Chapter 3574 — Defeated in the Election
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"That... that is true enough." Xiao Che and Qiao Hongcai exchanged a glance, and could not help but feel somewhat helpless. Wei Zhao had already offended Meng Jueming before this; indeed, even without Xu Lingchong's orders, Wei Zhao's days ahead would not be easy.
"Junior Brother Lin, you need not worry too much. Rest assured, since matters have come to this, I will not stand by and do nothing when the time comes—after all, I am the second senior brother in charge..." said the long-suffering senior brother, though when he came to the words 'second senior brother in charge,' his voice still lacked a certain confidence.
"Quite right. With Senior Brother Ku watching over us, and if the two of us come by any cultivation resources, we could never keep them to ourselves—we would surely bring them out for Brother Lin," Xiao Che and Qiao Hongcai hastened to add. "With all of us working as one, we count as a little circle of our own..."
Were such words to get out, others would likely curl their lips in scorn—after all, under the leadership of Ku Bi, what could they possibly accomplish?
But they had already been branded as members of Wei Zhao's faction. To shrink back now would only invite greater mockery. Better to steel themselves and stand firm alongside Wei Zhao to the very end—who knew, perhaps there might yet be a turn for the better.
"Then I thank you all for your support." Wei Zhao was somewhat moved.
As the saying goes, true feeling shows itself in adversity. In terms of friendship, he had not been especially close to these three, yet at such a moment none of them had abandoned him—clear proof that all three were of good character, and that he had not misjudged them.
After a few more words, each returned to his cave dwelling to cultivate, and the night passed without incident.
When the next morning came, the restrictions on their respective cave dwellings trembled once more. After all the newcomers had assembled, Meng Jueming led them to the main hall of the Welcome Pavilion—for, as had been announced the day before, this morning was the day of the vote to elect the newcomers' steward.
Wei Zhao saw Kang Jingming and Zhong Yongliang again, but Xu Lingchong was nowhere to be seen. A moment's thought made it clear: Xu Lingchong was an inner disciple of the Soaring Heaven Pavilion, not a steward of the Welcome Pavilion. He had appeared the day before in the capacity of guiding envoy; ordinarily he would be residing in the Soaring Heaven Pavilion.
Yet though Xu Lingchong had gone, that did not mean his threat had vanished—for Wei Zhao had plainly noticed that a moment ago, Pavilion Master Hu Yunfeng had deliberately sized him up, and there was no goodwill in that gaze. It seemed that after yesterday's affair, he had already been marked by Hu Yunfeng. Well, whose fault was it that this master of the Welcome Pavilion was a loyal running dog of the Soaring Heaven Pavilion?
Wei Zhao kept his guard up in secret. Still, though Hu Yunfeng was the master of the Welcome Pavilion and the number one figure here, without some special cause it would not be easy for him to move against Wei Zhao openly. So long as he was careful in the days to come, the worst he would face was having small obstacles placed in his path. Backed by a cultivation artifact like the jade pendant's space, Wei Zhao was truly not afraid of such petty tricks.
Seeing that all the newcomers of the three pavilions had arrived, Hu Yunfeng gave a brief introduction to the post of newcomers' steward, then went straight into the voting.
This was an open, signed vote—meaning that no matter who cast a vote for whom, everyone present could see it. There was no room for backroom manipulation. Of course, the sort of canvassing Kang Jingming had done the day before was also within permitted bounds and did not count as a violation.