Chapter 1525 — Wei Zhao's Persistence

"I do not want it... Please, Elder Qing, help me. Give me one Fire Spirit Sacred Fruit, and I swear I will find a pill refiner of the third rank or above for your palace!" Wei Zhao refused what Xiao Qing offered him.

"Why must you be so stubborn, boy? Do not think that because I am easy to talk to, you may pester me endlessly. The affairs of the Ice Palace are not mine to decide!" Xiao Qing frowned. "The things are here. Take them or leave them!"

With that, Xiao Qing set the jade box and the stone token on the snow before Wei Zhao, then turned and drifted back into the Ice Palace.

Wei Zhao drew a deep breath. He glanced at the jade box and the stone token on the ground, but did not stoop to pick them up.

Since he had come, Wei Zhao would not leave so easily. This was Feng Xiaoxiao's last hope, and he had no wish to abandon it so readily; whatever it took, he had to try. He could only pray that his sincerity might move Aunt Qing and the Palace Master.

Elder Qing's words had not made clear whether Wei Zhao was to be driven away; she had said only "take them or leave them," and Wei Zhao had neither taken nor left. So as he stood there, the Ice Palace disciples truly did not dare decide on their own to send him off.

When those disciples passed on their rounds, they merely glanced at the figure standing erect in the wind and snow, then silently walked on.

Elder Qing's words could not be defied, and the disciples dared even less to act on their own judgment.

Facing a stranger unaffiliated with the Ice Palace, they had the right to drive him off; but they could not tell what manner of person Wei Zhao was. Since Elder Qing had given no order, they would let him go on standing there.

Seeing how the disciples ignored him, Wei Zhao actually felt a little steadier at heart. This much he could be sure of: Aunt Qing was surely a kindhearted woman; perhaps in her heart she wished to help him too, but held back only because the Fire Spirit Sacred Fruit was so vital to the Ice Palace, so she could not promise him anything on her own authority.

As for that unfeeling girl, the Palace Master, he bore her no great ill will. Her attitude seemed to him only natural. If the Fire Spirit Sacred Fruit truly was a treasure the Ice Palace prized above all, then for a stranger to come demanding it, she would be strange indeed to hand it over cheerfully.

It was like the time Fatty Lai had asked him for a Longevity and Detox Pill. He had not even known the man; why should he have given him one? Fatty Lai was merely luckier, having found half a Longevity and Detox Pill on a pile of dog dung in a garbage heap.

Now Wei Zhao rested all his hopes on Aunt Qing, praying she might put in a good word for him before the Palace Master.

"He still has not left?" the Ice Palace Master asked when she saw Aunt Qing return.

"No, he is still standing at the gate of the Ice Palace..." Xiao Qing sighed. "Aunt Qing, I feel this boy has not had it easy either. Why not just give him one Fire Spirit Sacred Fruit? He has promised our Ice Palace that within two years he will surely find a third-rank pill refiner to refine pills for us..."

"You would believe the word of a wandering cultivator?" The Ice Palace Master smiled faintly.

"Yet this Ling Yi seems different. The fact that he could defeat both Zhang Naipao and Feng Nitian is proof enough that he is no ordinary man. Which sect's founding patriarch was not a wandering cultivator?" Xiao Qing said. "Besides, from his tone, I do not think he was lying. The Ice Heart Jade Bone Pill matters too much to you. If it truly could be refined, then once you take it, your constitution would be transformed; even if you could not comprehend the legacy of the Ice Snow Spirit Mountain, it would still be of great help when you go to Cloud Rank Island to break through to the Heaven Rank!"

"The Ice Heart Jade Bone Pill, even as a third-rank pill, requires at least a fifth-rank pill refiner to produce. Even if he found a third-rank refiner, what use would that be?" The Ice Palace Master shook her head. "In the mortal world, are there any pill refiners left? Even among our ancient sects, pill refiners are exceedingly rare, and all the high-ranking ones are gathered in Xuandan Sect. Do you think he has the power to persuade Xuandan Sect to send out a fifth-rank pill refiner to refine pills for our Ice Palace?"

At the mention of Xuandan Sect, a flicker of disgust crossed the Ice Palace Master's eyes.

"That..." Xiao Qing was speechless for a moment. Indeed, all the high-ranking pill refiners were gathered in Xuandan Sect, and the Ice Palace's only pill refiner was merely a second-rank Yellow Rank pill refiner.

And even that was already remarkable. Other ancient sects still had first-rank pill refiners, or even none at all, only ordinary apothecaries.

"Has Xuandan Sect still not replied? Ten billion — is that not enough to make them stir themselves to refine pills for us?" Speaking of pill refining, the Ice Palace Master recalled the negotiations she had earlier sent Aunt Qing to conduct with Xuandan Sect.

"The young master of Xuandan Sect said that unless you, Palace Master, agree to marry him as a concubine, so that the Ice Palace and Xuandan Sect become in-laws, then whatever pill you want can be refined — even a fourth-rank pill, and he would trouble his grandfather to refine it himself. But apart from that, there is nothing to discuss. Xuandan Sect does not lack money!" Xiao Qing said with a sigh.

"Shameless!" The Ice Palace Master gave a cold snort. "What a fool's dream. A man who can do nothing but refine pills, with no strength to speak of — I could crush him to death with one finger!"

The Ice Palace Master seldom lost her temper, but hearing the young master of Xuandan Sect's reply, she was truly beside herself with anger.

"No strength?" Xiao Qing could not help but smile bitterly. "But his sect is the mightiest of all the ancient sects! It is true that the core members of Xuandan Sect, the sect master, the young master, several elders, even the sect's patriarch, all cultivate pill-refining auxiliary arts, and even at the Heaven Rank they have little fighting strength. But the Heaven Rank experts who sell their lives for Xuandan Sect are far too many!"

Xiao Qing was right. In Xuandan Sect, the sect master, the young master, several elders, and even the sect's patriarch all cultivated auxiliary pill-refining arts — which was exactly why they had achieved so much on the path of pill refining.

But to Xuandan Sect, this was no defect at all. So long as they could refine pills, countless people and factions would flock to them, flatter them, and pledge themselves to them at any cost; their prestige was beyond imagining.

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