Chapter 3900 — The Shame of the Threefold Pavilion
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
Wei Zhao could not help a secret pang of alarm. To hold their own against a full ten elders of the Threefold Pavilion at once—just how powerful were those spirit beasts in the rear mountain's core?
No wonder Gui Dongxi had said during the last newcomer trial that if he faced those creatures at his present strength, a single glance from one of them would kill him as easily as breathing. Those words had been no idle boast.
At that, Wei Zhao suddenly thought of Yu Xiaoke and those comatose women who carried his inheritance, and his heart stirred. "This Rear Mountain Hall elder has been unconscious all this time and still hasn't recovered—didn't they ask Master Zhang Lifeng to lend a hand? Or is it that even he has no way?"
Shangguan Lan'er shook her head. "Master Zhang Lifeng is a figure at the very pinnacle of the entire Middle Island, and the master of the Middle Island's Pill Hall besides. How could he come to the North Island over a trifle like this? True, he came up from the North Island and is somewhat partial to it, but he stands for the Middle Island now. He can't be forever favoring one side over the other, rushing to help at the slightest little thing, can he?"
"I see." Wei Zhao breathed an inward sigh of relief. The Rear Mountain Hall elder's symptoms sounded rather like those of Yu Xiaoke and the others, and if Zhang Lifeng had no remedy for it either, that was cause for some worry.
After all, even though Zhao Hongbo had said on the elders' guidance day that Zhang Lifeng had a successful precedent in healing Master Bing and Master Xue, that was hearsay in the end—not a demonstrated case before his eyes.
"But Grandfather says the reason the Threefold Pavilion's council of elders decided against seeking Master Zhang Lifeng's help was that they hold a favor from him too precious to spend on such a small matter," Shangguan Lan'er went on.
Wei Zhao could not help but grimace. The life of a dignified Rear Mountain Hall elder—and that counted as a small matter?
Then again, on reflection, weighed against a favor owed by Zhang Lifeng, it did rather seem that way.
From the Threefold Pavilion's standpoint, experts of elder rank were rare, to be sure, but they could still be trained and recruited. A favor from Zhang Lifeng, by contrast, was used up one time and gone—a strategic resource beyond price, never to be squandered lightly.
"There! I've told you a secret this big, so now you'd better put your back into helping your senior sister!" Shangguan Lan'er rose on her tiptoes once more and patted Wei Zhao on the shoulder.
"Well... all right then." Wei Zhao thought it over, and in the end nodded in agreement.
He had wanted to use this rare chance to look around the rear mountain's outskirts and search for Heart-Eating Linglong Grass, but traveling together with Shangguan Lan'er would let him do both at once.
Besides, he was uneasy at the thought of Shangguan Lan'er wandering the rear mountain alone with Little Circle Bear. Even if the Rear Mountain Hall elders kept constant watch on her movements, should something truly go wrong, I fear that even their great power would not reach in time.
"But what exactly are these forging materials you want? Do you know where they are?" Wei Zhao asked.
Searching for a single thing in the vast rear mountain was like fishing a needle from the sea. Last time, hunting for Heart-Eating Linglong Grass, he had known its habits and traits and still only barely found it by luck. Without even that much to go on, success was well-nigh impossible.