Chapter 1692 — Bad News

"You!" Old Master Song was so furious that smoke seemed ready to pour from his ears. "Are you telling the truth or not? Are you trying to get the entire Song family killed? Why can't you consider the bigger picture for once? I have supported the Song family through all these years of hardship, and now all my efforts are about to come to nothing!"

"Grandfather, I don't believe I did anything wrong!" Qiu Lingshan argued firmly. "To begin with, you arranged my engagement without my consent, and I genuinely don't like Yu Feng! Even if I didn't already have someone I cared about, I still wouldn't marry him! Chen Yutian is my friend, my elder brother. Yu Feng beat him half to death, and you still expect me to marry Yu Feng? Wouldn't that make me abandon all sense of honor?"

"..." After hearing Qiu Lingshan's words, Old Master Song fell silent. There was certainly reason in what she had said. Song Xiangwen was not senile. But now that matters had reached this point, there was no way back. If Qiu Lingshan refused to marry Yu Feng, there would be no room left for compromise. The Yu family would certainly make trouble for them at the Gathering of the Great Families!

"Grandfather, actually, this gives us the chance to join forces with the Chen family against the Yu family. We may not be without a chance of winning..." Qiu Lingshan hinted. This was all she could do. She could not say anything more.

"The Chen family? How can we join forces with them? The Chen family has only Chen Yutian left, and he has already become a cripple..." Song Xiangwen sighed. "The Chen family is in no position to save itself this time. It is doomed. Joining forces with them would be useless. Don't assume that a marriage contract with an ancient sect will let them escape this calamity. We don't even know whether that contract is still valid..."

"Perhaps... the Chen family has other allies as well?" Qiu Lingshan continued hinting, forcing herself to keep going.

"Other allies? Given the Chen family's current strength, how could they possibly have any others?" Song Xiangwen was taken aback. He seemed not to have understood what his granddaughter meant. "Shanshan, why do I feel as though there is more to what you're saying?"

"It's nothing. I just feel that everything is determined by fate. Perhaps the road will turn somewhere we least expect?" Qiu Lingshan said. "All right, Grandfather, let's not talk about this for now. I have work to do here, and I've been terribly busy lately!"

"Ah!" Song Xiangwen let out a long, helpless sigh. It looked as though the Song family was destined to be removed from the ranks of the great families this time!

After hanging up, Qiu Lingshan could not help shrugging. "I have no choice. I'll have to keep things here hidden from Grandfather for now..."

"Isn't that exactly what I'm doing? My grandfather has already lost all hope. He's simply waiting to go to the Gathering of the Great Families and be harassed by the Yu family..." Chen Yutian sighed, then clenched his fists. "Yu family, Yu Feng, just you wait. I will certainly wash away the humiliation you inflicted on me!"

"Don't worry. You will!" Wei Zhao patted Chen Yutian on the shoulder. "I'm leaving now. Oh, right, there's one more thing I forgot to tell you. It's bad news. Do you want to hear it?"

"Bad news? What bad news?" Chen Yutian and Qiu Lingshan were both startled. They hurriedly asked him what he meant.

"I originally planned to tell you after the matter of the Gathering of the Great Families was over, but I was afraid you would waste your energy on pointless efforts. So I decided to tell you in advance," Wei Zhao said.

"What exactly is this bad news?" Qiu Lingshan asked. "Is it related to the Gathering of the Great Families? No, that doesn't make sense... You said it was something you could wait until afterward to tell us..."

"The bad news is that from now on, you won't be able to cultivate on your own anymore!" Wei Zhao said with some regret.

"We won't be able to cultivate on our own anymore..." Qiu Lingshan was slightly stunned, but then suddenly remembered something. "You mean that if we cultivate by ourselves, it won't have any effect or lead to any progress at all, right?"

"Exactly!" Wei Zhao nodded. "The true energy I channeled into your bodies was too pure. As a result, your bodies have developed a repulsion toward the spiritual energy of Heaven and Earth in the natural world. That energy is no longer effective for you. Even if you continue cultivating, you will only be wasting your efforts, unless you go somewhere overflowing with an exceptionally rich spiritual energy. Unfortunately, places like that are not easy to find..."

"No wonder! So that's what happened!" Qiu Lingshan said in sudden realization. "I mentioned it before. Whenever I cultivated, it seemed as though I made no progress at all. So this was the reason!"

"Yes. You mentioned it once before, but I didn't pay attention. Later, I discovered this drawback," Wei Zhao said. "From now on, you'll have to wait until I advance before I can help you advance again. Alternatively, once I learn alchemy, I can refine pills for you!"

"Alchemy? You're going to learn alchemy?" Qiu Lingshan and Chen Yutian were both stunned. Although they had never dealt with alchemists themselves, they were scions of great families and had still encountered information about them. They knew that alchemy was an exceedingly prestigious and rare profession. Yet Wei Zhao actually intended to learn it.

"It's only an intention for now. I haven't accomplished anything yet." Wei Zhao smiled.

Qiu Lingshan and Chen Yutian could not help admiring Wei Zhao. He truly dared to dream! Wei Zhao was already formidable enough as he was. If he became an alchemist, wouldn't even those ancient sects have to curry favor with him? They had heard that alchemists were highly sought after even within the ancient sects!

If Wei Zhao really became an alchemist, the crisis facing the hidden families would resolve itself. By then, many ancient sects would surely be willing to stand up for Wei Zhao, all in the hope that he would refine pills for them.

"Whether we cultivate or not is hardly important. Even if we cultivated on our own for several years, it wouldn't amount to as much improvement as the little while you spent helping us. So the drawback you mentioned is practically no drawback at all for us," Chen Yutian said with a laugh. "Boss, we'll be relying on you for the rest of our lives!"

"Exactly. This actually makes things easier. From now on, I can simply sit back and enjoy the benefits!" Qiu Lingshan said. "My dream was to find a powerful man to protect me, and now I've found one. Why would I need to cultivate on my own anymore?"

"Heh, I'll be heading back first. See you later..." Wei Zhao did not answer Qiu Lingshan. He turned around and quickly walked out of the hospital room.

Like Old Master Song, Song Xiangwen, another person in a foul mood was Old Master Wu of the Wu family, Wu Gonggao. The reason for Wu Gonggao's displeasure, however, was somewhat different from theirs.

Wu Chengtian had been severely injured after standing up for one of Wei Zhao's women. After making a single phone call, he had not heard from him again, and Wu Gonggao did not dare call to ask what had happened.

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