Chapter 3987 — A Strange Relationship

After all, the agreement between them and Xu Lingchong had not been settled by those few men alone; the fact that the two sides could shake hands and make peace was the result of a mutual compromise between the powers behind each of them. To act rashly would not only offend the other party but even breed resentment among one's own backers.

To offend people both within and without—Nantian Ba, however hot-tempered he might be, would never do anything so foolish.

Nantian Guan had no choice but to fall silent. He now stood right at the threshold of Foundation Establishment perfection, and the Star Ink Stone tempted him more than it tempted anyone else; to be caught in a position where he plainly suspected and yet could not act was enough to drive a man to sheer, maddening frustration.

As they spoke, Nantian Ba had already taken the lead and walked off into the distance—and the direction he was heading was, remarkably enough, straight toward where Gongyang Jun and Wei Zhao sat.

"Hall Master Gongyang, it has been a long time." Coming up before them, Nantian Ba spoke first in greeting, while Wei Zhao, an insignificant figure of no consequence, was simply ignored outright.

Gongyang Jun lifted his eyelids and gave him a faint glance. "That proposal from last time—have you thought it over?"

"That matter... still requires careful consideration..." Nantian Ba hesitated for a moment, then shot Wei Zhao a glance, as though there were some secret involved that no outsider could be permitted to know. At once his face turned harsh and his voice sharp. "What sort of creature are you, to dare sit here and disturb the conversation between Hall Master Gongyang and myself? Get out of the way, and be quick about it!"

Wei Zhao's brows knitted at once. Nantian Ba might be formidable, but by his estimation the man still fell far short of Gongyang Jun before him—even Gongyang Jun had never been so overbearing, so who did this Nantian Ba think he was?

"My apologies. I have never been in the habit of giving up my seat to anyone. If you wish to speak with Hall Master Gongyang at length, sir, you might consider finding another place?" Wei Zhao raised an eyebrow and said mildly.

"What did you say, you little wretch?" Nantian Ba's fiery temper flared up on the spot.

As for Gongyang Jun, he merely went on lounging lazily in his seat, wearing the expression of one entirely detached from the affair.

"I have no interest in repeating myself. If you have a problem with your ears, sir, I suggest you find a physician—there may still be hope for a cure." Wei Zhao remained utterly unmoved.

However powerful his opponent, so long as that opponent came looking for trouble and provocation, Wei Zhao had never known the meaning of backing down. When enemies meet on a narrow path, the brave prevail; a cowardly milksop could never become a peerless expert standing at the very summit.

"You're asking for death!" The words squeezed out from between Nantian Ba's teeth. Never had he imagined that he could be publicly provoked by an ant of such feeble strength.

Wei Zhao's mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivation could not escape his eyes; before an exalted Golden Core expert such as himself, Wei Zhao could indeed only be reckoned a worthless speck that would shatter at a single blow.

As the words fell, Nantian Ba's ferocious aura was abruptly driven to its very peak, drawing a chorus of startled cries from the whole hall. A Golden Core expert was no trifling matter to begin with, but what astonished people even more was that anyone would dare to start a fight in such a setting.

"This is Miss Shangguan's birthday banquet. Before you raise your hand, sir, you had best think carefully about the consequences." Wei Zhao spoke unhurriedly.

If his opponent had been Gongyang Jun, there might indeed have been a real chance of him striking here without the slightest scruple; but with anyone else—even a savage character like Nantian Ba before him—the man might not have the nerve.

To start a fight here was tantamount to smashing up Shangguan Lan'er's gathering, or even to smashing up Shangguan Tianxia's. Not just anyone could boast such confidence; before a top-tier titan like Shangguan Tianxia, even a Golden Core expert was nothing but an ant.

Moreover, instinct told Wei Zhao that Nantian Ba was not as hot-headed and brainless as he appeared on the surface. To drag himself down just to teach a nobody like him a lesson—that was not a foolish thing this man would do.

Sure enough, Nantian Ba's momentum lurched at the words. Looking down at Wei Zhao from his height, he said coldly, "You've got nerve, boy. What's your name?"

Before Wei Zhao could speak, Nantian Guan and Yu Jiang behind him had already stepped forward and whispered a few words into his ear—not only Wei Zhao's identity and name, but even the tests they had earlier put him through, all of it was reported.

To be honest, seeing Wei Zhao in a place like this—and especially seeing him sitting openly across from Gongyang Jun—Nantian Guan and Yu Jiang had not reacted at first. Even having recognized him at a glance, they had scarcely dared to believe it, and only now could they finally be certain: this was indeed the newcomer of the Azure Cloud Pavilion they had once suspected.

"Ha, what is the world coming to, that even a mere newcomer of the Azure Cloud Pavilion can worm his way into a place like this? Or were you simply sneaking in through some gap in the guards?" Having heard the whole story, Nantian Ba at once eyed him sidelong with a cold sneer.

"I hear that for this birthday banquet of Miss Shangguan's, half the guards were drawn on short notice from the elite of the Law Enforcement Hall. In front of Hall Master Gongyang, is it quite proper for you to slander their competence so?" Wei Zhao's face remained as calm as a light breeze.

Nantian Ba's expression shifted despite himself. Put that way, Wei Zhao's words did carry a faint suggestion of scolding the mulberry tree while pointing at the locust—an oblique jab.

At this moment, Yu Jiang behind him suddenly spoke up. "First Senior Uncle, Second Senior Uncle, my master died without cause or clarity, and this Wei Zhao is one of the true suspects. I beg you two senior uncles to stand up for your disciple, to uncover the truth, and let my master's soul beneath the springs rest in peace."

His purpose in suddenly cutting in with these words was naturally to give Nantian Ba a way out of the corner he had backed himself into, and at the same time it was true that he had never abandoned his suspicions of Wei Zhao. Although their focus now lay on Kang Jingming, they dared not act rashly because of Xu Lingchong; and now that Wei Zhao, the second suspect, had obligingly walked right into the line of fire, they naturally could not let the chance slip by.

Somewhere in the depths of his mind, Yu Jiang had always felt that Wei Zhao's temperament was very much like Lin Er's. The powerful intuition of a cultivator was, more often than not, quite accurate.

At these words, Nantian Ba's eyes lit up at once. He shot Yu Jiang a glance of secret approval, then said with righteous solemnity, "As for the death of our third brother Nantian Yong back then, the high elders of the Threefold Pavilion all declared that the matter must be strictly investigated, yet there has never been any progress. Taking advantage of today's occasion, Hall Master Gongyang might do well to look into this Wei Zhao. With your abilities, learning whatever you wish should be simplicity itself—a single Soul Search art would settle it."

Under the ill-intentioned gazes of these men, Wei Zhao cried inward that this was bad. For people like them, so long as they cast the Soul Search art on him, then even if their deduction later proved mistaken, they would lose nothing by it; and if their guess should prove right, it would be an unexpected delight beyond all measure.