Others praised him as a great hero of the Glazed Tile Royal City, and while
He had indeed made some contributions to the Glazed Tile Royal City, but he was far from being a great hero. This much,
Plumshadow Monarch was visibly surprised by
However, given Plumshadow Monarch's personality, even though she was surprised, there would be no excessive apologies or anything of the sort.
"Young Master Zhen, His Majesty appointed you as Young Master. Plumshadow once questioned this and voiced her objections. However, I welcome you proving me wrong with facts. I will never oppose someone just for the sake of opposing. As long as you can convince Plumshadow that you are worthy of my support, I will back you more firmly than anyone else. Don't ask me why — because the Peacock Sacred Mountain needs an outstanding successor."
Plumshadow Monarch was cold and blunt.
Even when speaking plain truths, someone else might have delivered them more tactfully, more diplomatically.
But from her lips, it always came out hard-edged and icy.
If someone with a slightly narrower temperament had heard this tone, they might well have taken offense. After all, the other party was already the Young Master, and even if you were once a trusted subordinate of the Peacock Great Emperor, you were nominally a subordinate now.
However, a flicker of surprise passed through Plumshadow Monarch's cool eyes. She clearly hadn't expected this Young Master Zhen to possess such insight.
A young man who had just been named Young Master would, by all rights, be somewhat carried away — arrogant, even losing all sense of propriety.
Yet this Young Master Zhen was actually capable of viewing things from this elevated perspective.
This breadth of vision and bearing clearly caught Plumshadow Monarch slightly off guard, and her expression softened a fraction. She nodded. "His Majesty's eyes were not mistaken about us, and I trust His Majesty's eyes are not mistaken about you either. However, I am different from the common folk of the Glazed Tile Royal City. I will not let minor matters cloud my judgment. The things you have done for the Glazed Tile Royal City, while quite admirable, are not yet sufficient from my perspective to earn the title of hero of the Glazed Tile Royal City. A person's character and the level of their caliber can only be truly seen through great matters. In the battle with Pill Fire City, I could only see your talent in alchemy. At the Glazed Tile Royal Tower assembly, I could only see your talent in martial arts. In both these areas, I have already acknowledged you. As for character and caliber — these are things that reveal themselves over time. I will continue to observe with my own fair eye."
He was already in a position of high authority as the Young Master of the Peacock Sacred Mountain. Not even the other three great Monarchs had spoken to him this way.
That didn't mean the other three had fully accepted him. Perhaps they harbored their own doubts as well — they simply hadn't voiced them.
Plumshadow Monarch alone dared to think it and dare to say it.
This kind of personality might be hard to accept for someone with a narrow mind, but having lived through two lifetimes,
If a person in power had no one like that around them, *that* was the truly dangerous situation.
With the conversation having reached this point,
Given the status and standing of the four great Monarchs, that would have been unrealistic anyway.
His visit was simply meant to convey a gesture of respect.
After a few more casual exchanges,
Plumshadow Monarch did not press him to stay. She saw him to the door. "I won't waste words on pleasantries. If you have problems, you'll naturally seek out Cloud Monarch first. You possess the Lesser Feather Token — for any problem, no matter how big, you can mobilize the Peacock Guard. So I won't bother with the hollow invitation to come find me if you need anything."
So he changed the subject. "Earlier, outside the mountain gate, there was a little girl of five or six, quite adorable. Is she the Monarch's granddaughter?"
"You mean
At the mention of
*Sigh.* "I have lived in solitude all my life and never married — where would a granddaughter come from?
He had never met this Miss Dan'er. He had thought he might see her the other day, but she had been driven to the point of announcing a closed-door seclusion of three years to escape the relentless parade of marriage suitors.
Later,