Chapter 1758 — A Strange Turn of Events, Part One

"A grand gift won't be necessary. Let the matter drop—I'm only a guest here, and I won't say another word about it." Wei Zhao did not specify what sort of guest he was: a guest of the Ice Palace, or merely a traveler passing through the town.

"Many thanks!" The man clasped his hands before him, relief plain on his face. As he saw it, an Earth Rank expert like Wei Zhao had said he would not hold it against them, and so naturally would not stoop to quarrel with Yellow Rank nobodies like themselves; having given his thanks, he and his men hurried away.

Wei Zhao, for his part, drew a deep breath. So it seemed that here there really did exist an ancient sect called the Dark Night Palace. He wondered how it compared with the Ice Palace. But even knowing this much, Wei Zhao had no thought of paying them a visit.

To say nothing of the fact that his strength was now only at the early Earth Rank—lofty and unattainable in the eyes of horse bandits, perhaps, but after witnessing the might of the Ice Palace, Wei Zhao knew that his little store of power amounted to no more than that of an inner sect disciple there, hardly worth mentioning.

Thinking of this, Wei Zhao grew all the more curious about the black phoenix in his hands. Would eating this thing really do a person any good?

"Come on, let's head back," Wei Zhao said to Tang Yun and the others.

"Brother Shield, that Dark Night Palace the man spoke of just now—is it the same Dark Night Palace the hunter selling game mentioned? Does it really exist?" Shen Yushu asked, full of curiosity.

"It very likely does exist." Wei Zhao nodded. "But it may well be something on the order of the Ice Palace. Best not to go poking around. We'll spend the night here, then be on our way."

With these mysterious ancient sects, Wei Zhao wanted no great entanglement; at least, he had not yet climbed to such heights, and he would have no further dealings with them.

Once the group had returned to the hotel, Wei Zhao set about dressing the "black phoenix," preparing to make a pot of phoenix soup for everyone.

To that end, Wei Zhao had specially rented an induction cooker from the hotel, so that he might cook the game for the women.

"All right, I'm going off to cultivate. Keep an eye on the pot, and top up the water from time to time. This meat is tough—it needs a good long stewing," Wei Zhao instructed Tang Yun and the others.

"Got it," Tang Yun said with a nod.

Wei Zhao, meanwhile, went back to his own room to cultivate. All along this journey, whenever he had a spare moment, he would cultivate. At present his strength stood at the early Earth Rank, but not yet the grand consummation of the early Earth Rank; there was still some distance between him and the barrier before the peak of the early Earth Rank. So Wei Zhao meant, after entering the stone gate of the mountain cave, to raise his strength to the grand consummation of the early Earth Rank, so that when he cultivated the second level of the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art, he might swiftly advance to the peak of the early Earth Rank.

The black phoenix was indeed no ordinary pheasant: half an hour in the pot, and it showed not the slightest sign of turning tender. Yet watching a pot is a sore trial of patience, so the three women talked it over and decided that two would go inside to watch television while one stayed to mind the pot and keep adding water.

Tang Yun stayed first; half an hour later Shen Yushu took her turn, and last of all Gu Mengyao...

At about the half-hour mark, Tang Yun was on her way to swap shifts—but the scene that met her eyes stopped her dead!

Gu Mengyao had suddenly lifted the pot lid, pulled the black phoenix out of the pot, and was about to stuff it straight into her mouth and swallow it!

"Yaoyao, what are you doing?" Tang Yun was frightened half out of her wits and cried out at once.

But Gu Mengyao seemed deaf to her. Her eyes appeared to be closed, as though she were asleep, and her every movement was that of a sleepwalker!

Shen Yushu caught Tang Yun's cry of alarm and came running out at a clip. At the sight of Gu Mengyao's strange behavior she gave a cry of her own: "Sister Yaoyao, what are you doing?"

Gu Mengyao did not stop at Shen Yushu's words; she kept cramming that whole black phoenix into her mouth!

"I'm going to stop her!" Shen Yushu made to rush in and restrain Gu Mengyao, but Tang Yun caught her by the arm.

"Xiaoshu, go find Wei Zhao, quick! Yaoyao seems to be sleepwalking. I've heard you mustn't wake a sleepwalker abruptly—it can do them harm..." Tang Yun seemed to recall reading something about sleepwalking in some book or other, and so she said this.

"All right, I'll go find Wei Zhao!" Xiaoshu nodded and ran quickly to the door of Wei Zhao's room. She meant to knock, then hesitated: Wei Zhao had said he was off to cultivate—would knocking disturb him?

"Xiaoshu? Is something the matter?" Though Wei Zhao was cultivating, he kept constant watch on the goings-on outside his door. The Mad Horse Gang men had gone, and the odds of their coming back to make trouble for him were minuscule, but by the principle that care brings no great error, he had never dared let his guard down.

Yet what Wei Zhao had not seen was any approach by the Mad Horse Gang; what he heard was Xiaoshu's footsteps.

Wei Zhao's ears were keen beyond the ordinary. If he listened closely, he could tell apart the footsteps of those close to him—especially a walk like Xiaoshu's.

"Brother Shield, trouble! Sister Yaoyao's trying to hog it all for herself!" Hearing Wei Zhao's voice, Shen Yushu pushed the door open and hurried in.

"Hog it all? What do you mean?" Wei Zhao was slightly taken aback.

"Just come and see for yourself!" Shen Yushu seized him by the arm and dragged him out.

Puzzled as he was, Wei Zhao followed Shen Yushu out of the room and into the one next door, and the moment he stepped inside he too was stunned by the sight before him!

Gu Mengyao was in the act of swallowing the entire black phoenix, and at the very instant Wei Zhao entered, she gulped the whole of it down!

Wei Zhao was struck dumb; Shen Yushu was struck dumb; Tang Yun had been horrified all along, yet dared not rashly intervene.

It was hard for any of them to imagine how Gu Mengyao could swallow a black phoenix that size—were her mouth and her stomach truly that big? But the facts lay right before their eyes, and Wei Zhao had no choice but to believe them!

"Yaoyao?" Wei Zhao tried calling to her, but Gu Mengyao paid no heed. Her eyes still shut, she seemed to be digesting the black phoenix; she stood there without a stir.

Wei Zhao, too, was at a loss what to do before this bizarre scene, and could only stand where he was and watch.

After a while, Gu Mengyao's tightly shut eyes suddenly opened. But her gaze was utterly clear, as though she had not seen anyone in the room at all. She turned her head and fixed her eyes intently on a single direction, and a trace of gold flashed through her eyes; then a golden radiance broke from her whole body and hung behind her, seeming to form a pair of golden wings that blazed with a light that stung the eye...