Chapter 2896 — What Are You Saying?

"I hear your sect has a certain treasure—something called Earth-Element Essence Liquid?" Wei Zhao asked.

"That... we do indeed have it..." The Earth Drill Star's expression shifted slightly. This was one of the sect's greatest treasures. Surely Wei Zhao was not going to demand it?

"Good, that's all I needed to hear. Two vials of Earth-Element Essence Liquid, plus the method for using them, and I can bring your Young Sect Master back to life!" Wei Zhao said.

"Two vials..." The Earth Drill Star's face turned even grimmer. Still, for the Young Sect Master's life, he pressed on. "Senior Lin, I will report your terms to our Sect Master and request his instructions. But please wait a while..."

"That's no problem. Go and ask." Wei Zhao nodded.

"Very well, Senior Lin. If we agree to your terms, you can certainly heal our Young Sect Master's injuries, yes?" the Earth Drill Star asked.

"Who said anything about healing him? I only said bringing him back to life," Wei Zhao said flatly.

"That... isn't it the same thing?" The Earth Drill Star was puzzled.

"Of course not. Bringing him back to life merely means he lives—no longer dependent on Great Return Pills to keep going, able to live like a normal person. Healing him means repairing every meridian in his body so that he can continue to cultivate. Those are two entirely different notions. Do not conflate them." Wei Zhao waved a hand.

"Ah? Then... how might he be healed?" The Earth Drill Star could not help a bitter smile. "Senior Lin, why not state all your terms at once? I will go ask the Sect Master..."

"Bringing him back to life, yes. Repairing meridians is reserved solely for those close to me—my kin, my subordinates, that sort of person. I do not offer that treatment to outsiders under any circumstances, because it consumes vast amounts of my physical stamina and true qi. No terms will change that!" Wei Zhao declared with absolute finality.

"This..." The Earth Drill Star was briefly taken aback. Yet recalling what the Heavenly Silkworm Transformation had said about Wei Zhao's temperament, he supposed it was hardly surprising. And there was no real problem in it either: once the Earth Tyrant was alive, he could simply pester Wei Zhao relentlessly until Wei Zhao took him on as a follower—and then he could be treated, could he not?

So the Earth Drill Star's pressing task was to seek instructions from Earth Green Pine. He said to Wei Zhao, "Very well, Senior Lin. Please wait a moment—I will consult our Sect Master of the Yellow Earth High Sect!"

"Go on." Wei Zhao waved him off.

The Earth Drill Star stepped out of the room and went to telephone Earth Green Pine.

The call connected quickly. For some time now, Earth Green Pine had been sick with worry over the Earth Tyrant. The boy was his only nephew, and the only direct blood descendant of the Yellow Earth High Sect! The sect might be considerable in size, but its direct bloodline was thin.

This had to do with the inheritance of the Yellow Earth High Sect's bloodline. Their blood carried an abundance of earth-element essence—which, by any reasonable measure, made for a superb earth-attribute constitution, ideally suited to receiving the earth-element legacy of enlightenment.

But because male cultivators could not receive that legacy—only females could—the male cultivators of the Yellow Earth High Sect's bloodline were truly wretched. If they had not reached the Heaven rank before the age of twenty, their only fate was to wait for death!

True, Earth-Element Essence Liquid combined with materials taken from Heaven-rank earth-element spirit beasts could prolong life, but each extension lasted only five years. By thirty, there was nothing left but a quiet death. And Heaven-rank earth-element spirit beasts were exceedingly rare; even though the Yellow Earth High Sect kept one in captivity, they could not draw its blood too often, or the beast itself would not survive and would die.

Earth Green Pine's father had left the Yellow Earth High Sect following the visit of two unexpected guests, and his whereabouts remained unknown.

The Earth Tyrant's father, having failed to reach the Heaven rank before twenty, had died young.

Earth Green Pine had only one daughter, who in her childhood had also departed with his father because of that same unexpected visit, and afterward all trace of her was lost.

After that, the Earth Tyrant became the sole continuation of the Yellow Earth High Sect's bloodline. How could Earth Green Pine not worry?

He was still in his prime, of course, and could father another son without difficulty. But the crux of the matter was that raising another Heaven-rank before the age of twenty was easier said than done—difficulty piled upon impossibility!

"Drill Star, any news? How are things going with the Mystic Elixir Sect? Is there any hope for the Earth Tyrant?" Earth Green Pine said hurriedly as soon as he picked up.

"There is!" the Earth Drill Star said at once. "Sect Master, today I went to see the Young Sect Master of the Mystic Elixir Sect, the Heavenly Silkworm Transformation, and he introduced me to someone..."

Thereupon the Earth Drill Star recounted everything to Earth Green Pine—the matter of Wei Zhao, his own visit to beg Wei Zhao to treat the Earth Tyrant's injuries, and the terms Wei Zhao had set forth.

After hearing the Earth Drill Star out, Earth Green Pine was stirred to his core, yet as the Sect Master of an ancient sect he swiftly calmed himself and fell into deep thought. Wei Zhao's terms looked somewhat outrageous—two vials of Earth-Element Essence Liquid demanded at the first word—yet by comparison, the Earth Tyrant's life mattered far more.

The trouble was this: if Wei Zhao could restore the Earth Tyrant to normal, that would be one thing. But Wei Zhao would only bring him back to life, not heal him—the Earth Tyrant's meridians would remain ruined. Nor would Wei Zhao trade treatment for any other terms. The only workable path was for the Earth Tyrant to become Wei Zhao's subordinate, so that Wei Zhao might treat him.

This was precisely why Earth Green Pine hesitated. For a sect as vast as the Yellow Earth High Sect to have one of its own serve as a mere follower to a lone cultivator—first, it would sound disgraceful if word got out; second, Earth Green Pine had no wish to bend the knee to another. And yet face and reputation were as nothing weighed against the Earth Tyrant's life.

This was the sole heir to the Yellow Earth High Sect's bloodline. Earth Green Pine would not let the bloodline end for the sake of a little face and reputation. True, the nephews of the sect's other elders were fine enough, and some were material fit to be raised as Young Sect Masters—but then the Yellow Earth High Sect would forfeit its qualification to pass down the earth-element power. An ancient sect without an inheritor would rank as a second-rate sect in that plan of the future, and Earth Green Pine would not see the Yellow Earth High Sect toppled from its pedestal.

"A lone cultivator with that much power?" Earth Green Pine mused for a moment, then asked, "Even the Tomorrow-after-Tomorrow Cult dares not touch him?"

"That is how it looks for now. Even the Young Sect Master of the Mystic Elixir Sect says as much. I fear this Wei Zhao has some tricks about him—he is no ordinary man," the Earth Drill Star said.

"Wei Zhao... a lone cultivator..." Earth Green Pine frowned. "That name—why does it feel somehow familiar? And yet I cannot place it..."

"Sect Master, what are you saying..." The Earth Drill Star had not understood Earth Green Pine's muttering.

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