"Many thanks for your understanding, Brother Zhao!" Wei Zhao gave him an ambiguous, "you know what I mean" sort of smile, and raised his wine pot as well, taking a deep draught.

"Good! Bold and hearty!" Zhao Qitan and Zhao Qijiu each drank too, then set their wine pots down.

Though the leg and the rack of lamb would take a long while to roast, none of the three was in any hurry.

They had not come here to eat: Zhao Qitan had come to cultivate connections, and Wei Zhao to fish for information.

"You two came very early — arriving to take part in the trial so soon?" Wei Zhao deliberately steered the conversation toward the Ice Palace's trial, hoping to learn a thing or two about cultivation through Zhao Qitan and Zhao Qijiu.

"Haha, and has not Brother Ling come even earlier?" Zhao Qitan laughed. "I am afraid Brother Ling must be the first to have arrived here."

"That's right..." Wei Zhao shrugged and said, with some helplessness, "There was nothing to be done — my master just happened to enter secluded cultivation at this very time, and there was no point in my idling about the sect, so I came here a step ahead of everyone."

Wei Zhao laid out his own circumstances plainly, so that even if there were things he did not understand later on, he could excuse himself by saying that his master was in seclusion and he knew no details — and thus Zhao Qitan would suspect nothing.

"Oh? What a coincidence — my grandfather is in seclusion as well, so there was no use in our staying at home either, and we came here a step ahead too." Zhao Qitan looked at Wei Zhao in some surprise. "Brother Ling, the two of us truly were fated to meet!"

"Oh? You as well? That is a coincidence." Wei Zhao laughed inwardly; he had not expected to hit the mark by pure luck. Splendid — now Zhao Qitan would suspect nothing at all.

"Indeed. As the saying goes, those who are fated to meet will come together from a thousand miles apart!" Zhao Qitan smiled. "I wonder what strength Brother Ling possesses — might you disclose it? This trial is restricted to Profound Rank experts. Which level of the Profound Rank are you, Brother Ling?"

Fearing that Wei Zhao might hold something back, Zhao Qitan deliberately spelled out the rules of the trial: everyone here was a Profound Rank expert, so there was nothing for him to worry about. He said this, too, out of fear that Wei Zhao knew nothing at all — that the man might be even greener than himself.

"I am hardly worthy of mention; I have only the strength of the peak of the mid Profound Rank." Wei Zhao smiled wryly. "My sect is somewhat thin in the middle ranks — those of my generation are all Earth Rank experts, while those who entered after me are only Yellow Rank. By any reckoning, I am the only one who meets the conditions of this trial."

Wei Zhao let the words slip out casually. Only his strength was true; all the rest was invented. And what he said fit the actual situation well enough.

"So that is how it is. No wonder Brother Ling came alone — so that was the reason..." Zhao Qitan said this aloud, but inwardly he was quietly startled. It seemed Brother Ling's sect was no small one, if its younger generation were already Earth Rank experts; such a sect was surely out of the ordinary. At the thought, he too began to toy with the idea of befriending Wei Zhao.

And Wei Zhao had wanted precisely for Zhao Qitan to misunderstand — for without a misunderstanding, how could the man open his heart to him?

"Quite so. And what of you two, Brother Zhao — what is your strength?" Though he already knew, Wei Zhao asked again without betraying a thing.

"I am at the peak of the mid Profound Rank, the same as Brother Ling; little Jiu is late Profound Rank, a touch above us." When Zhao Qitan spoke of Zhao Qijiu, he could not help but show a trace of pride. This was his hidden card. In the grand trial, qualification in the Profound Rank capped out where it stood, and Zhao Qijiu was a late Profound Rank expert — which made their advantage plain, and their chances of victory far greater than those of the early Profound Rank contestants.

"Then you two must be quite confident of winning the trial?" Wei Zhao flattered them without a flicker of expression, fishing for more.

"Hard to say. There may well be experts at the peak of the late Profound Rank among them." Zhao Qitan smiled faintly. "Besides, no one knows the format of this trial — not until the people of the Ice Palace arrive..."

"True enough. But even if you two are not the very best, you are sure to rank near the front, so there is no need to worry." Wei Zhao kept up the flattery. "By the way, have you ever been to the Ice Palace before?"

"Who could have been there? It seems Brother Ling truly knows nothing at all. Naturally — elders and masters never speak of such things before the hour comes." Zhao Qitan himself was in just that position, yet he was confident he knew a little more than Wei Zhao. "Who has ever been to the Ice Palace? All of us are here for the first time!"

"Then where is the Ice Palace? Is it somewhere near here?" Wei Zhao asked.

"Indeed, it is right over there!" Zhao Qitan pointed in a direction. "I know the rough location, but I have never been there either. To reach the Ice Palace, one must first pass the trial — how could an ordinary person go there just as he pleased? The Ice Palace is unlike our hidden families and ordinary sects: they are an ancient sect!"

An ancient sect after all! Wei Zhao nodded inwardly. Yet he hesitated over the direction Zhao Qitan had indicated — was that not the direction of the Fire Spirit Sacred Fruit? Was that not the land of utter cold, the far north? How could an Ice Palace have appeared there?

By Zhang Liju's account, this place ought to have been a boundless emptiness without a soul; otherwise, had any sect been here, Zhang Liju would surely have mentioned it... Of course! How many years had passed since then? Times change, and it was hardly strange that a sect should have arisen here.

But that made Wei Zhao's search for the Fire Spirit Sacred Fruit far more troublesome. If the Ice Palace stood in that direction, then the Fire Spirit Sacred Fruit had likely long since been discovered by its people, and he could not hope to pick it without their leave.

At the thought, Wei Zhao could not help frowning. He had supposed his greatest difficulty would be finding the exact location of the Fire Spirit Sacred Fruit amid all that desolation — but now it seemed the Ice Palace itself had become his greatest obstacle.

"Who knows whether I can win this time..." Wei Zhao said with some worry. This was a true reflection of his feelings, and he had no need to feign it.

So in Zhao Qitan's eyes Wei Zhao was genuinely anxious, and he made a show of comforting him: "Who among those who come here does not wish to win? But after all, the Ice Palace takes only a limited number of outer disciples, and the right to exchange for heavenly treasures is not so easily obtained either, so... I wonder, Brother Ling, have you thought of forming a team?"

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