Chapter 4779 — The Captain Steps In

One moment it was metal-attribute, the next wood-attribute, and a little later it would turn water-attribute; then, just when he had finally steeled himself to begin refining it, it abruptly became fire-attribute. There was no pattern to it at all—how could anyone possibly dissolve something like that?!

Ren Zhongyuan was nearly driven out of his mind by the torment. He had run out of ways to deal with this bizarre true qi; the only small mercy was that, up to now, no fatal injury had appeared in his body—it merely flared into agony from time to time, and between attacks he was the same as ever. At least he could still catch his breath, and it looked as though he would not die anytime soon.

Still, Ren Zhongyuan refused to give up. Since he could not refine it himself, he had no choice but to pin all his hopes on pills. Not only the proper antidote pills—any pill with the slightest chance was swallowed down in one go. Even if they could not dissolve that bizarre true qi completely, if they could just ease the pain a little, that would be enough!

To anyone with an ounce of sense, what Ren Zhongyuan was doing amounted to gambling with his life. Recklessly swallowing pills often ended far more miserably than being poisoned, but by now the agony had tortured him past all reason; he simply could not afford to care.

Yet to Ren Zhongyuan's great delight, among the pills he had gulped down so wildly, one actually proved useful. It was a pill called the Turtle-Breath Pill—as the name suggested, it could put a person into a state of turtle-breathing. After he took it, however, he did not enter turtle-breathing; instead, the true qi inside his body simply stopped circulating.

With that, the bizarre true qi seemed to be suppressed as well. So long as this true qi could not go running wild all over the place, he would not be wracked by agony. The only side effect was that he likewise could not cultivate, and certainly could not circulate his mental cultivation method.

This was originally a pill meant to harm people, yet he had taken it as an antidote—and by sheer blind luck, he had used it exactly right.

By the time Ren Zhongyuan finished all this, it was already broad daylight outside. After resting a little, he immediately wanted to go out and make a round, to put on at least some show of having successfully dissolved that true qi, so that no one would look down on him.

"Senior Brother Ren, you had best stay in your room and rest up properly. That is Vice-Headmistress Liu's particular instruction—don't make things difficult for us." Two Eastern Continent disciples at the door blocked his way. Liu Ziqi was, after all, one of the academy's leading figures; there were always plenty of disciples at her command.

Ren Zhongyuan's face turned livid with rage. In his fury, the true qi inside him showed signs of stirring restlessly, giving him a fright; he pointed at the two men in the doorway and for a long while could not get a word out. This ancient warship was his territory—and now he had been openly put under house arrest in his own territory. Who could possibly stomach such a thing?

"Fine! Fine! Fine!" Ren Zhongyuan said "fine" three times through gritted teeth. Before this, he would have already struck and trampled these two bastards beneath his feet; now, however, he could only swallow it for the time being. He said coldly, "All right, I won't go out. But there's no problem if others come to see me, is there? Go on—bring Yi Xiaotian to me!"

The two Eastern Continent disciples exchanged a glance. Liu Ziqi truly had never said anything on that point. Ren Zhongyuan, after all, was a figure with deep connections, and they could not offend him too badly, so they nodded and agreed.

A short while later, Yi Xiaotian arrived at the room. Seeing Ren Zhongyuan lying lazily on the bed, he could not help but laugh. "Brother Ren, you really are taking it easy. Looks like you're all right now?"

"Hmph. I've only suppressed the poison for the time being. If I really were all right, would those two dogs at the door still dare stand there?" Ren Zhongyuan shook his head in annoyance.

"Ah, Liu Ziqi decides everything now. After what happened yesterday, no one else dares make a sound either—what can we do?" Yi Xiaotian could only spread his hands helplessly. If the opponent were only Wei Zhao, it would still be manageable, but now a single word from Liu Ziqi could crush them. What the hell was the point of fighting that?

"I do have a way to hold that old woman down. Here's what you do: send a letter out for me, and everything will unravel neatly." Ren Zhongyuan stroked his chin and gave a faint smile, and the corner of his mouth once again curved into that smug arc from the day before.

By noon, the Eastern Continent disciples—Liu Ziqi, Wei Zhao, and the rest among them—had gathered in twos and threes in the dining hall to eat, when a sudden commotion broke out at the entrance. Everyone looked over at the sound and was startled: a heavyweight uninvited guest had arrived—Captain Aotianba!

Listening to the hushed exclamations all around, Wei Zhao sized up the newcomer from a distance. This was the first time he had seen the legendary captain in person: thick brows, large eyes, a gait like a dragon's or a tiger's. He looked to be a middle-aged man of bold, sweeping spirit.

For this ancient warship, Liu Ziqi and the Eastern Continent diplomatic mission were only temporary guests. Its true masters were its original crew, and the one who led them was none other than this Captain Aotianba.

The dining hall for the Eastern Continent disciples and the one for the warship's crew were separate, however, and this Aotianba had never once come to this side. What wind was blowing today?

"Captain Aotianba, your presence graces us—we have been most remiss." Liu Ziqi suppressed her puzzlement and rose to greet him. The other party was the actual controller of the ancient warship, and in both strength and status he was not beneath her, the vice-headmistress of the Morning Glory Academy; even Liu Ziqi had to be courteous.

"Haha, this captain has come without notice—I must ask Vice-Headmistress Liu not to take offense. Come, come, everyone sit down and carry on with your meal." As he spoke, Aotianba took the lead and sat down himself, behaving entirely as though he were no outsider. Yet, strictly speaking, he really was the host here, so there was no fault to be found in that.

"The captain is a rare guest. Might I ask what brings you here this time?" Liu Ziqi responded, neither soft nor hard.

"Oh, I heard people say there was some trouble on your side yesterday—that many Eastern Continent disciples had been poisoned—so I came over to look in on everyone and see if there was anywhere I could help." Aotianba laughed heartily.

"Many thanks for the captain's concern. All the Eastern Continent disciples' poison has been successfully neutralized; everything has returned to normal now." Liu Ziqi smiled faintly.

"Good, good. You are honored guests of this ship—if anything were really to happen, this captain would be hard-pressed to escape the blame." Aotianba laughed, then asked, "Oh? How is it I don't see Zhongyuan? That boy's father and I are old friends. It's rare that I come over, and he doesn't even come to pay his respects. Vice-Headmistress Liu, could you have someone call him over so I can have a few words?"

As soon as the words fell, Liu Ziqi and Wei Zhao exchanged a glance and understood at once: the captain's visit to see the Eastern Continent disciples was a pretext—coming to stick up for Ren Zhongyuan was the real business! (To be continued.)