Chapter 4982 — A Familiar Face After All

"There's not a single decent soul in the Famous Elixir Sect. Not only do they harbor sneaks like Diao Huanshan, but even that steward Tong Yangxi is a sanctimonious hypocrite. For the past two years they've been pulling every low, dirty trick in the book, openly and in the shadows, to squeeze us out of the Heavenly Elixir Pavilion. Before, with Brother Tian around, they didn't dare go too far—but the moment he leaves, they're right in our faces. This is beyond bearing!" Xueli's fury had yet to cool.

"These people truly have no shame. None of us is a match for Diao Huanshan. Thank goodness you arrived in time, Wei Zhao—otherwise there's no telling how today would have ended." Tian Chan could not help frowning as she spoke.

"Heh. That, you needn't worry about. From what I saw just now, Diao Huanshan is actually a man who knows the score. He came to stir up trouble, yes, but he didn't dare lift a hand—only his tongue. I'd wager he's afraid that one day Brother Tian will come back and settle accounts with him." Wei Zhao smiled faintly.

The monk may flee, but the temple stays. Even if they brought the Heavenly Elixir Pavilion down while the Heavenly Dao Walker was away, he would return one day.

If this were purely a matter of business competition, the Heavenly Dao Walker might not necessarily move against them—after all, as vice-island lord of the Central Isle, he had to mind public opinion. But if Diao Huanshan dared lay a hand on Tian Chan and the others, that would be walking the road to his own destruction. And when that time came, even if the Heavenly Dao Walker killed him to vent his wrath, the Famous Elixir Sect would never dare step forward to stop him—they would instead hand him over with both hands.

This calculus of gain and loss was a matter of life and death, and Diao Huanshan had weighed it out very clearly. Otherwise he never could have risen to the post of deputy steward of the Famous Elixir Sect.

"Even so, it's still despicable—swaggering right up to our door to poach our customers, bullying us beyond all endurance!" Xueli said hotly. That foul breath she simply could not swallow.

Though she and Tian Chan had built the Heavenly Elixir Pavilion together, Tian Chan attended only to the crafting of elixirs; every matter of the shop and its business Xueli handled herself, one by one. How much sweat and toil had gone into it, only she knew. She cared more for the Heavenly Elixir Pavilion's reputation than anyone present—more even than Tian Chan, to say nothing of Wei Zhao, that hands-off proprietor.

This time, thanks to Wei Zhao's sudden appearance, Diao Huanshan had indeed gotten the punishment he deserved, and judging from the crowd's reaction, it seemed they had not lost too many customers—but an impression had still been left, and the Heavenly Elixir Pavilion had taken a loss in the end.

"True enough. Soft-hearted men get bullied, and gentle horses get ridden. This matter cannot be let go. If the Famous Elixir Sect doesn't taste enough bitterness to learn its lesson, then in the future not only they, but every other merchant guild, great and small, will follow suit—and then we may as well shut down for good." Wei Zhao nodded.

"Then what do we do now? Go to their door and demand satisfaction, or simply pay them back in their own coin—think up some scheme to poach their customers in turn?" Xueli asked at once.

"No need for that. It's not that we couldn't go make a scene at their door, but that would be rather beneath us." Wei Zhao shook his head. With the formidable strength he now possessed—enough to rival an early Mountain-Opening cultivator—he could face the whole Famous Elixir Sect alone without fear. And if they could not produce a single expert of sufficient weight, there was no harm in throwing his weight around a little.

But that, in the end, was no masterstroke. For in doing so, the Famous Elixir Sect would become the victim instead, and public sentiment would drift invisibly to their side. Apart from venting a little spleen, it would do the Heavenly Elixir Pavilion not the slightest good.

"Don't tell me you've already thought of something clever?" Tian Chan and Xueli's eyes lit up at once.

"Nothing so clever. With absolute strength, all schemes and stratagems are superfluous." Wei Zhao smiled, then changed tack. "But never mind that—first, let us find out what we can about the Famous Elixir Sect."

Reunited after so long, the three of them lingered in each other's company a while. Then Wei Zhao brought the two women downstairs, where Wei Shenjin, who had been waiting a long while, hurried up to meet them: "Head Wei Zhao, you've finally come!"

"Heh, you've had a hard time of it lately." Wei Zhao nodded with a smile. He had already heard from Tian Chan and Xueli that for two years now Wei Shenjin had come to help at the Heavenly Elixir Pavilion nearly every few days—and all of it merely because of a single instruction Wei Zhao had given before he left. Clearly this one was a man of loyalty and honor; saving him back then had not been in vain.

"You flatter me, Head. Truth is, I only lend some muscle—I'm not much real help. Today's business, for instance—I was utterly useless. Thank goodness you came, Head. Otherwise I truly wouldn't have known what to do..." Wei Shenjin said with a bitter smile.

"Don't blame yourself. This is no fault of yours—asking you to deal with Diao Huanshan was simply too much. Rest easy, I will handle it myself." Wei Zhao offered a word of comfort, then said: "By the way, you know this place well. Would you do me a favor and go find out the specifics of the Famous Elixir Sect?"

"Yes! Rest assured, Head—leave it to me!" Wei Shenjin clapped a hand to his chest and accepted the task on the spot. To have him face Diao Huanshan, a late Nascent Soul cultivator, was hardly realistic, but gathering intelligence was child's play—after all, he was a native son of the Central Isle, born and bred.

Wei Shenjin was remarkably efficient. He was back in less than half an hour, and could scarcely wait to report to Wei Zhao: "Head Wei Zhao, I've found out everything. The senior alchemist from the Eastern Continent that the Famous Elixir Sect hired is named Zheng Dongyang—they say he's a distant cousin of Zheng Dongjue."

Zheng Dongyang? Wei Zhao was slightly taken aback at the name, feeling somehow that it sounded familiar. A moment later it came to him—the father of Zheng Tianguang, the chief culprit behind Qin Chan's tragedy, the second-ranked alchemist of the Morning Star Academy: was he not named Zheng Dongyang? No wonder he had been absent from the Morning Star Academy—so he had slipped off to the Central Isle to visit family.

"Wait a moment—isn't Zheng Dongjue of the Elixir Hall? If Zheng Dongyang is his distant cousin, why has he gone to the Famous Elixir Sect? From what I recall, the Elixir Hall and the Famous Elixir Sect don't exactly get along, do they?" Wei Zhao asked, puzzled.

He had heard Cai Zhongxuan say before that the Elixir Hall had never been on good terms with these other merchant guilds. Were it not for the Elixir Hall having Zhang Lifeng, that Pill Deity, to hold the fort, they would long since have been set upon by all the other guilds. Under such circumstances, why would an alchemist connected to the Elixir Hall go and craft elixirs for the Famous Elixir Sect?

"That struck me as strange at first too. Later I found someone who knew and asked around, and only then did I learn: it wasn't Zheng Dongjue of the Elixir Hall who invited Zheng Dongyang, but the Famous Elixir Sect's own steward, Tong Yangxi." Wei Shenjin's expression was grave as he spoke.