Chapter 4520 — No Word
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 3
In this respect, Qi Mingyuan could be counted as exceedingly generous. After all, a twenty percent share was no small sum. Anyone else would be only too eager to swallow it back after Wei Zhao's death—Wei Zhao had no children, no disciples, no heirs of any kind. By rights, the moment he died, that twenty percent share would naturally revert to the escort agency, and no one would say a word against it.
"That... I really do not know how to contact Junior Sister Huang. I only know she is at the Morning Star Academy in the Eastern Continent..." Qi Wenmo shook his head, at a loss. When it came down to it, he and Huang Xiaotao were not close at all—they had met only a handful of times, had scarcely exchanged a few words, and she was, besides, somewhere as impossibly distant as the Eastern Continent.
"Then keep it set aside for her for now. Once we find a way to reach her, we will give it to her then." Qi Mingyuan pondered aloud. The Eastern Continent, after all, was not a place just anyone could go. Even knowing that the Morning Star Academy was in the Gaolin Sea, a man of Qi Mingyuan's own strength was far from qualified to go there alone in search of someone—let alone any of his subordinates.
"Yes, sir!" Qi Wenmo nodded with solemn gravity. Though he was the sole heir of the Qingtian Escort Agency, he raised both hands in wholehearted support of his father's decision.
There might have been something of far-sighted calculation in Qi Mingyuan's decision, but Qi Wenmo's support sprang from pure loyalty between friends. If Wei Zhao truly did not return this time, Qi Wenmo would not only have no thought of swallowing that twenty percent share—he would instead seek every means to repay more. That was what became a man of his feeling.
Bearing the halo of the Southern Continent's escort overlord, the Qingtian Escort Agency returned in glory to Weihu City. The Weihu docks thronged with people; the heads and leaders of every power great and small throughout the Weihu Sea had almost all turned out. Such a grand and bustling scene had not been seen in Weihu City for several decades.
The purpose of all these powers' leaders gathering here was plain enough: to be the first to curry favor with the Qingtian Escort Agency and leave a good impression in the heart of Qi Mingyuan, whose star was at its zenith.
After all, this was the new overlord of the Southern Continent's escort agencies, a status equivalent to the leader of the righteous path across the Southern Continent's seas. His influence in the days to come would be no small thing. Such a figure—even if one could not have him as a friend, one absolutely must not have him as an enemy!
And so even the local strongmen who had once held grudges against the Qingtian Escort Agency came bearing lavish gifts to make overtures, seeking by every means to seize this chance to bury the hatchet with a smile.
By contrast, the Dragon Boat Escort Agency, which had returned to Weihu City a full month earlier, enjoyed no such pomp. Even if it had recovered the title of the second-ranked escort agency, and rumors even held that it had a top-tier patron like the Xishan Old Sect behind it—the problem was that the Xishan Old Sect was not present. Who could say whether that giant of the crooked path would truly stoop to come sit in the Dragon Boat Escort Agency's headquarters?
If the Xishan Old Sect really did descend upon Weihu City, then everyone present would naturally have to treat the Dragon Boat Escort Agency with the utmost respect—when under another's roof, one must bow one's head. But until then, it was better to keep one's distance.
After all, in the absence of absolute power to overawe, the slogan that the righteous and the crooked can never coexist still had a ready market. To avoid inviting public censure, it was best not to be associated with the Dragon Boat Escort Agency for now. Such a thing could only bring harm and no benefit, and everyone present was no fool.