What troubled him most now was how to get the intelligence from this place into Wei Zhao's hands. Otherwise, if Xue Jianming's strength truly surged and he then bided his time to strike during the Primal Trials, even Wei Zhao might suffer a heavy loss from a blow he never saw coming.

But unless something unusual happened, he could only move about alongside Dr. Eyeglasses. And even if he could act freely, slipping past the eyes and ears of those Primal Alliance disciples to make contact with Wei Zhao would be no easy matter. After all, there was not even a cell signal in this place, so he could not so much as make a phone call. He was at a complete loss.

Fortunately, Brother Dafeng did not have to rack his brains for long—not because he found a chance to go out alone, but because Wei Zhao came to him.

The Primal Trials were about to begin, and there was no telling how long they would last. Naturally, Wei Zhao had to find a way to brief him. Though Brother Dafeng could not stray far from Dr. Eyeglasses, he still had a little room to move about on his own—say, to answer a call of nature.

Brother Dafeng of course had no idea Wei Zhao would come looking for him of his own accord. He really was relieving himself, and then all at once a voice came from above his head: "Dafeng, you're keeping well, I see."

"Good heavens!" Brother Dafeng nearly jumped out of his skin. He looked up but saw nothing at all, and could not help growing suspicious: "No way. Have I been cooped up in this godforsaken place so long that I'm hearing things? Am I going mad?"

"Shall I take you to a madhouse for a look, then?" Wei Zhao said with a laugh, and as he spoke, his primordial spirit coalesced into a solid form before Brother Dafeng's eyes.

"Boss? Is it really you?" Brother Dafeng was both startled and delighted. Then he came to his senses and quickly lowered his voice, complaining, "Boss, you come and go like a ghost—you scared the shit right out of me!"

"..." Wei Zhao was momentarily speechless. Seeing the man about to come closer without even pulling up his pants, he hastily leaped a big step back, pinched his nose, and said with a frown, "Do you mind wiping your ass first?"

"Oh, oh, oh." Brother Dafeng grabbed a few leaves from beside him and gave himself a token wipe, then pulled up his pants with utter nonchalance—smooth and brisk as could be.

Wei Zhao's eyelids twitched at the sight. It was only because he had no particular aversion to filth that he did not collapse on the spot; still, out of sheer psychological reflex, he backed away two more steps and kept a safe distance: "Let's just talk. You stay right there."

"Uh..." Brother Dafeng's expression was woeful, but the disgust was already written plainly on the other man's face. He really could not bring himself to keep sidling up, so he hastily threw away the leaves and said sheepishly, "Boss, how did you find me?"

"I knew the moment you came in. I've been watching your every move. It's just that back then I wasn't yet skilled enough at the primordial spirit state, so I didn't dare come down and meet you rashly," Wei Zhao said with a smile.

"Primordial spirit state?" Brother Dafeng's face was full of awe at things he did not understand. Wei Zhao had never gone into detail with him about such matters, and at his level he naturally could not grasp them—though he had no need to. At those words he breathed a sigh of relief: "Good that you know. I was afraid you'd be kept in the dark, Boss, and get played for a fool by these people. Looks like my worries were all for nothing. The boss is the boss!"

"It's thanks to you keeping watch. Otherwise I doubt I'd even have noticed them slipping in, and the consequences would have been unthinkable," Wei Zhao said with feeling. Over this time, Brother Dafeng, the inside man, had seemed to play no great role, yet his very presence was invaluable. Even though Wei Zhao had already turned Bing Wushuang and a number of other capable Primal Alliance hands to his side, Brother Dafeng's position remained unique.

"Heh heh, no matter what, as long as I can be of help to you, Boss, that's enough." Brother Dafeng laughed carelessly, then said, "By the way, lately Dr. Eyeglasses and the others have been working on some kind of key cultivation program. I wonder if you've noticed, Boss?"

"A key cultivation program?" Wei Zhao was taken aback. Lately he had been busy drilling everyone for the great trial contest and had little time to come out and monitor the goings-on here, so he truly knew nothing of it. He said at once, "Tell me in detail."

"I don't know the specifics of the plan either. Dr. Eyeglasses proposed it directly to the higher-ups—I had no hand in it. I only overheard him mention a few things in passing, but one thing is certain: the target of this key cultivation is Xue Jianming," Brother Dafeng said, laying it all out.

"Xue Jianming? Why him? Shouldn't Bing Wushuang be the one held in higher regard?" Wei Zhao frowned. Since it was a key cultivation program, it meant the Center would surely pour vast resources into it. If only it had been Bing Wushuang—one of their own—it would have amounted to the Center working for him for nothing. Yet he had never expected them to choose Xue Jianming.

"From what Dr. Eyeglasses let slip, it's probably because they value Xue Jianming's background in the Snow Sword Sect—it'll make things easier for the Center when it makes its moves in the Primal Alliance later," Brother Dafeng said with a frown. The Center's higher-ups had never spelled these things out to him, yet through Dr. Eyeglasses's mouth they had let them slip, by design or not, with an air of trust that treated him as no outsider. Somehow it always left him feeling a little unnatural, though for the moment he could not put his finger on what was off.

"Just as I thought. The Center will never let the Primal little jianghu slip through its fingers." Wei Zhao shook his head with a laugh at the news. There was no need to even think about it—the Center would surely transplant the whole Cloud Terrace Island playbook into the Primal little jianghu. This method of expansion, with a trading company paving the way, might not be especially brilliant, but it was indeed invincible.

"Apart from that, there's been no other movement lately. The work of turning and controlling the Primal Alliance disciples has basically all stopped. To go any further, we'll have to wait for instructions from above," Brother Dafeng said.

"Mm, I understand." Wei Zhao nodded, then cautioned him: "Next I'm taking some people to the Primal Trials. You stay put and lie low. Remember, safety first. Unless I personally tell you to move, you must not act on your own, lest you arouse suspicion."

"Rest easy, Boss. I understand," Brother Dafeng agreed.

"Good. I came this time just to give you this heads-up. There's nothing else. I'll be going." With that, Wei Zhao again took on his primordial spirit form and dissolved into nothingness on the spot.