Chapter 2354 — The Yu Family's Phone Call

So he held nothing back, and told Zhao Qitan the whole story of how Zhao Qibing had swindled the Qi Gathering Pill out of the hands of the hidden Yu family.

Hearing Old Master Zhao's words, Zhao Qitan fell silent at once. The resentment and doubt in his heart dissolved into nothing in that instant, leaving only a silent lament at Zhao Qibing's good fortune. Of course—with merits like that, how could he possibly compete?

Zhao Qitan gave a self-mocking smile. "I understand. So that is how it is... Heh... It seems no matter how hard I try, I can never become the patriarch..."

"It is good that you understand." Old Master Zhao nodded. "If you keep colluding with Wei Zhao, you are walking a dead-end road. Though that brat Wei Zhao has been asking after you constantly of late—it seems he trusts you quite a bit?"

"If I do not go to Wei Zhao, will you let me off? Once Zhao Qibing's wings are full, I will likely be the first he cuts down." Zhao Qitan shook his head, seeing it all too clearly. "Grandfather, I know you do not like me, because my mother came from a village. My father died early on her account, and you laid the hatred for that on me and on her. My mother was driven back to the countryside, and as for me—if not for my diligence in cultivation, I would long since have had no place in the Zhao family at all, would I not?"

Old Master Zhao's expression shifted. Zhao Qitan's words had struck home. Though Zhao Qitan was his grandson, because of all that had come before, he had never thought much of him.

"So I have hit the mark?" Zhao Qitan smiled. "At first I thought that through my own efforts I could make you all change your view and accept me. But ever since Zhao Qibing appeared, I have seen that it is impossible. I am not resigned to it. I took Wei Zhao as my leader—partly because he truly is powerful, and partly because I wanted a patron, to take back everything that is rightfully mine in the Zhao family."

"Do not cling to your delusions," Old Master Zhao said with a sigh.

"Cling to my delusions? So what if I do? Grandfather, let me speak plainly—this visit of yours, is it to have me killed?" Zhao Qitan asked mildly, as though he had already foreseen this outcome.

"Life and death are in your own hands," Old Master Zhao said. "Enter the Mystic Pill Sect's trial. If you die, you die. If you do not, and you win the Mystic Pill Sect's reward, I can guarantee you a place as an elder of the Zhao family—a role like Elder Bi's."

"The Mystic Pill Sect's trial? You think I can come back from that?" Hearing Old Master Zhao's words, Zhao Qitan's heart sank into boundless despair. "All these years, those who went to the Mystic Pill Sect's trial included people from the hidden households, people from the sects—even men from ancient sects, ancient households, and powers beyond the borders. But how many of them ever came back alive?"

"That is why I say life and death are in your hands," Old Master Zhao said. "Before this, Guangyin advised that you must be killed."

"Heh... If I remember rightly, the reward for success in the Mystic Pill Sect's trial is a third-grade pill. The Qi Gathering Pill is a third-grade pill. If I bring that back, why should I still be content to rank below Zhao Qibing and serve as an elder?" Zhao Qitan raised his head sharply. "The same third-grade pill—he is a bastard son, yet he can be the young heir and successor, while I, a son of the Zhao family born and bred on its own soil, can only be an elder?"

"Elder Bi is injured and needs the Great Restoration Pill. You will go for that, not for the Qi Gathering Pill," Old Master Zhao said with a sigh.

"Ha? Is there a difference?" Zhao Qitan was filled with disappointment in Old Master Zhao. "It is the same third-grade pill, and it is not that I do not want the Qi Gathering Pill—it is you who would have me fetch the Great Restoration Pill!"

"The matter is settled. Make your choice," Old Master Zhao said.

"Heh..." A trace of cold ruthlessness flickered through Zhao Qitan's eyes. His own grandfather—and he cared for him less than Wei Zhao, a leader with no blood tie to him at all. He knew that Wei Zhao's recent search for him was not to pry into the Zhao family's affairs, but to make good on the benefits he had promised—or perhaps because he had found he could no longer reach him, and so had acted as he did.

At that thought, Zhao Qitan instead grew calm, and said lightly, "Very well. I will enter."

Old Master Zhao nodded and turned to leave the room, yet a strange gleam flashed through his eyes. Wei Zhao must be eliminated! With him around, Zhao Qitan might well turn the tables. In that final look of Zhao Qitan's, he had seen the young man's decision.

So, after leaving Zhao Qitan's room, Old Master Zhao dialed the hidden Yu family directly—the number of Old Master Yu.

"In-law..." This was the first call Old Master Zhao had made since the two families had fallen out.

"Hmph. Old Zhao, you still have the nerve to call?" Old Master Yu gave a cold snort. But some time had passed since the affair, and his anger had largely cooled, so he did not hang up outright.

"Old Yu, that matter is over and done with. If we keep fighting, are we not just making a spectacle for others? Besides, it was not the hidden Zhao family who snatched it—Yu Huoxing offered the pill up himself. If such a bargain had fallen into the hidden Yu family's lap, would you not have taken it?" Old Master Zhao asked.

"Hmph." Old Master Yu snorted, though in his heart he knew well enough that if the situation had been the Yu family's, the Yu family would have done the same. So he said directly, "Say your piece. What is the purpose of this call?"

"Elder Bi has been crippled by someone. In a single move," Old Master Zhao said.

"Elder Bi? Crippled?" Old Master Yu was taken aback. "Old Zhao, you are not saying this in hopes that the hidden Yu family will avenge you, are you? What has this to do with us?"

"The one who injured Elder Bi is Wei Zhao," Old Master Zhao went on.

"Wei Zhao?" Old Master Yu frowned and sank into thought... A storm rose in his heart. He had acknowledged before that Wei Zhao was formidable, but never had he imagined Wei Zhao could be formidable to such a degree—crippling Elder Bi in a single move. Elder Bi was a master at the peak of the late Earth rank, a mere half step from Heaven rank, and yet such a man had been crippled by Wei Zhao in one blow?

Thinking of the strength Wei Zhao now possessed, Old Master Yu felt a certain conflict. On one hand, he wondered whether Wei Zhao might be won over, and whether he might use him to soar to new heights. On the other, he thought of that place behind the scenes, which required Yu Ning to keep her virginity and undertake a task of great importance... and Old Master Yu knew that this was a dead knot!

As for Yu Ning's fate, Old Master Yu knew a thing or two. It might bring the Yu family soaring, yes, but Yu Ning's sacrifice would be anything but small! RQ

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