Chapter 4614 — The Center's Attitude
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
His towering rage this time had its roots, in the end, in Wei Zhao. After a year and a half without seeing him, he had assumed he now stood far above Wei Zhao—never imagining that Wei Zhao's cultivation had advanced even more absurdly than his own.
Ma Dangfeng's account alone made it plain that a mid-Nascent Soul cultivator like him had not even been able to sound out the depths of Wei Zhao's strength; that proved him utterly worthless, and all the more proved how unfathomable Wei Zhao was.
This unforeseen outcome was a bucket of cold water dashed over the head of Xu Lingchong, who had been riding high of late. Had he not flown into a fury after that, it would have been strange indeed; Ma Dangfeng had simply had the bad luck to become his vent.
"Calm yourself, Bro Chong, calm yourself! This one knows he was wrong—please, cool your temper..." Fearing that Xu Lingchong in his wrath might do something to him, Ma Dangfeng scrambled off the stretcher despite his injuries, gritted his teeth, and half-prostrated himself before Xu Lingchong, knocking his head against the floor in apology.
At that moment he could have given himself fourteen thousand slaps across the face. Had he known it would end like this, then even with ten thousand times the courage lent to him, he would never have been so addle-brained as to challenge Wei Zhao!
On the way here he had been fixed wholly on the notion that Xu Lingchong would avenge him—how could he ever have guessed that this was how Young Master Xu would react?
Until now, Xu Lingchong had always carried himself with immense swagger; at every meeting he displayed the grand air of a man dictating the course of the realm. Ma Dangfeng had even naively believed that here on North Island, in the Sandie Pavilion, there was nothing Young Master Xu could not handle—after all, Young Master Xu not only possessed formidable strength himself, he had a mysterious backer propping him up from behind!
What he did not know was that Xu Lingchong could put on such swagger entirely because Wei Zhao was absent. Otherwise he would surely have reined himself in; the bloody lessons of a year and a half ago were still vivid before his eyes.
Xu Lingchong, his fury soaring to the heavens, pointed at Ma Dangfeng's nose and cursed him for a good long while, until at last his anger eased a little. He gave a cold snort: "Get lost."
"Ah? Bro... Bro Chong, spare my life! This one will never dare again—I swear to heaven, I have always served you with all my heart, Bro Chong, never with the least disrespect..." Ma Dangfeng nearly wet himself in fright, and at once clutched Xu Lingchong's leg, begging through streaming tears and runny nose.
By the rules of their organization, Xu Lingchong was his one and only direct superior, holding absolute power of life and death over him. Once Xu Lingchong told him to get lost, the organization would regard it as betrayal—and that meant certain death. By then, death itself might be a luxury; a life worse than death would be his only fate.
"What nonsense are you babbling? I told you to go home and tend your wounds—now get out of here!" Xu Lingchong said with a frown.
"Oh, yes, yes—thank you for your grace, Bro Chong, thank you for your grace!" Only then did Ma Dangfeng come to his senses; he kowtowed in thanks and fled, terrified that Xu Lingchong might weary of the sight of him and change his mind halfway—and then he would truly have no grave even to weep at.
Watching Ma Dangfeng stumble and scramble out of sight beyond the door, Xu Lingchong turned and exchanged a glance with the others, then sighed: "What do you think we should do now?"
He meant Wei Zhao, of course—a boulder pressing down on every one of them. For all that their strength was now far beyond what it once was, if they were to face Wei Zhao as they stood, none of them truly had the confidence—Xu Lingchong included. In every heart there crept an unavoidable sense of inadequacy.