Chapter 4999 — A Resounding Slap

Yet the moment he opened the document and read it, Wu Miao's expression turned astonishingly vivid—it was hard to imagine one face could cycle through so many shades at once. He looked so ghastly he might as well have been a dyer's vat.

"Investigation has shown that the pills sold at Tian Pill Pavilion were not smuggled goods but came through normal commercial channels from beyond the Eastern Continent. Effective immediately, Tian Pill Pavilion's reputation is restored, and Executive Deputy Island Lord Wu Miao hereby offers his solemn apology for the earlier misjudgment."

Staring at those few lines on the island lord's document, Wu Miao choked on his words and could not produce a single syllable for the longest time. That scene at Tian Pill Pavilion the day before had already humiliated him deeply, and now this island lord's document had dealt him yet another vicious slap across the face. Oda Zhou had even specifically named him to read it aloud at Tian Pill Pavilion—surely even a slap to the face need not be delivered with such merciless cruelty!

"Just an acting island lord, and what a grand air he puts on!" Wu Miao cursed viciously once he had waved his trusted aide away. Of course, he only dared say such things in private; he would not have dared utter even this much grumbling before his own trusted subordinates, let alone to Oda Zhou's face.

Not only did he lack the courage to curse him openly, Wu Miao did not even have the nerve to go argue the matter with Oda Zhou. Rank crushes the man beneath it, and this superior was a personage with connections reaching to the heavens. Even if he ground his teeth in fury, what could he possibly do?

Though he dared not confront Oda Zhou, Wu Miao was hardly about to resign himself to his fate. Slinking off to Tian Pill Pavilion to read the document aloud would be worse than death—he would absolutely not do it. After turning it over and over, he saw only one choice: go to Famous Pills Sect and find Zheng Dongsheng.

"Deputy Island Lord Wu, how did the matter go?" Zheng Dongsheng asked the moment they met.

Besides him, Zheng Dongjue, Nan Tian Jiguang, and Tong Yangxi were all present as well. These men were birds of a feather, now banded together for the sake of shared interests. Naturally they meant to strike while the iron was hot and cement their bonds, and they had to use this chance to sound out one another's true depths—otherwise, how could they ever cooperate with confidence in the future?

Wu Miao could not help but flush with shame. Earlier he had sworn up and down that it was a trifling matter, yet it had come to this pass—not only had Wei Zhao slapped him down in public, but now, pressed by Oda Zhou, he had lost all face. He truly had no nerve left to face Zheng Dongsheng and the others.

But there was no help for it; he had to come. If he told the truth, at least everyone could put their heads together for a solution. If he simply threw up his hands and quit, he would not only disgrace himself but also earn the resentment of Zheng Dongsheng and the rest—and that loss would be truly immeasurable. He was still counting on Zheng Dongsheng to refine pills for him, after all.

"This..." Wu Miao hesitated for a moment in shame, and in the end could only brace himself and say, "This Tian Pill Pavilion is unfathomably deep."

"Unfathomably deep?" Zheng Dongsheng and the others were stunned speechless at once. They had kept men watching Tian Pill Pavilion all along and knew exactly what had happened the day before. Rather than calling Tian Pill Pavilion unfathomably deep, it would be more apt to say Wei Zhao himself was unfathomably deep. A formidable early Mystic Ascension expert who could not even be bested by Wu Miao—truly a terrifying thing to hear!

"Could it be that even with your connections, Deputy Island Lord Wu, you cannot find a formidable expert to counter Wei Zhao?" Zheng Dongjue could not help but find it strange. Looking at Wu Miao with a meaningful gaze, he said, "But from what I know, even if the Island Lord's Pavilion does not trouble the Central Island Elders' Council, it should not be so incapable as to fail against a single Wei Zhao, no?"

The eyes of Zheng Dongsheng and the others likewise carried a measure of doubt and scrutiny. Wei Zhao was indeed unstoppable now, but to say that even the Island Lord's Pavilion was at its wit's end was absolutely impossible. Even if the Central Island's official strength on the surface was not as outstanding as that of other Cloud Step Islands, it had not grown so weak as that.

"Of course the Island Lord's Pavilion can deal with Wei Zhao. But the trouble is, who knows what wind got into that acting island lord's head. He originally went there to stand up for me, yet after a few words at Tian Pill Pavilion, he made me return the pills. He also said he would investigate personally, and then today he handed me this." With a bitter face, Wu Miao passed the island lord's document to Zheng Dongsheng and the others.

They glanced at it and immediately exchanged looks. Zheng Dongsheng could not help but frown. "Did you not say this acting island lord comes from a top-tier great house? He should have no connection with that insignificant Tian Pill Pavilion—so why would he be so biased?"

"I do not know the specifics either. But it seems he went to see one of Wei Zhao's elder brothers, and after he returned he said nothing at all—and then this document came down." Wu Miao smiled bitterly in helplessness.

"Went to see Wei Zhao's elder brother? Is that not plainly siding with them?" The brows of Zheng Dongsheng and the others knit even deeper.

"That is just how it is. So I truly have no way out and can only come to consult with you all, to see whether a proper solution can be devised. I can stall this island lord's document for half a day at most. If no countermeasure can be found, then as Executive Deputy Island Lord I will have no choice but to grit my teeth and carry out the order—and then nothing can be salvaged." Wu Miao sighed.

To preserve its dignity, the Island Lord's Pavilion most abhorred issuing orders that were reversed the next day. Once this document was published, that would already mark one reversal; thereafter it would stand as final. The matter would be settled beyond recall.

At these words, Zheng Dongsheng and the others all fell silent, each staring at the others. Though all were men of deep scheming, for the moment they truly could devise no way to break the deadlock. In the end, they did not possess ironclad proof that Tian Pill Pavilion had smuggled pills—the absence of a divine-sense mark could only serve as inference, and once scrutinized closely it would not hold up.

After a long silence, it was Zheng Dongsheng who finally spoke. "Tian Pill Pavilion is a great scourge to Famous Pills Sect. Taking a step back is a small matter, but if it seizes the chance to rise, then we strike the snake and fail to kill it, only to suffer from it in turn—the consequences would be unthinkable. This time we must pin it down dead with one blow!"

"But this is Island Lord Oda's will. Even I dare not defy it..." Wu Miao shook his head helplessly.

"Since the root of the trouble lies with this Island Lord Oda, then I have no choice but to go to the Island Lord's Pavilion myself and have a word with him face to face." Zheng Dongsheng's voice was grave.

Though the other man's strength and background left him far behind, he was, after all, a seventh-grade alchemist from the Eastern Continent, and wherever he went he commanded no small status. Even walking into the Central Island's Island Lord's Pavilion, by all rights he should be received as an honored guest.