Chapter 4255 — Not Going Back for Now
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 3
"Seclusion? You could put it that way, I suppose." The ghost thing laughed indifferently. It was probably not seclusion in the traditional sense, but given Wei Zhao's present cultivation level, a sentence or two could hardly make it clear, so it could not be bothered to explain in detail.
"This here is already South Island territory, so you..." Wei Zhao could not resist asking.
"What? Is this boy so eager to be rid of me?" the ghost thing retorted, its tone teasing.
"No... how could I..." Wei Zhao could not help but break into a sweat. As the saying goes, a house with an elder is a house with a treasure—especially when that elder is a great deity like the ghost thing. That it was willing to stay inside his jade pendant was something he could not be happier about. How could he possibly drive it away?
"There you have it, then." The ghost thing was plainly nothing but a spirit essence, yet it somehow managed to produce the sound of a lip being pursed.
"I only wanted to ask whether you might take this opportunity, Senior Ghost, to go home and have a look..." Wei Zhao said, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. By the ghost thing's own account, countless years had passed since it descended to the mortal realm, and now that they had finally come to South Island, it surely could not pass by its own door without entering.
"With this ghastly appearance of mine, what would be the point of going back to look? Remember one thing, boy: not one of the spirit beast clan is a soft touch. If those few old things truly learned of my present state, I would not even be enough to fill the gaps between their teeth!" the ghost thing said, half mocking itself, half heaving a sigh.
"Uh..." Wei Zhao was rendered speechless, only then recalling that the spirit beast clan held to the law of the jungle even more rigorously than human cultivators.
Among humans, even if one harbored such intentions, at least on the surface one would put up a pretense of courtesy. But among spirit beasts—the moment they saw how feeble the ghost thing was, never mind whether it had once been an elder, they would likely strike without a second word. To the ghost thing as it was now, South Island was no warm home, but a veritable den of dragons and lair of tigers.
The example of Zhang Lifeng in those days was still vivid before their eyes. Never mind whether you had once been an existence on the scale of a titan—once your strength was gone, your status was gone with it.
"You need not think too much about it, boy. I will certainly return to the spirit beast clan, but not now. As for how long we must wait, that depends on when you can be of help to me. Best hurry up and raise your strength first—as things stand, if we truly can snatch the infant ginseng, that would be a fine opportunity." The ghost thing laughed.
"Good, I understand." Wei Zhao nodded inwardly. When they had first come to Cloud Terrace Island, the ghost thing had already spoken of needing his help. Yet now he was already a formidable cultivator of the early Golden Core stage, and his strength was still not enough—clearly this was no easy favor to grant. He would have to work hard indeed.
For all the conversing he had done with the ghost thing, in the outside world only a brief instant had passed—not even long enough to count as a daze. The others were still savoring Chu Bubai's explanation from a moment ago, and naturally had not noticed Wei Zhao's expression. Only Huang Xiaotao, in his arms, had sensed something slightly amiss.
"What is it?" Huang Xiaotao blinked and looked up at him.
Hearing the sound, Chu Bubai and the others assumed Wei Zhao had discovered something unusual, and could not help turning their heads one after another, their gazes fixing on him with surprise.
"Oh, nothing. I merely heard Brother Chu's explanation and was reminded of the tales of ghosts and monsters in the eyes of ordinary folk. It set me to sighing, that is all." Wei Zhao smiled without betraying a thing.