Chapter 4185 — Vital Intelligence

"He... he's changed a great deal these days. His whole manner is different, as if he has become another person entirely. He mostly keeps to his cave dwelling in solitary cultivation and rarely comes out."

"Mm. And Wei Zhao? No sooner had I returned than I heard the lot of you had lost battle after battle?" Xu Lingchong shifted the question. Of Wei Zhao's forceful return and the single strike that had slain Su Zhaohe, he had already heard on the road back; he asked now only to confirm it.

"Er... yes..." The others exchanged looks and could only nod meekly. Against Wei Zhao, they truly had no recourse left at all.

"Hmph, you pack of useless trash!" Xu Lingchong cursed coldly, then curled his lip in contempt. "Forget it. I shall simply have to handle this myself. Wahahaha! With Lord Pao's true transmission, no matter how Wei Zhao prances about, he is but a grasshopper at autumn's end—not long for this world!"

"All hail Young Master Xu!" Kang Jingming was quick to lead the flattery.

"Young Master Xu, might I ask who this Lord Pao is...?" Si Haitao ventured cautiously. He stood highest among them, and his specialty was intelligence-gathering, yet even he had never heard that the center harbored any such formidable figure as Lord Pao.

"Is that a question for a servant like you to ask?" Xu Lingchong shot him a displeased glance, but seeing curiosity written on every face, he could not resist boasting. "In short, Lord Pao is exceedingly formidable—one of the top figures in our center. And I have already cultivated Lord Pao's unique divine art, the Chrysanthemum Treasure Manual!"

"Ah? The Chrysanthemum Treasure Manual?" Every face in the room changed at once. Rumor held it to be a peerless art of high antiquity, extinct for many years even on Cloud Terrace Island; only a single sect in the mortal realm was said to preserve its transmission to this day. And Xu Lingchong had actually cultivated such a world-shaking art!

On second thought, though—the Central Chamber of Commerce could trade with the mortal realm, so it was not impossible that they had obtained such a peerless art from there.

At that moment, Zhong Yongliang wore a look of equal shock and astonishment, but his focus was entirely different from the others'.

Lord Pao? The Chrysanthemum Treasure Manual? Good grief! Could this Lord Pao be that fellow Zhang Naipao? Oh, surely the boy hasn't turned traitor? I only feigned submission to the center—but that Zhang Naipao seems to be doing rather well for himself in the center, doesn't he?

No, this is vital intelligence. I must find a way to inform Leader Wei Zhao at once!

"For Young Master Xu to have cultivated such a divine art is truly a cause for celebration. In the years to come, among the younger generation of the Threefold Pavilion, Young Master Xu shall surely stand alone at the summit!" Kang Jingming hastened to flatter—though inwardly he was just as astonished as Zhong Yongliang.

After all, he knew Zhang Naipao too. Put the two telltale labels "Lord Pao" and "Chrysanthemum Treasure Manual" together, and any normal person would make the same association. Doubt was doubt, of course; until he actually laid eyes on this Lord Pao, it remained mere conjecture, and he could only bury it for now.

Were he to speak it aloud in public and guess right, well and good; but should he guess wrong, he would not only make a fool of himself over a false alarm—if it provoked that Lord Pao, the loss would far outweigh the gain.

"Hmph, dominating the Threefold Pavilion is merely the first step. The road I mean to walk hereafter is still long." Xu Lingchong smiled smugly. Since joining the center, his horizons had changed utterly from what they once were.

The former Young Master Xu had thought of nothing but succeeding Xu Yuanzheng, then becoming Shangguan Tianxia's son-in-law, and lifting the Xu family one rung higher—that would have been fulfillment enough. But by present reckoning, such ambitions were child's play to Xu Lingchong; his aspirations now reached far, far higher.

With the center—whose foundations defied heaven itself—at his back, he had power in abundance and influence to match. So long as he advanced step by step, what great undertaking could he possibly fail to achieve?

Within the time it took to drink a cup of tea, the whole company, Si Haitao included, vied to curry favor, flattering the already complacent Xu Lingchong into transports of delight. Only then did they disperse.

"By the way, Zhaoming, Pinliang, the two of you come with me to the Welcome Pavilion. I want to have a look at that boy Meng Zhou." Xu Lingchong called the two back, paused, then suddenly sneered. "And while we're at it, we may as well see Wei Zhao. Isn't the fellow at the height of his fame? I should like to see just how much ability he has grown!"

At the mention of Wei Zhao, Xu Lingchong's naturally sinister air turned all the more venomous, like a viper flicking out its bloody forked tongue, until everyone present felt the hairs on their bodies stand on end.

Though joining the center now seemed to Xu Lingchong a blessing in disguise, he had not forgotten the day the little curling bear had snapped him out of existence. Almost every time he closed his eyes, that day came back to him, haunting him like a nightmare that would not fade—and the author of it all was that meddling Wei Zhao!

That a mysterious man in black had afterward carried him into the center he owed, in a manner of speaking, to Wei Zhao, and ought to thank him properly. As for how to thank him—naturally, he would find an opportunity to exact blood for blood!

"Yes, sir!" Kang Jingming and Zhong Yongliang exchanged a glance and answered together, faces alight with excitement.

Kang Jingming at once led the way, bursting with vigor. Stifled under Wei Zhao's heel for so long, and then cold-shouldered by Hu Yunfeng, master of the Welcome Pavilion, he—a new steward who had lost his patron—was now a shadow of his former self, and many of the newcomers no longer took him seriously at all.

But now that Xu Lingchong had returned in force, he could at last borrow the tiger's might once more, lift his tail high again, and throw his weight around in the Welcome Pavilion!

Beside him, the delight on Zhong Yongliang's face was feigned. His only thought now was to find a chance as soon as possible to slip the intelligence to Leader Wei Zhao. This matter of Zhang Naipao was of the gravest importance.

The three set off for the Welcome Pavilion. Hu Yunfeng, a man of the Xu family faction, scrambled out to receive them the moment word arrived, hovering at their side and attending to their every need.

Yet when the party reached the newcomers' cave dwellings of the Azure Cloud Pavilion, Wei Zhao was nowhere to be seen. According to the other Azure Cloud Pavilion newcomers nearby, Wei Zhao had been summoned away by Shangguan Lan'er only a short while before.

"Gone off with Shangguan Lan'er?" Xu Lingchong's expression shifted at once, though he quickly smoothed it back to normal. He felt no trace of affection for Shangguan Lan'er any longer—she was like Wei Zhao in that regard; all he had left was a bellyful of fury and a hatred that seared to the bone!

Kang Jingming, hearing this, could not hide his disappointment. Having finally regained the coattails of Young Master Xu, he had thought at last to have his chance to strut before Wei Zhao and recover his ground—only to meet with such a result. It was like driving a heavy fist into cotton, leaving a man sunk in frustration for no reason at all. R1152