Chapter 3921 — The Reason for Letting Her Go
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
For a young miss like Shangguan Lan'er, sheltered from the world, not daring to kill because she had never seen blood was understandable enough. But in a situation like the one just now—having been repaid kindness with such malice by Murong Zhen, knowing full well what would come of letting her go, and not even needing to do the deed herself—any normal person would not have softened.
"Eh? Her name is Murong Zhen? Little junior brother, do you know her?" Shangguan Lan'er asked in surprise, forgetting even the agony in her shoulder.
"She's a newcomer who joined the Azure Cloud Pavilion partway through. Before that, she seems to have been a relative of one of the elders of the Skyward Pavilion," Wei Zhao explained.
Shangguan Lan'er froze for a moment. Only after a good while did she react with a belated "Aiya": "Now I know why she wants to kill me—she's that woman I ran into at Huayang Residence! But I only ever saw her that one time, we shouldn't have any grudge. She scolded me for being ill-bred, and I didn't even talk back!"
So that was it! Wei Zhao understood. The reason Murong Zhen had been demoted to a newcomer of the Azure Cloud Pavilion probably traced back to offending Shangguan Lan'er. After all, even if Shangguan Lan'er herself did not mind, others around her, eager to curry favor, would have taken care of it on her behalf.
Otherwise, no matter how venomous Murong Zhen's nature, she would not have gone so far as to repay kindness with malice and insist on putting this young miss to death.
"A woman like her—it's probably precisely because you never took her to heart that she hates you all the more. In the end it's jealousy at work. This time you kindly let her off, and she will likely only grow worse. She will certainly keep looking for chances to strike at you," Wei Zhao said with a faint shake of his head.
From where he stood, no matter how he looked at it, Shangguan Lan'er's decision was playing with fire; sooner or later it would drag her down with it.
"Mm, but I still don't want to kill her. Not just her—any other person, any spirit beast, all living things—I don't want any of them to die because of me." Shangguan Lan'er paused, her eyes clear as water: "Because I want to achieve great compassion."
"Great compassion?" Wei Zhao was taken aback. It was the first time he had heard the term, and it did not sound like anything within the normal scope of cultivation.
"Grandfather said that anyone who harbors great compassion can, in ways unseen, alter their fate and fortune, so their grand vow is certain to be fulfilled. That's why I must achieve great compassion," Shangguan Lan'er said with unprecedented seriousness.
"Then what is this grand vow of yours?" Wei Zhao asked curiously.
Shangguan Lan'er smiled brightly: "Why, to bring my daddy back safe and sound, of course!"
"Your daddy? What happened to him?" Wei Zhao was surprised again.
He had been here long enough by now, and great figures like Shangguan Tianxia, the Pavilion Master of the Skyward Pavilion, were already familiar to his ears. Yet of Shangguan Lan'er's father—Shangguan Tianxia's only son—he had never heard a word, as if the man did not exist at all.
By rights, with a mighty patron like Shangguan Tianxia behind him, even the poorest cultivation aptitude should have been enough to thrive; there was no reason he should have no presence at all in these Threefold Pavilion grounds.
"Grandfather told me that Daddy went with some others on a very mysterious mission. He's been gone several years now, and to this day there's been no word at all." Shangguan Lan'er's face fell, her eyes going dull. R1152