Chapter 2227 — Being Hosted
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
"Of course, for external-school cultivators, the higher one goes, the harder it is to advance," the Great Fire Lion said. "Those who can cultivate external skills to the utmost extreme — in the thousand years I have lived, the only ones I know of are two men who appeared in the jianghu some dozen years ago... one attacking, one defending, working in perfect accord. Those two could be called invincible in this world! They had both cultivated external skills to the extreme: one akin to Iron Fist, of boundless strength, unstoppable and ever-victorious; the other akin to the Golden Bell Shield and Iron Shirt, body firm as iron, impervious to blade and spear, untouched by water or fire! The only ones who could shake those two, I fear, are the legendary Heaven Dao experts..."
"Heaven Dao?" Wei Zhao drew a deep breath at the term. He had heard it mentioned now and then before, but had never had a clear answer.
"Legend says that the rank above Heaven Rank is called Heaven Dao... so it is for human cultivators, and so it is for us spirit beast cultivators. But no one has ever seen with their own eyes anyone who reached that rank... it is all legend," the Great Fire Lion said.
"Then... what of those two men?" Wei Zhao asked, curious. He had not expected such formidable external-school experts to exist in this world.
"They vanished. And vanishing together with them were a great many experts at the peak of late Heaven Rank from all the various sects and schools..." the Great Fire Lion said. "Since then, the rules of the jianghu have changed a great deal... but those people never returned."
"A great many experts at the peak of late Heaven Rank?" Wei Zhao frowned, thinking of his own vanished master, and of the master of that little candy girl. Could they all have been among that group that disappeared together?
And was his own master one of those experts at the peak of late Heaven Rank? What exactly had happened in all this?
Still, regarding his master's disappearance, Old Man Wei must surely know some of the secrets of those years. Yet he said not a word of it, only telling Wei Zhao that the time was not yet right, and that knowing too much would do no good. And Wei Zhao understood well enough: once Old Man Wei decided not to speak, no amount of asking would get it out of him!
And he was simply no match for Old Man Wei anyway. The old fellow was strange indeed — it seemed that whenever Wei Zhao grew stronger, he grew stronger too. No matter what level Wei Zhao cultivated to, he could not withstand a single punch from the old man, who could blast him clear off the Western Star Mountain with one blow...
Now that he thought about it, he was already a mid Earth Rank expert. He wondered whether he could give the old man a fight now.
Wei Zhao shook his head. The old man and his master really were both unfathomable figures...
"Heh, this is merely jianghu hearsay. It is only that the Wulonghaote Mountains where I live — the upper range of those mountains — was once the seat of an ancient sect, so I happen to know a little more. In truth, I do not know the specifics either — where they went, what they did, of these things I know nothing," the Great Fire Lion said. "At least, I have never heard anyone speak of them again..."
"Very well." Wei Zhao nodded, then suddenly thought of something very important: "You said the upper range of these mountains was once an ancient sect?"
"Yes, though it is no longer," the Great Fire Lion said.
"What kind of ancient sect was it?" Wei Zhao asked.
"That I must beg leave not to say more of. This ancient sect once did my Fire Lion clan a kindness, and of their affairs I cannot speak to you," the Great Fire Lion said with a shake of its head. "Just as you are a benefactor of our Fire Lion clan — if anyone asked us the particulars of your affairs, I too would have nothing to tell them."