Chapter 1454 — The Trials of the Ice Palace, Part Two
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 3
Among the younger generation of the Zhao family who had trained hardest, the only one who had broken through from the Yellow Tier into the Mystic Tier was his third brother's son, Zhao Qilei. His own son by Yu Xiaojin was still young, with only Yellow Tier strength, still some way short of the Mystic Tier, and Zhao Qibing was worse off still. So if they were to send anyone at all, it could only be his third brother's son, Zhao Qilei, or one of the Zhao family's outer-surname disciples. Among those disciples there were, in fact, a few Mystic Tier experts of the right age to meet the trial's requirements.
"As it stands, if these trials of the Ice Palace had been held a few years later, I would have wanted Qibing to go and try his luck. But now, Qitan is the only one who can go," Elder Bi said. "As for the others, none of them are the core of our Zhao family; their loyalty has yet to be weighed."
"This... if Qitan goes... then in the future..." What Zhao Guangyin feared was for his own two sons. If, by some stroke of fortune, Zhao Qilei broke through the Mystic Tier and rose to the Earth Tier, then the heir to the Zhao family would be him and no one else — and that was not a sight Zhao Guangyin wished to see!
But if he kept Qitan back and sent other disciples of foreign surnames instead, then, as Elder Bi had said, it simply would not be safe. Those disciples were still young, their loyalty not yet firm. What if in years to come, once their wings had hardened, they refused to return to the Zhao family?
All at once Zhao Guangyin found himself caught in a quandary.
"Young Master, this is our Zhao family's opportunity, and we cannot let it slip. Of those who can go, Qitan alone is suited to it; if the Old Master were out of seclusion, I fear he would decide the same," Elder Bi said. "In the years to come I will train Qibing with all my strength, to make an Earth Tier expert of him as soon as I can. I will spare no effort to that end... Yet if Qitan, too, becomes an Earth Tier expert, then all we can do is leave it to fate. The future of the Zhao family must go to the most capable."
"Then that is all we can do!" Zhao Guangyin sighed. Though he was reluctant to accept this decision, he had no other choice. "Qitan, then. And send one of the more loyal Mystic Tier disciples to go with him."
Every family and every faction had two places. Though Zhao Guangyin did not want Qitan to achieve anything, neither did he want him dead. Qitan's aptitude was excellent, after all, and that mattered a great deal to the Zhao family's future. Now that a helper would accompany him into the trials, at least some chance of victory could be secured; even if he failed to pass, saving his life should be no trouble.
The hidden Pi family, meanwhile, sent the two brothers Pi Zhifeng and Pi Zhitao to the trials without a moment's hesitation. Between the two there was no contention: Pi Zhifeng wished to become the young family head, while Pi Zhitao had no heart for the struggle, wholly absorbed in martial practice and indifferent to all else.
The brothers were on good terms, so the Pi family had Pi Zhifeng and Pi Zhitao form a team for the trials — which could only raise their odds of victory.
At the Gu family villa, Wei Zhao took his leave of Kang Xiaofeng, Xiaofen, Fatty Lai and the rest, and set out on the journey to the far northern lands. For the past two days he had been packing his things, and had also laid in some necessities for the long road.
"Chief Wei Zhao, aren't you going to say goodbye to Sun Jingyan...?" After days of unbroken seclusion, Wu Chengtian had finally broken through to the early Mystic Tier with his Iron Hand Technique, and at last he could come out.