Chapter 4619 — Recommended by the Three-Tier Pavilion

"And then what happened?" the others pressed, still staring at him with eager eyes.

"Then we got back to Zhenduan City from the Lufeng Forest, thinking we could finally return to Weihu City—only to run smack into the East Continent Morningstar Academy's recruitment. The whole dock was under martial law, and there was no way out." Wei Zhao chuckled.

"The East Continent Morningstar Academy?!" The name made them all start. The rest looked utterly baffled; only Hong Zhong and Shangguan Lan'er showed no confusion—nothing but a flicker of surprise.

"So did you two go to the trials?" Hong Zhong and Shangguan Lan'er asked almost in unison. Hong Zhong needed no explanation; as for little Shangguan Lan'er, though she had never been to the East Continent, her Shangguan family upbringing ensured she would never overlook the East Continent—the most important of the five Cloud-Tier Islands. What the words "East Continent Academy" carried, the others in the room did not know, but these two knew perfectly well.

"We went. Figured we had nothing better to do, so we joined the crowd in the square to watch the fun—and ended up registered as applicants by default." Wei Zhao shrugged with a wry smile.

"And the result? How did it turn out?" the two asked quickly.

"The result's obvious—I was rejected, but Little Tao was chosen. She became one of the two personal disciples of the East Sea Holy Nun of the Morningstar Academy—a heaven-sent stroke of fortune. The other party is an Opening-Mountain-stage titan, you know." Wei Zhao smiled faintly.

"Really? That's wonderful! Sister Little Tao is amazing!" Shangguan Lan'er broke into delighted laughter. In her simple, guileless nature she never took pleasure in others' misfortune—this was joy for Huang Xiaotao from the bottom of her heart. After all, Huang Xiaotao's life had been bitter; to become the personal disciple of an Opening-Mountain-stage titan was an opportunity the world dreamed of. Perhaps this was Heaven's compensation to her.

"Young Hero Lin, how could you be rejected? That's impossible, surely?" Hong Zhong's attention was not on Huang Xiaotao at all. The breadth of the world he had seen and the caliber of people he had met were beyond ordinary imagining; of so-called top-tier prodigies he had seen no fewer than a hundred, if not eighty. And if anyone could be guaranteed to stand out among them, it was Wei Zhao—of that there was no doubt.

Hong Zhong had been to the East Continent and had seen the prodigy disciples of those academies. In his eyes, Wei Zhao in both potential and ability stood far above them. This was no fondness born of closeness, no partiality for a friend; it was plain, objective truth.

If even Huang Xiaotao could become the East Sea Holy Nun's personal disciple, then how could Wei Zhao—whose aptitude was at least ten times hers—possibly be rejected? If that were truly the case, Hong Zhong could only conclude that the upper echelons of the Morningstar Academy had lost their minds.

At Hong Zhong's words, Shangguan Lan'er finally caught on as well, and she could not help adding in puzzlement: "That's right! Even my grandfather never stops praising Little Junior Brother. How could he be rejected? I remember Grandfather saying that an East Continent academy once tried to recruit Senior Brother Gongyang, and he came back after only a month, treating their prodigy disciples like weeds. Grandfather's opinion of Little Junior Brother is no lower than his of Senior Brother Gongyang!"

"Exactly. For someone with the Leader's aptitude to be rejected is simply a colossal joke—those people must be blind!" Qiao Hongcai and the others all spoke up in Wei Zhao's defense. They had little notion of what the East Continent Academy was, but with Gongyang Jun as a ready-made comparison, their own Leader could not possibly lose to Gongyang Jun, no matter how they looked at it.

Seeing the crowd's righteous indignation, Wei Zhao felt both amused and touched. He could only blink and say: "The thing is, once you're chosen, you have to go to the East Continent just like Little Tao, and I didn't much want to go, so..."

"Oh—so that's it! I knew it was impossible for you to fail the selection, haha!" The truth dawned on them all at last, and one and all burst out laughing.

"The matter of the East Continent Morningstar Academy's recruitment was known to every household over in South Continent—they made a huge spectacle of it. Have you really not heard a single thing about Little Tao's business here?" Wei Zhao asked in turn, puzzled. In his understanding, Huang Xiaotao's achievement was like a student in the mortal world being admitted to a famous university—a solid, tangible honor. By all reason, her alma mater ought to have been trumpeting it far and wide.

"No, not a whisper." The others exchanged glances and shook their heads.

"My grandfather probably knows, but every time I ask him it's your name that comes up—I never specifically asked about Sister Little Tao, so he never told me." Shangguan Lan'er spoke thoughtfully.

Wei Zhao nodded, but still found it strange. The North Island higher-ups must have known about Huang Xiaotao—after all, she had been an inner disciple of the Azure Cloud Pavilion before this. What was odd was that the leadership kept a unified silence on the matter; not only did Shangguan Tianxia's side say nothing, but no word leaked from the Azure Cloud Pavilion either. That was hardly reasonable. With the Azure Cloud Pavilion so weak now, even using Huang Xiaotao's affair to lift morale a little would have been worthwhile...

"I happen to know a little of the inside story," Hong Zhong suddenly spoke up. Seeing everyone looking at him in confusion, he smiled and said: "In fact, the East Continent academies come out to recruit disciples every year—not only to South Continent, but to every Cloud-Tier Island, Central Island included. But you've been here so long—have you ever heard of anyone from the North Island's Three-Tier Pavilion going to the East Continent Academy? Or seen the East Continent Academy come to North Island to recruit?"

"No." The others all shook their heads. Wei Zhao and the rest could perhaps be excused on the grounds that they had joined too recently, but Lu Bianren and Senior Brother Kubi had been around for how many years now, and still knew nothing of this—that was hardly normal.

"From what I know, the reason those East Continent academies don't come to North Island for open recruitment is that they have an agreement with the North Island's Three-Tier Pavilion. The specifics of the agreement are unknown; this old man only knows it in rough outline—essentially, the right of recommendation was handed over to the North Island's Three-Tier Pavilion. The East Continent academies need not come in person to select; the Pavilion's higher-ups make the recommendations on their behalf." Hong Zhong paused, then looked at Shangguan Lan'er and said: "And the man who spearheaded that agreement was your grandfather, Shangguan Tianxia."

The others were struck dumb all at once, though none of them found it surprising. If the North Island's Three-Tier Pavilion were to put forward one figure who could best represent North Island, it could only be Shangguan Tianxia; anyone else—even the masters of the Mystic Mechanism Pavilion and the Azure Cloud Pavilion—would struggle to command obedience.

"So that is to say, recommending prodigy disciples to the East Continent Academy is discussed only within the Three-Tier Pavilion's upper echelons, and never announced to ordinary disciples?" Wei Zhao asked thoughtfully. (To be continued...)