Chapter 4847 — The Private Auction
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 3
"You are too kind, Young Hero Lin. They are both my disciples—how could I ever stand by and do nothing when they are in difficulty?" the Sea Goddess of the East shook her head, though a trace of relief was plainly visible in her brows.
As one of the three giants of Morning Star Academy, her strength was beyond question, yet where cultivation resources were concerned she found herself rather straitened. Ordinary resources were no concern, but the moment something like the Thunder Mystery Pill came into play—a pill that required a fortune to outbid others for—she could not help feeling somewhat powerless. After all, she had always cultivated alone in serene seclusion, and wealth had never been her strong suit.
Wei Zhao smiled and said nothing, but the Sea Goddess of the East went on: "Young Hero Lin, you had best keep one pill for yourself. One each for Yan'er and Xiaotao is quite enough. There is no use in hoarding Thunder Mystery Pills—over time their potency will gradually leach away, and they breed a sense of dependency, a feeling that one has a way out, which is detrimental to a breakthrough."
"You speak truly, Senior." Wei Zhao nodded. A breakthrough demanded the resolve to press forward without looking back—to succeed or die trying. If one clutched an extra Thunder Mystery Pill in hand, one could not help but think, 'If this attempt fails, there is always the next,' and that was anything but a good thing.
The group finished their morning porridge together, and then Wang Xinyan and Huang Xiaotao followed the Sea Goddess of the East to cultivate. This was the morning lesson they never failed to perform. Though the Sea Goddess did not mind their spending time with Wei Zhao, the way of cultivation demanded perseverance. Had the two girls abandoned even their morning lessons because of Wei Zhao's arrival, she would not have permitted it.
It was not only the Sea Goddess of the East who insisted on this; Wei Zhao felt the same. He himself was a tireless cultivator—whenever he had a little spare time he would devote it diligently to training. Otherwise, no matter how many fortuitous encounters one had, they would be castles in the air, and he could never have reached the heights he now stood upon.
If they wished to be together, there would be plenty of time after the morning lesson.
While the two girls went with the Sea Goddess of the East for their morning lesson, the Sea Goddess also had the Deaf Old Maid prepare a cultivation chamber for Wei Zhao, treating him as though he were her own nephew. This left Wei Zhao somewhat overwhelmed by the favor.
"Senior Ghost, about that matter with Qing Xuanzi—how do you think it ought to be resolved?" Wei Zhao took the opportunity to consult Ghost Thing. Now that he had taken Qing Xuanzi as a disciple, he could not simply turn a blind eye to the man's problem. Unfortunately, with his meager experience in pill refining he could find no thread to grasp, and so he could only seek the counsel of an expert like Ghost Thing.
"You're asking me?" Ghost Thing was rather taken aback, and retorted sourly: "Do you think I'm that old codger Zhang Lifeng? I'm no pill refiner—how would I know?"
"Uh…" Wei Zhao was rendered speechless. In his desperation he had consulted anyone he could, forgetting for the moment that each trade has its own specialty, and that across trades the gulf is as wide as a mountain. Even Ghost Thing, for all his wide experience, could not possibly know of such matters; pill refining was, after all, a most profound profession.
"Fool. If you don't know, can't you go and ask someone else?" Ghost Thing curled his lip.