Chapter 4629 — The Second Steward
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"Oh?" Shangguan Tianxia opened the box. Inside lay two things: an exquisite spirit-jade vial, and something wrapped in a piece of red cloth. His eyes lit up at once. "Star-Ink Milk? Infant Ginseng? This boy truly does not stint when he gives!"
Star-Ink Milk and Infant Ginseng alike were treasures scarcely to be found anywhere in the world, and their value did not diminish simply because a man of Shangguan Tianxia's cultivation had no need of them. Even if they availed him nothing himself, he could always pass them on as gifts—and beyond that, both could be used to refine still more advanced pills. By any reckoning, the value of Wei Zhao's return of courtesy was likely no less than that of his Dewtip Spirit Tea.
"Hehe, none of that is any trouble for our young junior brother!" Shangguan Lan'er raised her chin in smug triumph.
"Haha, well, let us see how far he can go. That will do, little Lan'er—since you gave the Ten-Thousand-Word True Word to someone else, you may make a fresh copy of it yourself. It is the ancestral learning of our Shangguan family, after all; we cannot simply let it vanish." Shangguan Tianxia watched his granddaughter with a hint of mischief in his eyes.
"What? A full ten thousand characters! Grandfather, you must be joking!"
"I am not joking. This weighty task falls to you. Write it slowly." Shangguan Tianxia's smile remained, but his tone left no room for argument.
"Oh..." Shangguan Lan'er wilted completely and trudged off toward the study. The Ten-Thousand-Word True Word—how long would it take her to finish writing that?
"Just as well. Let the girl temper her character a little." Shangguan Tianxia smiled to himself, then turned back to the gifts Wei Zhao had left and recalled what the young man had said earlier. All at once he snapped his fingers and spoke into empty air: "Bring me the files on Xu Lingchong and the whole crowd gathered under him. Assign some men to keep watch on them."
Coming out of Hualan Residence, Wei Zhao felt clear-headed and light of spirit—not only because he had drunk the Dewtip, but still more because he had obtained the Ten-Thousand-Word True Word. He had so far given it only a cursory glance, yet he already knew that this piece of calligraphy was no ordinary thing. When he found the time later to ponder it deeply, he was sure he would reap no small reward.
Back at the Azure Cloud Pavilion, Wei Zhao meant to begin refining pills at once, but to his surprise someone was waiting outside the gate of his separate courtyard—none other than Jia Mufan, the chief senior brother and steward of the inner sect.
"Senior Brother Jia, I trust you have been well." Wei Zhao cupped his hands in salute from a distance.
"And you, Junior Brother Lin. You have kept me waiting a long while." Jia Mufan came forward with a smile. This was the plain truth: he had come to call on Wei Zhao at first light, never imagining that Wei Zhao had not been home all night. For the chief senior brother and steward of the inner sect to wait two full hours outside a gate was a curious anecdote in its own right.
"Oh? Senior Brother Jia has business with me? Come, please, inside!" Wei Zhao hurriedly ushered him into the residence.
"Haha. Junior Brother Lin, you are the most watched prodigy in our Azure Cloud Pavilion. After such a long journey abroad, it was only proper that I, as your senior brother, come to look in on you. Would you not agree?" Jia Mufan said with a smile.
In truth, given Wei Zhao's present strength and standing, Jia Mufan—once he learned of his return, and above all once he learned that Wei Zhao had crippled Ma Dangfeng, a mid-Nascent Soul cultivator, in a single move—had meant to rush over the very first moment of the previous day. But Wei Zhao and his companions had been busy with their gathering, and no invitation had been sent to him, so he had tactfully put it off until today.