"I let go of that long ago. If I hadn't been ruthless enough to castrate myself straight off back then, Patriarch Mad Bull would never have taken a liking to me, made me his nominal disciple and taught me the Great Bee-Absorbing Art, so that my cultivation sprouted wings." Zhang Naipao shook his head with indifference. "Brother Liang, as the saying goes, where there is gain there must be loss. My aptitude may be tolerable, but if I hadn't castrated myself without hesitation, I could never have stood out among these disciples!"

"Oh? Paozi, your aptitude is tolerable?" Zhong Yongliang was rather surprised. Cultivation demanded talent — that much he knew well enough — but he had never imagined that Zhang Naipao's aptitude was actually rather good.

"That's right. Cultivating demonic arts also requires talent. Still, according to Patriarch Mad Bull, the more wicked and venomous a man's nature, the easier it is for him to practice devil arts. With this kind of cultivation that absorbs bee venom, an upright man simply cannot practice it!" Zhang Naipao said.

"Ha ha, when it comes to being wicked and nasty, we three brothers are second to none!" Zhong Yongliang cackled. "By that reasoning, I'm rather suited to cultivating this art too — only, having a whole swarm of venomous bees sting me, the very thought of it frightens me. Forget it! By the way, Paozi, what is your strength now?"

"My strength has already reached the peak of the late Yellow rank. I'll break through before many days pass. And when I break through to the Mystic rank, that will be the day Wei Zhao dies!" Zhang Naipao said with great confidence. "By then I'll come down the mountain and settle a score for you, Brother Liang!"

"You mustn't!" Zhong Yongliang was startled — on the one hand astonished that Zhang Naipao's strength had risen so swiftly, on the other unwilling to let him go down the mountain to his death.

"Mustn't? What do you mean?" Zhang Naipao could not help but be taken aback.

"Paozi, from what I know, Wei Zhao is at least at the early Mystic rank now!" Zhong Yongliang said. "What's more, even an external-style expert of the mid Mystic rank is no match for Wei Zhao — he has already been crippled by him. You must not be careless in the least!"

"What? How did Wei Zhao become that formidable? When I left, he was only at the mid-to-late Yellow rank!" Zhang Naipao was instantly dumbfounded. He had never expected that Wei Zhao had improved during this time as well!

You must understand: the orthodox cultivation methods absorb the spiritual energy of the natural world, and practicing them is incomparably slow! Even in places rich in spiritual energy, their speed cannot match that of the devil sects, let alone in a city!

Just how had this Wei Zhao been cultivating?

"Yes!" Zhong Yongliang nodded gravely. "That's right, Paozi. Wei Zhao truly is that formidable. An internal-style expert of the early Mystic rank, he can easily wound severely; we absolutely must not be careless! Until we hold absolute power over an enemy, we must never make an enemy of him! Only when we have absolute strength, enough to kill Wei Zhao in a single blow, may we strike! From what I know, that brat Wei Zhao can not only cripple experts of his own rank, he can even fight above his level against stronger opponents. He is truly a tough one to deal with!"

"That formidable?" Hearing Zhong Yongliang's words, Zhang Naipao's expression immediately turned grave. He knew very well what sort of man Zhong Yongliang was — he would never gratuitously boost others' morale while diminishing his own. If he said such a thing now, there had to be good reason for it, and so Zhang Naipao could not but be cautious, and then doubly cautious. So he said: "In that case, unless I reach the late Mystic rank or even the Earth rank, I could never fully defeat Wei Zhao. It seems I will not be able to leave the mountain for some time yet!"

"Yes. Without certainty of victory, all we can do now is swallow it and endure!" Zhong Yongliang sighed. "Paozi, to be honest with you, your brother is in a truly wretched state right now — I have many enemies, yet I too must swallow it and endure!"

"Oh? What other enemies?" Zhang Naipao was rather startled by Zhong Yongliang's words. "Brother Liang, what has happened to you?"

"Your Brother Liang had the kidney cut out of him!" Zhong Yongliang sighed. "I am a one-kidney man now!"

"What? Brother Liang, someone cut out your kidney? Who did it?" Zhang Naipao was shocked out of his wits and stared at Zhong Yongliang in astonishment.

"If I told you now, you wouldn't know the man anyway. Never mind — wait until you come down the mountain, and we'll settle all these scores together! You need only know that your Brother Liang is in a most miserable plight, and that you, Paozi, must work hard!" In painting himself as so wretched, Zhong Yongliang also meant to fire Zhang Naipao's fighting spirit, so that he would train all the harder in the future.

"Rest easy, Brother Liang! I understand. I will work even harder and advance to the Earth rank as soon as I can!" Zhang Naipao vowed.

"Good. Seeing you today has given Xiaofu and me confidence as well — we know the day of our revenge is not far off!" Zhong Yongliang nodded. "By the way, while you are here, is there anything you need?"

"Nothing. There is nothing lacking here. Every day I only cultivate; there is nothing else for me to do." Zhang Naipao shook his head.

"All right then. Xiaofu and I are relieved to have seen you, so we will not disturb your cultivation. We will head down the mountain first and come see you another day!" Zhong Yongliang said.

"Fine. I will see you down the mountain!" Zhang Naipao nodded.

"Ah, your sect doesn't even have a car, and we have to walk all the way back. It will wear me to death!" Zhong Yongliang sighed. With one kidney cut out, his stamina was plainly not what it had once been.

"Brother Liang, I'll carry you," Zhang Naipao said with indifference.

"You'll carry me?" Zhong Yongliang was stunned.

Zhang Naipao smiled faintly, tucked Zhong Yongliang and Gao Xiaofu one under each arm, and went flying down the mountain!

Zhong Yongliang and Gao Xiaofu were startled. They had never imagined Zhang Naipao was already so formidable — carrying a man under each arm, and still able to run that fast!

And Zhang Naipao was only a late Yellow rank expert. One could well imagine, then, that when Wei Zhao had dealt with the three of them before, he had already been holding back; otherwise, the three would long since have been beaten to death by Wei Zhao!

These past two days Yu Ren had been thoroughly depressed, wearing a gloomy face the whole day long, yet he dared not tell his wife and daughter of his misfortune. How he wished that what he had been through were only a dream! But he knew it was no dream: yesterday Xiao Luozi had come to the grocery store in the market to find Yu Ren, and told him that today would be the final deadline for Yu Ren to repay his money!

"Ah!" Yu Ren sighed, gazing at his own shabby, battered furniture, utterly at a loss as to what to do.

If dying could end it all, he would rather die and be done with it! But he knew he could not die! If he died, Xiao Luozi would not spare his wife and daughter either, and their fate then would be even more wretched than it was now!

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