Chapter 4612 — Seeing Lan'er Again
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 3
"Hehe, little junior brother, you were on South Island so long—what fun things happened? Come on, tell your senior sister! I've never once been to South Island in all my life! Is it true there are spirit beasts everywhere, and did you see any other Curly Bears?" Shangguan Lan'er asked, impatient for answers.
Apart from North Island, she had only ever been to Central Island and West Island—the former being the undisputed heart of the Cloud-Tier Isles, the latter the territory of her closest friend Ning Xuefei. South Island, though, was out of the question. That place was a nest of trouble for human cultivators; for ordinary folk it hardly mattered, but if a top-tier figure of North Island like Shangguan Tianxia were suddenly to appear in the South Continent seas, it would stir up no end of chaos.
"That's a long story. I'll tell you all about it slowly once we're back," Wei Zhao said with a smile. He called out to Lu Bianren, Senior Brother Miserable, and the others, and then, surrounded by the crowd, they made their way back in grand procession to the Azure Cloud Pavilion.
In theory Wei Zhao no longer had a residence in the Azure Cloud Pavilion—his old Residence Number One had long since been seized by Ma Dangfeng. But when Wei Zhao heard this, he only laughed it off. Ma Dangfeng had been able to hold Residence Number One only because Wei Zhao had not been back; now that he was, what claim could Ma Dangfeng possibly have?
Wei Zhao at once led the group straight to Residence Number One, sending word to Hong Zhong at the Hong Merchant Guild along the way. The whole party then set about preparing a banquet at Residence Number One, and the entire faction bearing Wei Zhao's name gathered joyfully under one roof to welcome him home and wash the dust of his journey away.
Beyond that, Wei Zhao sent word to no one else. By the rules, after vanishing for so long—and especially after crippling both of Ma Dangfeng's knees the moment he returned—he ought at the very least to report to the Azure Cloud Pavilion's upper echelon. But Wei Zhao had no such intention whatsoever.
He now held not the faintest shred of goodwill toward those so-called senior elders of the Azure Cloud Pavilion. That they had backed Ma Dangfeng in seizing his residence behind his back was simply beyond forbearance; had it been someone of a hotter temper, he would have stormed their doors and demanded satisfaction!
Wei Zhao, however, had no leisure for such things, so he simply chose to ignore them. From this day forth Residence Number One was his again; if any elder took issue with that, let him come and say so to his face—though he doubted any of them had the nerve.
Truth be told, before Wei Zhao had left for the South Continent, he had thought that anyone who could become an elder of the Azure Cloud Pavilion must be no ordinary character. But times had changed, and his horizons had risen with his strength. Now he could snuff out a Mystic Ascension cultivator with a single move—as for those so-called elders, most of them merely Nascent Soul, how much weight they could possibly carry in his eyes was a real mystery to behold…
While Wei Zhao and his people bustled merrily about preparing the banquet at Residence Number One, Ma Dangfeng—its master in name—was in a truly sorry state. Both his knees had been ground to powder by Wei Zhao's Five Elements killing aura. Though he would not be a total cripple for life, even the medical prowess of North Island's Pill Hall would not mend him easily.
Even on the most optimistic estimate, full recovery would take at least half a year. Unless a medical sage like Zhang Lifeng attended him in person, he would be a complete invalid for the next six months. His own words had indeed come home to roost—lying at home day after day to recuperate, with not a ray of light to be seen!