Chapter 4330 — Encountering the Pirates Again

Wei Zhao stood dazed for a long while, and only after heaving out a long breath of stale air did he finally piece together cause and effect. He muttered to himself, "No wonder it hurt for so long just now, and no wonder I was stuck at the threshold of the early Golden Core stage all this time, unable to break through. So that was it."

As a peerless expert of the Golden Core stage who had achieved a perfect breakthrough, in theory he should have been able to advance swiftly and unchecked through the entire Golden Core realm—yet Wei Zhao had been wedged at the early Golden Core threshold the whole time.

If one really thought about it, the combat experience Wei Zhao had accumulated over this period was by no means slight: from the inner-sect grand tournament of the Sandie Pavilion on the Northern Island, to all the encounters after he came out to the Southern Island—every opponent had been either a Golden Core expert or a Nascent Soul expert, and each one stronger than the last.

By all reason, even the stiffest bottleneck should have loosened long ago; yet for so long there had been no sign of it at all. And now, having taken a top-grade Golden Core elixir, he had leaped the whole gap in one step, breaking straight through to the mid Golden Core stage. Fate, truly, loved to toy with people.

Wei Zhao thought to himself: most likely the cultivation was long since ripe, only that he had lacked the spark to trigger a breakthrough. Taking the top-grade Golden Core elixir had happened to provide exactly that spark; add to that the elixir's own potency, and rising two stages at once was only reasonable.

Facing this unexpected joy, Wei Zhao, who had been somewhat despondent, was instantly buoyed from head to toe. A perfect Golden Core expert already stood above ordinary Golden Core experts, and with his present mid Golden Core strength, even against a typical expert at Golden Core Great Perfection, he would absolutely dominate in every respect.

And if he were to unleash his strongest hidden card, Wei Zhao felt with fierce certainty that even alone, he would be confident of crossing stages to deal a heavy blow to a Nascent Soul expert!

Feeling the surging newborn power within him, Wei Zhao glanced at the remaining top-grade Golden Core elixir. His heart stirred. He believed that with the potential of a perfect Golden Core expert, taking it would likely push him up another stage—but in the end, Wei Zhao suppressed this tempting thought.

Advancing further was certainly cause for joy, but the path of cultivation taught one to know when to stop; to greedily chase speed in all things was to overshoot the mark.

However mighty and harmless a pill might be, in the end it was only an aid; only the cultivation won through water-dripping, stone-piercing grind constituted true inner foundation.

Though he had successfully broken through to the mid Golden Core stage, Wei Zhao did not go out. Instead he remained in the inn in secluded cultivation. He had, after all, already given Wang Xinyan and Huang Xiaotao his instructions; rather than risk going to look for them, it was better to stay quietly at the inn and consolidate his strength. Once his power had grown in the days to come, there would be no fear of lacking chances to meet again.

For several days on end Wei Zhao never stepped outside. Only when he felt the true qi within him once more obey his every command, and his strength was thoroughly consolidated, did he finally walk out of his room for the first time—balancing work and rest, ready to go out and get some air.

This time Wei Zhao did not bother putting on the Thousand Silk Mask, for the Dawn Star Academy's selections were now over. Those people from the Academy should all have left by now, so there was naturally no need for such an extra precaution.

The inn where Wei Zhao was staying was not merely an inn; it was in fact a sizeable tavern, and enjoyed no small reputation throughout Zhenduan City. The first and second floors were for drinking and dining, and only the third floor served as lodging for travelers.

Wei Zhao ordered a few of the house specialty dishes and sat down at a place by the window, watching the scenery outside while he ate—a rare moment of relaxation.

He had to admit, the specialties here were genuinely delicious. The place was famed for its mixed seafood dishes, a local cuisine of the Zhenduan sea region in the Southern Continent, unlike any flavor Wei Zhao had ever tasted: numbing, spicy, fresh, and savory, leaving a lingering aftertaste.

Wei Zhao sat alone, and at a table not far behind him two men were drinking together. Wei Zhao glanced at them offhandedly and had an instinctive feeling he had seen them before, though for the moment he could not place where.

"Brother, those Dawn Star Academy people should all be gone by now, so why is the dock still under lockdown? It's got our whole boatload of goods stuck here—it's been sitting on our hands for nearly a whole month. What a damn mess!" one of them, a man in blue robes, cursed and grumbled.

"I've been wondering the same thing. They're already gone, so what the hell are they locking down the docks for? Still, I figure it'll reopen in a day or two..." the other man, in black, mused as he drank.

Hearing their somewhat familiar voices, Wei Zhao's heart suddenly jolted. He covertly sized up their strength—both were peak late Golden Core, no mistake about it. These two were from that very band of pirates who had robbed the escort shipment!

There had been four peak late Golden Core experts in that robbery, and the two behind him were two of them!

Since he had never actually crossed hands with them, Wei Zhao's impression of this pirate crew was not especially deep; but not much time had passed, and sitting this close he was hardly going to fail to recognize them. Moreover, from what they were saying, it seemed the boatload of goods they had seized had still not been fenced?

Yet Wei Zhao distinctly remembered that after dumping him and his companions at the dock, the pirates should have left Zhenduan City right then. So why had they turned back now?

With Wei Zhao's present strength, to say nothing of two peak late Golden Core experts—even if all four came at once, he would not be troubled in the least. He felt not the slightest fear now, and simply went on eating without betraying a thing, while listening to the two men talk.

"Damn it. Sure, this job went off smooth enough, and those four cowards were sensible and didn't put up a fight at all. But after that our luck was truly shit—we'd already set sail, and the storm drove us right back. We finally wait for the weather to clear a bit, and then those Dawn Star Academy people show up and seal the docks again..." The man in blue drank his bitter wine with a look of sheer exasperation.

These words answered Wei Zhao's puzzlement: so the lot of them had been driven back by the storm. No wonder, when they had clearly departed, they were still stuck here now.

"Enough, Second Brother. Quit your bellyaching—you've said this dozens of times already, and I've got calluses on my ears from it. Don't you know what they say, good things come to those who wait? Once we hand this batch of goods to Shopkeeper Wei, just think about the payment we agreed on—tsk, tsk—never mind a month's delay, even half a year's delay would be worth it!" The man in black laughed as he consoled him.

Shopkeeper Wei? Could it be Wei Zhaotong of the Hong Clan Merchant Guild? At these words Wei Zhao gave a violent start—but on second thought it seemed unlikely. This cargo had been entrusted to the Qingtian Escort Agency by Wei Zhaotong himself; there was no reason for him to hire men to rob his own goods. It was probably just a shared surname. (To be continued) R655