Chapter 516 — A Blessing in Disguise
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
Wei Zhao had not expected to be so unlucky. He had gone out of his way to save Feng Xiaoxiao — whether he had saved her or not, he was not sure — and in the process, he had dropped a level.
"I can see it. Your body has nothing in it now except a faint flicker of energy. Your condition is exactly the same as Feng Xiaoxiao's just now." Jiao Yazi had noticed something amiss long ago, which was precisely why he had told Wei Zhao to check on himself.
"Then... have I lost all my strength?" Wei Zhao felt somewhat glum but kept his wits about him. Dropping a level was done — wallowing in sorrow would accomplish nothing. The priority now was to understand the situation as quickly as possible and find a way out.
"Heh heh, that's right," Jiao Yazi said with a laugh. "Your energy ran out, so you dropped a level. It would be abnormal if you hadn't."
"What?" Seeing that Jiao Yazi could still chuckle at a time like this, Wei Zhao's expression turned rather peculiar. "Elder Jiao, why do I feel like you're gloating a little?"
"Not at all. I merely think — so you dropped a level. What of it? Peak late-stage Yellow-class strength is hardly something worth fussing over. Losing it changes nothing." Jiao Yazi waved his hand, his tone utterly nonchalant.
"Elder Jiao, it's easy for you to say. I have a great many enemies, you know..." Wei Zhao was rendered speechless. "At this rate, won't I have to go hide back in the mountains?"
"I say, Little Wei, you are entirely too spineless! One lost peak late-stage Yellow-class level, and you're already moping about crawling back home? Do you think you'll ever accomplish anything great?" Jiao Yazi gazed at Wei Zhao with undisguised mockery.
"Well... peak late-stage Yellow-class strength may count for nothing in your eyes, Elder Jiao, but at the very least it kept me alive..." Wei Zhao paused, a flicker of delight crossing his eyes. He looked at Jiao Yazi. "Elder Jiao — do you have a way to fix this?"
"A way? Don't you know?" Jiao Yazi regarded Wei Zhao with an almost-smile.
"If I knew, would I be asking you?" Wei Zhao replied with some exasperation. This Jiao Yazi seemed incorrigibly mischievous — a regular old-boy in an old man's body.
"I thought you did," Jiao Yazi said. "It's so simple. You dropped a level — just train again. Have you never played an online game?"
"Train... again?" Wei Zhao was deflated at once. "That is a method, I suppose, but wouldn't it be far too slow? It took me more than ten years just to reach the late stage of the Yellow class..."
"Your level in the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art has not dropped." Jiao Yazi fixed Wei Zhao with a level gaze and spoke quietly.
"The Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art... Oh!" The realization struck Wei Zhao like a bolt. Instinctively he activated the inner-art incantation of the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art, and energy from the jade pendant's domain surged swiftly into his body. At the same time he probed the level of the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art — sure enough, it was still the Second Stage!
"Now you understand? The Yellow class and so on is merely a rough grading system devised by certain people, based chiefly on the amount of energy within the body — what they call true qi. What you cultivate, however, is the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art. The mere First Stage of the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art already corresponds to the strength of the late Yellow class."
"But won't it still take just as long to rebuild my energy?" Wei Zhao asked after a moment's hesitation.
"Have you ever played an online game?" Jiao Yazi, it turned out, was quite a fashionable old fellow — he even knew about online games.
"I have, a little." Wei Zhao nodded, though he could not see what this had to do with anything.