"I'll go!" Jing Taiyang stepped forward without a moment's hesitation. To his mind this was beyond question a golden opportunity to make his name. If he could step up and recruit Bing Wushuang and Xue Jianming on behalf of the Center, the credit would be nothing to sneeze at; even if he could not stand on equal footing with Brother Dafeng and the rest, at least he would rank a cut above the other Foundation Establishment experts present, and might even land himself a captain's post. Such a chance would not come twice!

"Good. Then you go," Dr. Glasses said, nodding at once. Of everyone in the group, Jing Taiyang was the one he trusted most; with any of the other Foundation Establishment experts he would have worried about some flaw giving them away, so Jing Taiyang volunteering suited him perfectly.

"Yes, sir! I swear I shall not fail my mission!" Jing Taiyang nodded emphatically.

Dr. Glasses drew him aside alone and gave him a meticulous briefing, and only then sent him forth. Jing Taiyang, brimming with ambition, set off straightaway for the island that belonged to the Snow Sword Sect.

Jing Taiyang had just rowed his little boat to shore when the Snow Sword Sect disciples barred his way head-on, sizing him up from head to toe. "Which sect are you a disciple of? Don't you know this is Snow Sword Sect territory? What makes you think you can come barging in as you please?"

"Ah, Brother, this one is Jing Taiyang of the Thousand Blades Sect. I heard my friend Xue Jianming has run into a bit of trouble, so I've come to look in on him. I'd be much obliged if you'd do me the courtesy," Jing Taiyang answered, calm and unhurried.

"Jing Taiyang of the Thousand Blades Sect? You're a friend of Xue Jianming's?" The disciple blinked in surprise at that.

"Indeed. Brother here surely knows that our two sects both belong to the Mid-Island Alliance and have always enjoyed cordial relations. It was by chance that I came to know Xue Jianming, and we took to each other at once. Now that I hear he has come to grief, by feeling and by reason alike I ought to come and see him, if only to show a little concern," Jing Taiyang said, a note of lament in his voice.

"I see. To think someone would still be willing to visit Xue Jianming at a time like this—you must be a man of some heart after all." The Snow Sword Sect disciple shook his head. Though Xue Jianming still had a deputy sect master for a father to fall back on, so that for the moment no one dared to kick a man when he was down to his face, such was the fickleness of the world: the very fellow disciples who once fawned and wagged their tails at him had long since kept their distance. This was the first time anyone had come to visit him—and a member of another Taigu sect, no less.

"Not at all, not at all. I'm only doing what little I can," Jing Taiyang said with a sigh.

"Very well. Since that's how it is, I'll take you over. You're not a disciple of our Snow Sword Sect, so I can't have you wandering about at will. Come with me," the disciple said with a nod.

"Right, right. Much obliged to you, Brother," Jing Taiyang said, cupping his hands again and again.

Led by the Snow Sword Sect disciple, Jing Taiyang soon arrived before a small wooden hut. It looked a secluded spot indeed, with no one stirring in any direction. After a word of thanks he at once stepped inside.

"Who goes there?!" Two voices rang out at once inside the hut, one Bing Wushuang's and one Xue Jianming's. Crippled as they now were, the two were at their most sensitive, and the sight of a stranger entering threw them instantly on their guard.

"Don't be alarmed, you two. I bear you no ill will whatsoever—strictly speaking, I ought rather to count as your lucky star," Jing Taiyang said with a knowing smile, affecting an air of profundity.

"Lucky star? What sort of lucky star are you?" Xue Jianming frowned and looked him up and down.

Bing Wushuang, however, betrayed nothing, still watching him as he said, "Who exactly are you? State your business."

"This must be Bing Wushuang, I take it? Every inch the youngest Golden Core expert of the Snow Sword Sect—a bearing truly out of the common run. I am full of admiration." Jing Taiyang nodded, then announced himself: "This one is Jing Taiyang of the Thousand Blades Sect."

"The Thousand Blades Sect? Jing Taiyang?" Bing Wushuang and Xue Jianming exchanged a baffled glance. The Thousand Blades Sect was no petty little sect, but Jing Taiyang was a small fry through and through, a man of no renown at all—they had never so much as heard of him.

"I hear the two of you have been crippled and cast aside by the Snow Sword Sect's higher-ups as well. That is why I made a point of coming to see you," Jing Taiyang said, looking at them both.

"Hmph! Come to gloat, have you? Who says I've been cast aside? Don't you know my father is the deputy sect master of the Snow Sword Sect? What kind of nothing are you, to dare come and mock me?" Xue Jianming was hopping mad at the words.

Even Bing Wushuang's expression turned ugly at that. He gave a cold snort. "If you've had your look, then get out."

"Don't be in such a hurry, you two. I've come this time on a mission. Besides looking in on you, I'm here to point out a way forward." Jing Taiyang suddenly smiled.

"What way forward?" Bing Wushuang and Xue Jianming were taken aback in unison.

"The lot of a cripple must be a bitter one, I imagine. What if I told you I have a way to restore both your strength?" Jing Taiyang said, arching an eyebrow.

"What? What did you say? You have a way to restore our strength?" At this not only did Xue Jianming leap to his feet in shock, but even Bing Wushuang was visibly shaken.

These past days the two had shut themselves up in the little hut and seen no one. To fall from once-insufferable prodigies to men whom nobody asked after—that plunge from heaven to hell in a single step was enough to break a person. If there was a chance to regain their strength, the two of them would stop at nothing to seize it. Jing Taiyang's words were, to them, nothing short of the last straw a drowning man clutches at.

"Of course. Otherwise why would I have gone to the trouble of coming all this way?" Jing Taiyang chuckled.

"Do you have two fifth-grade Great Return Pills on you, then?" Xue Jianming rushed over and asked, unable to contain himself. In his understanding, only a fifth-grade Great Return Pill could heal the injuries he and Bing Wushuang had suffered—but even his deputy sect master father could not get his hands on such a thing. This Jing Taiyang was nothing but a nobody from the Thousand Blades Sect; how could he have anything so precious?

Bing Wushuang too wore a look of utter shock. Two fifth-grade Great Return Pills—this Jing Taiyang had a mighty big mouth on him!

"And it's not merely a matter of restoring your strength. I even have a way to make both your powers surge by no small margin on top of what they were. What do you two say to that?" Jing Taiyang went on, startling them further with every word.

"Are you in earnest?" Xue Jianming was nearly struck dumb. To obtain fifth-grade Great Return Pills and recover their strength would already be a blessing beyond all hope; now the man claimed he could make their powers surge as well—it sounded frankly incredible.

Bing Wushuang, however, had calmed down by now, and watched Jing Taiyang with a blank face. "What are the terms?"

"Bing Wushuang is Bing Wushuang—a clever man, as expected!" Jing Taiyang praised him, and then, under the gaze of them both, went on slowly: "The terms are simple. Join us." (To be continued~^~)