Chapter 4948 — Better Not
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"Has something happened?" Wei Zhao was briefly taken aback, but before he could push forward and ask what was going on, the crowd ahead spontaneously parted to open a passage.
Then Zhuang Yifan came up to meet him in person, all smiles. "Master Lin is indeed a man of rare punctuality and good faith. Come, come—this way, please!"
The crowd from the other academies erupted at once. Though the great majority of them had already heard about that morning's affair, they had only heard tell of it and never laid eyes on the man himself; only now were they seeing Wei Zhao for the first time—this ruthless character who had toppled Zang Zili despite being outclassed in rank!
And what astonished them even more was that Zhuang Yifan, as the Alliance Chairman, not only refrained from punishing him, but actually lowered himself to come out and welcome him in person—so much so that he had left all these academies of theirs standing outside in the cold wind. This was, quite frankly, treatment reserved for a guest of the highest distinction. Just who on earth was this Wei Zhao?
Wei Zhao himself hardly knew whether to laugh or cry at the sight. So these people had been shut out precisely because of him. To get him to brew pills for him, Zhuang Yifan really had gone to no small trouble in every conceivable regard.
"To have Chairman Zhuang come out to receive me in person—I am truly overwhelmed." Wei Zhao offered the greeting with a smile.
"Not at all, not at all. This is the most basic courtesy due a Mystic-rank alchemist. To say nothing of this Yellow-rank sea region—even in a Mystic-rank sea region it would be the same. Master Lin need not be so modest." Smiling, Zhuang Yifan ushered Wei Zhao into the banquet hall that had long since been made ready. Only after they had entered were the people of the other academies finally able to file in behind them.
Inside the vast banquet hall, a hundred tables of wines and dishes were laid out in full array. After Zhuang Yifan personally led Wei Zhao to the seat of honor at the head table in the very center and sat him down, the rest of the crowd went searching for their own places.
These seats were not to be taken at random—which table belonged to which academy was explicitly prescribed. Top-tier academies like Thunderclap Academy were placed right beside the head table, their every move watched with close attention, while those no-account little academies were simply relegated to the back by the gates, so far off that not a soul could be seen, let alone any sense of presence.
Yet even a top-tier academy like Thunderclap could only be near the head table; it could never claim a seat at it.
The head table had only eight places, long reserved exclusively for Zhuang Yifan and the other high officers of the Academy Alliance. Beyond that, only a very few academy representatives were ever permitted to share a table with them. In times past, had the head of Thunderclap Academy come in person, he might have been allotted a place; but this time only the Libation Officer leading the delegation had come—how could he be qualified to sit at the same table as Zhuang Yifan?
From every direction, the hundreds of tables of people watched the head table's every move. Wei Zhao was without question the focus of their talk, and every face was written over with envy and jealousy.
In this Yellow-rank sea region, to sit at Zhuang Yifan's side was the height of glory—even most academy heads had no such qualification. How much less a young man of no renown like Wei Zhao?
But compared with that, the others who successively took their seats at the head table made their jaws drop even further. Wang Xinyan, Huang Xiaotao, Huo Yudie, Liu Ziqi, Li Ren—just what sort of people were these?!