Chapter 4395 — The Reason He Was Captured
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 3
"That's right. I made this special trip to Nanzhou precisely to investigate the whereabouts of Vice Pavilion Master Yao Lunzhen," Lu Bianren said, his gaze distant. "From what I know, he too disappeared in the waters around Nanzhou. And before that, he had actually come here to take part in a trial bounty mission organized by someone—to repair a formation."
"Repair a formation?" Wei Zhao was taken aback. This was the first time he had even heard Yao Lunzhen's full name, so naturally he knew next to nothing about the man. Curious, he asked, "So then, Vice Pavilion Master Yao was a formation master?"
On the Cloud Terrace Isles, compared with the highly revered art of pill refining, artifact forging was already considered an obscure trade—and as for formation masters, they were more obscure still, a subject that practically never came up in conversation.
In fact, looking across the five Cloud Terrace Isles, there were very few proper formations to be found, let alone formation masters. Even where formations existed, they were only the crudest protective arrays. As for intricate and ingenious things like teleportation formations, nine and a half out of ten were relics left behind from some unknowable age. To this day, Wei Zhao had never heard of anyone capable of constructing a teleportation formation.
"You can't exactly call him a formation master. In this day and age, those who can truly be called formation masters have all but died out. Vice Pavilion Master Yao has always been intensely interested in the subject and has devoted endless effort to studying it, but at most he could be called proficient—he couldn't personally lay down a truly ingenious, profound formation. When it comes to maintaining and repairing formations, however, he does have a fair bit of expertise," Lu Bianren explained.
"I see." Wei Zhao gave Lu Bianren a meaningful look. From the sound of it, this Vice Pavilion Master Yao Lunzhen and Lu Bianren were in fact the same type of person.
Neither had any great ambition, but both loved to ponder and study on their own—no wonder the two had gravitated together. After all, birds of a feather flock together.
"Vice Pavilion Master Yao's devotion to formations has reached the point of near obsession. Otherwise he would never have traveled all the way from the Northern Isle to Nanzhou just because he saw such a trial bounty mission. The reason goes without saying—it was to study that formation. They say it was an exceedingly rare and remarkable formation, though I couldn't tell you the specifics," Lu Bianren said with a helpless spread of his hands.
Wei Zhao nodded in agreement. As Vice Pavilion Master of the Qingyun Pavilion, Yao Lunzhen was already a personage of considerable standing; there was ordinarily no need for him to take part in any trial mission, nor would a man of his status set his sights on such a modest bounty. The only thing that could truly draw him was the formation itself.
"And then?" Wei Zhao pressed.
"After making inquiries far and wide, I finally managed to pick up a thread of a clue. The mysterious figure who posted that mission through the Northern Isle Cultivators' Guild had once appeared at the Central Merchants' Association. So I reasoned that this person was either an insider within the Association or had some connection to it," Lu Bianren recounted faithfully.
"That makes sense. The Central Merchants' Association rose to prominence overnight, and it gives off an air of utter mystery. It's only natural that they'd be involved in something like this," Wei Zhao agreed.