Chapter 1772 — The Little Wooden Box

"Did you get it?" A faint smile crossed Old Man Wei's face, and the heart that had been hanging so taut was set down at last.

"It's all here!" Wei Zhao shook the wooden box in his hand, a thousand feelings surging in his heart.

Elated as he was, Wei Zhao could not help feeling a little disappointed too. Ten years of expectation, and all it had bought in the end was a tiny square box; in the whole of that stone chamber there was nothing else. And yet this one thing was beyond price: within it there had to be the heart-method formulas for the second layer of the Xuanyuan Yulong Art.

"Heh, I suppose I should be getting some rest too." Old Man Wei rose, yawning, and tottered unsteadily off toward his room.

Watching the old man's retreating back, Wei Zhao sighed to himself. Old Man Wei would sometimes go out of his way to make things hard for him, yet he truly cared for him; he simply never let it show. In that respect he was a little like the eldest young miss — though the two of them could not have been more different in temperament.

At that thought, a deep and warm sense of kinship welled up in Wei Zhao's heart. All this time he had called Old Man Wei "old man" to his face, and it might have seemed less than respectful; but in his heart Wei Zhao had come to regard him as something very like a grandfather.

He seemed indifferent to Wei Zhao, yet in many matters he had thought things through with the greatest care.

Only after Old Man Wei had gone into his own room did Wei Zhao make his way back to his.

Setting the little wooden box on the table, Wei Zhao drew a deep breath. Earlier he had been all but unable to wait; now, back in his room, he felt strangely calm instead.

"Young Lin, are you happy? Excited?" Elder Jiao's voice rose slowly at Wei Zhao's ear.

"Elder Jiao, don't tease me. Of course I'm happy and excited!" Wei Zhao said with a bitter smile. "This has been my dream for ten years, and it's finally come true!"

"Haha, so what do you think of it all?" Elder Jiao asked, amused.

"If you want my honest thoughts, it falls a bit short of what I'd imagined!" Wei Zhao answered truthfully. "I assumed there would be more to be gained behind the second stone gate, and it turns out all I got was another little box! If time weren't so short, I really wouldn't be able to let it go — I'd want to turn that stone chamber upside down and sift through every last corner!"

"Hmph! It's a good thing I warned you, or once that stone gate shut, there's no telling when you'd see the light of day again!" Elder Jiao was rather scornful of Wei Zhao's greed. "Besides, what was in that stone chamber was plain at a glance. As far as my restored memory tells me, inside the second stone gate there was only this one little box!"

"That's a relief!" Wei Zhao let out a breath at once. "I hope I can cultivate the second layer's heart method as quickly as possible and go open the third stone gate! Right now I'm full of anticipation for it... Hm? No, wait. If the third stone gate can be opened at any time, doesn't that make the five-year pact pointless? Even if the gate shuts, I can still leave whenever I like, can't I?"

"You make it sound so simple. What is the condition for opening the third stone gate?" Elder Jiao countered.

"The great completion of the second layer..." Wei Zhao paused, then suddenly understood. "You mean I can only open the gate again once I've reached the great completion of the second layer?"

"Naturally. It is written plain as day on the stone tablet!" said Elder Jiao.

"Doesn't that mean the first stone gate also served to test one's strength?" Wei Zhao said in surprise.

"What do you think?" Elder Jiao blinked and threw the question back at him. In truth, he did not know who had designed these ingenious mechanisms, or how; his memory had not been restored — he was no more than a phantom image — and for anything beyond the scope of his second-layer memories, he had no answer to give.

"I suppose that must be it... So if I were trapped inside the stone gate, I'd have to reach the great completion of the second layer in there before I could get out?" Wei Zhao asked.

"That would be impossible. If you were trapped in there, you'd most likely have to wait five years," Jiao Yazi denied flatly.

"Oh? And why is that?" Wei Zhao asked, taken aback for a moment.

"Heh heh, once you see the heart method inside the wooden box, you'll understand!" Jiao Yazi laughed.

Since Jiao Yazi had deliberately kept him in suspense, Wei Zhao did not press further; it seemed the answer was to be found in the wooden box.

Wei Zhao slowly opened the little wooden box. This time there was no obstruction at all. Presumably, since he had already passed the test of the stone gate, the one who had built the cave had achieved his purpose and sounded out Wei Zhao's strength, and so would not set any obstacle upon this little box.

The box was open, yet there was no heaven-defying artifact inside, nothing like what Wei Zhao had imagined. He had hoped to find something like the jade pendant in this box as well, but there was nothing of the sort.

Inside the box lay three neatly folded silken scrolls, resting quietly — and at that, Wei Zhao's eyes lit up!

The first box he had obtained had held only a single silk scroll, whereas this box from behind the second stone gate held three. Could these be the heart methods for the second through fourth layers of the Xuanyuan Yulong Art?

If these truly were the heart methods for the next three layers, Wei Zhao would be overjoyed — this time he had struck it rich!

Steadying his excited heart, Wei Zhao reached out and picked up the first silk scroll, opening it carefully for fear of damaging it.

The five large characters forming the title Xuanyuan Yulong Art, written in seal script, leapt into Wei Zhao's eyes. He had seen this same script on the silk scroll of the first layer of the Xuanyuan Yulong Art; seeing it again after ten years set his blood boiling with excitement at once!

The earlier silk scroll had long since been carefully stored away by Wei Zhao; he had read the heart-method formulas on it a thousand times over and had committed them to memory long ago, so it was only natural that seeing such formulas again should stir him this way.

Beneath the title of the heart method was a line of small characters reading "Second Stage — White Crane." But unlike the first layer's heart method, what followed the subtitle was not the main text, but a single line of annotation!

This line of annotation was striking; its characters were even larger than those of the subtitle. Wei Zhao did not dare be careless, and at once read it over carefully.

"The first-stage heart method is like the heavenly silkworm spinning its silk; proceed step by step and you will reach it. The second stage is like the white crane spreading its wings and soaring high — it is a transformation of the physique. To attain the second stage, you must first temper the body. The second stone gate can accomplish the first step; for the second step, you must gather the medicinal herbs and swallow them, and the tempering of the body will be complete!"

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