Chapter 3852 — Pleading with the Pavilion Master

Just as Nan Tianguan and Yu Jiang were about to flee in haste, a sheet of letter paper came drifting lightly down before them—the very letter Nan Tianguan had earlier brandished to intimidate Hong Zhong, the one bearing the signature of a Four-Direction Inspector of the Hong Shadow Division.

"You think a scrap of paper like this is enough to threaten this old man? Do the two of you take the Hong Clan Merchant Guild for such simpletons—or such petty knaves? This garbage, you had best take it back and keep it for your own leisure reading!" Hong Zhong stood at the second-floor window and smiled faintly. "Mind how you go. I won't see you out."

The onlookers in the street burst into cheers. Hong Zhong had run his business in the inner streets of this market quarter for decades, ever courteous and generous to all, and his reputation was spotless; his popularity was far beyond the ordinary, no comparison at all to a so-called man of the hour like Nan Tianguan.

"You've got nerve! Mark my words, you old bastard—this score, I will settle with you properly one day, and I'll be watching to see how much longer you keep that branch steward's seat!" Nan Tianguan spat the curse through clenched teeth, and then, amid the laughter and jeering of the crowd, he and Yu Jiang slunk away in utter disgrace, covering their faces.

Watching the two bedraggled figures scurry off, Hong Zhong gave a faint smile and murmured to himself, "How much longer I keep it? As long as I please, of course."

"Elder Hong, you've lost a great deal of face this time. That creature will never let the matter rest—you had best be prepared," one of the guest retainers beside him warned.

Sure enough, once Nan Tianguan returned this time, he would inevitably contact that Four-Direction Inspector again, and Hong Zhong's conduct would surely draw displeasure; trouble would not be long in coming.

Hong Zhong, however, shook his head dismissively. "It doesn't matter. There's no need to take a clown too seriously. A mere letter, and he thinks to frighten this old man? The Three Heroes of the Nan Clan think far too simply. A Four-Direction Inspector of the Hong Shadow Division? Hah."

At these words the several guest retainers beside him exchanged glances and smiled, mockery written plain on every face.

Using a Four-Direction Inspector of the Hong Shadow Division to threaten a branch steward—in logic, there was nothing at all wrong with Nan Tianguan's approach, for normally no branch steward of the Hong Clan Merchant Guild would dare ignore such a threat.

Had it been anyone else, Nan Tianguan's errand should already have been brought to a flawless conclusion.

But Nan Tianguan had made one fatal mistake: Hong Zhong's position in the Hong Clan Merchant Guild had never been that of a mere branch steward. He bore another, far more essential identity—his surname was Hong.

Hong Zhong seldom spoke of this identity, and the four guest retainers had all but forgotten it; now, recalling it with a start, they understood why he had acted as he did.

"Still, the fact that they cannot touch this old man does not mean they will simply let it go. What worries me now is that young brother Lin Er." A trace of concern creased Hong Zhong's brow.

From his several encounters with Wei Zhao, he had already glimpsed a potential of astonishing magnitude—a potential the like of which, for all his experience, he had never seen; a rare commodity worth hoarding. As a merchant, his keen instincts told him that this Lin Er was the rare prize he had been waiting for all along.

If he let it slip by, he might never have such a chance again in this lifetime.

Hong Zhong knew very well that no matter how Nan Tianguan might goad that Four-Direction Inspector of the Hong Shadow Division, he could never truly threaten him.

But that Lin Er was a different matter. Even if the boy could punch above his level to deal with Yu Jiang, even if he could use that move—whatever it might be called, a killing art that could only be described as world-shaking—to slay Nan Tianyong, a cultivator at the very peak of the late Foundation Establishment stage in an instant, in the end his potential was still far from developed, and his true strength remained pitifully weak.

If Nan Tianguan seized the occasion to blow the matter up and force the Soaring Sky Pavilion's high command to bring pressure on the Law-Enforcement Hall, making them dig three feet into the earth to root out Lin Er, then the boy's fate would be hard to predict. With his present strength, after all, he could not withstand any real storm.

As things stood, even if Hong Zhong wished to lend Wei Zhao a hand, he was powerless to do so; like Nan Tianguan and Yu Jiang, he knew nothing whatsoever about Wei Zhao's true background.

On the other side, having swallowed such a silent, stinging defeat at the Hong Clan Merchant Guild, Nan Tianguan was naturally not about to let the matter drop.

The first thing he did upon returning to the Soaring Sky Pavilion was to write to that Four-Direction Inspector of the Hong Shadow Division far away on Middle Island. No need for embellishment—he had only to recount faithfully what had happened at the Hong Clan Merchant Guild that day, and the rest would no longer require his hand.

The higher a man's station and the greater his authority, the more he values something like face. Hong Zhong's disregard for his letter was tantamount to disregard for the man himself; even without Nan Tianguan stirring the pot, that Four-Direction Inspector on Middle Island would surely move against Hong Zhong for the sake of his dignity.

Yet the Law-Enforcement Hall was one of the top-ranked halls of the Threefold Pavilion of the North Island, its power by no means trivial. To say nothing of a mere managing senior disciple of the Soaring Sky Pavilion like Nan Tianguan—even those elders of somewhat lesser authority might not be able to exert the slightest influence over it.

Looking across the whole of the Soaring Sky Pavilion, those who could make Gongsun Jie, the Hall Master of the Law-Enforcement Hall, bow his head one hundred percent numbered no more than a handful; and the man Nan Tianguan intended to seek out this time was precisely the most exalted of them all—the Pavilion Master of the Soaring Sky Pavilion, Shangguan Tianxia.

Nan Tianguan had gone to Shangguan Tianxia only after deep deliberation. Shangguan Tianxia was the undisputed head of the Soaring Sky Pavilion; now that the third brother, who served as the Pavilion's supervising steward, had been killed, it was only natural for the second brother to seek justice from the head, and no one could fault him for it.

Shangguan Tianxia, that head of the Soaring Sky Pavilion, was a supreme figure standing at the very apex of the North Island's pyramid; even Nan Tianguan, managing senior disciple of the Soaring Sky Pavilion though he was, would find it no easy matter to obtain an audience.

Fortunately, Nan Tianguan had not held that post in vain. By virtue of his office he dealt frequently with these lofty personages; though he exchanged barely a few words with them, over time he had more or less learned the patterns of their comings and goings.

Shangguan Tianxia seldom went out after nightfall each day—but to go looking for him at the Pavilion Master's cave dwelling on that account would surely be to find it empty, for under normal circumstances he would be at the Hualan Residence.