"There is," Jiao Yazi said with a definite nod.

"What other functions?" Wei Zhao was delighted; so Jiao Yazi did know after all. He asked hurriedly.

"But the specific functions, I do not know." Jiao Yazi shook his head. "This was something my grand-uncle master remade with his own hands. I have never worn it, so how would I know? Once you can open the stone door at the back, there should be detailed instructions inside."

"Should be?" Wei Zhao asked, uncertain.

"I have never been inside the stone door. How would I know?" Jiao Yazi wore a look that said, Do not ask me, I do not know either.

"All right..." Wei Zhao was a little disappointed, but only for a moment. To have gained what he had today was already more than good enough. He only hoped none of it was a dream...

By the time Wei Zhao woke, the sky was bright... it looked to be around eight or nine in the morning. He had slept a long, long while. Wei Zhao could not help stretching, and sat up in bed.

"Wait..." Wei Zhao suddenly remembered last night, that dream of his — the Jiao Yazi in the dream, and the cultivation space.

Wei Zhao instinctively felt at his body. In the dream, his clothes had all burst to shreds when he broke through the first level of the Xuanyuan Dragon-Slaying Art.

But when Wei Zhao's hand found his pajamas whole and undamaged, his heart sank at once. Could it have been only a dream? At the thought, he could not help feeling disappointed.

He had thought that at last he had broken through, that he could meet this five-year deadline and open the stone door smoothly... and yet all of it was only a dream?

"Boy, inside the jade pendant only your spirit entered the virtual cultivation space. Naturally your clothes outside would not be torn."

Suddenly a voice sounded in Wei Zhao's mind and gave him a fright. But the next moment he was overjoyed. Jiao Yazi — it was Jiao Yazi's voice.

"Elder Jiao, is that you?" Wei Zhao asked instinctively.

"Of course it is me," Jiao Yazi said. "When you speak with me, just use your thoughts. There is no need to speak aloud."

"Is that all right? Elder Jiao, can you hear me?" Wei Zhao said to Jiao Yazi in his mind.

"I can," Jiao Yazi answered flatly.

"Elder Jiao, since you can communicate with me through thought, why did you not remind me earlier to enter the cultivation space in the jade pendant?" Wei Zhao asked, somewhat puzzled.

"Before you entered the cultivation space in the jade pendant, I had no way to establish a mental connection with you." Elder Jiao gave a snort. "Only after you entered the cultivation space did your mind establish a link with it. What, did you think the jade pendant was still hanging on your body?"

"Is it not?" Wei Zhao was startled. His hand went instinctively to the pendant at his chest, but closed on empty air. The jade pendant that had hung at his chest was gone. "Where is the pendant? Elder Jiao?"

Hearing the tension in Wei Zhao's voice, Elder Jiao could not help feeling a little smug. "The jade pendant has already established a bond with you. It has merged into your body. It has completed the process of acknowledging its master, and will not easily be taken from you again. So under ordinary circumstances it hides within your body. But you can also summon it out with your will."

"Oh?" Wei Zhao was taken aback. He had not expected the jade pendant to have a master-acknowledging function as well. Following Elder Jiao's words, he summoned the pendant with his mind, willing it to reappear at his chest.

Very quickly Wei Zhao's hand found the jade pendant he had worn for nearly ten years, and he let out a breath of relief. Then he sent the pendant back into his body. This was better — no need to fear losing it.

Before, after he had obtained the jade pendant, though he had not made a show of it and the pendant did not look like much, he had still feared someone might steal it. Now at last Wei Zhao could set that worry aside.

To think that everything from last night had not been a dream — Wei Zhao's mood was extraordinarily good, and his smooth breakthrough through the first level of the Xuanyuan Dragon-Slaying Art made him happier still.

He got up, washed quickly, and left the room. He found that Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu were already awake, leaning on the sofa watching cartoons on television.

Seeing Wei Zhao come out of the room, Gu Mengyao only glanced at him. Thinking of what had happened yesterday, she wanted to say something, yet did not know what to say, and could only shift her gaze back to the cartoon.

Shen Yushu, though, rolled her bright eyes when she saw Wei Zhao come out, waved at him, and said, "Arrow-Brand Bro, how about coming shopping with me and Yao-yao in a bit?"

"Me?" Wei Zhao was startled and pointed at himself.

"Yes. Carry our bags," Shen Yushu said with a nod.

"Can I not go?" Wei Zhao smiled bitterly. Carry bags? That job did not seem like such a good one.

"Ahem — toilet paper—" Shen Yushu coughed twice with great theatricality and said to Wei Zhao with a sly look.

"Uh..." Wei Zhao was furious. Was this girl treating the matter as a livelihood? Bringing it up once a day? Would it never end?

"Xiaoshu, why are you coughing? You have not caught a cold, have you?" Hearing Shen Yushu cough and ask for paper again, Gu Mengyao hurriedly handed her the tissue box from the coffee table.

"Ah?" Shen Yushu was startled, then realized Gu Mengyao had misunderstood. She stuck out her tongue, pulled out a tissue, and coughed twice more with great theatricality.

Wei Zhao watched, thoroughly amused, shook his head, and went back to his room to change clothes.

In any case, until Gu Pengzhan told him his assignment, the only thing he could do was keep following at Gu Mengyao's side. Since she was going out shopping, he would naturally go along.

When Wei Zhao came out in fresh clothes, Qing Bo happened to arrive with breakfast: century egg and lean pork congee cooked by the hotel's head chef, along with several delicate little pickles.

Wei Zhao helped Qing Bo set the breakfast on the dining table, and Qing Bo left with last night's food containers. Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu turned off the television and came over to the dining room to eat.

Watching Wei Zhao turn to leave, Gu Mengyao pressed her lips together. She wanted to call him back to eat with them, but a certain reserve kept the words from coming out.

"Arrow-Brand Bro, eat with us, why do not you? We have to go shopping right after, no time to wait for you to eat on your own." Before Gu Mengyao could speak, Shen Yushu had already called Wei Zhao back.

Ugh — Gu Mengyao was rather annoyed. How had Xiaoshu beaten her to it? She had meant, because of yesterday's business, to make a friendly gesture first, but... in the end, before she could even open her mouth... Never mind, this was fine too. She was Wei Zhao's employer, the one who paid his salary. Why should she make overtures to him? He should be the one making overtures to her.

At that thought, Gu Mengyao felt somewhat reassured.

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