Chapter 586 — The Zhao Family Head
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 3
To deal with Wei Zhao, they first had to ascertain his true background; they could not act rashly. If Wei Zhao truly was a prized talent cultivated with the full resources of some other hidden clan, and they killed him, that clan would likely throw everything they had into a desperate, all-out war with the Zhao family, sparing no cost!
To be at the Mystic rank at twenty meant a future with no limits—he might even reach the late Earth rank, or even the Heaven rank. If the Zhao family were to kill such a man, the family behind Wei Zhao would very likely go mad with fury.
Still, they could not rule out the possibility that Wei Zhao had merely been a blind cat stumbling onto a dead mouse—that he had swallowed some miraculous elixir, or broken through by sheer freak coincidence. If that were so, then they could simply have him wiped out and save themselves the trouble of nursing a tiger that would one day turn on them.
It was the first time Li Cihua had heard the Family Head speak in such a tone. He was briefly taken aback, but still answered, "Understood."
The ambulance arrived. Li Cihua sent Young Master Bing and Uncle Zhu to the hospital for basic treatment first, then waited for the Medicine King to come in person and tend to them.
Meanwhile, Zhao Guangyin put down the phone and sat in silence for a moment. Then, his expression grave, he rose and strode quickly out of the room, into the open air, and toward a detached villa.
"Young Master of the House, you have come." Zhao Guangyin had barely reached the villa's gate when an old man appeared out of nowhere and blocked his way. The old man's words were courteous, but he showed not the slightest intention of letting Zhao Guangyin in.
Zhao Guangyin took no offense; instead he said to the old man with every appearance of respect, "Elder Bi, I wish to see my father." This Elder Bi was one of the few formidable men the Zhao family had left—a retainer of the house, and one of the right and left hands who had helped Zhao Guangyin's father conquer his domain. He had never married and had no children, and in his old age he remained at the elder Zhao's side, serving him faithfully as his right hand.
"Please wait a moment, Young Master of the House. I will announce you," Elder Bi said with a nod, then turned and went into the villa. Zhao Guangyin stood at the gate with a reverent expression, not daring to do anything else.
After a while Elder Bi came out again and nodded to Zhao Guangyin. "Young Master of the House, the Family Head bids you enter."
In truth, Zhao Guangyin was already the head of the Zhao family. The old master Zhao had stepped down from that position years ago to devote himself to cultivation and the pursuit of a higher realm. But in Elder Bi's eyes, old master Zhao would always be the head of the Zhao family, and Zhao Guangyin only the Young Master of the House.
Zhao Guangyin bore that form of address without complaint. After all, though he was the Family Head, in many matters he still had to seek his father's instruction. The Mystic-rank experts of the family he could command, but Earth-rank men like Elder Bi he could not.
Zhao Guangyin entered the villa with the utmost deference and saw that the old master was already seated in the reception hall, quietly savoring a cup of fragrant tea. Zhao Guangyin hastened to bow. "Father!"
"Mm. What have you come to see me about?" Old master Zhao had been wholly absorbed in cultivation, searching for the opportunity to break through to the Earth rank, and had long since paid little attention to family affairs. Unless some grave matter arose, Zhao Guangyin would not disturb him.
Indeed, the hidden clans as a rule did not meddle in the affairs of the mundane world. Though they all more or less had companies, spokesmen, and collateral descendants out in that world, their power was nothing like that of the Four Great Families and the Five Minor Clans.