Chapter 2333 — Too Much Talk

Old Master Pi was not one for empty courtesies. He promptly fetched paper and brush and copied out the oral mnemonic of his martial arts heart method for Wu Chengtian, withholding not a single form. The first fifteen forms he wrote down one and all, without exception, and handed them to Wu Chengtian: "As for the specific methods of channeling the power, you should have grasped something of them these past few days. Go practice in the courtyard in a moment, and if anything is unclear, ask me again! Though I expect your achievements will surpass Zhihai's—after all, you are a master of both the inner and outer paths!"

"Yes!" Wu Chengtian received the martial arts heart method mnemonic with delight and reverence.

"By the way, Old Master Pi—things like Spirit-Gathering Pills and Minor Qi-Gathering Elixirs, surely the Hidden Pi family has no trouble laying hands on them?" Having heard Old Master Pi's words, Wei Zhao suddenly thought of the question, for at the Hidden World Clans Summit such elixirs had hardly seemed rare, unlike in the secular clans where they were scarce. And so the question arose: "Since you cultivate the inner family, couldn't you simply take elixirs to advance?"

"That..." Old Master Pi smiled bitterly. "It is indeed not hard to obtain. In fact, our Pi family has quite a stock on hand. If even a single one of our Pi family had shown the slightest gift for inner-family cultivation, the ability to draw qi into the body, our Pi family would have spared no effort to help him rise to the Earth Rank!"

"Oh? What do you mean by that? You cannot cultivate it?" Wei Zhao was somewhat puzzled.

"Outer-family cultivators seldom manage to take up inner-family cultivation midway. Even with the inner-family heart method mnemonic in hand, it is essentially useless—they can no longer draw qi into the body, cannot even manage the rudiments of inner-family cultivation. So how could they take elixirs? Taking them would be wasted..." Old Master Pi smiled bitterly. "To begin with, few outer-family cultivators can manage inner cultivation, and our Pi family line has produced no heaven-sent genius like young friend Wu Chengtian, so not one of us has ever succeeded!"

"Uh... I'm a genius?" Wu Chengtian's eyes went wide. He had never thought himself a genius; without Wei Zhao he was no genius at all—even now he was still only an outer-family cultivator of the early Yellow Rank!

Still, Wu Chengtian did not dare speak rashly. Raising another's strength and healing his injuries were two different matters, after all, and he did not know whether Wei Zhao would permit him to say it. So Wu Chengtian looked toward Wei Zhao.

"Wu Chengtian, before... was it the same for you? Unable to cultivate the inner family?" Wei Zhao thought for a moment and asked. When he had upgraded Wu Chengtian before, he had not inquired into so much.

"I couldn't before either, and neither could my grandfather..." Wu Chengtian smiled bitterly. "Generally, once someone has cultivated the outer family, one seldom hears of them cultivating the inner family!"

"Then what about cultivating the inner family first, and the outer family after?" Wei Zhao had not expected there to be such a saying.

"Cultivating the inner family first, and then managing the outer family—that too is rare..." Old Master Pi smiled bitterly. "Only a very few geniuses who first cultivate the inner family can still cultivate the outer family. But for such geniuses, the result is the same whether they begin with the inner or the outer..."

"Hmm... I don't know much about the outer family. So that's how it is..." Wei Zhao said, suddenly enlightened.

"Yes. Apart from a few inner-family masters who, having accomplished nothing, wish to switch to the outer family—they generally destroy their own meridians, breaking in order to build anew, and start body refinement from the beginning!" Here Wu Chengtian suddenly thought of an example. "That's right, it's much the same as Uncle Qing..."

"Uh..." Wei Zhao was taken aback. Uncle Qing's case was hardly a matter of breaking to build anew—he had cultivated the inner family only because he had no other choice. Still, the principle was the same.

"Wait—young friend Wu Chengtian, you say you couldn't before? You couldn't cultivate the outer family before, and later you could?" Old Master Pi had caught a detail in Wu Chengtian's words and pressed him eagerly.

"That..." Wu Chengtian looked toward Wei Zhao.

"Yes, I upgraded him," Wei Zhao said with a nod.

"Pff—cough, cough, cough..." Hearing Wei Zhao's words, Old Master Pi was so startled that he burst into violent coughing. "Master Lin... you... what did you say?"

Even Pi Zhihai, silent over there until now, was drawn by Wei Zhao's words; his eyes went wide and he stared this way in disbelief.

"Wu Chengtian's inner-family strength—I helped raise it," Wei Zhao said. "But the limit of what I can raise at present is the peak of the late Profound Rank. Beyond that, you will have to rely on Minor Qi-Gathering Elixirs to break through."

"Boss, I beg you, help me upgrade too! Never mind the peak of the late Profound Rank—just raise me to the early Yellow Rank, and I can take more Spirit-Gathering Pills, Spirit-Gathering Elixirs, and Minor Qi-Gathering Elixirs and rise from there!" Pi Zhihai abruptly darted before Wei Zhao and bowed deeply.

Pi Zhihai was a martial fanatic; nothing mattered more to him than the pursuit of martial arts. To master both the inner and outer paths—that had long been his dream!

So when Pi Zhihai heard that Wei Zhao could upgrade people, and had Wu Chengtian as living proof, this time he willingly acknowledged Wei Zhao as his boss. If Wei Zhao could help him upgrade and fulfill his long-held dream of mastering both inner and outer paths, he would naturally not let slip such a heaven-sent opportunity.

"Heh heh..." Wei Zhao laughed. This Pi Zhihai really was a martial fanatic—Wei Zhao had saved his life, yet he had not been half so excited; hearing that he could be upgraded, he was thrilled beyond measure. At the thought, Wei Zhao could not help shaking his head. "What are you taking so many elixirs for? Isn't that a waste? If you have spares, give me a few!"

"Heh heh..." Pi Zhihai scratched his head. "If I really can be raised to the peak of the late Profound Rank, then a single Minor Qi-Gathering Elixir will be enough to break through to the Earth Rank. The rest of the elixirs—all of them go to you, Boss."

"You brat, have you no thought for your uncle and your grandfather!" Pi Zhishan smiled bitterly at once. "At least leave one each for the two of us!"

"Zhishan! Watch your tongue, don't be so greedy!" Hearing Pi Zhishan's words, Old Master Pi frowned at once and gave him a kick. Did he think his family were great benefactors? They had merely helped Wei Zhao rescue Wang Xinyan once; Wei Zhao healing Pi Zhihai's injuries already counted as repaying that favor. If he could upgrade Pi Zhihai, that would truly be an enormous额外 bounty—and here Pi Zhishan was pressing his luck, wanting the whole family to master both inner and outer paths? How could that be? Even the Divine Fist Hall had no such vast corps of inner-and-outer cultivators!

Pi Zhishan started and realized he had said too much. Thinking it over, it made sense—it was already good enough that Wei Zhao would upgrade Pi Zhihai; how could he possibly upgrade the whole family?

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