would not dare ignore it.

This young miss Shangguan Lan'er had always been innocent and charming, yet here she turned out to be sly as a fox. Her reasoning left Wei Zhao torn between laughter and tears, but he was secretly grateful all the same.

This so-called favor, whether or not it was ever used, was Shangguan Lan'er's goodwill—and it must not be betrayed.

"Now that the thousand-year tree crystal is in hand, what do you plan to do next, Senior Sister?" Wei Zhao asked, turning the subject.

"Hmm..." Shangguan Lan'er furrowed her brow in thought, then smacked her own head. "It's not often I get to come to the back mountain, and with you no less—going back now would be such a waste! Don't you still have a newcomers' assessment mission? I'll tag along and have some fun here, and who knows, maybe we'll find more weapon-forging materials!"

"That works." Wei Zhao nodded. He had already planned to spend the coming days exploring the back mountain's outer reaches; as long as they avoided places as perilous as Half Moon Lake, having Shangguan Lan'er along would not be much of a problem.

One ten-thousand-year tree crystal and one thousand-year tree crystal—even if he failed to find the Heart-Devouring Linglong Grass he most wanted in the days to come, this trip to the back mountain had already been a great gain for Wei Zhao.

Yet while Wei Zhao was thus at ease, his two underlings, Xiao Che and Qiao Hongcai, had been worrying themselves gray over him these past days.

Ever since being forced to part from Wei Zhao on the first day, the two had been searching for him without cease—not only because Qiao Hongcai's ghost-eyed golden eagle chick was in his keeping, but above all out of fear for his safety.

After all, they had no idea that Wei Zhao carried a heaven-defying cheat like the jade pendant space! (To be continued.)