Chapter 5085 — How Is That Possible!
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
But the moment he laid eyes on Wei Zhao, the faintly detached expression on the white-bearded elder's face vanished at once, replaced by a profound gravity. He was, after all, a man of wide experience; though Wei Zhao's aura was now restrained and utterly unreadable, the man still gave off an air of unfathomable depth, and instinct told the white-bearded elder that this person was no ordinary figure in the least.
"I am Xin Yi'an, an elder of the Cangwu Sect of North Island in the Primordial Alliance, and the one in charge of this mortal-world trial. Might you be Wei Zhao?" Xin Yi'an asked gravely.
"The very same. Please, sit." Wei Zhao smiled politely, though in truth he felt rather strange inside. Here he was, a genuine disciple of North Island, and the man before him claimed to be an elder of the Cangwu Sect of North Island—that same jarring sense of displacement he had felt with Cloud Terrace Island left him quite speechless.
Suppressing the oddness in his heart, Wei Zhao made proper small talk with the man, all seriousness. After all, the fellow was a peak early Golden Core expert; in terms of strength the other party actually had the advantage, and behind him stood the Primordial Alliance. Even Wei Zhao, so long as faces were not yet torn, had to treat him courteously—otherwise there would be nothing to discuss at all.
Xin Yi'an, for his part, suspected Wei Zhao of being some great primal-spirit cultivator from the Primordial era, and now, seeing Wei Zhao's extraordinary bearing with his own eyes, he naturally had no wish to be overly haughty. Strength decided who held the floor—it was only natural for him to pay no heed to lowly mortal-world cultivators, but if he were to ignore even Wei Zhao, that would simply prove his head was unsound.
Anyone capable of becoming the leader in charge of the mortal-world trial plainly could not have an unsound head—quite the contrary, the man was a past master at working every angle. Otherwise, if he relied on brute strength alone to keep them down, so many Primordial sects might not have been willing to heed his word at all.
"President Lin, the purpose of my visit today is to straighten out these unpleasantries between the Primordial Alliance and the mortal world, and to get to the bottom of who was right and who was wrong. Otherwise the grudge between the two sides will only deepen, and that bodes ill neither for us of the Primordial Alliance nor for you of the mortal world. I trust President Lin shares this position?" Xin Yi'an said, coming to the point.
"Naturally. The mortal world is our home, and no one wishes to see his own home catch fire. This time I specifically invited Elder Xin here precisely to lay the matter out face to face, and to ask that the Primordial Alliance keep its disciples in hand in the days to come, so that fresh friction does not arise again." Wei Zhao nodded.
"Good. Then let us speak of the Qiankun Sect affair. The one who wounded Yu Zhengliang and the other three was President Lin, was it not? And I am told that Xue Jianming of the Snowsword Sect had his Golden Core destroyed by you as well?" Xin Yi'an pressed for confirmation.
"Correct. Both matters are true enough. I did not wish to strike at them in the first place, but they went too far and overstepped their bounds—so naturally they deserved a taste of hardship." Wei Zhao nodded, then said coolly: "The mortal world has the mortal world's rules. If you of the Primordial Alliance wish to select disciples from the mortal world, by all means do so. So long as the cultivators themselves consent, we have no objection and will certainly not stand in the way. But if you take people by force—then there is nothing more to be said."