Chapter 2985 — Aunt Qing Arrives

What puzzled Wei Zhao, though, was that while breaking through he had actually been able to absorb the world's spiritual energy, yet while cultivating he could not! He guessed that during a breakthrough the spiritual energy gathered on its own first, forming a relatively pure mass of energy, whereas while cultivating he had no way to draw that spiritual energy together.

But now Wei Zhao had no time to dwell on such things, for he felt as though he were suffocating—not that he could not breathe, of course, but that his body craved the world's spiritual energy so desperately, and the spiritual energy around him simply could not keep up with the demand!

……………………

Aunt Qing arrived in East Sea City, near Wei Zhao's villa.

She did not go inside, however, for that would have seemed a little too abrupt. Just as she was hesitating, she suddenly sensed that other cultivators were present nearby! In the next instant, Aunt Qing appeared right before Yu Yi!

Though Aunt Qing and Yu Yi were both Heaven Rank experts, Yu Yi's strength was inferior to hers, and he was moreover a Heaven Rank expert of the hidden stratum, so naturally he was somewhat weaker than Heaven Rank experts of the ancient sects.

"You... who are you?" Aunt Qing's sudden appearance gave Yu Yi quite a fright. He watched her warily but did not dare strike out carelessly. Aunt Qing had not revealed her strength, but anyone who could approach a Heaven Rank early-stage expert like himself without a sound was likely an even more formidable expert—of that Yu Yi was very clear.

Aunt Qing had only sensed that Yu Yi was a cultivator from the aura he let slip when he relaxed, but which grade of cultivator he was he had not revealed, and Aunt Qing had no such cheat of an ability, so she could not see through Elder Li's strength either.

"Where are you a cultivator from? What are you doing here? Plotting some mischief, are you?" Aunt Qing had come to guard Wei Zhao against those who would fish in troubled waters, and since Yu Yi was lurking nearby, she naturally took him for Wei Zhao's enemy.

"I am Yu Yi, an elder of the hidden Yu family. My being here does not get in your way. And who might you be?" Yu Yi was neither arrogant nor groveling; he asked calmly.

"The hidden Yu family?" Aunt Qing was slightly taken aback. Was that not Yu Bing's family? Then he should not be an enemy, and her manner grew friendlier. "In that case, we are on the same side."

"?" Yu Yi was taken aback, and he scoffed at Aunt Qing's attempt to cozy up. "Spare me the familiarity. Same side? How is it I do not know you?"

Aunt Qing laughed at his words. Calling them the same side had of course been mere courtesy, and she had not expected Yu Yi to rebuff her first. She was not annoyed, though, and merely said, "Your family's Yu Bing is an outer-court steward of my sect—would you say that makes us the same side or not?"

Yu Bing? An outer-court steward? Then was this person before him from the Ice Palace? At the thought, Yu Yi tensed all over and hastily said with respect, "Could you be an expert of the Ice Palace, Senior?"

"Heh heh, I am an elder, just like you," Aunt Qing said with a smile. She was a very amiable person by nature.

"Yu Yi, attendant elder to Yu Tianxing, former head of the hidden Yu family, pays his respects to the senior elder of the Ice Palace." Yu Yi hastily cupped his fists and spoke, though his tone now carried a touch of self-importance. Yu Yi's standing in the hidden Yu family was scarcely inferior to that of the current head, Yu Xiaochen, and he was puffing himself up so as not to seem too far beneath Aunt Qing.

One had to understand that a Heaven Rank elder of the hidden Yu family was really not much inferior to an ordinary elder of an ancient sect.

Aunt Qing frowned. Her position as elder was in fact much the same as Yu Yi's: Yu Yi attended specifically on Old Master Yu, while Xiao Qing attended on Bingtang. Their standing was very similar, though Aunt Qing had never made a point of flaunting it.

But since Yu Yi had put it that way, Aunt Qing felt inclined to teach him a lesson. She smiled faintly and said, "It seems our positions really are much the same. I am Xiao Qing, and I am nothing but a maid in attendance on our Ice Palace Mistress. That I muddled my way to the rank of elder is only because I raised the Ice Palace Mistress single-handedly from childhood—I got the post entirely through connections."

Aunt Qing's words sounded like self-deprecation, but to Yu Yi's ears they struck like a thunderclap, and his face flushed crimson at once! He had said what he said earlier to save face and keep from appearing too weak before Aunt Qing, but the consequence he had never anticipated was that he had only brought humiliation upon himself!

Aunt Qing's standing in the Ice Palace was second only to the Mistress herself, roughly equal to his own place in the Yu family. Yet Aunt Qing had been courteous throughout, while he had done nothing but put on airs—and now he truly wished the ground would swallow him.

"Senior, your coming here is..." Yu Yi, afraid of losing more face, hastily changed the subject.

"Our vice-palace mistress, Feng Xiaoxiao, is Mr. Wei Zhao's girlfriend. When she heard Mr. Wei Zhao had been injured, she sent me to see whether any clown was making trouble!" Aunt Qing spoke the plain truth. "Elder Yu Yi, have you seen any?"

"Elder Qing, just call me Yu Yi. Before you, what kind of elder am I!" Yu Yi said, his old face reddening. "I did see a few clowns..."

Yu Yi held nothing back from Xiao Qing. He recounted everything he had seen—the Zhao family coming to make trouble and the Dark Night Palace coming to make trouble—including that the first time he himself had stepped in to resolve it, and the second time Tian Canbian, the young sect master of the Mystic Elixir Sect, had stepped in to resolve it.

"Tian Canbian came too?" Aunt Qing was startled at Yu Yi's words. She naturally saw nothing wrong with Yu Yi taking action; seeing that Yu Bing cultivated in the Ice Palace, she had assumed the hidden Yu family and Wei Zhao were on excellent terms, and she had not imagined the complications involved. Her only suspicion was about Tian Canbian's purpose.

"Indeed. Young Sect Master Tian said it was to preserve the fairness and impartiality of the Mystic Elixir Sect's trial!" Yu Yi said.

"Fairness and impartiality? When has the Mystic Elixir Sect ever been fair and impartial? We should count ourselves lucky if they do not bully others," Aunt Qing snorted coldly, plainly harboring no small criticism of the Mystic Elixir Sect.

Yu Yi did not dare say anything. Matters of the ancient stratum were not for a mere elder of a hidden family to comment on, so he could only pretend he had not heard.

"Never mind, let us drop that subject. Apart from this, did you see anything else?" Aunt Qing waved her hand and pressed on, clearly unwilling to dwell on the matter of the Mystic Elixir Sect.

"After that, Zhao Qitan came, but the people in Wei Zhao's villa did not drive him out—they let him in..." Yu Yi told Aunt Qing truthfully.

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