Chapter 3852 — Pleading with the Pavilion Master
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
But that Lin Er was a different matter. Even if the boy could punch above his level to deal with Yu Jiang, even if he could use that move—whatever it might be called, a killing art that could only be described as world-shaking—to slay Nan Tianyong, a cultivator at the very peak of the late Foundation Establishment stage in an instant, in the end his potential was still far from developed, and his true strength remained pitifully weak.
If Nan Tianguan seized the occasion to blow the matter up and force the Soaring Sky Pavilion's high command to bring pressure on the Law-Enforcement Hall, making them dig three feet into the earth to root out Lin Er, then the boy's fate would be hard to predict. With his present strength, after all, he could not withstand any real storm.
As things stood, even if Hong Zhong wished to lend Wei Zhao a hand, he was powerless to do so; like Nan Tianguan and Yu Jiang, he knew nothing whatsoever about Wei Zhao's true background.
On the other side, having swallowed such a silent, stinging defeat at the Hong Clan Merchant Guild, Nan Tianguan was naturally not about to let the matter drop.
The first thing he did upon returning to the Soaring Sky Pavilion was to write to that Four-Direction Inspector of the Hong Shadow Division far away on Middle Island. No need for embellishment—he had only to recount faithfully what had happened at the Hong Clan Merchant Guild that day, and the rest would no longer require his hand.
The higher a man's station and the greater his authority, the more he values something like face. Hong Zhong's disregard for his letter was tantamount to disregard for the man himself; even without Nan Tianguan stirring the pot, that Four-Direction Inspector on Middle Island would surely move against Hong Zhong for the sake of his dignity.
Yet the Law-Enforcement Hall was one of the top-ranked halls of the Threefold Pavilion of the North Island, its power by no means trivial. To say nothing of a mere managing senior disciple of the Soaring Sky Pavilion like Nan Tianguan—even those elders of somewhat lesser authority might not be able to exert the slightest influence over it.
Looking across the whole of the Soaring Sky Pavilion, those who could make Gongsun Jie, the Hall Master of the Law-Enforcement Hall, bow his head one hundred percent numbered no more than a handful; and the man Nan Tianguan intended to seek out this time was precisely the most exalted of them all—the Pavilion Master of the Soaring Sky Pavilion, Shangguan Tianxia.
Nan Tianguan had gone to Shangguan Tianxia only after deep deliberation. Shangguan Tianxia was the undisputed head of the Soaring Sky Pavilion; now that the third brother, who served as the Pavilion's supervising steward, had been killed, it was only natural for the second brother to seek justice from the head, and no one could fault him for it.
Shangguan Tianxia, that head of the Soaring Sky Pavilion, was a supreme figure standing at the very apex of the North Island's pyramid; even Nan Tianguan, managing senior disciple of the Soaring Sky Pavilion though he was, would find it no easy matter to obtain an audience.
Fortunately, Nan Tianguan had not held that post in vain. By virtue of his office he dealt frequently with these lofty personages; though he exchanged barely a few words with them, over time he had more or less learned the patterns of their comings and goings.
Shangguan Tianxia seldom went out after nightfall each day—but to go looking for him at the Pavilion Master's cave dwelling on that account would surely be to find it empty, for under normal circumstances he would be at the Hualan Residence.