Chapter 3559 — A Heap of Loose Sand

After all, Xu Lingchong not only outstripped them in strength but had a tougher backing behind him. Offend him, and not only would they themselves suffer, but even the patrons behind their families would be dragged into it. They were not about to do anything so foolish.

"These two are from the Soaring Heavens Pavilion, and from now on they belong to me. All of you, keep an eye out for them." Xu Lingchong pointed at Kang Jingming and his companion, greeting the crowd of cultivation heirs with easy, offhand swagger.

The cultivation heirs had held Kang Jingming and Zhong Yongliang in contempt from the bottom of their hearts—upstarts from the mundane world, the lot of them—but for Xu Lingchong's sake, and because the two of them could talk a decent line, they grudgingly took them in. One honors the Buddha, if not the monk; since these two had latched onto Young Master Xu's coattails, they could just about pass as people with backing.

And so, at the very moment Kang Jingming and his companion joined the cultivation heirs' faction—that is, the Soaring Heavens Pavilion—on the other side, Dongfang Badao and the Unlawful Boxer likewise wormed their way into the little circle to the left of the cultivation heirs.

Unlike the brash arrogance of the cultivation heirs, this circle was made up mostly of men no longer young, the youngest of them middle-aged at forty or fifty, and their average strength ran a notch above everyone else present. At the very least they were all fine hands who had just set foot in the peak Great Perfection of the late Heaven Rank. They did not talk much among themselves, but every one of them looked deep in scheming and domineering in bearing—not men to cross.

"These people are all from the Xuanji Pavilion. Their backing may not run as deep as the cultivation heirs', but they have age on their side, and their strength generally far outstrips fine hands of the same tier. Best to steer clear of them in future." The miserable senior brother went on drilling the two of them: "And these old things are the hardest to deal with—forever leaning on their years. Some of them are younger than others, but they broke through to the Heaven Rank early, so they do not look old! What gives them their edge is the pavilion master standing behind them in the Xuanji Pavilion! That pavilion master is said to be one of the most formidable figures on our Heaven Rank North Island—thoroughly unapproachable, and fiercely protective of his own. Even the Soaring Heavens Pavilion's pavilion master is a junior to him! So we had best not brush up against these people either! You know how it is in the mundane world—there is a thing called staged collisions. We have it here too! These old relics will pin some mishap on you at the slightest excuse, and then their pavilion master will still deign to take up the matter, and who suffers in the end? We do!"

Wei Zhao and his companion could only exchange a speechless look. The cultivation heirs were not to be provoked; the old men were not to be provoked either. Whoever they met, they would have to tuck their tails and keep their heads down. Of the three pavilions, the Azure Cloud Pavilion was the weakest—that saying, it seemed, was no lie.

What galled them most was that these old relics would even stage collisions? Was this really the cultivation world?

"Come, let me introduce you to our own newcomers in the Azure Cloud Pavilion. They are rootless wanderers like you, except they were selected from all over the island."

The miserable senior brother led Wei Zhao and his companion toward the last remaining circle. If the first impression given by the Soaring Heavens Pavilion's cultivation heirs was arrogance, and the first impression given by the Xuanji Pavilion's old men was domineering strength, then the first impression given by the Azure Cloud Pavilion's rootless wanderers was a heap of loose sand.

Their average strength was the weakest of the three circles, most of them only at the late Heaven Rank, few even at its peak, and those who had reached Great Perfection were rarer still than phoenix feathers and unicorn horns. No strength, no backing—a dozen or so of them stood there in slack disorder, and on the rare occasions they exchanged words it was in meek, subdued tones, without even the nerve to raise their voices. That was how feeble they were.

Yet even this little circle was split into several cliques, each going about its own business.

The miserable senior brother brought the two of them before the crowd and introduced them: "Fellow juniors, these two beside me are newcomers sent up from the mundane world, Wei Zhao and Xiao Che. They will be reserve disciples of our Azure Cloud Pavilion from now on. You might all get acquainted."

Wei Zhao was newly arrived. Though his strength surpassed everyone present, he was in no mood to show off. His chief purpose in coming to Cloud Terrace Island was to meet the peerless physician and pill sage Zhang Lifeng, not to compete with these people over anything.

So he and Xiao Che joined in greeting the crowd, but the crowd merely gave the two of them a cold glance, unwilling even to return the greeting, let alone strike up a conversation.

"Ha, you have all just arrived and do not know one another yet. It will be better in time." The miserable senior brother's face flushed crimson, and he forced a chuckle to cover his embarrassment.

Even he had not expected such coldness from these people, and what mortified him most was that he had let Wei Zhao and his companion see him made a fool of so soon. Whatever else, he was an outstanding disciple of the Welcome Pavilion's previous generation, appointed by the Azure Cloud Pavilion as a steward here—one of the Azure Cloud Pavilion's two steward senior brothers on the island! In future he would still be overseeing their daily cultivation, their assignments, and the distribution of cultivation resources. These people were giving him no face at all.

"Heh... it is nothing. There is plenty of time." Wei Zhao patted the miserable senior brother in understanding. He had already seen it: this miserable senior brother was a good man, but he commanded no authority, and his own temperament was hardly forceful enough. Even these newcomers did not buy his account—they simply saw him as a soft-hearted elder worth pushing around.

What rather puzzled Wei Zhao was this: he and Xiao Che were both fine hands at the peak Great Perfection of the late Heaven Rank, and only thus had they earned their passage to Cloud Terrace Island. So why was it that among the people before him, some were merely at the late Heaven Rank and had still made it here?

But such a question was not one to put in the present circumstances. Wei Zhao let it pass, resolving to ask once no one was around.

Just then, however, a man stepped out from the Azure Cloud Pavilion crowd—the only fine hand among them at the peak Great Perfection of the late Heaven Rank. His exact age was unclear; by his looks he was not yet thirty.

He walked up to Wei Zhao, sized the two of them up and down a few times, and said with scorn: "Sent up from the mundane world, are you? So even in a backwater like the mundane world, there are people who know a thing or two about cultivation—now that really opens my eyes. To make it to our Cloud Terrace Island's North Island must be fortune earned over eight generations of your ancestors!"

As the words fell, the other newcomers standing nearby burst into laughter. In this place they rootless wanderers were the lowest of the low, able only to murmur and defer and dare not speak up—but hearing this, they suddenly realized that they were not, after all, the very worst. There were people even lowlier than themselves!