Chapter 1723 — I Believe in Him! And in the Painting, a Man and a Woman Sit Leaning Together on an Open Field Gazing at the Starry Sky — and the Woman in the Painting Is Yu Ning, Which Infuriates Yu Xiaoshen Even More!

"So you saw it. Fine." Yu Ning was stubborn too. Since her father had seen it, she saw no reason to keep hiding it.

"There is absolutely no chance for you and Wei Zhao!" Yu Xiaoshen said coldly. "I spoke with your grandfather today. Your status is different now — there is no possibility of you and Wei Zhao ever being together in this life, so stop dreaming!"

Yu Ning pressed her lips together and said nothing, but her expression made it plain that not a word of what Yu Xiaoshen said had gotten through. She had heard such talk far too often; it had numbed her. Yet deep in her heart, she had never once abandoned the devotion she had held since that year.

Closing her eyes, Yu Ning would think of that year, that night, that Valentine's Day, when the two of them had sat before a fire in a mountain cave, gazing up together at the starry sky. That had been the happiest night of her life, a time she had savored a thousand times over in her dreams.

"This is a letter from Yu Bing." Seeing that his daughter would not speak, Yu Xiaoshen felt helpless. He laid Yu Bing's letter on her desk and turned to leave. "Remember what I said. Wei Zhao may have a little talent, but he can never be your match in status. You are destined to become a Heaven-rank expert of the Yu family — a peak late-stage Heaven-rank expert. Wei Zhao will never surpass you in his entire life!"

"Dad, you underestimate him." Hearing her father's words, Yu Ning was unhappy. No one liked to hear their beloved belittled by their parents.

"Underestimate him?" Yu Xiaoshen shook his head. "Xiao Ning, you don't understand yet. When you truly reach that level, you will. I don't mind denting your confidence — unless the day comes when Wei Zhao's strength surpasses every ancient sect, you may as well forget it!"

"I believe he will do it!" Yu Ning said.

"He? Do it?" Yu Xiaoshen was so amused by his daughter's obstinacy that his anger turned to laughter. He truly could not imagine that she could be so infatuated as to believe even this.

"Ever since I was little, my sixth sense has always been accurate," Yu Ning insisted.

Yu Xiaoshen shook his head and said no more. He felt his daughter had become possessed, and that further words were useless. He could only turn and leave, letting her think it through on her own. In any case, at home Yu Ning had no chance to meet Wei Zhao, so he was not worried.

...

Wei Zhao returned to Songshan City with Shen Yushu. After dropping her off at home, the first thing he did was head for the Geli Fuyun Bar.

At this hour the bar had not yet opened. The waiters were cleaning up inside — and then the front door was kicked open.

Wei Zhao wasted no words; he strode straight in. This was not his first visit to the Geli Fuyun Bar, so he knew his way around.

Early that morning Li Cihua had taken Zhu Lingtou off to negotiate with the orphanage's old director. He wanted the matter settled quickly, to avoid complications. The fire had destroyed his own tower as well, but burning down an orphanage was no small crime. Li Cihua feared the orphanage would refuse to let it go, and that if the matter blew up, his troubles would be enormous.

Su Jiaonang was assigning tasks to the waiters when Wei Zhao burst in, and he nearly jumped out of his skin.

"Trouble! Wei Zhao's here!" Su Jiaonang yelled, warning Zhao Qibing, the Medicine King, and the others in the back rooms.

Zhao Qibing had been in the middle of his cultivation. Su Jiaonang's shout nearly made him deviate from his practice. He did not quite lose control, but all was ruined nonetheless — the true qi he had spent the whole night accumulating scattered away in his fright.

"Wei Zhao... what are you doing here?" Zhao Qibing still carried a psychological scar. Seeing Wei Zhao, his legs ached involuntarily and he could barely stand.

"You don't know what I'm here for?" Wei Zhao looked at Zhao Qibing with a half-smile.

"I... how would I know!" Zhao Qibing thought of how he was now Elder Bi's direct disciple, and hardened himself again. Why should he fear Wei Zhao? He was now one of the candidates for the future head of the Zhao family; he was no longer the Zhao Qibing of before!

"Oh, actually, I'm here to break your legs." As he spoke, Wei Zhao stepped toward Zhao Qibing.

"You... don't you dare do anything rash!" Zhao Qibing was terrified. He wanted to call Zhu Lingtou out to help, but suddenly remembered that Li Cihua had taken Zhu Lingtou away to intimidate the orphanage's old director. In the whole bar, apart from the Medicine King — a Mystic-rank expert who was not much good in a fight — there was only Uncle Zhu, a cripple.

"All right, I won't do anything rash. You burned the orphanage, didn't you?" Wei Zhao asked.

"Me? How could it be? My own tower burned down — how could I have set the fire? I'm looking for the arsonist myself!" Zhao Qibing denied flatly, thinking to himself: so Wei Zhao really had come about the orphanage. Why did this fellow love meddling so much?

He had made little money from the shantytown redevelopment, having paid the residents the highest compensation standard, and then, just when he hoped to turn a profit from the orphanage, Wei Zhao had come poking his nose in again.

"Oh, no need to look. I've found him for you. It was you," Wei Zhao said.

"Me? Wei Zhao, don't talk nonsense." Though Zhao Qibing told himself he was not the man he used to be, he still felt an instinctive fear of Wei Zhao.

"I say it was you, so it was you," Wei Zhao said. "Or do you want your legs broken before you'll admit it?"

"I..." Zhao Qibing was speechless. If I don't admit it, you'll break my legs to force an admission? Who does that? But recalling Wei Zhao's domineering ways, he really might do exactly that. Wei Zhao's deeds had spread everywhere by now — he had even wiped out the secular Yu family — and Zhao Qibing had no doubt at all that Wei Zhao would dare break his legs.

Wei Zhao dared provoke even the hidden Yu family; what was the hidden Zhao family to him?

"Well? Is it or isn't it? I'll count to three. If you don't admit it, I break your legs... last time it was two, this time it'll be three," Wei Zhao said impatiently.

"I... fine, call it me who burned it, all right?" Zhao Qibing had no choice but to admit it.

Wei Zhao had beaten even Yu Shuixing to death after the man had taken his pills. Even if Zhu Lingtou were here, he would be helpless against Wei Zhao. Unless Elder Bi himself acted, nothing could hurt Wei Zhao. But bound by the rules of the Hidden Families Arbitration Association, Elder Bi could never move about in the secular world.

A wise man does not fight when the odds are against him; Zhao Qibing could only admit it for now, though he had no idea what Wei Zhao wanted.

"Since you've admitted it, that's easy. Pay up," Wei Zhao said. "You burned down an orphanage — I'd say that's worth thirty to fifty million at the very least. Add what you owed me last time, and just give me two hundred million in one go!"

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