Chapter 1435 — A Little Silly

"Haha, it's fine—no need to worry about me. Once I get home I'll be right as rain!" Ergoudan, leaning on Yu Yuanyuan's arm, forced a smile.

Wei Zhao nodded. Ergoudan had spoken the truth—given his condition, drinking some spirit spring water would let him recover slowly.

As the whistle of the train pulling into the station sounded, Ergoudan and Yu Yuanyuan passed through the ticket gate. Only after watching them go did the others leave the station.

After walking Tang Yun home, Wei Zhao returned to the villa with Gu Mengyao, Shen Yushu, and Wu Chengtian.

"Brother Arrow, did you find the Fire Spirit Sacred Fruit? Is Xiaoxiao saved? I haven't seen her in so long, and I miss her quite a bit—there's no one left to play with me..." Shen Yushu said, a note of nostalgia in her voice.

"No, but I found word of it. Once I've settled things at home, I'll set out to find it," Wei Zhao said. "The journey may be a long one, so while I'm away, take good care of yourselves here at home. There's no need to worry about the guards—Wu Chengtian should do fine."

"But I don't like him! He's so silly." Shen Yushu did not quite take to Wu Chengtian; she found him a bit of a fool.

"Xiaoshu, don't talk nonsense!" Gu Mengyao kicked Shen Yushu, then said to Wu Chengtian, "Sorry about that. That's just how Xiaoshu is."

"It's fine. It's only right that she doesn't like me. If she did, I'd be afraid of being liked!" Wu Chengtian said, as though it were the most natural thing in the world.

"..." Gu Mengyao was speechless. Xiaoshu had been right—this fellow really was a fool. She had spoken up for him, and he couldn't even tell.

"That little pig at home is called the Heavenly Thunder Pig. With its help, I can find the Fire Spirit Sacred Fruit," Wei Zhao said. "You needn't worry—there won't be any danger along the way."

"That's good." Gu Mengyao nodded. Though she felt a pang of reluctance, on the one hand her nature made her hold back any words to keep him, and on the other, Wei Zhao had no choice but to go—if Feng Xiaoxiao was to be cured, this journey was unavoidable.

"I'm going to heal Wu Chengtian's injuries and raise his strength. Call me if anything comes up." With that, Wei Zhao went into the bedroom with Wu Chengtian.

"Sister Yaoyao, Brother Arrow is leaving, but I want to go with him..." Shen Yushu said after a moment's hesitation.

"No, you have to stay for the college entrance exams! They're almost here," Gu Mengyao said. "Besides, you wouldn't be able to help if you went—he'd only have to look after you!"

"Oh..." Shen Yushu was a little disappointed, but Gu Mengyao was right—she really couldn't be of much help.

Back in the room, Wei Zhao said to Wu Chengtian, "First I'll heal your injuries, and right after that I'll raise your strength. But you're an external cultivator, and I'm not well versed in the external school. I can only mix up some medicinal fluids to temper your physique. What I can do, however, is turn you into an internal cultivator. From now on you'll focus on the external and supplement it with the internal, cultivating both. Your strength will come out a notch above experts of the same rank—enough to fight above your level!"

"Huh?" Wu Chengtian was struck dumb. He could scarcely believe his ears. "Leader Wei Zhao, what did you say? I think I must have misheard just now—I didn't quite catch it?"

After all, the dream of every external cultivator was to cultivate both internal and external, using the internal to bolster the external. That way, not only could they make up the gap between the external and internal schools, they could surpass internal experts of the same rank at a stroke! And the two complemented each other, so that mastering one was mastering all. That is, whether your internal cultivation advanced first or your external did, each would pull the other along, driving it to advance swiftly!

This was what was meant by one side failing while the other shone. For instance, if an external expert's external cultivation reached the Mystic rank first, then breaking through to the Mystic rank internally would become utterly effortless, with none of the bottlenecks felt before. Likewise, if the internal cultivation reached the Mystic rank first, raising the external would become far easier as well!

And an early-stage Mystic-rank cultivator of both internal and external could hold their own against a mid-stage Mystic-rank cultivator of the internal school alone without much trouble—the two would be roughly equal in strength. This worked on much the same principle as Wei Zhao's unique mental cultivation method, only his was rather more profound.

"The meridians in your ears are intact," Wei Zhao said after examining Wu Chengtian's ear. "So you didn't mishear. I don't care to say things twice. Your Wu family should have an internal cultivation method as well, shouldn't it?"

"Internal... we do!" Only when Wei Zhao brought up the internal cultivation method again did Wu Chengtian finally become certain that Wei Zhao was not joking with him but speaking in earnest! Which meant Wei Zhao truly intended to make him an expert who cultivated both internal and external!

Every external school or clan possessed an internal cultivation method. Though it was not particularly high-grade, it was the one that best matched the external method they practiced—the two could support each other.

Nor was this low-grade internal method any secret; many families kept a copy, and the Wu family was naturally no exception!

Only, none of the Wu family were well suited to practicing an internal method, and besides, the Wu family didn't have time enough for their external cultivation as it was—where would they find the hours to study the internal?

Everyone knew that cultivating the internal as well could yield greater strength, but the crux of the matter was whether you could actually cultivate it. In the whole Wu family, only the old master Wu Gonggao had studied the internal method for a spell, yet he had achieved nothing by it and given up.

So if even Wu Gonggao, the strongest in the family, had gotten nowhere, there was no need to speak of the others—they would make even less progress.

Naturally Wu Chengtian had trained at it for a few days as well, only he had made even less headway.

"Do you know the mnemonic? In other words, have you practiced it?" Wei Zhao asked.

"I have, and I still remember the mnemonic. But I only ever felt a faint trace of true qi. The heaven-and-earth spiritual energy around my home is far too thin, and there were no spiritual medicines for internal cultivation either, so I gave it up afterward," Wu Chengtian said honestly.

"Good. I'll heal your injuries first, and in a moment, when I tell you to circulate the mnemonic, you begin. The breakthrough may be very painful—can you bear it?" Wei Zhao asked.

"Huh? I can break through, too?" As Wu Chengtian saw it, even if Wei Zhao enabled him to practice the internal school, it would yield only a bit of progress—there was no chance he could break through to the internal Yellow rank. But now it seemed he might actually break through and become a Yellow-rank internal expert? Surely not? Wouldn't that put him on par with his own external strength?