Chapter 4146 — Xuan Chen's Speculation

"Yes, Grandfather, you see things more clearly than I do. Rest assured, I can endure it!" Zheng Tianshuo nodded heavily.

Several days later, at the Cultivator Academy.

Deploying every hand within the academy, along with a contingent of skilled men lent by the Central Chamber of Commerce, Si Haitao led the search through the vast forests of Zhongding Mountain for three full days and nights before they finally found Nan Tian Liuguang, fallen into a muddy bog.

By then, Nan Tian Liuguang—that lofty expert of the early Xuan Ascension stage—had been reduced to a bedraggled rooster gasping its last. Had they found him a few days later, he would likely have been a cold corpse.

To have taken a lethal blow from Di Xingdao and then been hurled from the three-thousand-meter summit of Zhongding Peak, and still cling to that final breath—that alone was no small miracle. The vitality of an early Xuan Ascension expert was truly extraordinary.

Even so, when Nan Tian Liuguang was carried back to the Cultivator Academy, he was no better than a wretched, beaten dog, a single step from death.

When Ancestor Xuan Chen, out searching elsewhere, heard the news, he rushed at once to Nan Tian Liuguang's cultivation cave. The moment he crossed the threshold, he began to wail with grief and indignation, sobbing as though his heart were being torn out—a picture of utter anguish.

"What the hell are you keening for?" Si Haitao shot him a glance from within the room and scowled. "Nobody's dead yet, so what are you carrying on about? Injuries like these are nothing to the Central Chamber of Commerce. We have spirit jade to spare. No wound is too grave for us to heal—we could bring back the dead if we had to. So spare me your damned funeral wailing."

His words were those of a grand magnate through and through—rich, and proud of it.

"Ah? So Dean Nan Tian is all right?" Ancestor Xuan Chen froze, the weight instantly lifting from his heart, and only then did he sheepishly choke back his sobs.

"Of course he's all right. What did you think—that the Central Chamber of Commerce sits around on its hands?" Si Haitao smiled with no small satisfaction, then looked Xuan Chen up and down. "If I remember correctly, you're the follower my old friend Nan Tian brought up from the mortal realm, aren't you? I believe he introduced you to me once, specially."

"Yes, yes. I never imagined Steward Si would still remember me—what an honor," Ancestor Xuan Chen said, nodding again and again.

In the mortal realm he had been a lofty figure of power, but here on Cloud Terrace Island he had to change his mindset and keep his tail between his legs. Otherwise, never mind his ambitions—he would not even live long.

"Since my old friend Nan Tian values you so highly, I won't treat you as an outsider. Stay here these next few days and attend to him," Si Haitao said mildly.

"Thank you, Steward Si. That was precisely my wish," Ancestor Xuan Chen answered at once.

In the mortal realm, to have a great figure of the Five Luminaries Sect wait on another would have earned the offender a slap to death. But at this moment he felt not the least displeasure—on the contrary, he was delighted.

Even in defeat at Di Xingdao's hands, Nan Tian Liuguang remained vice dean of the Cultivator Academy, still a top expert of the early Xuan Ascension stage. To have the chance to serve such a personage was no humiliation but a very real stroke of fortune—the sort of opportunity one could not beg for even if one tried.

Ancestor Xuan Chen was confident that if he served with all his heart, then once Nan Tian Liuguang recovered from his wounds, he would surely regard him all the more highly, and the benefits would be boundless.

Events proved Si Haitao's words no empty boast. Under the central chamber's miracle medicines for healing wounds, the dying Nan Tian Liuguang was soon pulled back from the gates of hell and awoke.

Though his injuries were too severe for a quick recovery, at least his mind was clear again and he could speak.

"Steward Si, I truly have to thank you. If not for you, I fear I would already be..." Nan Tian Liuguang began, gratitude written across his face.

"Heh heh, one family doesn't speak two languages. Old friend Nan Tian, we're our own people—saving you is my duty, only what I ought to do. What's with the formalities?" Si Haitao waved it off at once.

"Ah, it should have been a grand occasion, and then out of nowhere Di Xingdao had to charge in like a Cheng Yaojin and ruin everything. This is beyond bearing!" Nan Tian Liuguang gnashed his teeth and spoke with bitter hatred.

The instant before Di Xingdao's challenge, he had still been the proud new vice island lord of the Central Island, riding high on success. Who would have thought that in the blink of an eye he would be dashed to the dust—by now he had surely become the laughingstock of the whole Central Island.

"I never expected it either—that this Di Xingdao could be so formidable that even you, old friend Nan Tian, are no match for him. Wasn't it said he had only just recovered from grave injuries? How did his strength come back so fast?" Si Haitao asked, perplexed.

"I find it just as baffling, which is why I was utterly unprepared and caught off guard!" Nan Tian Liuguang made excuses for himself, unwilling to concede, then added: "But more than that, I'm puzzled how this one suddenly healed. His meridians were damaged for so many years—the rumors said even Zhang Lifeng couldn't cure him. And then all at once he's well. It's downright uncanny!"

"Yes, yes, that's puzzled me too all along. Even our Central Chamber of Commerce's intelligence division couldn't get to the bottom of it—only the rough outline, that some outside apothecary cured him," Si Haitao agreed, nodding repeatedly.

When word of Di Xingdao's recovery first spread, it had already caused quite a stir across the Central Island. A figure as important as Di Xingdao would naturally draw the central chamber's attention, but the Central Island's Pill Hall was no ordinary sect—even they could not easily infiltrate it, and so could not obtain clear intelligence.

"An outside apothecary?" Ancestor Xuan Chen was startled, then suddenly spoke up, as if struck by a thought: "If that's the case, I think it very likely was Wei Zhao's doing! Wasn't he traveling with Di Xingdao before? And back in the mortal realm he specialized in repairing people's meridians—they say his medical skill is quite something!"

"Truly?" Nan Tian Liuguang and Si Haitao were startled at the same time. Whoever could cure Di Xingdao must be a mysterious master, and so they had dismissed Wei Zhao out of hand on first instinct. But now that Ancestor Xuan Chen had raised it, it did seem there might really be such a possibility. (To be continued) R655