Chapter 4076 — The Return of Hong Zhong
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 3
If one were to sum up the reasons behind Wei Zhao's astonishing, heaven-defying performance—unbeknownst to all—then beyond the potent effects of those four top-grade Foundation-Building Golden Pills, the more crucial factor lay in his diligent cultivation during ordinary days. Only through profound accumulation could sudden brilliance erupt; that was the true king's way.
Feeling the nearly qualitatively transformed, surging true qi coursing through his body, Wei Zhao could not help but entertain the thought that with his current strength, were he to face a formidable opponent like Zheng Tianjie once more, he should possess the ability to meet him in head-on battle.
Zheng Tianjie was a formidable expert of the Golden Core stage—and even if he was only in the early Golden Core stage, he was still an existence that completely transcended all experts of the Foundation-Building stage.
Foundation-Building and Golden Core were two entirely different concepts. By the common understanding of the world, no matter how powerful a Foundation-Building great-perfection cultivator might be, it was absolutely impossible for them to be a match for a Golden Core stage opponent in direct confrontation—even if that person was an alchemist.
Between Heaven-rank great-perfection and early Foundation-Building, there might perhaps arise a disparity in strength, for the step from Heaven-rank to Foundation-Building was a transformative threshold; if one failed to adapt, an upset was still possible. But the Golden Core was different.
Yet Wei Zhao felt no such thing at all. Had he never crossed hands with a Golden Core expert, that would have been one thing—but now he genuinely felt that with his present strength, a head-on battle with Zheng Tianjie would not end in his defeat!
Before the Foundation-Building stage, was the Golden Core stage truly an undefeated myth? Wei Zhao had a strong premonition that perhaps before long, he would be able to verify it with his own hands.
After Wei Zhao, Shangguan Lan'er and Ning Xuefei broke through in succession. Shangguan Lan'er had, earlier on and under the aid of Foundation-Building Golden Pills and Shangguan Tianxia's personal guidance, broken through to the mid Foundation-Building stage; and now she had risen yet another level, becoming a peak mid Foundation-Building expert.
As for Ning Xuefei, though this princess of West Island likewise disliked cultivation, her progress in strength was no less than Shangguan Lan'er's; now she too stood exactly at peak mid Foundation-Building.
From alchemy to breakthrough, the three of them had spent a full day and night inside the room without stepping out even once. When at last they opened the door and emerged one after another, the five core disciples of the Soaring Heavens Pavilion who had been ordered to protect the two young ladies now looked at Wei Zhao with entirely different eyes.
One man with two women—and both of them princesses, no less. This fellow was simply incredible. To have romanced his way to such a level—even if he did nothing else for the rest of his life, his future prospects would still be boundless...
Faced with the crowd's peculiar, meaningful gazes, Shangguan Lan'er and Ning Xuefei noticed nothing unusual at all. Only Wei Zhao was somewhat embarrassed, his mouth twitching—without realizing it, he seemed to have done something that set these people's imaginations running wild!
As his strength grew, the once unfathomable Golden Core experts were no longer so remote in Wei Zhao's eyes. These experts too had joys and sorrows, and each possessed a fiercely burning heart for gossip. He could only hope they would not spread this matter around and let it run wild—otherwise Wei Zhao would once again be thrust onto the crest of the storm.
With nothing else to do, Wei Zhao, after leaving the room, brought the two women along to the Hong Clan Merchants' Guild, hoping to check on news of the Living-Form Mushroom.