Chapter 5166 — Wei Zhao's Origins, Part One
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"A children's game?" Wei Zhao's mouth twitched. True, whether seen from his own vantage or Lin Dongfang's, turning Bing Wushuang and the others had been no grand maneuver—just small skirmishes, when all was said and done—but surely it was still a cut above a children's game...
"What? You think it wasn't?" Lin Dongfang curled his lip with a grin. Set beside the sort of things Yang Zhao had done back in the day, calling Wei Zhao's little exploits a children's game was not the least exaggeration.
Wei Zhao laughed outright at that, and his curiosity got the better of him. "Since there's nothing to do just now anyway, why not just tell me about my master and the Center? Every time I asked before, you always kept me hanging, but I've got at least a bit of strength and ability now—surely you don't mean to keep hiding it even at this point?"
He had asked this question countless times growing up, but Lin Dongfang had never told him, always putting him off with the excuse that his strength was too meager and it would be wasted breath. Now that it had come up in passing, he asked out of habit—though in his heart he held no hope at all.
To his utter astonishment, Lin Dongfang pondered for a moment and then said, "Very well. Since we've come this far, I may as well tell you—at least it will set your mind at ease and let you know what you'll be doing from here on."
"Truly?!" Wei Zhao was the one startled now, and half nervous, half excited, he hurried him along. "Tell me! Tell me!"
His loss of composure was no wonder. He knew next to nothing about these matters and had always been deeply curious—it had very nearly become a chronic ache in his heart. Now that Lin Dongfang had suddenly loosened his tongue, it would have been strange if he were not agitated.
"All right, but where should I begin?" Lin Dongfang rubbed the space between his brows.
"From the beginning, of course. Don't keep me in suspense, old man—hurry up." Wei Zhao could scarcely wait.
"From the beginning? How long would that take?" Lin Dongfang shot him a look, then said, "Let's start with the Center, then. Do you know who founded the Center, boy?"
"Who?" Wei Zhao asked at once. Ever since this projection of his primal spirit had returned to the mundane world, he had wanted to investigate the Center—and apart from that method of the Center's for traveling between the mundane world and Cloud Terrace Island, this was the thing he most wanted to know. Only by knowing the Center's founder could one truly understand where it came from and whither it went.
"Li Bozhao. That man controls Era Technology, and the Center was built by his hand alone," Lin Dongfang said.
"Era Technology? No wonder the Center's technological strength is so formidable—so that's where it got its start." Enlightenment dawned on Wei Zhao. Then he pressed on. "So how did he come to be at odds with my master?"
"Heh. At first it wasn't your master Yang Zhao he fought—his greatest enemy was actually your grandfather," Lin Dongfang said with a smile.
"What? My grandfather? You knew my grandfather?" Wei Zhao was struck dumb. All his life he had believed himself an orphan, an abandoned infant Lin Dongfang had picked up somewhere; apart from Lin Dongfang, his only true elder had been his master Yang Zhao. Yet from the drift of Lin Dongfang's words, the old man actually knew his own grandfather?!
"Of course. The feud between your family and the Center runs deep. If your grandfather hadn't snatched away the heaven-born woman Li Bozhao yearned for day and night, why would Li Bozhao have fought your family to the death?" Lin Dongfang said mildly.
"What? It even goes back to my grandfather's generation?" Wei Zhao found it beyond belief. He had assumed the grudge was at most a matter between Li Bozhao and his master—who would have thought it stretched back so far, dragging in even his grandfather? And his grandfather had snatched someone's heaven-born woman?