"The Trial Tournament isn't far off. Relax while you can, but from here on you need to get thoroughly familiar with the Foundation Establishment stage. Don't set your sights on anything beyond that for now—the main thing is to adapt as quickly as possible. Understood?" Wei Zhao instructed.

"Boss, even if we all adapt, we'll still be nothing but the weakest, lowest tier of early Foundation Establishment. Going into the Trial Tournament with that little strength—I'm afraid it won't cut it," Yu Bing said, frowning despite herself.

High-spirited as they all were, following Wei Zhao as they did, the thought of facing Ancient Alliance disciples in the Trial Tournament set their hearts pounding in spite of themselves. This was, after all, an entirely different league.

"It is a bit difficult, true. But I got this from Tian Chan on Cloud Terrace Island—it should come in handy just in time." Wei Zhao smiled faintly.

"What is it?" Curious, the others took the thick stack of letter paper from his hand, passing it around and clicking their tongues in amazement: "A compendium of introductory cultivation methods from every sect on Cloud Terrace Island?"

"That's right. I asked Tian Chan to put this together. With this, you'll at least have one more fighting chance in the Trial Tournament," Wei Zhao said with a nod.

"How are we supposed to use these? Are you telling us to cultivate these methods? There's no time for that now, is there?" The others were still completely baffled. It was true that after reaching Foundation Establishment one had a chance to change cultivation methods, but that was hardly the work of a day and a night. Even with outstanding aptitude, without several months there would be scarcely any result; those of ordinary aptitude would need years of bitter cultivation just to achieve a little success. What use was a few days at this point?

"Don't get the wrong idea. I'm not telling you to cultivate these methods—they're for cramming at the last minute for the Trial Tournament. As for exactly how, wait until I've finished studying them over the next few days and I'll explain in detail." Wei Zhao shook his head with a smile. If he had truly been looking for cultivation methods for them to practice, he would never have chosen these common, run-of-the-mill introductory methods; at the very least he would have had to find profound methods suited to each person's characteristics.

The others still didn't quite understand, but since Wei Zhao was bent on being mysterious, they had no choice but to wait. After all, they were the ones who would be competing in the Trial Tournament, and sooner or later Wei Zhao would have to give them some guidance.

"By the way, Brother Wei Zhao, how many of our own people have you found on Cloud Terrace Island over the years? You still haven't told us properly," Ying Ziyu asked.

At these words everyone pricked up their ears. Wei Zhao had told them something of his experiences on Cloud Terrace Island before, but it was impossible to recount every last detail; he could only tell it as far as he got. And Ying Ziyu's question was indeed something they were all curious about.

"That, let me count." Wei Zhao mused for a moment, then counted off on his fingers: "Tian Chan, Xue Li, Han Jingyi, Wang Xinyan—those four for now. Beyond that, at most you could count Zhong Yongliang and Xiao Che. Zhong Yongliang defected earlier on, and Xiao Che only grew close to me after I reached Cloud Terrace Island."

"What about Chen Xi?" Ying Ziyu asked, eyes wide with expectation.

"That I don't know either." Wei Zhao sighed. Chen Xi had originally gone with Tian Chan and Tian Die'er, but he had only found Tian Chan on the Central Island; there had been no sign of Chen Xi or Tian Die'er.

In truth it was not hard to guess: Chen Xi and Tian Die'er must have been separated during the teleportation. That was why even Tian Chan knew nothing of the two women's whereabouts; otherwise Wei Zhao would not even have had to ask—Tian Chan would have brought it up herself long ago.

Ying Ziyu could not help but feel a little disappointed at this, and asked with concern, "You don't think something's happened to her, do you?"

"I doubt it. Cloud Terrace Island is vast; it's perfectly normal not to have found them yet. But sooner or later I will find them." Wei Zhao patted Ying Ziyu gently on the shoulder and comforted her in a soft voice.

On the other side, Qiu Lingshan too was on the verge of speaking and then holding back. Wei Zhao knew she was worrying about her younger sister Song Lingwei, and could only give her a comforting look in return.

Yet even as he comforted the others, Wei Zhao was in truth far more anxious than Ying Ziyu and the rest. He was simply forcing himself to appear calm before them.

After all, this was not like those early days when he had first gone to Cloud Terrace Island. Back then he had known little of the place and had taken it for granted that the other islands must be as peaceful and stable as the Northern Island—that so long as he had the chance to go out and look around, he would naturally run into these people again. But now his footsteps had covered all five great islands, east, west, south, north, and central, and most of them were still nowhere to be found.

As for all those strangers who had nothing to do with him, never mind them—whether they lived or died was no concern of Wei Zhao's, nor worth any particular thought. But Chen Xi, Tian Die'er, Bing Tang, and Song Lingwei—those few he absolutely had to learn the whereabouts of. For every day they remained unaccounted for, he could not be at ease.

At this thought, Wei Zhao's originally rather excited mood sank at once. He fell silent, disconsolate. With his present strength and connections, he had still not managed to find these people!

What that implied behind it all, he scarcely dared to dwell on; he could only shy away from it instinctively.

At least this much could be certain so far: the Northern Island, the Central Island, and the Western Island almost certainly no longer held these people—otherwise Wei Zhao would have known long ago.

The reasoning was simple. Even if they had been separated in the teleportation and sent to different islands of Cloud Terrace, once the teleportation was over, the secular-world cultivators on each island would initially have gathered together. The Central Island had Tian Chan and Xue Li, the Western Island had Han Jingyi, and the Northern Island had Wei Zhao. Had Chen Xi and the others been teleported to any of those three islands, under normal circumstances they should have run into one another.

Still, another possibility could not be entirely ruled out: a single island might well have more than one teleportation point. As far as Wei Zhao knew, the Northern Island had only one, but the Central and Western Islands might not be so limited—he had not yet made a careful inquiry. As for the Southern Continent and the Eastern Continent, there was even less to be said.

Yet even if such a situation did exist, Wei Zhao could still be certain that none of these people were on the Northern, Central, or Western Islands. After all, he had considerable ties with the powers-that-be on all three. Shangguan Tianxia, the Northern Island's vice-island master, was half a master to him; Ning Shanghe, master of the Western Island, was his prospective mother-in-law; and Ota Zhou, acting master of the Central Island, was deliberately courting and cultivating him as well.