Chapter 3805 — First Impressions
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
What slightly puzzled Wei Zhao was this: he and Yu Jiang had crossed blades only once, back when he had finished buying the Star Ink Stone. Even if the man could retrace the route he had taken home and conclude that he belonged to Yingxin Pavilion, how could he be so sure that Wei Zhao was a newcomer rather than one of the pavilion's stewards?
After all, in that fight Wei Zhao had held back nothing of his peak early-Foundation-stage strength. Any sane man would have leapt to the conclusion that he was a steward of Yingxin Pavilion, and never once have considered a new recruit.
He read the letter through again, and when his eyes caught the words "Nan Tianyong, supervising deacon of Chongtian Pavilion," understanding broke over him at once.
The reason they had not gone looking into Yingxin Pavilion's stewards was presumably that they already knew the backgrounds of those newly appointed stewards—and even of high-ranking figures like Pavilion Master Hu Yunfeng—inside and out. Those names had been struck from the list before the search ever began.
Once every possibility that could be eliminated had been eliminated, whatever remained—however outlandish, however hard to credit—was usually the truth.
That Yu Jiang, having been made to eat such a bitter loss last time, should scour the world for him to settle the score was no surprise at all. What did surprise Wei Zhao was that the man had dragged in a master, this Nan Tianyong.
Facing Yu Jiang alone, Wei Zhao would have had little to fear even if he were found out. But add a Nan Tianyong—a man he had never met, and very likely a formidable one—and the affair grew rather thornier.
Shangguan Lan'er's letter had come in the nick of time. Without her warning, Wei Zhao could never have learned any of this in the short run; and if he let Yu Jiang and Nan Tianyong go on narrowing their sights upon Yingxin Pavilion's newcomers, something was bound to go wrong before long.
True, when he had dealt with Yu Jiang, Wei Zhao had worn the Thousand-Silk Mask as a precaution and moved as Lin Er from first to last, so even if Yu Jiang and Nan Tianyong were investigating Yingxin Pavilion's newcomers, they were unlikely to connect any of it to Wei Zhao in the near term.
Still, there was risk in the thing after all.
However well the identity of Lin Er was concealed, it could never be made seamless. If Yu Jiang and Nan Tianyong kept their eyes on it long enough, they would find some thread of evidence in the end; and the moment that false identity was exposed, Wei Zhao's troubles would be enormous.
He had already made enemies beyond counting within Yingxin Pavilion as it was: near at hand, Meng Jueming and Meng Zhou; farther off, Xu Lingchong and Kang Jingming; even a figure like Pavilion Master Hu Yunfeng was a natural-born foe whose stance was set against him. Add Yu Jiang, add Nan Tianyong, supervising deacon of Chongtian Pavilion—and how was he ever to get on in Yingxin Pavilion hereafter?
Great as Wei Zhao's strength was, it was great only by the measure of ordinary newcomers. With so many deeply connected and brutally powerful enemies fixing their eyes on him, Wei Zhao could not help feeling somewhat vexed.
Wei Zhao's principle had always been to flinch from nothing; but his chief purpose was to cultivate in peace, not to match wits and daring against this pack of people.
This was a crisis in earnest—one that seemed to lie far off on the horizon, when in truth it already stood at his doorstep. One careless step, and within a few days ruin might swallow him whole.
On receiving Shangguan Lan'er's news, Wei Zhao's first thought was that delay bred trouble: he must find some way to divert the attention of these two men as quickly as possible.
But how to divert their attention—there was the difficulty.