Chapter 4603 — So Who Goes?

"I have to go," Lu Bianren said at once. Among them all, only he had been to the South Sea waters, and only he knew Qi Wenmo—on that point there could be no argument.

"And I have to go too—this whole idea was mine, and anyone who tries to stop me will have a fight on their hands!" Qiao Hongcai hurriedly raised his hand.

"Then I've even more right to go," Miserable Senior Brother chimed in. "Junior Brother Lin has looked out for me more than anyone. Without him I wouldn't be where I am today—if I didn't go, what kind of man would I be?"

"Wei Zhao and I came up from the mortal world together as its leaders," Xiao Che followed. "We've known each other longest and our bond runs deepest. If I don't go, that makes even less sense than anyone."

The moment Xiao Che finished, every eye turned to Li Zhengming. He alone remained, so the one to stay behind could only be him—yet the fellow said slowly, "My life itself was given to me by Leader Wei Zhao. Don't any of you count on me staying."

Not one of the five was willing to remain, and each had a sounder reason than the last. They all looked at each other in dismay—what were they to do? They could hardly draw lots. Setting aside whether that would even work, the crux was that no one would agree to it. What if someone's name came up and he was the one left behind?

After a moment of silence, it fell to Lu Bianren to decide, as he was the most senior and strongest among them and trusted by all—a man of weight and honor whose word was final. "Then it's settled: Junior Brother Ku and Junior Brother Xiao, you two stay behind to hold the fort. Hongcai, Zhengming, and I will go to the South Island."

"Why?!" Miserable Senior Brother and Xiao Che frowned in unison. Qiao Hongcai and Li Zhengming were delighted, but on what grounds were these two to be left behind?

"The reason is simple. One of you is the Third Pavilion Master of the Welcome Pavilion, the other the Second Senior Brother and steward of the Azure Cloud Pavilion's outer sect. Both of you hold key posts," Lu Bianren explained with a bitter smile.

Worth noting in particular: a month ago, Xiao Che had leapt from head senior brother of the Azure Cloud Pavilion's newcomer stewards to second senior brother and steward of the outer sect. That was a tremendous promotion—in status and authority the two positions were worlds apart. The outer-sect steward's power was not especially great, yet such good fortune was enough to make anyone else green with envy.

Even cultivators' sons, those second-generation talents, would have to pay no small price to maneuver themselves into such a post. And this was only Xiao Che's third year since joining the Azure Cloud Pavilion; even after a year as head senior brother of the newcomers, his credentials were still hardly enough to lay on the table.

In fact, when the appointment was first proposed it stirred up enormous controversy. Eighty percent of the Azure Cloud Pavilion's elders pounded the table over it—this post had been set aside specifically to gold-plate their own nephews and sons. How could it be handed for no reason to an outsider, and an outsider with no roots at all!

The one who had held the position before was Lu Bianren, but after he had gone missing for so long, the post was treated as having fallen vacant; even after his return he was not restored to it. The official reason was that, being a Golden Core disciple, he had automatically advanced into the inner sect—but in truth, several elders of the Azure Cloud Pavilion had been quietly vying for the post, struggling over it until heads were bloodied.

And in the midst of all that, up pops a Xiao Che—was that not a slap in their faces, plain and simple? What a joke!

Yet in the end this strange appointment went through without any suspense. For the one who put it forward was Jia Mufan, head senior brother and steward of the Azure Cloud Pavilion's inner sect—and more to the point, the Pavilion Master Yu Zhenyang himself approved it publicly and decisively. However displeased the elders were, they dared not defy Yu Zhenyang over so small a matter.

He was the Azure Cloud Pavilion Master, after all. For all that Yu Zhenyang always wore a mild, harmless air before figures like Shangguan Tianxia, if it came to these elders of his own pavilion he would not soften at all—he was, after all, a formidable being who had walked out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

No one knew what Yu Zhenyang was thinking, nor what Jia Mufan was thinking. The result was simply that Xiao Che was suddenly transformed into the Azure Cloud Pavilion's second senior brother and outer-sect steward, formally entering the sight of the pavilion's leadership and taking a firm step toward a position of real power.

"So what? You were second senior brother and outer-sect steward yourself before, Senior Brother Lu, and you still went to the South Island," Miserable Senior Brother and Xiao Che retorted almost in unison.

"Which is precisely why I lost the post..." Lu Bianren shook his head with a bitter smile, then said gravely: "Junior Brother Ku, Junior Brother Xiao, we're only going to the South Island to find someone—we won't need many hands. What matters more is that there's no telling how long this trip will take; a year or more would be no surprise. Given your present positions, a month's absence would already be a serious problem."

"That doesn't matter—at worst I give up the post," Xiao Che said carelessly.

"Right. I owe this seat as Third Pavilion Master of the Welcome Pavilion to Junior Brother Lin's efforts. If something happened to him and I just sat by, I couldn't sit easy in it—better not to hold it at all," Miserable Senior Brother nodded in agreement.

"Fools!" Lu Bianren suddenly jabbed a finger at the two of them. "If you know it's the fruit of Junior Brother Lin's heart and blood, how can you talk so lightly of tossing it aside? Is that loyalty? No—it is utterly wrong-headed. It is sheer, unmitigated folly. By betraying Junior Brother Lin's painstaking care like this, with what face would you go looking for him?"

Scolded so suddenly by Lu Bianren, Miserable Senior Brother and Xiao Che fell silent. Thinking it over carefully, it really was the truth.

"I had a purpose in asking you two in particular to stay," Lu Bianren went on, pleading earnestly. "That your posts keep you from leaving for long is only the first reason. The key is that both of you are, more or less, important figures—anyone who wanted to move against you would have to weigh the consequences first. So you're better suited than Hongcai and Zhengming to hold down the fort. Understand?"

"All right, we'll stay," Miserable Senior Brother and Xiao Che said, exchanging a glance and nodding. Just as Lu Bianren said, by any measure they were the best suited to remain guarding the North Island.

"Good. In that case we set out at once—first we'll see whether there's a suitable trial mission," Lu Bianren decided on the spot.

Together they made straight for the North Island Cultivators' Guild. As an inner-sect disciple, Lu Bianren could have gone directly to Jia Mufan, but then they could not have brought Qiao Hongcai and Li Zhengming along. (To be continued...)