Chapter 4982 — A Familiar Face After All
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
But that, in the end, was no masterstroke. For in doing so, the Famous Elixir Sect would become the victim instead, and public sentiment would drift invisibly to their side. Apart from venting a little spleen, it would do the Heavenly Elixir Pavilion not the slightest good.
"Don't tell me you've already thought of something clever?" Tian Chan and Xueli's eyes lit up at once.
"Nothing so clever. With absolute strength, all schemes and stratagems are superfluous." Wei Zhao smiled, then changed tack. "But never mind that—first, let us find out what we can about the Famous Elixir Sect."
Reunited after so long, the three of them lingered in each other's company a while. Then Wei Zhao brought the two women downstairs, where Wei Shenjin, who had been waiting a long while, hurried up to meet them: "Head Wei Zhao, you've finally come!"
"Heh, you've had a hard time of it lately." Wei Zhao nodded with a smile. He had already heard from Tian Chan and Xueli that for two years now Wei Shenjin had come to help at the Heavenly Elixir Pavilion nearly every few days—and all of it merely because of a single instruction Wei Zhao had given before he left. Clearly this one was a man of loyalty and honor; saving him back then had not been in vain.
"You flatter me, Head. Truth is, I only lend some muscle—I'm not much real help. Today's business, for instance—I was utterly useless. Thank goodness you came, Head. Otherwise I truly wouldn't have known what to do..." Wei Shenjin said with a bitter smile.
"Don't blame yourself. This is no fault of yours—asking you to deal with Diao Huanshan was simply too much. Rest easy, I will handle it myself." Wei Zhao offered a word of comfort, then said: "By the way, you know this place well. Would you do me a favor and go find out the specifics of the Famous Elixir Sect?"
"Yes! Rest assured, Head—leave it to me!" Wei Shenjin clapped a hand to his chest and accepted the task on the spot. To have him face Diao Huanshan, a late Nascent Soul cultivator, was hardly realistic, but gathering intelligence was child's play—after all, he was a native son of the Central Isle, born and bred.
Wei Shenjin was remarkably efficient. He was back in less than half an hour, and could scarcely wait to report to Wei Zhao: "Head Wei Zhao, I've found out everything. The senior alchemist from the Eastern Continent that the Famous Elixir Sect hired is named Zheng Dongyang—they say he's a distant cousin of Zheng Dongjue."
Zheng Dongyang? Wei Zhao was slightly taken aback at the name, feeling somehow that it sounded familiar. A moment later it came to him—the father of Zheng Tianguang, the chief culprit behind Qin Chan's tragedy, the second-ranked alchemist of the Morning Star Academy: was he not named Zheng Dongyang? No wonder he had been absent from the Morning Star Academy—so he had slipped off to the Central Isle to visit family.
"Wait a moment—isn't Zheng Dongjue of the Elixir Hall? If Zheng Dongyang is his distant cousin, why has he gone to the Famous Elixir Sect? From what I recall, the Elixir Hall and the Famous Elixir Sect don't exactly get along, do they?" Wei Zhao asked, puzzled.
He had heard Cai Zhongxuan say before that the Elixir Hall had never been on good terms with these other merchant guilds. Were it not for the Elixir Hall having Zhang Lifeng, that Pill Deity, to hold the fort, they would long since have been set upon by all the other guilds. Under such circumstances, why would an alchemist connected to the Elixir Hall go and craft elixirs for the Famous Elixir Sect?
"That struck me as strange at first too. Later I found someone who knew and asked around, and only then did I learn: it wasn't Zheng Dongjue of the Elixir Hall who invited Zheng Dongyang, but the Famous Elixir Sect's own steward, Tong Yangxi." Wei Shenjin's expression was grave as he spoke.