Chapter 3555 — The Bitter Senior Brother
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 3
His manner, however, was nowhere near as arrogant as that of the previous two; on the contrary, he seemed rather approachable.
"Very well, thank you, Senior!" Xiao Che glanced at Wei Zhao, then climbed onto the flying spirit beast.
Wei Zhao followed him aboard.
The spirit beast rose slowly into the air, and Xiao Che could not help asking, "Senior, how should we address you?"
"Enough, stop calling me Senior. I am nothing but a miserable wretch—just call me Bitter Senior Brother." The freckled man shook his head.
"Huh?" Xiao Che was taken aback. He had found the freckled man approachable, but he never expected him to be this easygoing—going so far as to give himself the nickname Bitter Senior Brother.
"You two are both loose cultivators from the mortal realm, aren't you?" Bitter Senior Brother asked.
"You could say so... How did you know?" That surprised Wei Zhao. He roughly knew Xiao Che's background; calling him a loose cultivator was fair enough, since the Xiao family was no longer an ancient clan.
"Six people were sent to the northern island this time. The first to come for recruits was someone from the Soaring Heaven Pavilion—those two must be ruthless figures from a major sect, no?" Bitter Senior Brother asked with a smile.
"Indeed, Bitter... Senior Brother, how do you know?" Xiao Che was surprised as well.
"The second to come was from the Mystic Mechanism Pavilion. Those two must be cultivators who look quite advanced in years, no?" Bitter Senior Brother went on guessing.
"Right again." Wei Zhao nodded. "Bitter Senior Brother, why is that?"
Bitter Senior Brother did not explain; he merely continued, "I am the guide envoy of the Azure Cloud Pavilion. Among the three pavilions, ours ranks lowest in standing. Every time, we choose last, and the disciples who join us are mostly loose cultivators of humble origins."
"Uh... so what you mean, Senior Brother, is that those people earlier have, in effect, joined the Soaring Heaven Pavilion and the Mystic Mechanism Pavilion?" Wei Zhao was rather startled. He had not imagined Cloud Terrace Island would be like this—that sects existed here at all, and that within this one sect there appeared to be three distinct factions. That was somewhat troubling.
"Precisely! The Soaring Heaven Pavilion is the most orthodox of the pavilions on the northern island of the Heaven Rank. It is filled with second-generation cultivators and the outstanding descendants of the island's prestigious old families; even those who came from the mortal realm are core disciples of major sects." Bitter Senior Brother said, "They are the ones you must never cross on the northern island of the Heaven Rank. Next is the Mystic Mechanism Pavilion. That place is full of old men—though of course one cannot say the other pavilions have no old men; it is simply that theirs has a great many, and they are not fond of taking in youngsters. Not even those who look young and reached the Heaven Rank early with eternally youthful faces will do—unless they are their own descendants. These people flaunt their seniority; several of them were founding elders of the northern island of the Heaven Rank. Their strength may not match the Soaring Heaven Pavilion's, but it is by no means weak! And the weakest of all is our Azure Cloud Pavilion!"
"Well... humble origins aren't necessarily weak..." Wei Zhao said with a bitter smile.