Chapter 1539 — Persuasion, Part Two

"So that is how it is... It seems I must not only strive to become an alchemist above the third grade, but also cultivate the Ice Heart pill fire!" After hearing this, Wei Zhao could not help smiling bitterly.

"There is no need for that. With Xiaoxiao joining the Ice Palace, the Ice Palace Master will no longer need to take the Ice Heart Jade Bone Pill. One successor is enough!" Xiao Qing said, "You need not dwell on it. You need only let Xiaoxiao join the Ice Palace."

"Wait!" Wei Zhao at once sensed something amiss, and asked Xiao Qing with a grave expression, "Senior, forgive my presumption, but what benefit is there in becoming the Ice Palace's successor? Why is one successor enough? Does the Ice Palace Master herself not wish to become the successor?"

"This..." Xiao Qing had never expected that a single word of comfort would lead him to connect so many things, and it was clear Wei Zhao had grown suspicious, yet of the matter of the successor she could not speak to him. She could only say, "The Ice Palace Master naturally wishes to become the successor as well, but owing to the limits of her constitution she cannot receive the inheritance of the Ice Snow Spirit Mountain, so while we seek another candidate we are also searching for an alchemist. It is merely preparing for both outcomes! As for becoming the successor, besides making the path of cultivation easy and swift, when breaking through the Heaven-tier she will hold an advantage over ordinary Heaven-tier experts, and will more easily shatter the barrier and step into the Heavenly Dao!"

"Then have you never found anyone with a yin-cold constitution?" Wei Zhao always felt something was not quite right, yet for the moment he could not seize the thread.

"Not only have we failed to find anyone with a yin-cold constitution, we have not even seen anyone with the Ice Heart Jade Bone constitution." Xiao Qing smiled bitterly, "Constitutions of this kind are generally hereditary within families. Some pass down every generation, some skip a generation or several generations. If such families have no cultivators, or no cultivators who know an ice-type mental art, they will never discover these abnormalities! We cannot go house by house screening people, can we?"

"I see! Then what of the Ice Palace Master's pseudo-Ice Heart Jade Bone constitution?" Wei Zhao asked.

"Pseudo-Ice Heart Jade Bone means the inheritance was incomplete, with only a part passed on!" Xiao Qing said, "Constitutions of this sort must therefore be supplemented and tempered with pills refined from heavenly materials and earthly treasures before they can exert the same effect as the Ice Heart Jade Bone constitution."

"Then... since it is hereditary, why did you not go to the Ice Palace Master's family to see if anyone else inherited this constitution?" Wei Zhao had to keep pressing with questions before he could uncover the Ice Palace's true intent.

"The Ice Palace Master is an abandoned infant. What family has she?" Xiao Qing smiled bitterly, "We would have liked to search, but in this vast sea of people, where were we to look?"

"So it is..." Wei Zhao nodded. He had never imagined that frosty little girl, the Ice Palace Master, could have so pitiful a past.

"That is exactly it!" Xiao Qing said, "Yet Feng Xiaoxiao's constitution is even more remarkable than the Ice Heart Jade Bone constitution. Her body holds a vast store of yin-cold qi, so enormous as to be almost inconceivable! For one of her age to possess so much yin-cold qi, if she can refine it all away, her future prospects will be boundless!"

"What if I choose not to let her join the Ice Palace?" Wei Zhao countered.

"That would be tantamount to harming her. The yin-cold qi within her was only temporarily suppressed by the joint efforts of the Ice Palace Master and the Grand Elder, and it will not hold for long." Xiao Qing said, "Once that yin-cold qi breaks free of its bonds again and invades her heart, she will fall unconscious once more."

"Then what of the Fire Spirit Sacred Fruit?" Wei Zhao asked.

"That too is only temporary!" Xiao Qing said, "If the yin-cold qi in her body were not so great, taking the Fire Spirit Sacred Fruit could suppress it for decades, but the yin-cold qi within her is truly too much, almost equal to the amount of true qi inside a Heaven-tier expert. Even if she takes the Fire Spirit Sacred Fruit, within a year at most she will fall unconscious again!"

"Ah!" Wei Zhao widened his eyes, his heart suddenly flooded with regret and self-reproach! The yin-cold qi in Feng Xiaoxiao's body had indeed not been so great, but later, when he had several times channeled true qi into her, the true qi she absorbed was devoured by the yin-cold qi within her, and so the yin-cold qi in her grew ever stronger.

Had it not been for Wei Zhao's true qi, perhaps the Fire Spirit Sacred Fruit could have suppressed the yin-cold qi in Feng Xiaoxiao for many years, but now...

"Then... if she does not accept the inheritance and only cultivates in the Ice Palace, would that do?" Wei Zhao always felt there was a hint of conspiracy about this inheritance, which left him uneasy at heart.

"The speed of cultivation will never match that of the inheritance! Moreover, what our Ice Palace needs is a successor!" Xiao Qing said.

Xiao Qing's words made Wei Zhao's heart tighten at once. It seemed this matter of the successor truly held a problem! Otherwise, if the Ice Palace truly valued Feng Xiaoxiao's peerless constitution, then however Feng Xiaoxiao cultivated should be acceptable. Why insist that she become the successor?

By instinct, Wei Zhao believed Xiao Qing was surely hiding something else from him! Yet clearly Xiao Qing did not wish to speak of it, but was evading the topic, which left Wei Zhao with no way to question her directly!

After all, from beginning to end Xiao Qing had been helping him in secret, and for this Wei Zhao was deeply grateful, so he was unwilling to spoil this bond. He knew that what she could tell, Xiao Qing would surely tell him, but some things she perhaps could not tell and had no way to speak of honestly, so there was no need for Wei Zhao to force her to explain!

In that case, Wei Zhao would simply ask the Ice Palace Master directly, and if she could not give him a satisfactory answer, then Wei Zhao would certainly not lightly allow Feng Xiaoxiao to accept the inheritance.

"I understand. Let me see Xiaoxiao first." Wei Zhao said with a nod.

"That is only natural." As she spoke, Xiao Qing led Wei Zhao into the courtyard of a guest room, then said to him, "She is inside. The Ice Palace Master is there as well."

Wei Zhao followed behind Xiao Qing into the guest room, and indeed saw Feng Xiaoxiao now speaking to the Ice Palace Master with radiant spirits and dancing brows, while the Ice Palace Master sat beside Feng Xiaoxiao with a helpless look, nodding in agreement from time to time.

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