Chapter 4603 — So Who Goes?
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
Yet in the end this strange appointment went through without any suspense. For the one who put it forward was Jia Mufan, head senior brother and steward of the Azure Cloud Pavilion's inner sect—and more to the point, the Pavilion Master Yu Zhenyang himself approved it publicly and decisively. However displeased the elders were, they dared not defy Yu Zhenyang over so small a matter.
He was the Azure Cloud Pavilion Master, after all. For all that Yu Zhenyang always wore a mild, harmless air before figures like Shangguan Tianxia, if it came to these elders of his own pavilion he would not soften at all—he was, after all, a formidable being who had walked out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
No one knew what Yu Zhenyang was thinking, nor what Jia Mufan was thinking. The result was simply that Xiao Che was suddenly transformed into the Azure Cloud Pavilion's second senior brother and outer-sect steward, formally entering the sight of the pavilion's leadership and taking a firm step toward a position of real power.
"So what? You were second senior brother and outer-sect steward yourself before, Senior Brother Lu, and you still went to the South Island," Miserable Senior Brother and Xiao Che retorted almost in unison.
"Which is precisely why I lost the post..." Lu Bianren shook his head with a bitter smile, then said gravely: "Junior Brother Ku, Junior Brother Xiao, we're only going to the South Island to find someone—we won't need many hands. What matters more is that there's no telling how long this trip will take; a year or more would be no surprise. Given your present positions, a month's absence would already be a serious problem."
"That doesn't matter—at worst I give up the post," Xiao Che said carelessly.
"Right. I owe this seat as Third Pavilion Master of the Welcome Pavilion to Junior Brother Lin's efforts. If something happened to him and I just sat by, I couldn't sit easy in it—better not to hold it at all," Miserable Senior Brother nodded in agreement.
"Fools!" Lu Bianren suddenly jabbed a finger at the two of them. "If you know it's the fruit of Junior Brother Lin's heart and blood, how can you talk so lightly of tossing it aside? Is that loyalty? No—it is utterly wrong-headed. It is sheer, unmitigated folly. By betraying Junior Brother Lin's painstaking care like this, with what face would you go looking for him?"
Scolded so suddenly by Lu Bianren, Miserable Senior Brother and Xiao Che fell silent. Thinking it over carefully, it really was the truth.
"I had a purpose in asking you two in particular to stay," Lu Bianren went on, pleading earnestly. "That your posts keep you from leaving for long is only the first reason. The key is that both of you are, more or less, important figures—anyone who wanted to move against you would have to weigh the consequences first. So you're better suited than Hongcai and Zhengming to hold down the fort. Understand?"
"All right, we'll stay," Miserable Senior Brother and Xiao Che said, exchanging a glance and nodding. Just as Lu Bianren said, by any measure they were the best suited to remain guarding the North Island.
"Good. In that case we set out at once—first we'll see whether there's a suitable trial mission," Lu Bianren decided on the spot.
Together they made straight for the North Island Cultivators' Guild. As an inner-sect disciple, Lu Bianren could have gone directly to Jia Mufan, but then they could not have brought Qiao Hongcai and Li Zhengming along. (To be continued...)