Chapter 2152 — Striking a Pact

What no one had expected was that Wei Zhao walked into the cage, neither dodging nor flinching, but striding straight toward the Wind-Thunder Violet-Lightning Beast! Everyone, the beast included, was struck dumb for a moment. Was this Wei Zhao out of his mind? Had he come simply to throw his life away?

And while the crowd puzzled and the Wind-Thunder Violet-Lightning Beast wondered, Wei Zhao spoke in a voice only the beast could hear—true qi condensed into sound: "I know you can understand my words, and I know the one named Wo means to do away with me. But I have a proposal for you—follow me, and you will fare far better than you do following him!"

"Hou?" The Wind-Thunder Violet-Lightning Beast started. It had not expected Wei Zhao to wield the art of condensing true qi into sound—a divine skill only Heaven-rank masters could command, and not even all of them! Having lived for over ten thousand years, the beast had of course seen and heard a great deal.

And what was more, Wei Zhao actually knew that it could understand human speech? That was a thing not even the folk of the Qianshan Sect knew, was it? And what puzzled the beast most was this talk of following him being better than following the Qianshan Sect—what did that mean?

"Heh... you will know soon enough. Do not resist!" Wei Zhao stepped closer, reached out and laid his hand upon the beast, and gently circulated the first tier of the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art. A thread of fine energy passed over and entered the Wind-Thunder Violet-Lightning Beast's body!

"!" The Wind-Thunder Violet-Lightning Beast shuddered from head to tail, its eyes brimming with shock and disbelief as it stared at Wei Zhao, unable to speak a word! Was this real? This man before it could actually channel energy into it?

What the Wind-Thunder Violet-Lightning Beast needed most was energy with which to advance—otherwise it could never have endured all these years at the Qianshan Sect. Yet what Wei Zhao had just passed to it, though only a thread, was of a purity beyond compare, worth as much as ten years or more of its own cultivation!

As for that miraculous medicinal fruit Master Wo had brought out earlier for it to consume—the true qi it could have gained from that was not even one hundredth of the thread Wei Zhao had just given it!

So the Wind-Thunder Violet-Lightning Beast was truly half mad with it. It stared at Wei Zhao, turning matters over in its mind, yet it could not bring itself to believe entirely—after all, its spiritual intelligence was high, and a single moment like this was not enough to win its full trust.

Wei Zhao said nothing more. He only smiled faintly and once again circulated the first tier of the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art, passing over a thread of energy slightly greater than the last!

This time the Wind-Thunder Violet-Lightning Beast harbored no further doubt. It believed at last—believed that someone could truly help it grow stronger!

"I wonder if you have ever heard of the Heaven-Thunder Pig? I have one; it is now my spirit-beast underling, and I have raised it from Yellow rank all the way to Mystic rank. That it will one day reach Earth rank is only a matter of time!" Seeing the Wind-Thunder Violet-Lightning Beast convinced, Wei Zhao dangled another great prize before it!

The Heaven-Thunder Pig? The Wind-Thunder Violet-Lightning Beast was itself a divine beast handed down from the ancient age, and naturally it knew something of the Heaven-Thunder Pig, that treasure-seeking spirit beast with its heaven-defying gifts! In that ancient era the Heaven-Thunder Pig had borne another name—the Fortune-Summoning Pig—for it could sniff out anything of value.

The Wind-Thunder Violet-Lightning Beast had always rather envied the Heaven-Thunder Pig its talents. How could it not have heard of it?

Only, among the cultivators of today, who still knew of the Heaven-Thunder Pig? Like the Wind-Thunder Violet-Lightning Beast itself, the Heaven-Thunder Pig was an ancient spirit beast of divine-blood lineage, long since vanished from the world. That Wei Zhao should know of it—this was likely no fabrication, but proof that a Heaven-Thunder Pig truly was in his keeping!

So the Wind-Thunder Violet-Lightning Beast harbored no further doubt and nodded hurriedly, declaring itself willing to follow Wei Zhao!

What a joke—with a boon as vast as this, would the Wind-Thunder Violet-Lightning Beast be a fool not to follow Wei Zhao? It was no contract spirit beast of the Qianshan Sect and had no ties to them whatsoever. True, over the years it had eaten no small share of their spirit herbs and rare treasures, but it had likewise served as their guardian spirit beast and protected the Qianshan Sect for just as many years—so neither side owed the other anything!

If debts were to be counted, it was the Qianshan Sect that had built its sect upon the very ground where the Wind-Thunder Violet-Lightning Beast cultivated—it was the Qianshan Sect that owed it!

"Good. Then when that Qianshan Sect disciple comes in, you may slap him dead." Wei Zhao said to the Wind-Thunder Violet-Lightning Beast: "That can serve as your pledge of allegiance."

"Hou!" The Wind-Thunder Violet-Lightning Beast nodded, signaling its assent.

It was no fool, and it well knew that to follow a new master it must offer up some show of sincerity. Yet betraying the Qianshan Sect put no pressure on it at all—the two had always been partners in a bargain. Master Wo borrowed its might to put on airs before others; if it no longer wished to cooperate, it could naturally dissolve the accord.

"Then amuse yourself. I will cultivate here a while." With that, Wei Zhao sat down cross-legged upon the ground, circulated the second tier of the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art, and began to cultivate. He had only just broken through to the middle Earth rank, and he must needs consolidate his cultivation and realm properly.

The Wind-Thunder Violet-Lightning Beast naturally would not disturb Wei Zhao—it could not curry favor with him fast enough. Here was a figure of great divine powers who could raise its rank; the boons it had just received were enough to sustain its cultivation for a very, very long time!

And by the look of it, Wei Zhao had not yet exerted his full strength and had merely given it a taste of sweetness. So the Wind-Thunder Violet-Lightning Beast had all the more reason to perform well, that Wei Zhao might think highly enough of it to grant it further benefits.

Yet Wei Zhao sitting cross-legged in cultivation inside the cage made those outside stare wide-eyed!

What was going on here? Why had the Wind-Thunder Violet-Lightning Beast not attacked Wei Zhao? Not only that, but Wei Zhao was cultivating there as bold as could be—was he not afraid of the beast?

At this, Old Master Zhao, Old Master Yu, Old Master You, Old Master Tang and the rest all turned their heads toward Master Wo of the Qianshan Sect. But with Han Tianba and Han Xiaopo nearby, they could not ask outright.

After all, using a spirit beast to do away with Wei Zhao was no honorable business. The Hidden-Household Summit must on its surface maintain a show of proper justice—who knew whether those of the ancient stratum were watching? Should those figures catch wind of it, none of them could escape implication.

Master Wo was in truth just as puzzled. What had come over the Wind-Thunder Violet-Lightning Beast? Had they not agreed that it would help do away with Wei Zhao? Why, now that the moment had come, did it pay him no heed at all?

"Wind-Thunder Violet-Lightning Beast, what are you doing? Go and finish off Wei Zhao!" Master Wo spoke to the Wind-Thunder Violet-Lightning Beast in beast tongue.

This beast tongue was a secret art of the Qianshan Sect, so there was no fear of others understanding it—Wei Zhao included. Though he knew a little beast tongue, it was only the simplest sort; what Master Wo was saying, Wei Zhao could make no sense of at all.