Chapter 4619 — Recommended by the Three-Tier Pavilion
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
Seeing the crowd's righteous indignation, Wei Zhao felt both amused and touched. He could only blink and say: "The thing is, once you're chosen, you have to go to the East Continent just like Little Tao, and I didn't much want to go, so..."
"Oh—so that's it! I knew it was impossible for you to fail the selection, haha!" The truth dawned on them all at last, and one and all burst out laughing.
"The matter of the East Continent Morningstar Academy's recruitment was known to every household over in South Continent—they made a huge spectacle of it. Have you really not heard a single thing about Little Tao's business here?" Wei Zhao asked in turn, puzzled. In his understanding, Huang Xiaotao's achievement was like a student in the mortal world being admitted to a famous university—a solid, tangible honor. By all reason, her alma mater ought to have been trumpeting it far and wide.
"No, not a whisper." The others exchanged glances and shook their heads.
"My grandfather probably knows, but every time I ask him it's your name that comes up—I never specifically asked about Sister Little Tao, so he never told me." Shangguan Lan'er spoke thoughtfully.
Wei Zhao nodded, but still found it strange. The North Island higher-ups must have known about Huang Xiaotao—after all, she had been an inner disciple of the Azure Cloud Pavilion before this. What was odd was that the leadership kept a unified silence on the matter; not only did Shangguan Tianxia's side say nothing, but no word leaked from the Azure Cloud Pavilion either. That was hardly reasonable. With the Azure Cloud Pavilion so weak now, even using Huang Xiaotao's affair to lift morale a little would have been worthwhile...
"I happen to know a little of the inside story," Hong Zhong suddenly spoke up. Seeing everyone looking at him in confusion, he smiled and said: "In fact, the East Continent academies come out to recruit disciples every year—not only to South Continent, but to every Cloud-Tier Island, Central Island included. But you've been here so long—have you ever heard of anyone from the North Island's Three-Tier Pavilion going to the East Continent Academy? Or seen the East Continent Academy come to North Island to recruit?"
"No." The others all shook their heads. Wei Zhao and the rest could perhaps be excused on the grounds that they had joined too recently, but Lu Bianren and Senior Brother Kubi had been around for how many years now, and still knew nothing of this—that was hardly normal.
"From what I know, the reason those East Continent academies don't come to North Island for open recruitment is that they have an agreement with the North Island's Three-Tier Pavilion. The specifics of the agreement are unknown; this old man only knows it in rough outline—essentially, the right of recommendation was handed over to the North Island's Three-Tier Pavilion. The East Continent academies need not come in person to select; the Pavilion's higher-ups make the recommendations on their behalf." Hong Zhong paused, then looked at Shangguan Lan'er and said: "And the man who spearheaded that agreement was your grandfather, Shangguan Tianxia."
The others were struck dumb all at once, though none of them found it surprising. If the North Island's Three-Tier Pavilion were to put forward one figure who could best represent North Island, it could only be Shangguan Tianxia; anyone else—even the masters of the Mystic Mechanism Pavilion and the Azure Cloud Pavilion—would struggle to command obedience.
"So that is to say, recommending prodigy disciples to the East Continent Academy is discussed only within the Three-Tier Pavilion's upper echelons, and never announced to ordinary disciples?" Wei Zhao asked thoughtfully. (To be continued...)