WangXian Forever Book 9: The Flower Demon

Chapter 110 Distaste

JiXing lay near the outskirts of Yunmeng, a quiet little town full of people intent on minding their own business. When the cultivators appeared outside the home of Sect Leader Yao, there was hardly anyone around.

It was late afternoon, and the warm sunshine was tempered by a cooling breeze. Puffy white clouds hung lazily in the sky, content not to move too fast, and the scent of apple blossoms lingered in the air.

"I've never been here before," Wei Ying says, looking around. "It's smaller than I expected."

"It's not a big sect." Jiang Cheng informs them. "Just before the Sunshot Campaign, Sect Leader Yao scarcely managed to escape from the Wens, and made his way to Lotus Pier where my father sheltered him. I don't think he ever recovered from that."

"So what does he have, in the way of getting new Disciples?" Wei Ying wants to know.

Jiang Cheng shrugs. "He's always talking himself up. I don't know if bumlicking is a-"

XiChen clears his throat loudly, because Sect Leader Yao is coming to join them outside, with another disciple behind him.

After the opulence of the Jins in Lanling, this place seems considerably less so, and lacking in wealth.

There was an air of forlorn acceptance about the place, as if its inhabitants had simply stopped trying to improve. Stuck in the past and no matter what they tried to do, they somehow couldn't move on.

"Ah! Sect Leaders! Welcome!" Sect Leader Yao bows low to welcome them.

They bow back, though Lan Zhan is already annoyed at his lack of manners in not acknowledging Wei Ying. He doesn't much care about himself; but to rudely ignore the person solely responsible for winning the war against the Wens, who was cleared of all charges after the scandal of Jin GuanYao had come to light, was a terrible insult.

He doesn't say anything for now, but he calls on Hui Gai in his head.

Dear friend, perhaps you can show your creative side, especially if this person carries on with slighting my husband.

Of course, comes back the silent reply, with a hidden chuckle.

To get approval for mischief was a rarity, especially from one who used to value rules above all else, hence this was an opportunity that Hui Gai wasn't going to squander.

They are escorted to what looks like a makeshift barn converted into what Sect Leader Yao hopes looks like a Great Hall.

But four walls and a few low tables, sitting mats and mismatched china cups do not bode well. They are lucky there is a roof to shelter them from the sunlight.

Sect Leader Yao calls for hot tea to be served.

There's an awkward silence as the established cultivators try not to say anything disrespectful, but it's hard. It's never about money, at least not in Wei Ying's eyes, and he knows that none of his family feels that way. It is not the reason why they have always found Sect Leader Yao hard to take.

Sect Leader Yao is the epitome of a contrary soul. Loud to criticise, louder yet to voice his opinion, once he has read the room and decided his opinion will be matched and unopposed.

In short, Sect Leader Yao is as fake as they come.

Here, he has very little, and yet he parades around the other Sect Leaders as if he is accustomed to spending lots of money, looking down on servants and treating them badly, simply out of his own high opinion of himself.

Were it not the case, that despite his financial situation, if Sect Leader Yao showed some kind of class, or even a little kindness to those less fortunate than himself, his character would be so much improved upon as to be unrecognisable.