Chapter 5089 — The Antiquity Summons
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 3
"Mm, I understand." Wei Zhao nodded. To have learned so much from Xin Yi'an was already an unexpected delight; he had merely wanted to get a rough measure of the Antiquity Alliance's strength. As for the deeper secrets hidden beneath, there was no need to dig into them for the time being, since for now they were of no use to him at all.
"That is all this disciple knows of the power structure within the Antiquity Alliance's little martial world. Is there anything else the Martial Granduncle wishes to know?" Xin Yi'an asked respectfully.
"Not for the moment. If something comes to mind later, I will seek you out again." Wei Zhao waved a hand and returned to the matter at hand. "Today let us speak of the mundane world. There is nothing wrong with the Antiquity Alliance wanting to recruit new disciples of sufficient aptitude, but you should not go about it by hunting blindly on your own. If you stated the matter openly and clearly, I believe many cultivators of the mundane world would wish to join. There is no need at all to make relations as tense as they are now—that will only prove counterproductive."
Low-level cultivators always yearn for higher things; such is the natural order of things. Back when Cloud Terrace Isle had sent only Nantian Jiguang as a token envoy of reception, people had still battered down the gates to get in. The same principle applied to the Antiquity Alliance today. It was only that men like Xue Jianming and Yu Zhengliang acted with such overbearing high-handedness, carrying themselves as though the cultivators of the mundane world were not even worth regarding as human, that naturally no one was willing to follow them.
"The Martial Granduncle speaks truly. This disciple never imagined the various sects would act so rashly and carelessly. We issued repeated strict orders that the order of the mundane world was not to be disturbed, yet in the end it still came to this. This disciple will go back and mediate—reassemble all the training disciples of every sect and forbid them from running wild in the mundane world." Xin Yi'an spoke with sincerity.
"Good. Then I will leave it to you." Wei Zhao nodded, thinking to himself that the identity of Martial Granduncle really did make all the difference. Xin Yi'an had been reasonably easy to deal with before, true, but on a matter like this he would never have agreed outright; he would surely have hemmed and hawed and found excuses. A single copy of the Azure Cloud Calming Heart Formula had proved useful beyond all expectation. Reciting it had truly been worth it.
"This disciple takes his leave. I shall come another day to pay my respects to the Martial Granduncle." Xin Yi'an rose to his feet.
"Take care. No need to see me out." Wei Zhao smiled and personally escorted Xin Yi'an out of the Mysterious Investigation Bureau. Watching the other man's receding figure, he exhaled a long breath of stale air. This day's hurdle had finally been cleared.
"Well? Did you fool him?" Qiu Lingshan followed behind him, all smiles. From the expressions on Wei Zhao's and Xin Yi'an's faces, it was plain that today's negotiation had ended to everyone's satisfaction.
"How is it fooling? I laid out the facts and reasoned with him, all right?" Wei Zhao said, curling his lip.
"Really?" Qiu Lingshan did not believe a word of it. Xin Yi'an did seem easier to talk to than arrogant creatures like Xue Jianming, but that sense of Antiquity Alliance superiority was in their very bones. She refused to believe the man could be won over so easily.
"Of course it is true. If anyone else had said such things to him, perhaps it would have been useless—but I am his Martial Granduncle. If he did not listen to me, would that not be gross insubordination?" Wei Zhao countered with a smile.
"You are his Martial Granduncle?!" Qiu Lingshan's jaw nearly dropped to the floor.