Chapter 4051 — Reunion
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
"Even so, we can't just let Wei Zhao off so easily. If we put our minds to it, we're bound to find his weakness!" Murong Zhen said, unwilling to let it go.
"Kang Jingming, you and Wei Zhao were old rivals back in the secular world—you should know his weaknesses better than anyone," Meng Zhou said, turning to him. His own grudge against Wei Zhao was real enough, and no matter how much his nature had changed, if there was a chance to do Wei Zhao in, he would never let it pass.
Kang Jingming thought it over, pondering for a moment, then said, "Hmm. The man's a romantic, and he loves to put on airs—beyond that, there doesn't seem to be much... Wait, I've got it!"
Meng Zhou and Murong Zhen perked up at once. "Out with it!"
"Wei Zhao is also a sworn enemy of Dongfang Badao of the Xuanji Pavilion—their feud goes back to the secular world as well. I hear the old bastard's doing rather well for himself these days. I'll go fetch him and we can put our heads together," Kang Jingming proposed.
He had no particular friendship with Dongfang Badao, but the enemy of one's enemy is a friend, and since they all existed to deal with Wei Zhao, the more the merrier.
Meng Zhou nodded. "That works. And while you're at it, bring Zhong Yongliang of your Chongtian Pavilion along too. We can't lose touch with these people just because Xu Lingchong's gone—I rather rate Zhong Yongliang, as it happens."
"Yes, yes, of course—how did I forget him in this kidnapping business? If he'd been with us back then, why would we have needed to drag in a fence-sitter like Zha Wu!" Kang Jingming nodded again and again.
Truth be told, it was not so much that he had forgotten. During this whole stretch Kang Jingming had been keeping close company with Murong Zhen, and he had left Zhong Yongliang out back then purely out of a man's possessive instinct—he simply did not want Zhong Yongliang getting too close to a seductress like Murong Zhen on the pretext of business.
But now there was no time for such trifles; dealing with Wei Zhao was what mattered.
Kang Jingming set off at once to find Dongfang Badao. He had the standing of a new-arrival steward, and even with his great patron Xu Lingchong gone, within the little patch of ground that was the Welcome Pavilion he still carried considerable weight—everyone had to show him a measure of deference.
More than half a year had passed, and among all the new arrivals of the Welcome Pavilion's three pavilions, if one were to name the most famous and most illustrious, Wei Zhao was without question first, Kang Jingming second on the strength of his steward's post, and this third place belonged to Dongfang Badao of the Xuanji Pavilion.
Most people on Cloud Terrace Island might look down their noses at cultivators who had come up from the secular world, but the facts proved otherwise: every batch sent up from the secular world might begin in sorry straits, ostracized and threadbare, yet in the end they almost always became elites of their generation, standing above the vast majority of Cloud Terrace Island's native cultivators.
Nor was this any wonder. Everyone who had the chance to come up to Cloud Terrace Island was a top-tier elite, one in a hundred million chosen from the secular world. Even if they could not match the very finest of Cloud Terrace Island's natives, in competition with ordinary cultivators they had strength and cunning to spare—and given a stroke of fortune besides, they could rise above the crowd with the greatest of ease.
In this cycle of the Welcome Pavilion, the new-arrival king of the Qingyun Pavilion was Wei Zhao, from the secular world; the new-arrival king of the Chongtian Pavilion was Kang Jingming, likewise from the secular world; and the new-arrival king of the Xuanji Pavilion was Dongfang Badao, still from the secular world. R1152