Chapter 3603 — Xu Lingchong Arrives

Granted, the Spirit Jade Hall did have rules on the books forbidding anyone from switching mining zones at will, but in practice this was hardly an ironclad law; exceptions were permitted in any number of cases, especially where Number Ten, the dead mining zone, was concerned.

After all, everyone knew that nothing but dross could be dug out of Number Ten; ordinarily only some wretch who had offended the higher-ups was banished to that dead zone. Yet from the standpoint of the Spirit Jade Hall's own extraction of spirit jade, they had no wish to see precious labor squandered in such a place—and so whenever a transfer touched upon Number Ten, it was as a rule allowed as a special exception.

"Er... Pavilion Master Lu, do not be hasty! This matter is not entirely beyond discussion!" Dai Wuchang was instantly flustered. He could afford to pay Lu Bianren no mind, but he could not afford to pay Tong Fei, vice-pavilion-master of the Spirit Jade Hall, no mind—that man was his direct superior, one whose single word could strip the rice bowl from his hands!

"Oh? I was told the checks were very strict—so how is it now up for discussion?" Lu Bianren's smile was not quite a smile, and he shot the other a glance not untouched by contempt.

"Er..." Dai Wuchang's old face flushed crimson in an instant, and he hemmed and hawed for a long while without managing a word.

To speak plainly, what he feared was not that Lu Bianren would go to Tong Fei to have Wei Zhao's mining zone changed, but that the man would let slip, in passing, the business between himself and Meng Jueming! Vice-pavilion-master Tong Fei was famed throughout the Spirit Jade Hall for his iron-faced impartiality; should Lu Bianren breathe a few words against him before the man, or even set Tong Fei to investigating him, it would be his finish. The little matter between him and Meng Jueming could not withstand scrutiny at all!

And once that business came to light, never mind losing his rice bowl—by the Spirit Jade Hall's rules, the venal were to have their cultivation stripped outright. In grave cases, they were even to be beheaded on the spot!

Seeing Dai Wuchang in this state, like a beaten rooster, the put-upon senior brother could not help but laugh to himself. Last time this creature had faced him all high and mighty, laying down the law with perfect assurance; now, at a single fright from the third pavilion master, he had wilted at once. Truly, every man has his master—coming to the third pavilion master for help this trip had been no mistake at all!

Mindful that the other was, after all, a fellow disciple out of Azure Cloud Pavilion, Lu Bianren, though angered at heart, had no intention of making things hard for him. He said directly, "I will say no more of other matters. Now be so good, Brother Dai, as to transfer Wei Zhao to Number Seven mining zone!"

"This... very well." Dai Wuchang hesitated a moment, and in the end could only grit his teeth and agree.

To plunge himself into danger over the affair of a nobody like Wei Zhao—even if the odds were slim that Tong Fei would come down to investigate him afterward, Dai Wuchang still could not run that risk. Nor was there any need to. At worst, he would explain things properly to Meng Jueming afterward, and surely the man would understand!

Done! The put-upon senior brother's heart eased at once—the third pavilion master had stepped forth, and success had followed as surely as could be. Now at last Junior Brother Lin could escape his sea of bitterness!

Yet before the put-upon senior brother could draw breath, a voice came drifting from afar, and every face changed at once: "I would like to see just who has the gall to move Wei Zhao out of Number Ten, the dead mining zone!"

That voice sounded a little familiar! The put-upon senior brother's heart lurched, and when he made out the features of the newcomers in the distance, his face fell altogether. Even Lu Bianren at his side could not help but draw a faint sharp breath.

Three people had come, all familiar faces that had appeared before at the Azure Cloud Pavilion's new disciples' caves—Kang Jingming and Zhong Yongliang, and striding ahead of them, the young master of the Heaven-Rushing Pavilion, Xu Lingchong.

"Young Master Xu! What wind has blown you here? Old Dai has failed to welcome you—forgive me, forgive me!" Dai Wuchang hurried forward at the sight.

Backed by the towering patron that was the third elder of the Heaven-Rushing Pavilion, Xu Lingchong was a young master who prospered wherever he went. As for a nobody of no background like Dai Wuchang—even one hailing from Azure Cloud Pavilion—he must by every means seize every chance to curry favor; for once one attached oneself to this Young Master Xu, a single good word from him would make one's rise to glory a mere matter of days!

Xu Lingchong waved a hand offhandedly, then turned his gaze upon Lu Bianren and sneered, "I thought it must be some great personage, shouting the odds in the Spirit Jade Hall and shifting folk from zone to zone at will—why, is this not the legendary third pavilion master of the Welcome Pavilion? I hear he has lately taken charge of the Reflection Cliff, with no small authority in his hands. No wonder he cuts such a figure!"

"The Reflection Cliff? Does the Welcome Pavilion even have such a place? It sounds rather formidable—could it be a legendary hidden level, and is this fellow, then, the legendary hidden boss? I had no chance to lay eyes on him at the welcome assembly, and never thought to meet him here. What a rare honor, ha ha ha!" Kang Jingming followed behind with a cold snicker. As new disciples, they had had the Reflection Cliff described to them by the steward senior brother on their very first day; his feigned astonishment now was, of course, meant to sicken Lu Bianren.

By rights the Reflection Cliff was one of the duties under the newcomer steward's charge, a place where nothing of consequence ever happened—but no newcomer steward had yet been appointed, so Lu Bianren had no choice but to keep managing it, with no way even to hand it off. Otherwise, however little power he held, he would have put a suggestion to the Azure Cloud Pavilion, for this touched upon the standing of the pavilion itself; even if Azure Cloud Pavilion ranked third, it could not simply surrender such authority.

Having latched onto a thick leg like Xu Lingchong's, Kang Jingming—a newcomer who was nothing at all—did not regard Lu Bianren, that hollowed-out third pavilion master, with the least respect. How awkward the third pavilion master's present position had become was plain for all to see.

Mocked to his face by a newcomer, Lu Bianren's expression stiffened, yet before a young master of the Heaven-Rushing Pavilion like Xu Lingchong he could not well erupt in anger. Even if in name he could rein in Kang Jingming, a single word from Xu Lingchong would parry it back, and in the end it was he who would come off the worse.

What was more, Kang Jingming was an outer-sect disciple of the Heaven-Rushing Pavilion, and any punishment of him must have the nod of the grand pavilion master, Hu Yunfeng. Otherwise this third pavilion master of his counted for no more than a fart—and a silent one at that.

Seeing Lu Bianren stand there with a face stiff as a board and not a word to say, Xu Lingchong's gaze grew all the more contemptuous.

Not even daring to answer a newcomer's jeers—this legendary third pavilion master of the Welcome Pavilion was every bit as spineless as the legends said. Xu Lingchong curled his lip and thought to himself: no wonder Hu Yunfeng kicked him off to a godforsaken hole like the Reflection Cliff, and he did not dare let out so much as a squeak!