Chapter 3558 — The Master of the Triple Pavilion
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 3
Of the two vice-pavilion masters, Feng Song was the one who posed the greatest threat to Hu Yunfeng's position as pavilion master. His backing might not be as formidable as Hu Yunfeng's, but nearly every newcomer chosen by the Xuanji Pavilion had thrown in their lot with him, and in both strength and influence he was far from weak—Hu Yunfeng's greatest rival at present.
As for the remaining vice-pavilion master, his rank was the same as Feng Song's, but since his backer, the Azure Cloud Pavilion, was utterly ineffectual, and he himself had no remarkable strength to speak of, he had been thoroughly marginalized within the Welcome Pavilion. Never mind competing for the pavilion master's seat—by the look of things, he might not even be able to hold on to his vice-pavilion master post. Even the Azure Cloud Pavilion's own newcomers did no more than call him Third Pavilion Master to his face, so awkward was his standing.
Had it not been for the Three Pavilion Summit, where the balance of power made it necessary to install a Third Pavilion Master, the Welcome Pavilion would have been a world of Hu Yunfeng and Feng Song alone!
Compared with the first two groups, whose pavilion master and vice-pavilion master had come out in person to receive them, the miserable senior brother and Wei Zhao, arriving last, found no one to attend to them at all. Not a single personage of note appeared, and even the lowliest Welcome Pavilion disciple could not be bothered with them. The Azure Cloud Pavilion, a notorious dumping ground for the useless, was fated to amount to nothing in this life—so why bother greeting them?
What puzzled Wei Zhao most, however, was this: fine, no pavilion master had come, but why had no one else from the Azure Cloud Pavilion turned up to welcome them either? Even without any grand retinue, surely their own people should have come?
It made Wei Zhao think that the miserable senior brother's words on the road had not been idle talk—even this, the lowliest of the three pavilions, was not a solid, unified block.
And it was not only Wei Zhao who felt aggrieved. Even Xiao Che, who had been bent on keeping a low profile, was equally dismayed at the sight. After all, everyone who could come to Ascending Cloud Terrace Island stood at the very pinnacle of the mortal world; if not overlords in their own right, then dragons among men, favored children of heaven—when had any of them ever been so coldly neglected?
If everyone had received the same treatment, there would be nothing to feel bitter about. The trouble was that the others all had heavyweight figures come out to receive them, while on their side not even a bottom-rung underling had shown up. The disparity was simply too glaring.
Such differential treatment meant they had lost at the starting line before the race had even begun, and one could well imagine how their days in the Welcome Pavilion would go from here.
The miserable senior brother had expected this. Seeing the two men's faces cloud over, he could only offer an awkward consolation: "Our Azure Cloud Pavilion may not compare with the other two, but we do in fact have a vice-pavilion master. He had said he would bring people to welcome you, but the pavilion master summoned him away at the last moment for some odds and ends, so..."
Wei Zhao and Xiao Che exchanged a bitter smile. Judging by the pomp on the other two sides, it was clear the Welcome Pavilion set great store by its newcomers—yet their own Azure Cloud Pavilion's vice-pavilion master had been dispatched at a moment's notice to run errands, unable even to step out and greet the newcomers. That told them plainly enough how weak his standing was.
No wonder even the Azure Cloud Pavilion could not present a united front internally. Were any newcomer treated so coldly and still prove willing to follow that vice-pavilion master's every word, that would be a genuine ghost-sighting.