Chapter 4751 — A Request

"You've come." Ning Shanghe was in her study attending to some matters. Seeing Wei Zhao and Ning Xuefei enter, she merely glanced up and gestured for them to find seats—by the look of it, she no longer treated Wei Zhao, her prospective son-in-law, as an outsider.

Wei Zhao did not speak at once. He exchanged a glance with Ning Xuefei and sat down, waiting until Ning Shanghe finished the business at hand. Only then did he clear his throat and say, "Island Master."

"Call me Aunt Ning for now. We're all one family from here on—'Island Master' is far too stiff." Ning Shanghe smiled faintly. Of course, once the two of them were married, he would have to change his address again, to mother-in-law.

"Very well, Aunt Ning." Wei Zhao did not fuss or hesitate; he changed his address on the spot.

Ning Shanghe smiled warmly. That Wei Zhao had in the end won the trial, emerging unscathed from peril, gladdened not only Ning Xuefei but her mother as well, who rejoiced for her daughter from the bottom of her heart.

"Aunt Ning, there is a matter I would ask of you, and I hope you will grant it," Wei Zhao said after weighing his words.

"Oh? Speak freely," said Ning Shanghe.

"You said just now that by West Island's rules, Feifei and I are to be sent to the East Continent Academy for further study?" Wei Zhao said.

"That is so. I was just about to speak with the two of you on this very matter. Apart from a very few academies with extremely rigid rules, you may choose any of the East Continent academies. Do you have something in mind?" Ning Shanghe asked.

"Aunt Ning, the truth is that for the time being I am not much inclined to go to the East Continent for study. Given my present circumstances, the time is not right. Going to the East Continent Academy would in fact very likely restrict my development. What I need most now is to temper myself through trials in all quarters, not to find some place for safe and steady study. I hope you can understand this, Aunt Ning," Wei Zhao said earnestly.

"Oh?" Ning Shanghe's gaze narrowed slightly, and she looked Wei Zhao up and down afresh. She saw that the aura about him was concentrated and undispersed, wholly lacking the superficiality of other young prodigy disciples—he had already formed a style of his own. Only then did she nod in approval. "You speak truly. Given your present circumstances, to be bound within the East Continent Academy would indeed yield little effect and waste your time."

The East Continent Academy was said to harbor crouching tigers and hidden dragons, its competition fierce—but in Ning Shanghe's view, such so-called competition might not bring Wei Zhao much pressure of substance. When an environment grows too comfortable, even the sharpest young man will gradually slacken and in the end be lost among the common crowd.

"Precisely so," Wei Zhao said with a nod.

"Very well, then. Since that is the case, we shall set aside the matter of your going to the East Continent Academy for now. But I have one condition: you must first escort Feifei to the East Continent—at least in appearance, you go as her companion. After that, where you go is yours to decide. How does that suit you?" Ning Shanghe mused a moment, then proposed.

Ning Xuefei was different from Wei Zhao. In her disinclination to cultivate, she was a match for Shangguan Lan'er—her strength was still only at the Golden Core stage. As the future successor to West Island, that was plainly far from enough.

Ning Shanghe had long wished to send her to the East Continent Academy for study, only to have her put it off time and again with one excuse or another. But this time Ning Xuefei certainly could not escape. Wei Zhao might cultivate on his own, but she must dutifully remain at the East Continent Academy. There was no room for negotiation.

Ning Xuefei pursed her lips and was about to speak, but a single look from Ning Shanghe choked the words back. She knew her own affairs best and could only close her mouth in sulky silence.

"Thank you, Aunt Ning!" Wei Zhao agreed at once, readily. The matter of studying at the East Continent Academy was a rule of West Island, and he had assumed it would not be so easily altered; that Ning Shanghe had consented so readily showed that his prospective mother-in-law was no inflexible stickler.

This was good news for Wei Zhao. Otherwise, had Ning Shanghe truly been an old diehard clinging to dogma, then given her status and position, who knew how much needless trouble might have arisen hereafter. He had not expected her to be so reasonable—it seemed his days on West Island would not be too hard after all.

"This matter should have been yours to decide in the first place; there is nothing to thank me for." Ning Shanghe smiled, unconcerned, then suddenly changed the subject. "Wei Zhao, how exactly did you and Huo Yudie get out? Could you speak frankly with Aunt Ning about it? Of course, if it is inconvenient, no one will force you—it is only that this concerns the teleportation mechanism of the West Island trial, and I felt it necessary to have it clarified."

Wei Zhao's earlier account—that a Xuan Sheng stage expert had sent them out—might fool outsiders ignorant of the inner workings at best; plainly it could not deceive Ning Shanghe and the other West Island higher-ups. If a Xuan Sheng stage expert could truly activate the teleportation array, they would have discovered it centuries ago. That was simply impossible.

"Aunt Ning is perceptive. To be frank, this time I got out by relying on my own true qi," Wei Zhao confessed honestly. There was nothing to conceal in such a matter; before outsiders it was inconvenient to speak plainly, but now, given the relationship between Ning Shanghe and himself, she could hardly be counted an outsider.

"Oh?" Ning Shanghe was slightly startled. She had assumed Wei Zhao and Huo Yudie had found some flaw in the teleportation array—never had she expected the answer to be so simple.

"The might of my martial technique has long been comparable to that of a Xuan Sheng stage expert, while I am myself at the Nascent Soul stage. I suppose I exploited a loophole in the teleportation array, and so was able to pass through," Wei Zhao explained, sparing no detail.

"That explains it. To think that at your present realm you can match a Xuan Sheng stage expert—this is truly unheard of, unseen!" Ning Shanghe was astonished, and at once could not help but feel as though she had found a treasure. To have gained a prospective son-in-law of such heaven-defying means as Wei Zhao—this was likely the most gratifying harvest West Island had reaped in years.

In truth, because Ning Xuefei had never liked cultivating, Ning Shanghe had suffered no small headache over the matter in recent years. In talent and aptitude Ning Xuefei was in fact a genius rarely seen in this world—after all, the powerful bloodlines of her parents were there for all to see; she could not be weak even if she tried. But without diligent cultivation, of what use was the finest talent?

All of Ning Xuefei's interest lay in tinkering with various researches and inventions. Unfortunately, on Cloud Terrace Island this was, after all, a minor path that did not count as true cultivation. To take charge of West Island, in the end one must let one's own strength speak. If her strength were insufficient, then even if Ning Shanghe could raise her to the seat, she would not be able to hold it securely.

Ning Shanghe would of course think of every means to raise her strength, but this was by no means the work of a single day or night. Now, however, with Wei Zhao as a powerful reinforcement, the pressure on Ning Xuefei was no longer as great as before. Husband and wife are one body; so long as Wei Zhao's strength could overawe the four quarters, Ning Xuefei would naturally be as steady as Mount Tai.