Chapter 2252 — Indifference

Yet for all its marvel, this treasure was little more than an awkward irrelevance to Wei Zhao. With the jade pendant's space at his disposal, the thing was child's play by comparison. But it also proved something else, and proved it plainly: the space within his jade pendant must never, under any circumstances, be made known to anyone.

Unless it were someone utterly close to him, word of it would spread, and once it spread, the trouble would never end. A man without guilt may still be guilty for the jade he harbors—a mere wondrous stone had stirred up such a storm of contention, to say nothing of Wei Zhao's pendant, a hundred times its better.

"This thing is for cultivation," Wei Zhao said, placing the stone back into the iron box and casually handing it to Sun Jingyan.

"For cultivation?" Sun Jingyan was slightly taken aback.

"Try it. Grip the stone in your hand and circulate the mantra of your cultivation art. A ceaseless flow of true qi will pour from the stone into your body, letting you cultivate at great speed," Wei Zhao said, describing the stone's function.

"Ah? That wondrous?" Sun Jingyan was no fool, and in an instant she grasped the stone's value. Its effect was simply heaven-defying—no wonder the Grand Protector had tried to seize it, no wonder the ancient sect on this mountain range had been annihilated for its sake!

Only, Sun Jingyan could not quite work it out: what connection did her parents have to that sect? And how had her parents come to possess this treasure map?

"Wondrous enough, I suppose. Otherwise so many wouldn't be fighting over it," Wei Zhao said. "The energy inside this stone is far purer than the spiritual energy of heaven and earth out here. Used for cultivation, it naturally yields twice the result for half the effort."

"Then you... haven't the slightest urge to kill for the treasure?" Sun Jingyan regarded Wei Zhao oddly. She knew well enough what the thing was worth—if word got out, as Wei Zhao said, it would be enough to set off a storm of bloodshed. But did Wei Zhao truly not want it for himself?

So many people had their eyes on this stone, and Wei Zhao had worked out its use and simply, lightly, handed it back to her? Sun Jingyan could not make him out. This man was truly strange.

If he had not told her what the stone was for, if he had simply asked for it, she might well have given it to him. Yet he had not done that. He had returned the stone to her, and told her what it could do.

"Kill you?" Wei Zhao asked, watching Sun Jingyan with a teasing smile.

"Mm," Sun Jingyan nodded.

"Do you think I would kill you?" Wei Zhao asked in return.

"No." Sun Jingyan sounded a little deflated. "It's really hard to guess what you're thinking. A fine thing like this, so many people want to snatch it, and you don't care a bit—you just give it back to me."

"If I wanted to snatch it, I'd have tricked the map out of you and come treasure-hunting on my own—why would I bring you along?" Wei Zhao laughed. "Not everyone wants to snatch what belongs to others."

"Fine." Sun Jingyan shrugged. "I thought there might be a clue to my parents here, but after all that searching, it turns out to be a treasure. Had I known, I wouldn't have come—risked so much, and dragged you along to the brink of death!"

"What, you don't seem to care much for this thing?" Wei Zhao asked with a smile.

"It's not that I don't care. It's that the art I cultivate functions much the same as this thing. No matter how formidable I become, in the end I only make a wedding dress for someone else, so it's of little use to me." Sun Jingyan held the little box out before Wei Zhao. "So... I may as well give it to you!"

"Give it to me?" Wei Zhao was slightly taken aback.

"Yes. You've been so generous—can't I be generous once too?" In truth, Sun Jingyan herself did not know why she was being so generous as to give away such a treasure to Wei Zhao. Perhaps because he had won it with his life, and she truly had no use for it?

"Ha, thank you." Wei Zhao was briefly startled, and rather moved, but he pushed the little box back to Sun Jingyan. "I have my own way of cultivating. I've no use for this thing, so you keep it. It must be something your parents left you—how could I take it? Besides, your auxiliary art is quite fine. Who knows, it may be of great use to me someday!"

The first half of Wei Zhao's words did not particularly strike Sun Jingyan. After all, even if this was something her parents had left her, it was truly of no use to her. Even if she cultivated the Sun family art to its utmost, in the end she would only be making a wedding dress for another. But the latter half of his words set her heart pounding...

Was he hinting at something? He knew perfectly well how peculiar her art was—was he claiming her in advance, so that the true qi she cultivated hereafter would all be given to him?

At the thought, Sun Jingyan flushed. Yet after a moment's hesitation, she accepted the little box. Since Wei Zhao did not want it, she could not possibly give it to anyone else—nor breathe a single word of it. If the thing became known, it would bring great trouble upon her, and drag Wei Zhao down with her besides.

Never mind anything else—if the powers behind the Grand Protector came looking for Wei Zhao, that would be trouble of the gravest kind.

"All right, then I can only accept it. For your sake, I'll cultivate hard," Sun Jingyan said.

"Heh..." Wei Zhao smiled. "Tired? You rest a while too. These past two days you've been on edge as well—you haven't slept well, have you?"

"Yesterday, in the fire lion's den, I slept all right," Sun Jingyan said. "But today I really am a bit tired..."

"Then sleep..." Wei Zhao said. "I'll cultivate..."

This wounding and total loss of power had not advanced Wei Zhao a single grade. To break and then build, to build only after breaking—it was the method Wei Zhao had used time and again, always with success, to break through the barriers of his limits. Frankly, it was a little like seeking abuse; but on the path of martial cultivation, every person has their own way of cultivating and breaking through. All roads lead to Rome, and no two are alike—it was hard to say whether these opponents had abused Wei Zhao or helped him.

Only, Wei Zhao had just recently advanced to the mid Earth Rank, and not long before coming to the Ulaganhot Mountains he had stabilized his power through Wang Xinyan's fragrance. To hope for another promotion this time was little short of wishful thinking, so Wei Zhao was not much disappointed.

In the middle of the night, as Wei Zhao was cultivating, he suddenly heard a strange cry!

Wei Zhao started and hastily opened his eyes. Though he had been cultivating, his divine sense and spiritual power had been fixed on the situation within and without the cave all along...

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