Chapter 4223 — Preparing to Set Out
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
Beyond posting trial missions, the Law Enforcement Hall also provided the relevant clues and intelligence. For Wu Baoliang, the most recent sighting had been in the Weihu Sea Region.
"One to two people per mission—that suits us perfectly." Wei Zhao nodded. He was inclined to take this mission. After all, Lu Bianren had treated him well back then, and now that the opportunity had come, whether or not he could ultimately find Lu Bianren, he at least had to give it a try.
When he mentioned it to Huang Xiaotao beside him, she naturally had no objection. As long as she could go along with Wei Zhao, she let him decide everything else; what the trial mission actually entailed was, in truth, of no concern to her.
Wei Zhao nodded, and without further hesitation led Huang Xiaotao straight to Jia Mufan, the senior brother in charge of the Azure Cloud Pavilion's inner court, to register for the mission.
Registering for a trial mission was no small matter. Outer court disciples went to the senior brother in charge of the outer court, and inner court disciples naturally went to the senior brother in charge of the inner court. Jia Mufan was at work nearby just then, surrounded by several inner court disciples of the Azure Cloud Pavilion who were likewise waiting to register for missions.
"Junior Brother Lin, Junior Sister Huang, it's been many days. I trust you've both been well." Jia Mufan spotted Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao at once among the crowd and greeted them warmly of his own accord.
He had been present in person to witness the inner court tournament, and though he was the senior brother in charge of the Azure Cloud Pavilion's inner court—nominally the foremost of all the pavilion's core inner court disciples—before the Wei Zhao of today he did not dare put on the slightest airs of a senior brother.
Never mind that Wei Zhao was the new king of the inner court, whose strength and potential alike were not to be underestimated; the crux was his identity as the disciple singled out by Shangguan Tianxia—plainly the next Gongyang Jun. Even Yu Zhenyang, the Pavilion Master of the Azure Cloud Pavilion, was all smiles and compliance toward a figure of that caliber, let alone a mere senior brother in charge of the inner court like Jia Mufan.
Splendid as the position looked, the higher one sat, the harder it was to hold the seat. It demanded not only formidable strength and backing but also a keen eye for people. Should he carelessly offend someone of Wei Zhao's heaven-spanning background, Jia Mufan's tenure as senior brother in charge of the inner court would likely end right there.
"Senior Brother Jia, I trust you've been well." Wei Zhao and Huang Xiaotao returned the greeting together. Give a man a foot and he gives you a yard—Wei Zhao was no shallow, arrogant sort. Even without deep ties to a figure like Jia Mufan, at the very least appearances had to be kept up, and many things would be that much easier to handle in the days to come.
Seeing Jia Mufan and Wei Zhao exchange greetings, the other inner court disciples who had been gathered around waiting to register tactfully stepped aside. However lofty they might be as core inner court disciples out in the wider world, they could not begin to compare with Wei Zhao and Jia Mufan, and in a situation like this they could only yield the floor.
In truth, even had they not stepped aside, Jia Mufan would not have paid them any mind just then. Which of these people weighed more and which less beside Wei Zhao was plain at a glance.
"Junior Brother Lin, Junior Sister Huang, are you here to register for a mission?" Jia Mufan asked, his face wreathed in smiles. On such an occasion, their purpose was self-evident.
"Indeed. If you would be so good as to file it for us, Senior Brother Jia—the trial mission the two of us mean to take is the pursuit and capture of Wu Baoliang," Wei Zhao said frankly.