What Must Be Said Must Eventually Be Said

Zhang Xiaohua looked at his second brother and smiled. "Second Brother, don't belittle yourself. When I helped Martial Ancestor Li refine the medicinal herbs and temper his meridians just now, I found traces of prior tempering in both his meridians and dantian. But honestly, his tempering was rather low-level—like merely taking Meridian Nourishing Pills and letting their medicinal power temper the meridians, rather than using my... Internal energy to help refine them."

"Or perhaps the pills Martial Ancestor Li took were not meant for tempering meridians, so their effects were limited," Zhang Xiaohu added.

"Second Brother is right. They were probably pills that could increase one's cultivation. Oh..." Zhang Xiaohua suddenly cried out.

"What is it, Xiaohua? Is there a problem?" Zhang Xiaohu hurriedly asked.

"I've got it!" Zhang Xiaohua said excitedly. "I know why your Misty Sect was jointly wiped out by the Incense-Passing Cult, Great Forest Temple, and Righteous Path Alliance!"

"Really?" Zhang Xiaohu asked curiously. "Even I don't know the exact reason. How could you know?"

Zhang Xiaohua looked at Zhang Xiaohu in equal surprise. "Aren't you a direct disciple of the Misty Sect? How could you not have heard even a whisper?"

Zhang Xiaohu looked embarrassed. "After coming to Shixin Peak, I asked Master several times, but he only smiled and would not reveal a single word. From the look of it, he seemed to know something, but if Master refused to tell me, perhaps he feared that knowing too much would bring me harm instead."

Seeing Zhang Xiaohu defend Wen Wenhai, Zhang Xiaohua lowered his voice. "Actually, when I examined Martial Ancestor Li's meridians and injured dantian just now, I felt that the signs of his expanded dantian and tempered meridians dated to roughly the same time as when his acupoints were broken through. In