Chapter 4639 — A Familiar Voice

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Feng Lu led them toward the Island Master's Palace in the very heart of West Island. Everything they saw along the way could be called the most prosperous district on West Island.

The main thoroughfares branched out in every direction, lined with rows upon rows of buildings of every description. They passed bustling, clamorous marketplaces and large, sumptuous shops of every high-end variety. The overall impression Wei Zhao received was in no way inferior to Central Island—and these buildings, in their exquisite beauty, were a cut above Central Island besides. After all, West Island was a gathering place for female cultivators, and a woman's pursuit of beauty was far more tenacious than a man's.

This was Wei Zhao's first visit to West Island, and this legendary stronghold of female cultivators naturally filled him with curiosity. He could not help looking all around as they went, and discovered that although women made up the great majority here, it was not as though there were no men at all; men could still be seen in the streets and alleys and in the various shops.

And while Wei Zhao and his party were sizing up their surroundings, the West Islanders were likewise staring at them. The female cultivators here were far more warm and uninhibited than he had imagined—some even blew them kisses in broad daylight.

"I thought West Island would be a kingdom of women," Wei Zhao said in some surprise. "I never expected the proportion of men to be so high. Fewer than the women, yes, but about the same ratio as the female cultivators back on North Island—only reversed."

"You still don't know, do you, little junior brother? Here on West Island men have no rights to speak of. They can only survive by attaching themselves to a female cultivator. So don't go wandering off, or someone might take a liking to you and carry you home as a male attendant!" Shangguan Lan'er narrowed her eyes and smiled teasingly.

"Huh? A male attendant?" Wei Zhao was struck dumb.

"Heh heh, Miss Shangguan is only joking. Envoy Lin needn't be nervous." Feng Lu laughed at this and explained, "But it's true that West Island is dominated by female cultivators, just as North Island is dominated by male cultivators. Here the powerful experts are mostly women. It's not that there are no strong male cultivators, but they are very few in number. The vast majority of male cultivators are nothing special in strength—some are even ordinary folk—so they can only live by depending on a female cultivator."

"Then what if their strength is equal? The woman still holds the higher status, I suppose?" Wei Zhao could not resist asking out of curiosity.

"Exactly. Here many things can only be done by female cultivators, and certain high-class venues only admit women. Unless a male cultivator receives the Island Master's personal dispensation, no matter how strong he is, it makes no difference." Feng Lu spoke without the least attempt to gloss over it.

"I see." Wei Zhao nodded. Having heard all this, he now had a rough understanding of West Island. It was, in essence, a society ruled by women—though not an absolute one. In a truly absolute matriarchy, men would have no room to rise at all, but here that was not necessarily impossible: with sufficient strength, and with the Island Master's favor, there was a sliver of a chance.

Yet having grasped this, Wei Zhao found Ning Xuefei's past behavior all the more astonishing. Raised in such an atmosphere, her feminism ought to be deeply ingrained. But in their two previous encounters, she had shown no sign of it whatsoever; she had struck him as much the same as Shangguan Lan'er—nothing more than a naive, carefree little princess.

"Is Ning Xuefei a feminist too?" Wei Zhao asked Shangguan Lan'er in a low voice.

Had it been any other native of Cloud Terrace Island, such a novel term would certainly have left them dumbfounded. But Shangguan Lan'er had been with Wei Zhao so long, and had always pestered him for tales of the mortal world, that she was long since inured to such words. Hearing this, she smiled brightly at once: "No, she isn't. Feifei may be the princess of West Island, but the education she received wasn't purely feminist—it was about the same as ours."

"Why is that? Isn't she the heir to West Island?" Wei Zhao could not help but find it strange. Since Ning Xuefei was the princess of West Island, and West Island was a matriarchal society, that meant she would very likely take charge of the island one day. By any normal reasoning, she ought to have received orthodox feminist instruction—otherwise how would she wield power in the future?

"She is the heir—and precisely because of that, she can't receive purely feminist education. Otherwise how would she go out and deal with the other experts of Cloud Terrace Island in the future? Here men are of low status, but that isn't so elsewhere. If she really had been raised from childhood as a feminist, how could she ever change her mindset? There'd be a catastrophe!" Shangguan Lan'er said with a grin, though her words struck straight to the heart of the matter.

Only then did Wei Zhao understand. It was just as Shangguan Lan'er said: a true feminist's worldview was almost irreconcilable with everyone else's. But West Island could not possibly exist independently of the other great Cloud Terrace Islands. In that case, if a feminist were to hold sole power, there really would be grave trouble—she might well make enemies on every side, and the days ahead would be hard indeed.

Walking and looking all the way, by the time they neared the Island Master's Palace, Wei Zhao and Shangguan Lan'er's group parted ways. Shangguan Lan'er went first to rest at the residence within the palace, and the others scattered to their own affairs. Wei Zhao, as the official envoy of North Island, had to follow Feng Lu to handle certain related matters.

A visit between two islands was no less than diplomacy between two nations, and a mountain of tedious formalities was naturally unavoidable. When Wei Zhao had finally muddled his way through it all, he went at once to find Shangguan Lan'er.

The residence arranged for Shangguan Lan'er was inside the Island Master's Palace itself. By rule, no man might enter the Island Master's Palace—but Wei Zhao was an exception. He was the official envoy representing North Island; to treat him like an ordinary man would be to slap North Island in the face.

Moreover, Ning Xuefei had given special instructions to everyone in the palace days in advance: Wei Zhao was her good friend and was on no account to be slighted in the least. So once the guards confirmed his identity, they let him through without hesitation, and even assigned a man to guide him personally, lest he wander alone through the palace and stray where he should not.

Arriving at Shangguan Lan'er's residence, Wei Zhao was just about to raise his hand and knock when he suddenly heard bursts of laughter and conversation from within. Clearly the people inside were enjoying themselves immensely. But besides Shangguan Lan'er and Ning Xuefei, there seemed to be the voice of another girl—and it sounded very familiar?!

In an instant Wei Zhao felt as though he had been struck by lightning, and he froze outside the door, unable to move! (To be continued...)