Chapter 4533 — What Was the Point?
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
At any other time or place, Wei Zhao would truly have been inclined to probe the depths of this new King of Spirit Beasts—who knew, there might even be some unexpected gain. But now there was no such possibility. This was no place to linger; before the Vermilion Bird and the other spirit beasts present could reconsider, he had best turn and be gone.
They watched helplessly as Wei Zhao's figure vanished into the dense forest. The other spirit beasts showed no particular reaction, but the Vermilion Bird's face darkened several degrees further. It truly could not understand why this puppet king it had raised with its own hands would suddenly interfere in this matter. However one looked at it, this was a trivial matter of no consequence at all.
A mere small fry of the Golden Core stage—for any spirit beast present, snuffing him out with a casual wave of the hand was no trouble at all, let alone for the exalted King of Spirit Beasts. To speak up specially for such an insignificant small fry, even at the cost of publicly defying both itself and the Azure Dragon—what was the meaning of that?
Since being raised to the throne, this king had been nothing if not sensible; it had always obeyed the Vermilion Bird's words, and by and large never opened its mouth. Even when it did occasionally speak, it invariably followed the script the Vermilion Bird had arranged beforehand, and so the Vermilion Bird had always been well pleased with it.
But the Vermilion Bird also knew that whoever occupied such an exalted position as King of Spirit Beasts, once having tasted the flavor of power, would in the end never be content to remain a puppet at its beck and call. In time there would inevitably be various attempts and gestures of disobedience—that was unavoidable.
The Vermilion Bird had long been prepared for this. Yet in its view, even if this puppet king wished to shake off its control, it would surely choose some momentous affair on which to make its voice heard—only on such an occasion would there be a chance to proclaim the authority of the King of Spirit Beasts. But this trifling bit of nonsense now—what was there in it worth interfering over?
Even if the Vermilion Bird had no choice but to give way in public, what benefit could the King of Spirit Beasts gain? Not a damn thing. At most, that Golden Core spirit beast it had let go would be grateful to it—but such a small fry was not even fit to serve as cannon fodder. Even if it were won over, what fucking use would that be?
The Azure Dragon turned its head and exchanged a glance with the Vermilion Bird. It too was filled with doubt. Evading the eyes and ears of all the spirit beasts present, it sent a thread of divine consciousness straight to the Vermilion Bird and gestured with its gaze toward the King of Spirit Beasts: "What in the world is this thing trying to do? Could it be that it wants to take advantage of this Spirit Beast Assembly to make its presence felt before everyone, to make them think their king cares for his subjects, and thereby win their hearts? Isn't that a bit too naive?"
The whole business of benevolent rule might work on humans, but among spirit beasts, who revered strength above all, it had not the slightest feasibility. If one's strength fell short, then no matter how benevolent and loving this King of Spirit Beasts might be, those powerful spirit beasts of real strength would long since have bitten it to pieces—it could not even hope to keep its little life!
"Perhaps. Perhaps it simply wants to use this chance to test us. It seems we'll have to be on our guard from now on..." A cold gleam flashed through the Vermilion Bird's phoenix eyes as it thought to itself: could it be that it first makes some small move in a trivial matter, to see how I react, and on that basis decides whether it can push its luck a step further? (To be continued...)