Chapter 1440 — A Mere Wave of the Hand
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 3
"Wei Zhao sealed true qi at the tips of the needles before driving them into my body. I dare not pull them out; the instant I do, the true qi will be released and blast my meridians apart..." the Medicine King said in distress. "My ability is limited and I cannot break the technique, so I have simply had to go on like this!"
"So that is what it was!" Elder Bi gave a contemptuous cold snort. "Before me, it is nothing but a parlor trick. Let me take care of it for you. You are now Qibing's man, and so in a roundabout way you are mine as well; you must mind your appearance out there, or people will suppose me incompetent!"
"Thank you for your help, Elder Bi!" At Elder Bi's words the Medicine King was beside himself with joy. If Elder Bi had agreed to lend a hand, then naturally there was no problem at all. Wei Zhao's technique was exceedingly difficult for an Xuan rank expert to break — but for Elder Bi, an expert at the peak of the late Earth rank, it was naturally no trouble whatsoever.
"A mere wave of the hand," Elder Bi said coolly, and with an idle sweep of his hand across the Medicine King's body he plucked out several silver needles as easily as breathing. The Medicine King suffered not the slightest harm; every trace of true qi had been dissolved by Elder Bi.
Zhao Qibing, Li Cihua, the Medicine King, and Uncle Zhu were all secretly marveling: Wei Zhao's fearsome technique was treated as nothing at all in Elder Bi's eyes. Were Elder Bi to move against Wei Zhao, would that not also be a mere wave of the hand?
Small wonder, though. Formidable as Wei Zhao was, he was an Xuan rank expert after all. Even if he could fight across ranks and hold his own against an early Earth rank expert, that would be the very limit of him — while Elder Bi was an expert at the peak of the late Earth rank, only a single step from the Heaven rank. Such a figure could naturally shatter Wei Zhao's trick with ease.
Moreover, Wei Zhao's technique was not especially refined; it merely left cultivators of low attainment utterly helpless. Against a high-level practitioner like Elder Bi, whose true qi was fierce and overpowering, Wei Zhao's true qi could simply be forced apart and dispelled.
At this thought the Medicine King's heart stirred. "Elder Bi, that Wei Zhao is a mortal scourge upon our Zhao family. Were you to move against him, Elder Bi, you would surely take him down the moment you laid a hand on him!"
"Medicine King, Father and Grandfather will settle this matter themselves; say no more of it!" Zhao Qibing was startled and quickly spoke up to silence him. These were the very words he himself longed to say, but if Father and Grandfather did not agree, then even having Elder Bi as his master would not change a thing.
"There is no harm in talking — but I am an Earth rank expert, and Earth rank experts of the Hidden Families are bound by the Family Arbitration Association; we may not come and go into the secular world at will to involve ourselves in its struggles. Were I to act, someone would surely seize upon it as a handle against me," Elder Bi said. "If Wei Zhao is to be dealt with, the opportunity must be sought on this side, in the secular world. As for me, I certainly cannot raise a hand; my target is far too conspicuous."
The Medicine King nodded in helpless acquiescence. He knew the rules of the Hidden Families as well as anyone; only, being a man of the Hidden Families himself, he had assumed Elder Bi could simply act in secret without any harm done.
"Medicine King, why so worried? With a master like Elder Bi standing behind you, what have you to fear? When I have achieved something of my own, would it not be better for me to go and settle the score in person?" A surge of heroic spirit rose from the very soles of Zhao Qibing's feet. His status was different now, and so naturally was his outlook.