Chapter 4215 — Someone Selected
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
Wei Zhao was at a loss for words. However one looked at it, the man before him was master of the Azure Cloud Pavilion, a top-tier figure of Shangguan Tianxia's caliber—was he not being rather too attentive to a mere newcomer of the inner sect?
He had asked that very question yesterday, and here it came again today. Was Wei Zhao, even with nothing to ask, to invent some matter for him to help with?
"Nothing," Wei Zhao replied, somewhat baffled.
Yu Zhenyang was slightly taken aback; seeing that Wei Zhao seemed to have no intention of making further requests, he cleared his throat and brought it up himself: "Wei Zhao, you have been at the Welcome Pavilion all this while, so you should know its affairs very well. Since Lu Bianren stepped down, the post of third master of our Welcome Pavilion has stood vacant a long time. What do you say to taking that post yourself?"
Yu Zhenyang brought the matter up because Shangguan Tianxia had plainly hinted as much. He had assumed Wei Zhao would think of it, and so had kept prompting him—only to find Wei Zhao had no such intention at all. With no other choice, he had to raise it himself.
Little did he know that the affair of the Welcome Pavilion's third master was merely a wager between Shangguan Tianxia and Shangguan Lan'er. Wei Zhao knew nothing of it, and so naturally it never crossed his mind.
"Third master of the Welcome Pavilion?" Wei Zhao was startled, and asked in surprise, "Me? Am I not already a core disciple of the inner sect?"
Though he had but newly joined the inner sect, Wei Zhao understood this much: core disciples of the inner sect were the future mainstay of the Triple Stack Pavilion, and so their chief tasks were, besides secluded cultivation, to go out into the world and temper themselves, raising their strength. As a rule they seldom took on this, that, and the other odd jobs.
A post like third master of the Welcome Pavilion, though high in rank, came with a tangle of duties, and as a rule was left to outer-sect disciples—and of course only the most outstanding of outer disciples had any chance at it. Ordinary folk could not even dream of it.
"That need not get in the way at all. You need only hold it concurrently—you will still live here as usual, and go over when there is business to attend to," Yu Zhenyang said with a smile.
"This..." Wei Zhao thought it over, and in the end declined: "I am grateful for the Pavilion Master's kindness, but I would rather not take the post. For now I wish only to devote myself to cultivation, without too much distraction."
"That you should be so driven, Wei Zhao, gladdened me greatly. But the post of third master of the Welcome Pavilion cannot stay vacant too long, or others will talk, and that would not do." Yu Zhenyang pinched his chin thoughtfully, and in his heart rated Wei Zhao a notch higher still.
The post of third master of the Welcome Pavilion was well known to be a gilded position; many core disciples of the inner sect, and even some inner-sect stewards, eyed it with great envy, yet Wei Zhao could remain unmoved. Such self-possession and such indifference to gain were rare indeed.
What put Yu Zhenyang in a somewhat awkward spot, however, was that this had been put to him by Shangguan Tianxia. If he did not give Wei Zhao the post of third master of the Welcome Pavilion, would he not be breaking faith with Shangguan Tianxia?
"Pavilion Master, though I do not wish to take it myself, I do have a suitable candidate you might consider—a suggestion only, of course," Wei Zhao said, seizing the moment, having seen Yu Zhenyang's difficulty.
"Very well, let us hear it," Yu Zhenyang said with a nod. At any other time, even if he were to discuss candidates with someone, it could never be a newcomer like Wei Zhao—but today was a special case. In a sense the post of third master of the Welcome Pavilion had belonged to Wei Zhao from the first, and so he naturally had the right to suggest.