Chapter 4600 — Running Home to Complain
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
He stood frozen in place for a good while before suddenly coming to his senses and hurrying off. Ma Dangfeng had declared he'd go to the Southern Continent to teach Wei Zhao a lesson, and it didn't look like mere talk. He had to get word to the others at once and gather everyone to discuss countermeasures.
Back at the Hua Lan Residence, the first thing Shangguan Lan'er did was charge into the study. Snatching the brush from Shangguan Tianxia's hand, she announced with the gravest solemnity, "Grandfather! How can you be in the mood to write at a time like this? Something terrible has happened!"
"What's happened, that even my little Lan'er is in such a tearing hurry?" Shangguan Tianxia chuckled, glancing sidelong at the ancient stele inscription he'd completed to ninety percent, the corner of his mouth twitching despite himself.
This was a birthday gift he'd specially prepared for a certain great personage of the Eastern Continent. To that end he'd brought out an ancient stele inscription he'd collected for many years—one widely rumored to have long since vanished from the world. Naturally, the original could never be given away, so Shangguan Tianxia had resolved to copy it out himself. After all, he was a calligraphy master of note across all five islands of the Earth Tier; any casual piece of his writing could fetch a sky-high price. Whoever received this gift would find it sincere indeed.
It had taken him a full ten days to bring the copy to a bare ninety percent—and now, just as he was about to finish, Shangguan Lan'er had snatched the brush from his hand and left a long trail of ink across it, wiping out ten days of labor in an instant.
Anyone else might have burst into tears, but Shangguan Tianxia merely chuckled. Ruined was ruined; at worst he'd spend a little time copying it again. There was still plenty of time, after all—and besides, in his eyes nothing in the world mattered more than his granddaughter.
"Someone slandered you in public, Grandfather—said you had eyes but couldn't see. Isn't that a terrible thing?" Shangguan Lan'er fumed.
"Said I had eyes but couldn't see?" Shangguan Tianxia was briefly startled, then shook his head with a smile. "I wouldn't call that slander. I'm getting on in years, after all—a bit of dimness of sight now and then is only natural. A few words from someone hardly matters."
"Hardly matters? Grandfather, you're the Lord of the Soaring Heavens Pavilion! To say you have eyes but can't see is to say you hold your post without earning it, that you're unfit to command our Soaring Heavens Pavilion! This is a serious matter—Grandfather, would you please be serious!" Shangguan Lan'er said, her little face drawn tight.
Words like "getting on in years" and "dimness of sight" were perfectly ordinary when applied to common folk, but applied to cultivators they were sheer comedy—one might as well call them old and cunning. Especially for a top-tier expert of Shangguan Tianxia's caliber: if even he was dim of sight, then everyone on this Cloud Tier Island must be blind.
"All right, all right. Then tell me, little Lan'er—what should your grandfather do?" Shangguan Tianxia regarded his puffed-up granddaughter with an indulgent smile.
"Punish him, of course! Otherwise anyone can slander you as they please from now on. A thousand-mile dike is ruined by an ant-hole—there'll be chaos! The Lord's dignity must not be violated; he must be made an example!" Shangguan Lan'er declared, prim and proper. (To be continued.)