Chapter 5001 — The Island Lord's Invitation

Things having come to this pass, Zheng Dongsheng's bitterest hatred was no longer aimed at Wei Zhao but at Oda Zhou, the man who had made him lose face. He was now even entertaining thoughts of dragging this acting island lord who looked down on him down from his seat.

"Will this really work?" Wu Miao stared at the contents and could not help swallowing hard.

"You can drop the 'really.' This time it is not just Wei Zhao and Tian Pill Pavilion—even that supercilious acting island lord of yours is going to have a proper cup of trouble to drink!" Zheng Dongsheng read it over once more with perfect confidence, then picked up his brush and added one final line, making clear that the academy should deliver the letter into Zhuang Yifan's hands.

A rank-seven alchemist after all—his transcendent status guaranteed him a transcendent voice. Zheng Dongsheng counted as somebody in the Eastern Continent's Yellow Rank Sea Zone, and before a figure like Zhuang Yifan, president of the alliance, he could still make himself heard.

Of course, whether Zhuang Yifan would actually take his words to heart was another matter entirely. At least Zheng Dongsheng's own self-regard remained in excellent condition.

"Good. Then let us return to Famous Pills Sect and send the letter through their channels!" Though Wu Miao had been trembling with dread for the better part of the day, he now felt a stir of excitement. If things truly went as Zheng Dongsheng said and even Oda Zhou came to grief along with the rest, then might he not allow himself to daydream a little about the acting island lord's seat?

"No need. Use the official channels of your Island Lord's Pavilion," Zheng Dongsheng said with a shake of his head.

"That hardly seems wise. Using the pavilion's official channels will certainly alert Oda Zhou—what if he sees it?" Recalling all the lurid embellishments and accusations in the letter, Wu Miao could not help feeling a pang of guilt. If Oda Zhou read it and flew into a rage on the spot, there was no telling what he might do.

"I want him to see it. If he has the sense to come to me and soften his tone, the matter ends there. But if he insists on refusing the toast only to drink the forfeit, then he has no one to blame but himself. Even if he comes from a top-tier clan, I refuse to believe he does not hold the Eastern Continent Academy in some regard!" Zheng Dongsheng's face twisted with menace.

"This... very well then..." Wu Miao hesitated a moment, but in the end did as Zheng Dongsheng instructed.

Yet what neither man expected was that Oda Zhou showed not the slightest inclination to look into the matter at all. Far from opening the letter, he did not so much as offer the barest statement of position; he merely stamped it with the great seal of the Island Lord's Pavilion as a matter of routine, and beyond that paid it no heed whatsoever.

It was a passionate punch landed square on cotton. Faced with Wu Miao's peculiar expression, Zheng Dongsheng went red in the face with pent-up fury, and only after a long while did he squeeze a single sentence out through clenched teeth: "We shall see."

Over the days that followed, Zheng Dongsheng and Wu Miao devoted themselves wholly to awaiting word from the Eastern Continent. Once they had lowered their flags and fallen silent, Tian Pill Pavilion returned to its former bustle.

Thanks to the rank-seven pills Wei Zhao had released, business grew fiercer by the day, forcing him to borrow two more assistants from Cai Zhongyang to meet the demand. Xueli, for her part, had finally begun recruiting as well. At this rate, expanding Tian Pill Pavilion was a matter of immediate urgency—without sufficient hands, there was simply no way to manage.

These past few days Wei Zhao had been run so ragged he was dizzy with it; at times he even took his place behind the counter himself, and in doing so got a proper taste of the bitterness such work entailed. He could not help sighing inwardly: for Tian Chan and Xueli to have held things together these past two years, even with him dropping the ball time and again, was truly no small feat.

Yet just when the rush was at its height, the Island Lord's Pavilion suddenly sent over an invitation: the acting island lord, Oda Zhou, requested his presence.

Wei Zhao could hardly ignore such a thing. He had already guessed at the connection between Oda Zhou and Oda Ba, and the man was indeed unfathomable, yet also fair and honourable in his conduct. Wei Zhao had harboured some desire to cultivate his acquaintance, and upon receiving the invitation he said a word to Tian Chan and the others, then went straight to the Island Lord's Pavilion.

Arriving at the pavilion, Wei Zhao was just about to ask someone to announce him when he looked up and saw Oda Zhou himself. He was quite overwhelmed—the acting island lord had come out in person to receive him!

"Young Master Lin, from the look of you, this is hardly your first visit to the Island Lord's Pavilion?" Oda Zhou said with a smile.

"Island Lord Oda guesses rightly. I did come once before, back when Brother Tian Xingdao was contending with Nan Tian Jiguang for the post of deputy island lord. Two years have passed in the blink of an eye," Wei Zhao said with some feeling.

"Tian Xingdao is your brother?" Oda Zhou was slightly taken aback. At his level, scarcely anyone in the official circles of the Middle Island could catch his eye, but Tian Xingdao was an exception.

The man's cultivation was not high, yet his strength and potential far exceeded his realm, and that was not to be underestimated. A figure of his kind, even after a setback, would only have a greater future once he recovered. Given enough opportunity, it was not impossible that one day he might stand shoulder to shoulder with scions of top-tier clans such as himself.

"He and I are friends despite the difference in our ages," Wei Zhao said with a smile.

"Ha, birds of a feather flock together—that saying has never rung truer. Young Master Lin and Tian Xingdao are indeed the same sort of men. A pity he has gone to the Eastern Continent; otherwise we could have had a fine gathering today," Oda Zhou said with some regret.

"Since Island Lord Oda is good enough not to disdain me, there will surely be another chance in future," Wei Zhao said, nodding in agreement and letting the current carry him along.

"Well said. But today Tian Xingdao is absent, so it will have to be just the two of us drinking across the table. Consider it my duty as host—how does that sound?" Oda Zhou proposed.

"Since Island Lord Oda puts it that way, how dare I disobey?" Wei Zhao said, cupping his hands with a smile.

The two of them went straight to the first island lord's hall, where Oda Zhou ordered several dishes prepared—delicate but not extravagant—and then personally brought over two jars of aged wine, and they sat facing each other and drank.

No sooner had Wei Zhao taken a single sip than he gave a startled cry of surprise. "This wine is formidable!" he exclaimed in astonishment.

He had drunk strong liquor back in the secular world, and by comparison the spirit wines of Cloud Rank Island seldom carried such fire. Yet the jar Oda Zhou had produced was extraordinarily potent—several degrees fiercer even than those of the secular world.

"A true man ought to drink strong liquor. This is a craft handed down through my Oda clan for generations—not only is the brewing unmatched, but the ingredients are rare spirit herbs from across the world. The entire clan can produce but twenty jars a year, and aged vintages like this are rarer still. To win a single jar against so many covetous eyes is no easy thing. If not for you, Young Master Lin, I would have been loath to bring out these two jars at all," Oda Zhou said, feigning distress.