Chapter 2685 — A Reunion After Long Separation
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
"Mm..." Yuning was already overjoyed that he would say such a thing. "But afterward, my brother stayed on at the Ice Palace, and I lost all word of you. My family wouldn't tell me how you were, or anything about you... It seems they still won't agree to my being with you... By the way, you already know about my background now, don't you..."
Wei Zhao had not been very clear on the concept of clan families and hidden clan families before. When he had accompanied Yuning on her training, he had only known that the Yu family she belonged to was formidable, without understanding the details—which was why Yuning asked.
After all, when Wei Zhao took part in the Ice Palace trial, he had been in no position to contend with the hidden clan families, and later, after he was injured, the Yu family had even sent people to hunt him down. So in Yuning's mind, it was utterly impossible for Wei Zhao to stand against the hidden Yu family.
"Mm. The eldest daughter of the hidden Yu family," Wei Zhao said. Still, he found it odd: why would the Yu family patriarch oppose Yuning's being with him? The strength Wei Zhao had displayed was enough to make most hidden clan families bow their heads.
Even if the hidden Yu family were somewhat stronger and would not bow before Wei Zhao, there was still no need to make an enemy of him—drawing him in would be better! Marrying Yuning to him was, in fact, the best way to smooth relations between the hidden Yu family and Wei Zhao.
To Wei Zhao's mind, the hidden clan families were rather old-fashioned, favoring sons over daughters. If they could win him over at the cost of one daughter, that was only reasonable. Yu Tianxing had been willing to marry his daughter to Zhao Guangyin—so why not to Wei Zhao?
This was what Wei Zhao found most incomprehensible. Whatever else he was, he was surely far stronger than that good-for-nothing Zhao Guangyin.
"Then... what realm are you at now?" Seeing no particular change in Wei Zhao's expression, Yuning was a little disappointed. She had assumed he was still as before, cowed by the power of the hidden Yu family.
"Peak of the middle Earth rank," Wei Zhao said.
"Ah, you've reached the peak of the middle Earth rank?" Yuning's eyes went wide. She could hardly believe it—Wei Zhao's advancement was that fast? At the time of the Ice Palace trial, he had only been at the late Mystic rank. How had he reached the peak of the middle Earth rank so quickly?
"Not so fast, really. Not as fast as the sons of those clan families and sects." Wei Zhao smiled wryly. "That Zhao Qibing was nothing but ordinary trash at first, but after swallowing a mountain of pills, he forced his strength straight up to the early Earth rank—he could even cultivate martial techniques. And it took him only a few months..."
Yuning's face fell at his words. Wei Zhao was right—the sons of the hidden clan families did advance at such a pace. True, strength gained by taking pills was not as solid as strength won through hard cultivation, but so long as it was properly consolidated and reinforced, it came to the same thing in the end.