Chapter 4602 — Preparing to Head for the Southern Isles

"So that's it!" Shangguan Lan'er finally understood what he meant. After a brief pause, she suddenly said, "Grandfather, how did you know about this? I made a special trip over there today to ask Lu Bianren before I found out. Oh... I see now. You've had people keeping an eye out for news of our little junior brother all along, haven't you? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Telling you would have been pointless. What good would it have done except make you worry yourself sick over him for nothing?" Shangguan Tianxia chuckled, all but openly admitting that he had indeed been having people look into Wei Zhao's whereabouts.

"Even so, you should have told me straight away! If I hear nothing at all, that only makes me worry more!" Shangguan Lan'er pouted and grumbled.

"All right, all right, all right. Next time I receive any news about Wei Zhao, I'll tell you. Will that do?" Shangguan Tianxia had not the slightest defense against his granddaughter's wheedling, and could only acquiesce with a wry smile.

"Hehe, that's more like it." Shangguan Lan'er nodded in satisfaction.

"I say, Lan'er—if you know that Wei Zhao is being hunted by the old sect of the Western Hills, does that not worry you in the least? Those are masters of the Mountain-Opening stage, devil cultivators of such stature that a flick of their fingers could leave Wei Zhao without a bone to his name!" Shangguan Tianxia found her reaction rather odd. The girl was plainly worried about Ma Dangfeng taking his revenge on Wei Zhao, yet by the look of things she was not in the least concerned about the old sect of the Western Hills. What sort of logic was that?

The other disciples of the Threefold Pavilion might have had no real conception of what a Mountain-Opening stage titan was, but Shangguan Lan'er certainly did. This transcendent tier, of which ordinary folk never even heard, was the most basic of common knowledge in the Shangguan family; she had been taught it as far back as her earliest lessons in childhood.

"Of course I'm worried. But I've been praying for our little junior brother all along, so I believe he certainly won't die at the hands of some devil cultivator." Shangguan Lan'er giggled, then went bouncing off with little Curly Bear in tow.

"Ha, a girl's heart always turns outward in the end—the old saying could not be more true." Shangguan Tianxia shook his head with a laugh. Shangguan Lan'er had only ever prayed for her father; even he, the grandfather who had raised her alone, had no idea whether he was on that prayer list at all. Yet now the girl had gone and put Wei Zhao's name on it before anyone else.

Shangguan Tianxia fell into a pensive daze for a moment, and unwittingly glanced at the inscription he had been copying. That long smear of ink across it truly was too painful to look at. His smile turned to a bitter one. Well, now there was more work to be done...

As for Ma Dangfeng's threat to go to the Southern Isles and finish off Wei Zhao, Shangguan Lan'er was no longer worried—but Lu Bianren and the others did not see through it as clearly as Shangguan Tianxia did. Now that the whole group had gathered in Lu Bianren's cave dwelling, every face wore an anxiety that would not be dispelled.

They had confidence in Wei Zhao's strength, to be sure, but the shock Ma Dangfeng had dealt them last time was simply too great—the combined might of them all had not withstood even a single move from him. None of them were the sort to belittle themselves, yet this sense of powerlessness was utterly real, and it would only grow with time.

It was no exaggeration to say that the three words "Nascent Soul stage" had already cast a shadow over all their hearts. Unless Wei Zhao likewise became a master of the Nascent Soul stage, it would be very hard for them to feel a hundred percent confident.

"This sort of thing is unlikely to have been a passing whim. If Ma Dangfeng dares to make such a declaration in public, it means he has long been preparing for it—it is not merely a bluff to save face before Shangguan Lan'er. So we must treat this matter with the utmost seriousness and think of a countermeasure at once," Lu Bianren said gravely to the assembled group.

"That may be so. But we have no idea where Senior Brother Lin is right now. Even if we wanted to warn him, we would have no way to go about it," the long-suffering senior brother said with a frown.

Silence fell over them all. It was an insoluble problem; no matter who was asked, there was simply nothing to be done.

"Actually, I don't think everyone need worry quite so much. We don't know where Senior Brother Wei Zhao and the others have gone, and neither does Ma Dangfeng. Even if he truly picks a trial mission and goes to the Southern Isles, he will have a hard time finding Senior Brother Wei Zhao. The odds of him coming back empty-handed are at least nine in ten," Li Zhengming spoke up in analysis.

"Zhengming has a point. Even an existence like the old sect of the Western Hills cannot discover Senior Brother Wei Zhao's whereabouts—how easy could it possibly be for Ma Dangfeng to manage the same?" Xiao Che nodded in agreement.

"But Senior Brother Wei Zhao cannot go on being incommunicado forever. Since that brute Ma Dangfeng wants to go to the Southern Isles to make trouble, why don't we simply go to the Southern Isles ourselves? Whether we find him or not, it can't hurt to try, can it?" Qiao Hongcai suddenly proposed.

At his words, everyone's eyes lit up at once, and they all slapped their thighs. That was right—if Ma Dangfeng could go to the Southern Isles, then so could they!

"Well said, Hongcai! With so many of us staying here, we might well be sought out for trouble by that bastard Ma Dangfeng. Better to take on a mission and go search the Southern Isles—that's better than sitting here worrying ourselves sick," Lu Bianren said at once, his spirits roused.

With so many of them, they made too conspicuous a target, and Ma Dangfeng was plainly nursing a bellyful of rage. One day they might well find themselves in the same perilous scene as before, and it would be too great a loss if lives were lost then—after all, it was not every time that Jia Mufan or Shangguan Lan'er would be there to help them out of trouble.

"But the Southern Isles are so vast—searching for one person there is like fishing a needle out of the ocean. How are we supposed to find him?" the long-suffering senior brother said, spreading his hands in some bewilderment.

"That needn't worry us. I've been to the Southern Continent's waters after all, so I know the place more or less, and I also know an acquaintance of Senior Brother Lin's there. I believe we can get a few clues from him, so we won't be like headless flies bumping about in all directions," Lu Bianren said. The acquaintance he meant was, of course, Qi Wenmo—it was thanks to Qi Wenmo's help that he had managed to escape the Southern Continent's waters safely in the first place.

"That's wonderful! There's no time to lose—let's pick a time and set out at once!" At these words, everyone's eyes lit up, and they were all eager to try. Since they had an acquaintance and a lead, what was there to hesitate about?

Seeing how ready they all were to throw caution to the winds, Lu Bianren was somewhat moved, but he still stopped them: "There's no problem with going to the Southern Isles, but we cannot all go. For one thing, too many of us would be too conspicuous and might ruin the whole endeavor; for another, this place is our very foundation, and someone must stay behind to hold it. At the very least, if anything should happen here at the Threefold Pavilion, those of us out there can be prepared for it." (To be continued...)