Chapter 1440 — A Mere Wave of the Hand

"The old master even promised Qibing that he could name him the next heir to the family head, yet Qibing would not be moved; he made only one demand — that he ask for a Meridian-Opening Pill for you," Elder Bi said. "Uncle Zhu, tell me, what do you make of your master?"

"Ah!" Uncle Zhu had never dreamed that Zhao Qibing would surrender even the position of family head heir, asking only for a Meridian-Opening Pill for his sake. Overcome, tears of excitement sprang to his eyes and he dropped straight to his knees. "Young Master Bing, what virtue or worth do I possess that you should treat me so? It is not worth it, not worth it! For my sake to give up the position of family head heir — that is truly unwise! Elder Bi, please take back that Gathering Qi Pill; I do not want it!"

As it happened, Uncle Zhu was no fool either. He had thought it through very clearly: if Zhao Qibing truly became the young family head, how could he ever be short of pills? By then he would surely procure another one for him. Would that not be the best of both worlds?

"Uncle Zhu, speak no nonsense! How can Grandfather's decree be overturned so readily — an order given in the morning changed by evening?" Zhao Qibing started and hurriedly rebuked him. "Take this Meridian-Opening Pill at once and cultivate with all your heart — that is the truest way to repay me!"

"Hehe, there is no need for all this, little Zhu. Since this pill has already been brought, it is a gift bestowed by the old master; how could it be taken back?" Elder Bi watched Uncle Zhu's reaction and smiled. "Besides, whoever would become the heir to the future family head must be a young talent who combines virtue with ability — it is not enough merely to have rendered service to the Zhao family. And this boy Qibing is a man of feeling and honor; that is precisely why I took him as my disciple!"

Uncle Zhu's heart gave a jolt, and in that instant he understood Elder Bi's meaning. He silently blamed himself for being meddlesome. Elder Bi had made it plain enough: even had Zhao Qibing secured the position of family head heir earlier, he would never have sat easy in it — and what Elder Bi truly prized was Qibing's display of loyalty and honor.

"Indeed, Young Master Bing has feeling and honor toward us. Since it is so, I will surely cultivate with all my might and strive to become his right-hand man as early as I can!" Uncle Zhu hastily clasped his fists. He too had now grasped Young Master Bing's stratagem: on the surface, Young Master Bing had shown himself a man of feeling and honor, renouncing the position of young family head for the sake of his Uncle Zhu — but was this not also his mastery of the human heart? He had found the perfect point of entry, winning at once the goodwill of Elder Bi and the old master of the Zhao family while also obtaining a pill for himself. Truly the best of both worlds.

"Medicine King, I hear that you too had a part in the discovery of the Gathering Qi Pill this time?" After he had finished speaking with Uncle Zhu, Elder Bi turned to the Medicine King — but the sight of the lightning rods sticking out of the Medicine King's body promptly puzzled him. "What is all that on you? Have you been giving yourself acupuncture?"

"Well..." Before Elder Bi the Medicine King dared not spin lies, so he could only tell the truth. "These silver needles — they are all because of that boy Wei Zhao!"

The mere mention of Wei Zhao filled the Medicine King with gnashing resentment. He, a distinguished master of the healing arts, had been humiliated like this by Wei Zhao — bristling all over with silver needles and not even daring to pull them out. It was beyond disgraceful!

"Wei Zhao? Wei Zhao stuck these silver needles into you? Then why don't you pull them out?" Elder Bi was taken aback. He had assumed the Medicine King had done it to himself, cultivating some superior technique — who could have guessed that Wei Zhao was the one behind it.

"Wei Zhao sealed true qi at the tips of the needles before driving them into my body. I dare not pull them out; the instant I do, the true qi will be released and blast my meridians apart..." the Medicine King said in distress. "My ability is limited and I cannot break the technique, so I have simply had to go on like this!"

"So that is what it was!" Elder Bi gave a contemptuous cold snort. "Before me, it is nothing but a parlor trick. Let me take care of it for you. You are now Qibing's man, and so in a roundabout way you are mine as well; you must mind your appearance out there, or people will suppose me incompetent!"

"Thank you for your help, Elder Bi!" At Elder Bi's words the Medicine King was beside himself with joy. If Elder Bi had agreed to lend a hand, then naturally there was no problem at all. Wei Zhao's technique was exceedingly difficult for an Xuan rank expert to break — but for Elder Bi, an expert at the peak of the late Earth rank, it was naturally no trouble whatsoever.

"A mere wave of the hand," Elder Bi said coolly, and with an idle sweep of his hand across the Medicine King's body he plucked out several silver needles as easily as breathing. The Medicine King suffered not the slightest harm; every trace of true qi had been dissolved by Elder Bi.

Zhao Qibing, Li Cihua, the Medicine King, and Uncle Zhu were all secretly marveling: Wei Zhao's fearsome technique was treated as nothing at all in Elder Bi's eyes. Were Elder Bi to move against Wei Zhao, would that not also be a mere wave of the hand?

Small wonder, though. Formidable as Wei Zhao was, he was an Xuan rank expert after all. Even if he could fight across ranks and hold his own against an early Earth rank expert, that would be the very limit of him — while Elder Bi was an expert at the peak of the late Earth rank, only a single step from the Heaven rank. Such a figure could naturally shatter Wei Zhao's trick with ease.

Moreover, Wei Zhao's technique was not especially refined; it merely left cultivators of low attainment utterly helpless. Against a high-level practitioner like Elder Bi, whose true qi was fierce and overpowering, Wei Zhao's true qi could simply be forced apart and dispelled.

At this thought the Medicine King's heart stirred. "Elder Bi, that Wei Zhao is a mortal scourge upon our Zhao family. Were you to move against him, Elder Bi, you would surely take him down the moment you laid a hand on him!"

"Medicine King, Father and Grandfather will settle this matter themselves; say no more of it!" Zhao Qibing was startled and quickly spoke up to silence him. These were the very words he himself longed to say, but if Father and Grandfather did not agree, then even having Elder Bi as his master would not change a thing.

"There is no harm in talking — but I am an Earth rank expert, and Earth rank experts of the Hidden Families are bound by the Family Arbitration Association; we may not come and go into the secular world at will to involve ourselves in its struggles. Were I to act, someone would surely seize upon it as a handle against me," Elder Bi said. "If Wei Zhao is to be dealt with, the opportunity must be sought on this side, in the secular world. As for me, I certainly cannot raise a hand; my target is far too conspicuous."

The Medicine King nodded in helpless acquiescence. He knew the rules of the Hidden Families as well as anyone; only, being a man of the Hidden Families himself, he had assumed Elder Bi could simply act in secret without any harm done.

"Medicine King, why so worried? With a master like Elder Bi standing behind you, what have you to fear? When I have achieved something of my own, would it not be better for me to go and settle the score in person?" A surge of heroic spirit rose from the very soles of Zhao Qibing's feet. His status was different now, and so naturally was his outlook.