Chapter 1017 — Old Jiao's Explanation — Though Peak Late Yellow Stage Strength Was Already a Formidable Existence in the Secular World, It Was Practically the Rarest of the Rare!

But this was of no use to Wei Zhao now!

Wei Zhao's enemies now all came from the great families, not from the secular world; they were Mystic-stage experts, and neither Uncle Qing nor General Weiwu could be of any help!

Never mind. It seemed that clever shortcuts were still not to be relied upon; everything came down to one's own strength in the end!

Seeing Wei Zhao shake his head and sigh, Uncle Qing knew he must be bitterly disappointed. He said nothing more, only sighed and remarked, "Xiaoyi, then I will go on to Mr. Gu's company. Will you drive yourself to school?"

"Yes, I will go myself," Wei Zhao said. "I will take a shower first. You go on ahead, Uncle Qing."

"All right." Seeing that Wei Zhao had recovered his strength, Uncle Qing was no longer worried. He turned and left the villa.

Meanwhile Wei Zhao returned to his room and, scarcely able to wait, asked Old Jiao in the jade pendant space, "Old Jiao, is my energy not all-powerful? Why can it not make Uncle Qing an Earth-stage expert? Why can it not raise General Weiwu's strength?"

Earlier Wei Zhao had been in a hurry to recover his strength and had not had time to consult Old Jiao; now that he had failed, he hastened to ask Old Jiao the reason.

"I am not too clear on it myself." Old Jiao's voice sounded at Wei Zhao's ear...

"Is that so..." Wei Zhao smiled bitterly. Even Old Jiao did not know the reason?

"I had not finished speaking." Old Jiao was plainly displeased at being interrupted. "Still, I have a rough conjecture..."

"Please tell me, Old Jiao!" Wei Zhao asked at once.

"Your situation I do not understand clearly, but I have seen something similar," Old Jiao said slowly. "Among certain martial sects there are secret arts for imparting cultivation. They may also be called inheritance, or empowerment."

"Oh? Inheritance? Empowerment?" Wei Zhao was taken aback.

"Exactly! An elder, before his death, uses a secret art to pass on the cultivation of his whole life directly to his disciple, so that the disciple's strength rises swiftly!" Jiao Yazi said. "But after the inheritance, the disciple is always one rank below the master; only after cultivating hard on his own in the days to come can he reach the master's height!"

"Oh? One rank below..." Wei Zhao nodded thoughtfully.

"Indeed. If all strength could be passed on, their sects would grow boundless, and experts would come forth without end! How would the other sects survive then?" Jiao Yazi said. "Yet even so, such sects are still very great."

"Hm... Old Jiao, do you mean that what I did also counts as a kind of inheritance?" Wei Zhao nodded and asked.

"More or less, I should say!" Jiao Yazi said. "Only, after you pass it on, you can cultivate swiftly in the jade pendant space and recover your strength, while others cannot!"

"That is indeed the case." This cheat of Wei Zhao's was truly a little heaven-defying.

"So, you are now a Mystic-stage expert; by the theory of inheritance, you can at most pass on enough to create an expert one rank lower, and peak late Yellow stage is the limit!" Jiao Yazi said.

"Ah, if only I had talked with you earlier, I would have saved myself the wasted effort of that experiment." Hearing Jiao Yazi's conjecture, Wei Zhao knew it was probably not far from the truth.

"If you had not tried it, how would you know it would not work? It was only after I saw your experiment fail that I arrived at this conclusion," Jiao Yazi said with a chuckle. "Otherwise I too would have thought you could produce an Earth-stage expert!"

"Yes... but if only Uncle Qing could enter the jade pendant space..." Wei Zhao sighed to himself.

Yet no sooner had the thought come than Wei Zhao rejected it. Not to mention that only he himself could enter the jade pendant space, even if Uncle Qing could enter, Wei Zhao would not let him; after all, this was his greatest trump card. Though Wei Zhao felt Uncle Qing was trustworthy, such a secret was better kept to oneself; every extra person was one more danger.

During the earlier experiment Wei Zhao had worked up a reeking sweat. Now, after talking with Old Jiao, he abandoned altogether the notion of forging an Earth-stage expert, for it was unrealistic unless he himself possessed Heaven-stage strength. But if he did possess Heaven-stage strength, what use would it be to mass-produce Earth-stage experts?

Wei Zhao took off his clothes, turned on his phone, and went into the bathroom to shower.

Earlier, fearing to be disturbed, Wei Zhao had turned his phone off, and he did not know whether anyone had tried to reach him...

Donghai. The home of Divine Doctor Kang.

At the gate of Divine Doctor Kang's villa stood the two brothers Xiao Ji and Xiao Ben, carrying costly gifts in their hands; they had come to visit Divine Doctor Kang.

Having received his servant's report, Divine Doctor Kang was in no hurry to let Xiao Ji and Xiao Ben in. Instead he leisurely summoned Kang Guifeng, Kang Cuipu, Kang Zhaolong, and Kang Zhaoming together and held a family meeting.

"The Xiao family's visit this time is nine parts out of ten for Zhaolong's marriage. Guifeng, what do you think?" Divine Doctor Kang looked at his eldest son and asked mildly.

"Father, in my view the Xiao family is like a beaten dog. Uncle Pi has become a vegetable, and the Xiao family still owes Wei Zhao a mountain of debt. As things stand, the ruin of the Xiao family is at hand; our Kang family should keep our distance from them!" Kang Guifeng gave his opinion. In his eyes, the Xiao family had lost all value.

Divine Doctor Kang nodded. In truth, this was also why he had not let the Xiao brothers through the door. The Xiao family's recent misfortunes had not escaped his eyes; the family was finished. How could it still bear the slightest semblance of a great house? It could not even compare with the wealthy clans of the provinces!

To put it kindly, the Xiao family was still a great house, but anyone could see that at the coming Assembly of the Great Families, the Xiao family would certainly be struck from the rolls. A fallen clan that could not even match an ordinary wealthy house, let alone remain a great family!

"Guifeng is right. The Xiao family's plight is pitiable!" Divine Doctor Kang said. "We had hoped to use the Xiao family to step through the gates of the great houses, but now they can scarcely protect themselves. Not only can they offer our Kang family no benefit, if we were to ally with them now, their debts and their messes would likely fall upon us! Cuipu, what do you think?"

Divine Doctor Kang turned his gaze to his second son.

"As the saying goes, a starved camel is still bigger than a horse. I say the Xiao family is not entirely without merit. If we merged with them, there should be no problem in their keeping their seat among the great families, and then our Kang family would still be the leading party..." Kang Cuipu had not a drop of learning in him, and the ideas he offered were a jumble.