Chapter 4596 — Bowing and Scraping

It had truly been frightened out of its wits by the Ghost-Eyed Golden Eagle just now. If Wei Zhao had not been strong enough to kill the creature, it and Wei Zhao would be the ones feeding the sea beasts at this very moment—after all, at the enemy's speed, catching up to it would have been effortless. So the spirit bird's only thought now was to fly faster, faster still; only when it was so fast that no flying spirit beast could ever catch it would it truly be safe!

North Island, the Threefold Pavilion.

Ever since Ma Dangfeng, that new king among newcomers, burst onto the scene—and especially after he stood victorious over the assembled prodigies at the inner sect grand tournament—the Threefold Pavilion had been a nonstop topic of conversation. Over tea and after meals, it seemed everyone in the streets and alleys was discussing this unprecedented Nascent Soul newcomer.

And because two new kings, Wei Zhao and Ma Dangfeng, had emerged in succession, even the Azure Cloud Pavilion—long weak and in decline—had suddenly regained its luster, looking very much like a salted fish about to flip itself over.

Yet unexpectedly, the person most in the spotlight of late was not Ma Dangfeng of the Azure Cloud Pavilion, but the long-silent young master of the Skyward Pavilion, Xu Lingchong.

Ever since his return from that disappearance, this Young Master Xu had shed his former arrogance and swagger, becoming far more steady and reserved. And the reason he had become the undisputed center of attention this time was not that he had done anything eye-catching, but that he had successfully taken the position of chief senior brother and steward of the Skyward Pavilion's outer sect.

Of course, the news itself was hardly eye-catching—it could not even really be called news. After all, Xu Lingchong had been contending for that position for a long time and had made every preparation for it; his ambition was plain for all to see. Yet this time it still caused a tremendous stir, because this Young Master Xu had broken through to become a Nascent Soul expert!

You have to understand—when Xu Lingchong first began building momentum for this, his cultivation was only just barely at the grand completion of Foundation Establishment! In less than a year, he had crossed the entire Golden Core stage in one leap and become a Nascent Soul expert. Such a thing was simply appalling!

Young Master Xu had been extraordinarily gifted since childhood—a fact that interested parties had long since spread far and wide. But even so, no one had ever boasted of him to such a terrifying degree. Never mind others refusing to believe it; in truth, even Xu Yuanzheng, his own grandfather, felt dazed and often could not help wondering whether he was dreaming.

To go from grand completion of Foundation Establishment to the Nascent Soul stage—if it were an ordinary cultivator of middling aptitude, a hundred years might not be enough to succeed, and even those so-called elites would need at least eight or ten years. If anyone claimed he could cross the entire Golden Core stage within a year, he would absolutely be taken for a madman.

Yet now the ironclad facts lay before them, and believe it they must, whether they would or not. After their astonishment, the crowd could ultimately express their feelings in only one phrase: extraordinary people do extraordinary things. Young Master Xu was no ordinary genius, so it was hardly worth making a fuss over that he walked no ordinary path...

To hold the position of chief senior brother and steward of the Skyward Pavilion's outer sect with Nascent Soul cultivation—even setting aside Xu Lingchong's own deep background—was utterly beneath him. There was nothing surprising about it at all. But apart from Xu Lingchong's sudden ascent to the Nascent Soul stage, there was one other matter that shocked everyone even more.

Ma Dangfeng, that new king of the Azure Cloud Pavilion and a Nascent Soul expert in his own right, actually styled himself a junior brother in the presence of Young Master Xu Lingchong!

This scene truly made jaws drop. Xu Lingchong was indeed a Nascent Soul expert, but in terms of strength, Ma Dangfeng was no weaker—and lately his star had been shining even brighter, had it not?

And if one spoke of status and position, Ma Dangfeng was now the second senior brother and steward of the Azure Cloud Pavilion's inner sect. Even if the Azure Cloud Pavilion was inferior to the Skyward Pavilion, how could the post of second senior brother of the inner sect possibly be inferior to chief senior brother of the outer sect?!

After much pondering, people could find only one explanation: Ma Dangfeng had his eye on Young Master Xu's deep background. The man had a grandfather who sat as a giant on the Council of Elders—that was the only thing about Xu Lingchong that Ma Dangfeng could aspire to.

But this explanation was still far-fetched. Remember, Ma Dangfeng was constantly being compared with Wei Zhao, and he himself seemed to take such comparisons very seriously—in every matter, down to the most trivial detail, he was determined not to be outdone by Wei Zhao. Yet Wei Zhao had never once bowed his head to Young Master Xu; on the contrary, it was Young Master Xu who had repeatedly bruised himself against Wei Zhao. So why had Ma Dangfeng now willingly become Young Master Xu's junior brother?

That alone might be forgivable. If Ma Dangfeng lowered his head only to Xu Lingchong, then even if the reasoning was a little far-fetched, in the end everyone would think it no great matter—after all, to each his own. Wei Zhao and Xu Lingchong had never gotten along; perhaps Ma Dangfeng and Young Master Xu had simply hit it off at first sight. That was not impossible.

But the problem was that Ma Dangfeng did not merely bow and scrape before Young Master Xu of the Skyward Pavilion—even before Meng Zhou, Kang Jingming, Zhong Yongliang, and the like, he was constantly fawning and flattering. By the look of it, he was plainly the lowest-ranked of their whole group. This truly left people unable to understand.

He was a Nascent Soul expert, after all. If pleasing Young Master Xu meant he had to kiss up to Meng Zhou and the others as well, was that not far too obsequious, far too lacking in the dignity of an expert?

And what surprised people was that Ma Dangfeng, who had always been so sensitive to street gossip, turned a deaf ear this time to the one-sided negative comments. The impression he gave was that he intended to go all the way down a dead-end road, determined to keep polishing the boots of Xu Lingchong and his gang to the very end.

One day, Xu Lingchong's circle gathered in full again. By now such a sight was nothing new to onlookers; these people met once every ten days, shutting themselves mysteriously in a small room with no telling what they conspired and discussed. In any case, every one of them emerged tight-lipped, never breathing a word to outsiders of what they meant to do—the very picture of unfathomable depth.

Stepping out the main gate of Xu Lingchong's residence, Ma Dangfeng nodded and bowed, seeing off Kang Jingming and the others with his eyes before returning alone to the Azure Cloud Pavilion. Though he was not the only Azure Cloud disciple in the group, Meng Zhou invariably stuck to Xu Lingchong like a shadow, eating and living with him, so naturally he had no business going to the Azure Cloud Pavilion when nothing required it.

Once back on the Azure Cloud Pavilion's grounds, the formerly bowing and scraping Ma Dangfeng immediately turned haughty and overbearing. Whoever he met, he wore the same lofty, gloomy expression, so that the Azure Cloud disciples dared only watch him from afar, and could resume what they were doing only after he had gone far away.