Chapter 4669 — Thunder Mystic Vine

"No," Huo Yudie shook her head.

"If you didn't, how did you find out?" Wei Zhao pressed, his gaze sharpening.

"I overheard it when I secretly set her free! She looked so pitiful that I couldn't bear it. But I never saw her again after that." Huo Yudie pursed her lips as she spoke.

Phew! Only then did Wei Zhao let out a long breath of turbid air. He had thought this girl baffling, and had even been quietly on his guard against her; now his impression of her improved considerably, and the look in his eyes turned much gentler.

Whoever this mortal-world woman might be—whether his bosom friend Chen Xi, or Bing Tang, or Song Lingwei, or Tian Die'er, or even the Grand Elder of Snow Valley—Wei Zhao did not wish any of them harm, for every one of them was connected to him, directly or indirectly.

Besides, whatever the case, Huo Yudie had saved this woman's life. For that kindness alone, Wei Zhao could not go on treating her as coldly as before. Whichever of those women it was, he felt he owed Huo Yudie a debt of gratitude.

That said, even as secret gratitude welled up in Wei Zhao's heart, he was also profoundly shaken.

That woman had offended the Vice Principal's granddaughter, and for that she was locked up and subjected to ruthless torture—a telling glimpse of how treacherous the environment of the East Continent Academy truly was. And Huo Yudie had dared to set her free in secret. Did that not make her an enemy of the Vice Principal's granddaughter?

"You let her go behind their backs—did the Vice Principal's granddaughter not come after you for it?" Wei Zhao looked her up and down. From the very start he had guessed that this girl's background might be no simple matter; otherwise she would hardly have qualified to join the mission to West Island, still less dared to cross the Vice Principal's granddaughter.

"First, she never saw me set the woman free with her own eyes. Second, I am Liu Ziqi's personal disciple," Huo Yudie said flatly.

"No wonder!" Wei Zhao understood at once. Of the two reasons, the latter was the key. If the other side could slap a charge on anyone at will, then whether or not she had witnessed it made no difference at all. And the Liu Ziqi she spoke of was none other than the Vice Principal representing the Morning Pride Academy on this mission to West Island!

Cloud Terrace Island had always upheld its ancient customs. The status and importance of a personal disciple was in no way inferior to that of one's own flesh and blood—often it even surpassed it.

After all, one's descendants did not always amount to much, and those truly capable of inheriting one's mantle were fewer still. A personal disciple was different: such a one was destined to carry on the legacy. Every personal disciple was an heir into whom those great figures had poured countless effort and heart's blood, and this bond of transmission even took precedence over blood ties. The Sea Goddess of the East Sea and Wang Xinyan were a case in point.

As Liu Ziqi's personal disciple, it was only natural that Huo Yudie did not fear the Vice Principal's granddaughter. After all, if Liu Ziqi outranked that Vice Principal, the man would be the one fawning over her instead.

"Then why are you looking for me?" Wei Zhao asked instead. He had asked this question three times now in a very short span, but this time his tone was the kindest of all. If it was nothing too troublesome, he was genuinely willing to do her a favor.

"My current strength is the great perfection of the Nascent Soul, just one step from the final breakthrough," Huo Yudie said earnestly.

"And then?" Wei Zhao nodded. He had noticed long ago that she was not restraining her aura; he simply had not paid it much mind. To be at the great perfection of the Nascent Soul ranked one among the very best of this trial's participants—but Wei Zhao himself was a freak who could kill even a skilled Mystic Ascension cultivator with a single blow, so naturally he did not think it anything remarkable.

"I've been stuck at this realm for over ten years..." Huo Yudie said pitifully.

"Over ten years?" Wei Zhao gave her a noncommittal look. To reach the Nascent Soul stage at all, an ordinary person needed at least several decades, even a century, to advance a single level. Over ten years was nothing to feel sorry about, was it?

Still, this did show that her aptitude was truly uncommon—no wonder she had it in her to become the Vice Principal's personal disciple. For an ordinary cultivator to sit at the great perfection of the Nascent Soul for ten-odd years would not even count as a bottleneck; at most it would be a warm-up...

"Exactly, so Senior Brother Lin, could you help me?" Huo Yudie gazed at Wei Zhao with eyes like pools of water, so pitiable that any onlooker's heart would melt. Against such an assault, a lecher like Kang Jingming would doubtless have dropped to his knees without a second word, doing whatever she asked without a murmur.

"Pfft!" Wei Zhao's reaction, however, was nothing like what one might imagine. He nearly choked with laughter, coughed a few times, and said, "Ahem, ahem. You've been stuck for over ten years, so you're certainly older than me. No need to call me Senior Brother..."

"It's all right. My mental age is young—I've been cultivating all this time and have had very little contact with the outside world," Huo Yudie said with an unconcerned shake of her head. From the look of her, she truly did not see anything amiss.

Wei Zhao could not help stealing a sidelong glance at her. From this brief contact he had come to understand her somewhat, though he dared not be entirely certain. He could not tell whether she was putting on this innocence deliberately to confuse him, or whether she truly harbored no ill intent.

Wei Zhao considered his judgment of people none too poor, yet faced with this Huo Yudie who had appeared out of nowhere, he truly could not get a firm read on her. If all of it was pure playacting, then her acting was far too good; but to say she was simply this naive and guileless did not seem quite right either. Could it be both at once?

"Have it your way. My patience is limited, so stop beating around the bush—what exactly do you want me to do?" Wei Zhao asked bluntly.

Even knowing she might have saved his bosom friend, Wei Zhao truly had no time to waste now. To come out on top in this West Island trial, he had to seize every second.

"All right. I've heard my master mention that somewhere in this ancient battlefield relic on West Island, there seems to grow Thunder Mystic Vine!" Huo Yudie, no longer concealing anything, said with a glint of light in her eyes.

"Thunder Mystic Vine? What's that?" Wei Zhao was taken aback and could not help frowning. The name sounded somewhat familiar.

Huo Yudie could not help glancing at Wei Zhao, seemingly finding it incredible that he did not even know such a thing. She paused a moment before saying, "It's the main ingredient for refining Thunder Mystic Pills."

"Thunder Mystic Pills? Oh, right!" Only then did Wei Zhao finally remember. Thunder Mystic Pills were an indispensable elixir for advancing to the Mystic Ascension stage!

True, he was only at the peak of the early Nascent Soul now, and it looked like a long road yet to the Mystic Ascension stage—but with the advancement speed of his supreme Nascent Soul, that time would be far shorter than for ordinary people. Especially with another stroke of fortune like the Five Venoms Swamp, it might arrive in the blink of an eye. R1152