Chapter 2230 — The Mysterious Great Protector

The Great Protector had remained in the Tagan family these many years for two important reasons. One was to guard and train Tagan Long in the martial arts as ordered, until the time was ripe for a task of tremendous magnitude that he must undertake...

The other task was to keep watch over the Wulonghaote Mountains, and over the two people in the photograph!

Those two had both escaped by sheer luck during the original extermination raid. Their chances of survival were slim, but without seeing the corpses, no one could declare them dead!

Moreover, the power standing behind the Great Protector had no wish to see those two dead either. Their motive for wiping out the sect had been to seize a great treasure from within that ancient order, but the treasure had been hidden away. They had swept through the entire sect and found nothing!

So the Great Protector had settled himself here, keeping watch over those two as well. If they still lived, they would surely return to search for that treasure, and when they did, the Great Protector could strike, seize the treasure, and do away with them both...

And now the Great Protector saw hope! Tagan Long's intelligence was exceedingly useful. If this man truly had ties to those two from back then, he had surely come to the Wulonghaote Mountains for that treasure, and then the Great Protector could strike once they had found it...

"Great Protector, those two... are we just going to let them go? They still carry two spirit-beast essence cores in their hands..." said Tagan Long.

"Of course we won't let them go, but you needn't concern yourself with this matter. I will handle it personally!" said the Great Protector. "For the time being, do not leave the house. Stay home and train. As for your foppish image, just go out and be seen now and then—so long as no one notices anything unusual about you."

"Yes!" Tagan Long said hastily, delighted at heart. If the Great Protector took action himself, then every problem would be solved with ease.

The family council ended quickly. In truth, the Tagan family's rapid rise in Ruileida Town owed nothing to the family itself, nor to the Tagan Patriarch being a Heaven-rank expert—the Lu family and the Shangguan family likewise had Heaven-rank masters holding their seats. The Tagan family had climbed to the head of the three great families because of the Great Protector!

And the entire family existed to serve the Great Protector and Tagan Long. Tagan Gao, the clan head, in fact had very little say. To outsiders he appeared glorious, but once he returned home and sat in the family council, his voice carried less weight than that of his own son, Tagan Long!

At the family council, it was the Great Protector who presided over everything. And the reason the Great Protector and the power behind him favored the Tagan family was entirely that they had stumbled upon Tagan Long's peculiar constitution!

That constitution was precisely suited to a great undertaking of theirs. What that undertaking was, Tagan Gao did not know—even Tagan Long himself did not know. But the one thing Tagan Gao did know was this: once it succeeded, Tagan Long's standing would surpass even the Great Protector's, his martial arts would reach the very summit, and the Tagan family would rise with him to become a first-rate family of the age...

Of course, all of this rested on that undertaking succeeding. If it failed, these promises were so much ink on worthless paper.

And that undertaking was of the utmost secrecy. Tagan Long's identity must never be exposed ahead of time, lest something go wrong. So, on the Great Protector's advice, Tagan Gao hit upon a fine scheme: let Tagan Long play the fop, a disguise for prying eyes.

If Tagan Long were kept hidden away in the family and never seen, the other powers in town would surely grow suspicious. Better, then, to put him in the public eye—a profligate young master whom everyone knew, and yet not a soul would suspect that he bore another, special identity.

This was the meaning of the saying: the greatest hermit hides in the marketplace.

The Great Protector vanished after the council ended. The Tagan family, however, played the matter down to the outside world and never mentioned his whereabouts. As for the failed hunt for the Fire Lion, it spread through town as rumor, carefully spun by the Tagan family...

The rumor was half truth, half falsehood: during the spirit-beast hunt, all the failures were laid at Tagan Long's feet; the Fifth Protector, the Eighth Protector, and four adventurers had all perished trying to protect Tagan Long...

And so mockery came from the other families. Young Master Tagan Long truly was good for nothing! A fop was one thing, but such a fool besides? The four adventurers, well, never mind them—but the Fifth and Eighth Protectors were the backbone of the Tagan family. What a pity they were dead!

Word then spread that Tagan Gao had confined Tagan Long to reflection, which only confirmed the earlier rumors: this profligate young master had brought disaster down on them all!

……………………

When Wei Zhao opened his eyes again, the sky had grown late. Sun Jingyan, the Sky Thunder Pig, and the great and small Fire Lions were all gathered around him, and the lioness had gathered a great deal of food—wild fruits and the like, though all were choice fruits steeped in the spiritual essence of heaven and earth, greatly beneficial to cultivation when eaten.

"Mr. Lin, you are the most remarkable person I have ever met!" The great Fire Lion looked at Wei Zhao, restored to his former self and already back at his peak, in great astonishment. "To recover completely from such injuries in so short a time, and to have your vigor restored to its height as well."

"Heh." Wei Zhao smiled. "Thank you for looking after me while I healed."

"It was nothing. It was my duty," said the great Fire Lion. "You must be hungry. Eat something! Here are some rare delicacies; eaten, they restore one's strength swiftly and are wonderfully good for cultivation."

"Jingyi, you eat. I won't," said Wei Zhao. He had only just recovered his strength and was not in the least hungry.

"All right, then I won't stand on ceremony!" Sun Jingyan had been hungry for a while, but with Wei Zhao not yet recovered, she had not eaten alone. Hearing him say so, she happily helped herself.

"Mr. Lin won't eat?" The great Fire Lion found it rather strange.

"My strength is already back at its peak. Do I still need to eat?" Wei Zhao said with a laugh.

"I see." The great Fire Lion nodded. "Tonight, you should stay here. I know I cannot stop you from going up the mountain, but do take care in all things!"

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