Chapter 966 — A Wild Idea

"Oh?" Wei Zhao found Uncle Qing's words rather curious. The cultivation method the Sun family practiced was in some ways quite like his own, and yet utterly different. They had to laboriously advance one level merely to heal one more person, whereas he—he had gone no further than the first level of the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art, and his energy was already all-purpose!

"That is why the sons and daughters of the Sun family are the ones every Great Family hopes to draw into marriage. Which family would not want a last card to save their lives?" Here a bleak look crossed Uncle Qing's face. "Never mind... let us not speak of it. You and the Sun family should have nothing to do with one another..."

"Naturally. My surname is Lin, not Sun." Wei Zhao nodded. "But Uncle Qing, you seem to be holding something back? It sounds as though you and this Sun family are deeply connected?"

"Xiao Yi, there are things I have never mentioned to Mr. Gu, because he is not a man of the jianghu, and I did not want him troubled by them." Uncle Qing sighed. "But you count as a man of the jianghu. Let it be an old man's rambling, then. Hear it and let it go... I suppose this is all my life will ever be. To recover my strength is impossible. Once I have spoken these things from my heart to you, I will settle down and be an old steward in peace."

"Mm... go on, Uncle Qing." Wei Zhao had long since seen that Uncle Qing was a man with a story. Many times, when he looked at Wei Zhao, he had seemed about to speak and then stopped. This time he was wounded, and knowing his strength could never be restored, his heart was stifled and he wanted someone to talk to—and Wei Zhao made a very good listener.

"Xiao Yi, you guessed right. My wife was of the Sun family!" Here, in Uncle Qing's clouded eyes, a flash of keen light seemed to pass, as though he had returned to the days of his youth. "And my true name is not Li Fu!"

"Oh?" Wei Zhao had not expected that Uncle Qing's wife would be of the Sun family. "Then your former..."

"My former identity—best not speak of it... Failure, failure!" Uncle Qing sighed. "It was twenty years ago. In those days I was riding high, and as the young sect master I already possessed the strength of the late Mystic rank at its peak—a standout among all the sects. And I had taken a woman of the Sun family to wife. With her help I broke through to the Earth rank in a single stroke. A young man's success, if ever there was one..."

"What! You were an Earth-rank expert?" Wei Zhao's eyes went wide at once, staring at Uncle Qing in disbelief. Uncle Qing had actually been an Earth-rank expert—yet before this he had clearly possessed only Yellow-rank strength...

"An internal-style expert of the early Earth rank!" Uncle Qing nodded, a trace of pride in his eyes, but then his face turned bitter and he sighed. "But then disaster fell... the sect was destroyed, my wife was killed, my daughter vanished without a trace, the sect's great treasure was seized—and I do not even know who my enemy is!"

"What!" Wei Zhao was shocked beyond measure. Had he not known Uncle Qing so long, and known that he was not a man to lie lightly, he would have thought Uncle Qing was spinning a tale.

"I have hidden my name all these years, secretly investigating the truth of the matter, but I have found nothing at all. Over the years my desire for revenge has faded. When I see Miss Gu, it is as though I see my own daughter, and so I care for her with all my heart—it is a small comfort." Uncle Qing heaved a long sigh. "Is it not all rather fantastical?"

Wei Zhao nodded without evasion. "You were an internal-style expert?"

"After my meridians were ruined, I hid my name and began cultivating the external style anew. At the time I meant only to stand at the peak once more and take revenge for my wife, my daughter, and my sect. But now I do not even know who the enemy is, let alone take revenge!" Uncle Qing shook his head. "I tell you this because it chokes me to keep it in. Take it as a story, and when you have heard it, let it be."

Uncle Qing did not expect Wei Zhao to help him in any way. These secrets had been pent up in his heart too long, making him gloomy through and through; now that he had spoken them, he felt a weight lift.

Wei Zhao knew that Uncle Qing's account was vague and that he had left out many details, giving only a rough sketch of what had once befallen him. Yet though Wei Zhao was full of questions, he could not bring himself to ask. These were scars in Uncle Qing's heart; to press him would only wound him deeper.

If Uncle Qing wished to speak, he would slowly tell him the truth in time; if Uncle Qing did not wish to speak, then asking would be of no use.

"You were an internal-style expert before? And of the Earth rank?" Suddenly a wild idea took shape in Wei Zhao's heart.

"Yes!" Uncle Qing nodded and smiled. "But a hero does not boast of his past glories! It is all behind me. I told you—take it as a story and let it be..."

"Uncle Qing, if it were possible to restore your strength, would you want to try?" Wei Zhao asked after a moment's thought.

"Restore my strength?" Uncle Qing was plainly taken aback, but then he smiled bitterly. "You want me to cultivate the external style from the beginning again? I have no confidence left... Xiao Yi, I understand you want me to rouse myself, but I truly have given up. I thought I might make a breakthrough in the external style, yet all these years I have remained stuck at the peak of the late Yellow rank, and a breakthrough to the Mystic rank is nowhere in sight. You must understand, the external style and the internal style are two entirely different things—the higher you go, the harder the breakthrough."

"Heh. I meant the internal style," Wei Zhao said with a smile.

"The internal style?" Uncle Qing was briefly startled, and then a light of astonishment flashed in his eyes. A moment later he said, uncertainly, "You mean... you can let me cultivate the internal style again? But my meridians... you..."

"I can repair them!" Wei Zhao nodded and said with certainty.

This was the wild idea in Wei Zhao's heart. Uncle Qing was an Earth-rank expert—would it not be a waste to leave his strength unrestored?

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