Chapter 2586 — Hibernation

Of course, "worthless" depended on what you compared them to. In the eyes of the hidden You family, third-grade pill ingredients were naturally less valuable than second-grade cauldrons, because third-grade pill ingredients were good for absolutely nothing—even the Xuandan Sect had mountains of them piled up!

Every year the herb gardens could grow a great many medicinal herbs. Unless it was some especially rare and heaven-defying spirit herb, ordinary third-grade pill ingredients could still be gathered in large quantities. Of course, that too depended on whom you compared them to—next to ordinary ancient sects and ancient clans, these common herbs were quite valuable.

The Xuandan Sect could cultivate them in bulk because it possessed a uniquely blessed spirit field, which was why the yield of these herbs was so high. Heaven-defying herbs, however, were scarce, and even the Xuandan Sect had to buy them from places like Snow Valley.

"Good, then it's settled. I'll have people prepare it right now—it should be about ready before school lets out today. We'll hand over the money and the goods at the same time. You'd better make a copy first, to save trouble later!" You Panhu reminded him.

Wang Xinyan slept in a daze until just before the second class of the afternoon. It was not until the white-collar girl entered the classroom that Wei Zhao woke her, still bleary-eyed.

There was no class the first period of the afternoon; it was a self-study period. Students who wanted to come came to the classroom to study, and those who didn't went straight back to the dormitory after lunch and came back for the second period.

"I slept that long…" Wang Xinyan hadn't expected to sleep two whole hours, from noon until the second class began. She had thought she'd only dozed for about half an hour.

"Heh, didn't rest well last night?" Wei Zhao laughed, unconcerned.

"No, I slept great. I didn't even wake up until eight this morning, and I skipped breakfast…" Wang Xinyan said, a little embarrassed.

"Then maybe you've entered hibernation," Wei Zhao joked with a smile.

"You're awful…" Wang Xinyan gave Wei Zhao a light kick. "Only animals hibernate!"

"Humans are animals too, you know," Wei Zhao said. "If you don't believe me, ask Teacher Bai."

"You're doing this on purpose to spite me—I won't let you cultivate anymore," Wang Xinyan said angrily.

"Fine, so you're not an animal, all right…" Wei Zhao said with a bitter smile.

"If I don't move, doesn't that mean I'm dead? Hmph!" Wang Xinyan turned her head away and ignored Wei Zhao.

Wang Xinyan was a bit foggy today, not quite awake. In her dream earlier she had gone to an amusement park with Wei Zhao, so upon waking she couldn't help but trade a few jokes with him. On any ordinary day, she would certainly have been mindful of Kang Zhaolong's feelings.

"Heh…" Wei Zhao had noticed too that Wang Xinyan was in a good mood today, without that keep-away air she'd had before. In the past, though she had talked and interacted with Wei Zhao, she was always guarded about something—even when sleeping in the same bed as him, she'd been somewhat stiff. "Come to my place tonight?"

"Ah…" Wang Xinyan was taken aback and glared at Wei Zhao over her shoulder, but still said, "Okay…"

Wei Zhao had come back too late before and hadn't gone to school, so Wang Xinyan naturally hadn't felt comfortable going back with Gu Mengyao and the others to wait for him. She had slept in the dormitory instead, only to be interrogated that night by He Meiyue and Chai Xiaoling, who demanded to know whether she'd gone out to a hotel with him. At her wit's end, Wang Xinyan had lied and said she was staying at a relative's house—only for He Meiyue to insist on paying that relative a visit, leaving Wang Xinyan utterly speechless and barely managing to muddle her way through.

But today, when Wei Zhao invited her, Wang Xinyan had, as if possessed, agreed again. And right after agreeing, she was a little torn—how was she supposed to explain this to He Meiyue and Chai Xiaoling when she got back?

She couldn't be visiting relatives that often, could she? And before, she could say she'd been ill and gone to recuperate and recover her health, but now she was well—just a little drowsy. Going to a relative's house again made no sense at all.

Besides, these days Wang Xinyan fell asleep the moment she got back to the dormitory, with no time at all for anything else. If going to a relative's house meant nothing but sleeping, then what was the point of going?

Ah, forget it. Let things drift. Wang Xinyan sighed, took out her textbook, and focused on the lecture.

Wei Zhao naturally paid no attention to Wang Xinyan's expression. While circulating the second layer of the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art, he took out the joint-strike technique he had obtained from the hidden Zhuang family and began to study it, cultivating and reading without neglecting either.

This joint-strike technique had some real depth to it. After only a few glances, Wei Zhao reached that conclusion. It was, after all, something handed down from the ancient era, completely different from ordinary techniques. Though it couldn't compare to the heaven-defying Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art, it was still very formidable.

The technique was divided into several layers, though Wei Zhao wasn't sure exactly how many, because the hidden Zhuang family only had the oral formulas for the first two. Whether the rest had been lost, or simply never brought out of the Tomorrow-and-Tomorrow sect back then, or whether there had only ever been two layers to begin with, he didn't know.

Because Wei Zhao was viewing other people's techniques through the lens of the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art, he assumed theirs should also have several layers. In truth, most cultivators' techniques had only one layer—Wu Chengtian, for instance. Their strength could grow gradually, but the technique they used remained the same one throughout.

Yet this technique, heaven-defying as it seemed, had a flaw: when a person was alone, their combat ability dropped drastically, leaving them weaker than other cultivators of the same rank. As long as the opponent's technique and martial skills weren't utter garbage, almost anyone could beat either Zhuang Niaoqiang or Zhuang Niaopao one-on-one.

So in this way, the two of them were considerably lacking in one-on-one combat. With this information, Wei Zhao also understood why, at the Hidden World Clan Summit back then, Zhuang Niaoqiang and Zhuang Niaopao had never taken the stage in the singles matches, and other disciples of the hidden Zhuang family had fought instead—the two of them only appeared in the final doubles tournament.

The other flaw of this joint-strike technique was the one Old Master Zhuang had mentioned before: if only one person cultivated it, the stacked joint strike could still be achieved, but the effect was poor and the consequences severe. Not only would it fail to achieve the full stacked effect, but the cultivator would also suffer a severe loss of strength.

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