Chapter 4602 — Preparing to Head for the Southern Isles
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"So that's it!" Shangguan Lan'er finally understood what he meant. After a brief pause, she suddenly said, "Grandfather, how did you know about this? I made a special trip over there today to ask Lu Bianren before I found out. Oh... I see now. You've had people keeping an eye out for news of our little junior brother all along, haven't you? Why didn't you tell me?"
"Telling you would have been pointless. What good would it have done except make you worry yourself sick over him for nothing?" Shangguan Tianxia chuckled, all but openly admitting that he had indeed been having people look into Wei Zhao's whereabouts.
"Even so, you should have told me straight away! If I hear nothing at all, that only makes me worry more!" Shangguan Lan'er pouted and grumbled.
"All right, all right, all right. Next time I receive any news about Wei Zhao, I'll tell you. Will that do?" Shangguan Tianxia had not the slightest defense against his granddaughter's wheedling, and could only acquiesce with a wry smile.
"Hehe, that's more like it." Shangguan Lan'er nodded in satisfaction.
"I say, Lan'er—if you know that Wei Zhao is being hunted by the old sect of the Western Hills, does that not worry you in the least? Those are masters of the Mountain-Opening stage, devil cultivators of such stature that a flick of their fingers could leave Wei Zhao without a bone to his name!" Shangguan Tianxia found her reaction rather odd. The girl was plainly worried about Ma Dangfeng taking his revenge on Wei Zhao, yet by the look of things she was not in the least concerned about the old sect of the Western Hills. What sort of logic was that?
The other disciples of the Threefold Pavilion might have had no real conception of what a Mountain-Opening stage titan was, but Shangguan Lan'er certainly did. This transcendent tier, of which ordinary folk never even heard, was the most basic of common knowledge in the Shangguan family; she had been taught it as far back as her earliest lessons in childhood.
"Of course I'm worried. But I've been praying for our little junior brother all along, so I believe he certainly won't die at the hands of some devil cultivator." Shangguan Lan'er giggled, then went bouncing off with little Curly Bear in tow.
"Ha, a girl's heart always turns outward in the end—the old saying could not be more true." Shangguan Tianxia shook his head with a laugh. Shangguan Lan'er had only ever prayed for her father; even he, the grandfather who had raised her alone, had no idea whether he was on that prayer list at all. Yet now the girl had gone and put Wei Zhao's name on it before anyone else.
Shangguan Tianxia fell into a pensive daze for a moment, and unwittingly glanced at the inscription he had been copying. That long smear of ink across it truly was too painful to look at. His smile turned to a bitter one. Well, now there was more work to be done...
As for Ma Dangfeng's threat to go to the Southern Isles and finish off Wei Zhao, Shangguan Lan'er was no longer worried—but Lu Bianren and the others did not see through it as clearly as Shangguan Tianxia did. Now that the whole group had gathered in Lu Bianren's cave dwelling, every face wore an anxiety that would not be dispelled.
They had confidence in Wei Zhao's strength, to be sure, but the shock Ma Dangfeng had dealt them last time was simply too great—the combined might of them all had not withstood even a single move from him. None of them were the sort to belittle themselves, yet this sense of powerlessness was utterly real, and it would only grow with time.
It was no exaggeration to say that the three words "Nascent Soul stage" had already cast a shadow over all their hearts. Unless Wei Zhao likewise became a master of the Nascent Soul stage, it would be very hard for them to feel a hundred percent confident.