Chapter 2476 — One Less Meal with Every Meal Eaten
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
The meal passed with a pleasant enough atmosphere, but everyone harbored their own thoughts. Han Jingyi went back to rest, Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu went upstairs, and Wei Zhao returned to his room to continue **cultivating the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art**.
The days went on as usual. Although Xiao Shu showed no other strange behavior, Wei Zhao detected a hint of something in her tireless efforts to win Han Jingyi over. Still, he made no move to stop it.
Han Jingyi had long since been listed among those Wei Zhao could trust. She knew many of his secrets, and he knew some of hers. The two of them worked together on alchemy in seamless harmony, so naturally Wei Zhao hoped Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu would get along well with her.
You Panhu and Kang Jinglong seemed to have grown much more subdued. Ever since the winter trip, the two of them no longer hovered around Wei Zhao, Wang Xinyan, and Han Jingyi; every day they went dutifully to class, left when it ended, ate, and went on their way.
You Panhu still wanted to keep in contact with Han Jingyi, but he was cowed by Wei Zhao's methods. A man's name casts a tree's shadow: when You Panhu went home, he saw with his own eyes the peak late-Earth-rank expert Wei Zhao had slapped to death, and the early Heaven-rank expert Wei Zhao had wounded. After that, You Panhu fell silent.
For Wei Zhao to kill him would be all too easy; the only reason he had not was likely out of regard for their bond as classmates. You Panhu did not believe Wei Zhao feared him. Until the You family openly hoisted the banner of the Xuandan Sect, You Panhu was certain Wei Zhao did not fear the hidden You family.
This was evident from how Wei Zhao struck without the slightest mercy. But though the hidden You family had the Xuandan Sect as its backer, a backer was only a backer. A backer is there to overawe your opponents, not to serve as your hired thug. If you suffered a loss, the Xuandan Sect would intervene only if that loss affected its interests; otherwise, the deaths or injuries of a few disciples and retainers would never move the Xuandan Sect to come running into the secular world at will.
Never mind the constraints imposed by the other ancient sects—even the place behind the Xuandan Sect would not permit the Xuandan Sect to go out and stir up trouble at such a critical moment.
The opportunities on Cloud-Step Island were plainly a case of too many monks and too little gruel. At a time like this, everyone wanted a piece of the action. Which peak late-Heaven-rank expert would not want to advance another step? And not just them—even ordinary late-Heaven-rank experts were unwilling to let such a good chance slip by.
Though the ancient sects had agreed long ago to decide the final roster for Cloud-Step Island at the Heaven-Rank Assembly, for the sake of fairness and justice they would also, according to the old agreement, give the hidden families, the minor sects, and the unaffiliated cultivators some opportunities—though those opportunities came with special conditions.
Even so, even with certain conditions attached, the competition remained fierce as a blazing fire. Not a single ancient sect wanted to miss this chance. After all, which peak late-Heaven-rank expert would lightly give it up?
So at a time like this, whichever sect ran into trouble became the target of everyone's arrows. The Xuandan Sect, powerful and domineering as it was, still dared not violate the hard-and-fast rules of that agreement.