But when he saw Wei Zhao finally open his eyes, Uncle Qing hastened to say, "Xiaoyi, you have poured so much of your own energy into me, what about your own strength..."

"I am fine." Wei Zhao shook his head. "I do not know what happened. It got stuck at the peak of the late Yellow stage, and I could not channel any more power into you."

"Ha, the peak of the late Yellow stage! That is the same as my external strength before I was hurt. I am content with this already. Even if I never advance again, it does not matter. At least I can cultivate on my own now. This is far beyond anything I had hoped for!" Uncle Qing said with grateful sincerity. "Xiaoyi, thank you, truly!"

"But... you were plainly an Earth-stage master once. I wanted to raise your strength back to the Earth stage. The peak of the late Yellow stage is no stopping place!" Wei Zhao waved his hand, answering Uncle Qing's thanks with only a faint smile, his voice still full of doubt.

"Ah!" Hearing Wei Zhao's words, Uncle Qing was all but stunned!

Was Wei Zhao daring to dream too big? An Earth-stage master? He meant to restore him into an Earth-stage master? It was something Uncle Qing had never even dared to imagine, yet Wei Zhao spoke of it with such madness!

"What is wrong?" Uncle Qing's cry pulled Wei Zhao back to reality.

"Nothing..." Uncle Qing shook his head. "Xiaoyi, you truly dare to dream. An Earth-stage master... that is not something you can simply make. If you gave me all your true qi, what would become of you? Even if you gave me everything, you are yourself only at the mid-Mystic stage. How could you possibly create an Earth-stage master?"

"My strength..." Wei Zhao gave a wry smile. His own case was peculiar, and truly hard to explain to Uncle Qing! The energy inside his body was not his own at all, but came from the jade pendant space! The energy there was inexhaustible, enough for one Earth-stage master, let alone ten!

Only Wei Zhao could not understand why, just as he was transmitting energy to Uncle Qing, it had suddenly jammed at the peak of the late Yellow stage and stopped dead!

"Xiaoyi, for me to become a master at the peak of the late Yellow stage is already no easy thing. I am content!" Seeing Wei Zhao trouble himself over this, Uncle Qing felt only more grateful. "After all, I always majored in the internal arts, and I can keep cultivating on my own! I broke through to the Earth stage once before, and there is no reason I cannot do it again!"

Wei Zhao sighed. What Uncle Qing said was true enough, yet Wei Zhao was now desperate to have an Earth-stage master beside him as a close guard! The stalling of Uncle Qing's strength left him unwilling to accept it! After all, power that had seemed within his grasp had halted for no reason at all, so how could Wei Zhao not be disappointed?

Especially when every condition was in place, when Wei Zhao had energy to spare, almighty energy at that, which he could pour into Uncle Qing in an endless stream, why had it stuck?

It was a question Wei Zhao could turn over a hundred times and still not solve!

"Uncle Qing, in that instant when the true qi stalled, what did you feel?" Wei Zhao asked after a moment's hesitation.

"Hmm..." Uncle Qing pondered for a moment, then looked up and said to Wei Zhao, "I felt nothing special, only that the true qi coming from you suddenly stopped..."

"This..." Wei Zhao smiled bitterly. What Uncle Qing said amounted to saying nothing at all, and Wei Zhao still could not tell where the trouble lay...

"Xiaoyi, never mind about me, what about your own strength..." Uncle Qing looked at Wei Zhao with some worry. "You now... seem to have dropped a level?"

"Hmm... I am fine... unless..." Wei Zhao started suddenly. Could it be because there was no energy left in his own body? That the energy of the pendant alone was not enough to push Uncle Qing further, and it had to be aided by the energy within his own body?

Wild as the guess seemed, it was the only possibility Wei Zhao could think of! Apart from that, he could imagine no other fault, and now it felt as if everything were ready except for one last east wind, so the moment the thought came to him he hastened to act on it!

"Uncle Qing, I will go rest a while and recover my strength. You adjust yourself for now." Wei Zhao wasted no words. He had to restore his power as quickly as possible, for then he would know whether it was the lack of energy in his own body that had kept Uncle Qing from breaking through further!

"Very well, Xiaoyi, go and rest at once!" Uncle Qing nodded hastily.

Wei Zhao said no more, turned out of Uncle Qing's room, and strode quickly toward his own room!

The young lady and Xiaoshu had long since gone to sleep. Every night Wei Zhao went to heal Uncle Qing, so there was nothing strange in it for them anymore.

Once back in his room, Wei Zhao swiftly entered the jade pendant space, seizing every moment to restore the energy he had lost! Outside the sky was already light, and Wei Zhao had to make use of every minute and second to cultivate!

In the blink of an eye the sun stood high overhead, and it was already noon!

Uncle Qing had already driven Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu to school. Though they found it odd that Wei Zhao had not gotten up, Uncle Qing told them he had spent a great deal of true qi healing his injuries and had to rest.

So Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu asked no more after hearing that. After Uncle Qing had taken them to school, he hurried back home. He could not leave Wei Zhao alone in the house with an easy mind, and though Mighty General stood guard, Uncle Qing had to watch beside him to feel at ease.

With a click, the door of Wei Zhao's room swung open, and Wei Zhao walked out!

On the sofa, Uncle Qing, who had been waiting anxiously, heard the sound and jumped to his feet. Seeing Wei Zhao come out, he asked hurriedly, "Xiaoyi, how did it go?"

"I am fine, my strength is all recovered!" At this Wei Zhao could not help feeling a touch of regret. After this recovery, he still remained at the mid-Mystic stage. It seemed not every loss of energy could bring an advance in strength!

His earlier advances had come because he had cultivated for a time and the energy in his body had built up nearly enough to touch the barrier of the next level, so that after the energy was spent, drawing it in again in one surge had smashed through the barrier and made a breakthrough in an instant!

But now, Wei Zhao had broken through to the mid-Mystic stage only a few days before, and these past days he had kept spending true qi to heal Uncle Qing, having to restore what he lost each day with no time to cultivate for himself, so his failure to break through this time was only to be expected!

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