Chapter 1535 — Obstruction! The Ice Palace Master Ignored Wei Zhao, Instead Picking Up Feng Xiaoxiao and Turning to Walk Away, Exiting the Reception Room in the Blink of an Eye

Wei Zhao did not think twice. On pure instinct he lifted his legs and gave chase out of the reception room. But even at a casual pace a Heaven-tier master was swift beyond compare, and no matter how hard Wei Zhao strained behind her, he could not close the gap!

"Put down my girlfriend!" In that moment Wei Zhao was truly beside himself. Heeding nothing of her status as a Heaven-tier master, he roared directly at the Ice Palace Master! It was no wonder he should panic -- earlier, the Ice Palace Master and Xiao Qing had both been gazing at Feng Xiaoxiao as though beholding a treasure, and Wei Zhao genuinely feared they meant to seize her and do heaven knew what with her!

Earlier, their talk of "inheritance" and the like had left Wei Zhao more bewildered than ever. He feared the Ice Palace might harbour some custom whereby Feng Xiaoxiao would be sacrificed to refine some ritual or other, so how could he let them carry her off?

Moreover, the question the Ice Palace Master had posed earlier still gnawed at him, leaving him thoroughly unsure of their motives. If they harboured no ulterior purpose, why had they asked whether Feng Xiaoxiao was still a maiden? Wei Zhao simply could not fathom what possible significance such a question held for the Ice Palace -- yet in legend, ceremonies that called for sacrificing virgin boys and girls were far from unheard of!

Seeing that the Ice Palace Master ignored him, Wei Zhao felt a surge of strength from some unknown wellspring. He gathered every ounce of power in his body, compressed it into an energy bomb, and hurled it in the Ice Palace Master's direction!

Though Wei Zhao's fortune had burst forth in that instant, the attack was still constrained by time, and the energy packed into his bomb was by no means great. So he was not afraid of accidentally harming Xiaoxiao.

But toward Wei Zhao's assault, the Ice Palace Master did not even turn her head. With a mere flick of her body she sidestepped it, and the energy bomb struck the Ice Palace's outer wall head-on, blasting a tremendous crater into it in an instant!

The next instant, the Ice Palace Master halted in her tracks. Her eyes brimming with astonishment, she gazed at the shattered wall, then turned her head to look at Wei Zhao!

"How did you do that?" This was the first time the Ice Palace Master had regarded Wei Zhao squarely. Until now she had never once looked him in the eye. A Mystic-tier cultivator -- even the foremost of all Mystic-tier masters -- was a negligible presence in the eyes of a Heaven-tier master, and all the more so before someone of the Ice Palace Master's caliber, a peak late-stage Heaven-tier powerhouse. So, carried away by excitement, she had simply scooped up Feng Xiaoxiao and strode off, never deigning to give Wei Zhao a thought or waste a word on him. But this single move of his instantly conjured in her mind the way Wei Zhao had faced Zhang Naipao and Feng Nitian: "Was that compressed true qi you just released?"

"Where are you taking my girlfriend?" Wei Zhao did not know whether the Ice Palace Master might be angered by his energy bomb, but he puffed out his chest and demanded the same.

"I can bring her back to consciousness without the Fire Spirit Sacred Fruit," the Ice Palace Master said. "Once she wakes, I will bring her out to see you."

"So that is how it is..." At the Ice Palace Master's explanation, Wei Zhao breathed a deep sigh of relief. Since she said as much, it must be true. Otherwise, given her power, even if he possessed energy bombs, she would never have any reason to fear him. With her domineering strength, there was simply no need for her to deceive him.

"The true qi within you -- does it never run out?" The Ice Palace Master furrowed her brow ever so slightly, regarding Wei Zhao with a trace of puzzlement.

"I have my own method of cultivation," Wei Zhao replied.

The Ice Palace Master nodded. Wei Zhao was unwilling to say more, and she did not press him. Every cultivator's technique was kept secret -- just as the Ice Palace would never carelessly hand its method to a stranger.

At this moment Xiao Qing also approached, and the great crater in the Ice Palace wall left her no less stunned!

"Rest assured, the Palace Master can wake her," Xiao Qing told Wei Zhao with a reassuring look. "No man is permitted within the Ice Palace's inner grounds. That is the rule of the Ice Palace, and it cannot be broken."

"So that is how it is!" Wei Zhao nodded. "Very well, Senior, Palace Master. I shall wait here. I am sorry for the trouble!"

Since they had promised they could rouse Feng Xiaoxiao, then whatever their motives might be, Wei Zhao owed them his thanks.

The Ice Palace Master and Xiao Qing drifted away like wraiths. Wei Zhao watched their retreating figures, a knot of worry in his heart, yet utterly helpless to do anything about it.

"Palace Master... she is, after all, Wei Zhao's girlfriend..." Xiao Qing said with a wry smile.

"Aunt Qing... was I not merely anxious..." Where would the Ice Palace Master ever admit that she had, in fact, looked down on Wei Zhao moments before? "Though I must say, that Wei Zhao is no ordinary fellow. To be able to employ compressed true qi -- a technique that 'slays a thousand enemies at the cost of eight hundred of one's own' -- yet for him it seems to slay a thousand enemies without losing a single one?"

"I have told you already, this lone cultivator is unlike the others. If we can forge a good bond, we should not make an enemy of him," Xiao Qing said.

"An enemy is out of the question. His girlfriend will become our Ice Palace's inheritor. Once she has received the inheritance, I shall step down and cede my seat to a worthier one, and join the Council of Elders..." the Ice Palace Master said.

"She truly does possess the Yin-cold constitution! If she can indeed receive the inheritance, that would be a tremendous blessing for our Ice Palace. The inheritor we have sought for so long has finally been found!" Xiao Qing nodded in agreement.

"Indeed. The Heaven-tier Assembly is only a few years away, and never did I imagine we would find our inheritor before it came!" the Ice Palace Master said. "Fortunately Wei Zhao came to our Ice Palace seeking the Fire Spirit Sacred Fruit. Had he gone to Snow Valley seeking the Ice Spirit Sacred Fruit, she would have become Snow Valley's inheritor instead!"

Both the Ice Palace and Snow Valley cultivated techniques of the icy-cold attribute, so their requirements for a cultivator's constitution were remarkably similar. The Ice Heart and Jade Bone constitution was the most perfectly suited to such cultivation. Yet of the four great sects of Cloud Rank Island, it was precisely these two ancient orders that had opened them.

And for both houses to seek an inheritor of the same constitution made the task doubly, triply harder. Who could say how envious Snow Valley would be upon hearing that the Ice Palace had found a inheritor of the Yin-cold constitution?

As they spoke, the two arrived at the Elder Court, where the Ice Palace's Council of Elders held session.

"All elders, come forth and greet the Palace Master. The Palace Master has an important matter to announce to everyone!" Xiao Qing's clear voice rang out into the Elder Court.

In ordinary families or sects, a palace master who went to the Elder Court to discuss matters would show the elders every measure of respect. To summon them out to receive her was rare indeed -- and this alone spoke volumes of the Ice Palace Master's and Xiao Qing's standing within the Ice Palace.

"Greetings, Palace Master!" It was the Ice Palace's Grand Elder who spoke first -- also a peak late-stage Heaven-tier powerhouse. Yet before the Ice Palace Master he showed no disrespect whatsoever. The two were peers in cultivation rank, but the Ice Palace Master, whatever else one might say, was the Palace Master, and it was only proper that he bow to her.