Chapter 2685 — A Reunion After Long Separation

"It's been a long time..."

Silence hung between them for a moment. Neither had expected the other to speak at the same instant, and to say the very same words—a coincidence that left them both taken aback.

Yet once those words were out, neither truly knew what to say next. The situation now was different from any ordinary meeting: Wei Zhao had just neutralized the poison in Yuning, and Yuning had been abducted here by Zhao Qibing. Wei Zhao had no idea what topic to broach...

After some thought, Wei Zhao could only manage a polite "Are you all right..."

"Are you all right..." To Wei Zhao's surprise, Yuning had asked the very same question at the very same moment. That struck him as rather funny—and Yuning naturally felt the same. She had meant to ease the awkwardness between them, but never expected Wei Zhao to say the identical words along with her.

Even so, it did serve to lighten the mood between them, and the two could not help but exchange a smile...

"Mm, I'm well... and not so well either..." Yuning had truly never imagined she would see Wei Zhao again under such circumstances. She had thought it would be hard to ever meet him again, yet in her most desperate hour, there he was once more...

Just as before, on that night she had been most afraid, Wei Zhao had given her warmth and carried her safely through a Valentine's Day she could remember without fear...

Moved by her longing for Wei Zhao and her nostalgia for the past, Yuning found herself talking without restraint, pouring out to him the yearning she had held for so long...

She thought especially of the domineering words Wei Zhao had flung at Zhao Qibing the moment he entered, and a secret delight welled up in her. It seemed Wei Zhao still cared for her—his feelings had never changed. So after that brief silence, everything Yuning had bottled up all these years came surging out like water through an opened floodgate...

"Wei Zhao, do you know? Do you know how much I've missed you all these years... When I first heard from my brother Yang that you had reappeared, do you know how thrilled I was... How I wanted to run to you and see you then..." Yuning began recounting her longing for Wei Zhao, and once the gate was open, it was hard to shut again. "Later, I kept track of news of you through my brother. When I learned you were all going to the Ice Palace for the trial, do you know how happy and how worried I was? My brother said you had lost all your strength, and I was like a headless fly, trying to get my hands on some rare treasures from my family for you. But the very next day, my brother told me you had recovered your strength—oh, how overjoyed I was! You defeated Zhang Naipao and Feng Nitian, two experts from the ancient planes. I was glad for your strength, and yet afraid their backers would make trouble for you. But from the look of things, they haven't—which sets my heart at ease... Only, when I learned you went to the Ice Palace trial for your girlfriend's sake, I felt a pang of sorrow and yet was glad for her. For her, you would brave such peril... Do you know how I envied and resented it in all the days that followed? But today, I don't envy her anymore, because when I was in danger, you came too—which means that in your heart, I am just as important as she is..."

Yuning came from the hidden Yu family, where the notion of one husband to one wife was not held very clearly. She had grown up in a household of multiple wives and concubines, so she saw no conflict between Wei Zhao having a girlfriend and her own place in his heart. She was simply happy that Wei Zhao still remembered her.

"Heh..." Wei Zhao gave a small laugh. "Your place in my heart is actually rather special. I can't say it's more important than Xiaoxiao's, but it is one of a kind."

"Mm..." Yuning was already overjoyed that he would say such a thing. "But afterward, my brother stayed on at the Ice Palace, and I lost all word of you. My family wouldn't tell me how you were, or anything about you... It seems they still won't agree to my being with you... By the way, you already know about my background now, don't you..."

Wei Zhao had not been very clear on the concept of clan families and hidden clan families before. When he had accompanied Yuning on her training, he had only known that the Yu family she belonged to was formidable, without understanding the details—which was why Yuning asked.

After all, when Wei Zhao took part in the Ice Palace trial, he had been in no position to contend with the hidden clan families, and later, after he was injured, the Yu family had even sent people to hunt him down. So in Yuning's mind, it was utterly impossible for Wei Zhao to stand against the hidden Yu family.

"Mm. The eldest daughter of the hidden Yu family," Wei Zhao said. Still, he found it odd: why would the Yu family patriarch oppose Yuning's being with him? The strength Wei Zhao had displayed was enough to make most hidden clan families bow their heads.

Even if the hidden Yu family were somewhat stronger and would not bow before Wei Zhao, there was still no need to make an enemy of him—drawing him in would be better! Marrying Yuning to him was, in fact, the best way to smooth relations between the hidden Yu family and Wei Zhao.

To Wei Zhao's mind, the hidden clan families were rather old-fashioned, favoring sons over daughters. If they could win him over at the cost of one daughter, that was only reasonable. Yu Tianxing had been willing to marry his daughter to Zhao Guangyin—so why not to Wei Zhao?

This was what Wei Zhao found most incomprehensible. Whatever else he was, he was surely far stronger than that good-for-nothing Zhao Guangyin.

"Then... what realm are you at now?" Seeing no particular change in Wei Zhao's expression, Yuning was a little disappointed. She had assumed he was still as before, cowed by the power of the hidden Yu family.

"Peak of the middle Earth rank," Wei Zhao said.

"Ah, you've reached the peak of the middle Earth rank?" Yuning's eyes went wide. She could hardly believe it—Wei Zhao's advancement was that fast? At the time of the Ice Palace trial, he had only been at the late Mystic rank. How had he reached the peak of the middle Earth rank so quickly?

"Not so fast, really. Not as fast as the sons of those clan families and sects." Wei Zhao smiled wryly. "That Zhao Qibing was nothing but ordinary trash at first, but after swallowing a mountain of pills, he forced his strength straight up to the early Earth rank—he could even cultivate martial techniques. And it took him only a few months..."

Yuning's face fell at his words. Wei Zhao was right—the sons of the hidden clan families did advance at such a pace. True, strength gained by taking pills was not as solid as strength won through hard cultivation, but so long as it was properly consolidated and reinforced, it came to the same thing in the end.

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