Chapter 4606 — Utterly Ignored

He could guess well enough why they had risked the South Island for his sake. With the little strength they had, venturing into that chaos-ridden land was certain death nine times out of ten—yet they had made the choice anyway, and such loyalty had to be engraved on his heart.

"Brother Lin!" Wei Zhao took the lead. The others stood frozen for a long moment before it finally sank in, then rushed forward with a shout, throwing their arms around him in fierce embraces. A band of grown men who had been ready to die without flinching now stood there red-eyed, tears brimming.

The commotion drew a frenzy of onlookers from outside. When Wei Zhao had entered the mission hall earlier, the sharp-eyed among them had already recognized him; now, hearing how Lu Bianren and the others addressed him, that identity was confirmed beyond doubt. This was the legendary rookie king of the previous intake—a prodigy of the highest order, one whom even Shangguan Tianxia thought highly of!

Word of Wei Zhao's return spread at once, and the doorway grew packed shoulder to shoulder with gawkers. Inside, however, matters stood differently for the one remaining figure—Ma Dangfeng—whose face had turned distinctly sour beside the reunion of Wei Zhao and Lu Bianren's group and the anxious guild steward hovering at the side.

He had never met Wei Zhao, but if he could not tell who this was from the scene before his eyes, he might as well go smash his own head against a block of tofu and be done with it!

And this was the man he had schemed against all this time—or more precisely, the stepping stone he had convinced himself he must trample beneath his feet!

The whole reason he had come here today was to take a mission and head for the South Island to find Wei Zhao. Yet now the fellow had simply appeared of his own accord. What was one supposed to say to a scene like this?

For Ma Dangfeng, being spared the long trek to the South Island was of course a welcome stroke of luck. But coming like this, it also left him feeling caught off guard. Glad he could not honestly say he was, and his mood was truly a complicated thing.

"Brother Lin, why did you come back so suddenly?" Once the joy had passed, Lu Bianren could not help asking. Beside him, Ku Zhongle and the others wore looks of astonishment as well. They had been worrying over whether Wei Zhao was alive or dead, so much so that they had been willing to brave death against Ma Dangfeng—and now happiness had come upon them so suddenly. With Wei Zhao back, they had found their backbone again.

"Ha, once the matter was settled, naturally I came back." As he spoke, Wei Zhao glanced around and addressed the guild steward: "I once took on the mission to hunt down the devil cultivator Wu Baoliang. It has long since expired, true, but I completed it well before the deadline—the archives of the Three Stacks Pavilion can verify that. I've come to turn it in."

If not to deliver a mission, he would not have come straight to the North Island Cultivators' Guild. Though he had originally taken this mission from Jia Mufan, it had in essence been issued by the North Island Cultivators' Guild, and so this was naturally the only place to submit it.

"Turn it in? The devil cultivator Wu Baoliang?" The guild steward blinked, scratched his head, and said with a strange expression, "But that mission has already been canceled. It was Senior Brother Jia Mufan of the Azure Cloud Pavilion himself who came to tell me..."

"That's right. We were the ones who told Senior Brother Jia about it," Lu Bianren said with a nod.

"Oh. All right, then." Wei Zhao nodded without a care; as for the mission reward, he had not given it the slightest thought. He draped an arm over their shoulders and said cheerfully, "Let's hurry back, then! It's been so long—we should have a proper gathering!"

To this proposal there was naturally no objection. They were all set to sweep Wei Zhao away in high spirits. Since Wei Zhao was back, there was of course no need to take any South Island missions. Even Ma Dangfeng, who had been weighing on them so heavily moments ago, was now thrown clean out of their minds.

Ma Dangfeng's face went livid. From beginning to end, Wei Zhao had not spared him a single extra glance. It was as though he had become a clown of no consequence—to be ignored so utterly and completely. How could he possibly swallow such an insult?

"Stop right there!" Ma Dangfeng roared, and only then drew everyone's attention. Looking Wei Zhao up and down with cold contempt, he put on an air of lofty disdain: "So you're Wei Zhao?"

"Oh? And who might you be?" Wei Zhao glanced back at him, and only then recalled that this seemed to be the very fellow who had attacked Lu Bianren and the others just now—though his own hand had dispersed the blow. Had he not been so overjoyed at seeing Lu Bianren's group, he would not have been so dismissive as to forget the man entirely. Whoever the fellow was, he had dared to strike at his brothers, and there would have to be a proper reckoning.

That look and tone, as though regarding a common thug off the street, pricked Ma Dangfeng's overinflated pride once more. Everywhere he had gone before, he had been the radiant center of attention, the one everyone fawned over. Yet now that Wei Zhao had arrived, every eye in the room had drifted, consciously or not, to the other man. Ma Dangfeng, the top rookie king who thought so highly of himself, could not even earn a second glance.

"I'm your granddaddy!" Ma Dangfeng blurted out in a fury. A mere stepping stone, one he was about to trample underfoot, and the wretch dared to put on airs before him? He truly did not know death when he saw it!

At that, the crowd exchanged glances, and the looks they turned on Ma Dangfeng unconsciously grew a shade lighter. They did indeed think highly of this top rookie king of the Nascent Soul stage, but a true master ought to have magnanimity. Only petty street folk would open their mouths to claim grandfatherhood over others. Ma Dangfeng's bearing was truly hard to admire.

"Oh." Under all those watching eyes, Wei Zhao showed not the slightest sign of anger. He merely gave the fellow a bland glance, then turned his head and asked, "Senior Brother Ku, where did this madman come from?"

At those words the crowd outside erupted. Held back by Ma Dangfeng's fearsome strength, they dared not join in the mockery, but Wei Zhao had spoken with unmistakable pity on his face—a top rookie king of the Nascent Soul stage, dismissed as a madman. If word of this got out, how could the man ever show his face again?

This was the first face-to-face meeting between Wei Zhao, the former rookie king, and Ma Dangfeng, the current one—like Mars crashing into Earth. The spectacle alone had been sensational enough, and Wei Zhao's remark only added a whiff of gunpowder. The onlookers outside were instantly intrigued, and more and more people came crowding over at the news, until the threshold of the room was nearly worn through.

"This man is called Ma Dangfeng. He's a disciple of our Azure Cloud Pavilion too..." Ku Zhongle began to explain to Wei Zhao.

But before he could finish, one of the lackeys Ma Dangfeng had brought had already cut in: "Hmph, listen well, you ignorant fool—this is the famous Brother Qiang, now steward and Second Senior Brother of the Azure Cloud Pavilion's inner sect, and the top rookie king who crushed all before him at this intake's inner sect tournament. If you know what's good for you, get over here and kowtow to Brother Qiang and beg his pardon, or else..." (To be continued...)