Chapter 3560 — Meng Jueming and Meng Zhou

Wei Zhao did not mind at all. Having clawed his way up through the mortal realm, he had long since cultivated the habit of keeping his joys and angers off his face.

But Xiao Che's expression changed on the spot! These creatures went around acting like quails before everyone else, not daring to so much as raise their voices—and yet before the two of us they put on the airs of big bad wolves. They themselves are nothing but grass-roots rogue cultivators, and yet they call us country bumpkins? Compared with those arrogant, overbearing second-generation cultivators, these types who only know how to throw their weight around at home were in fact even more detestable.

Still, Xiao Che knew he could only keep such thoughts to himself, and think back—hadn't his own family been squeezed out by those ancient sects? Wherever one went, this sort of thing existed, and there was no point in making a fuss over it.

"Calm yourselves, Brothers, calm down, a step back opens up the wide sea and the vast sky—private brawling here in the Welcome Pavilion is severely punished." The Miserable Senior Brother hurriedly urged them again and again, terrified that a single flash of anger would send Wei Zhao and Xiao Che into a brawl, which would see not only the two of them heavily punished but even him, the steward senior brother, dragged into it.

Of course, there was one kind of contest that was permitted—the formal challenge—but he was afraid Wei Zhao and the others would come off badly, so there was no way he would mention it. After all, in the Miserable Senior Brother's eyes, those who came up from the mortal realm could never match the solidness of the fundamentals of the people from the Heaven-Tier North Island; the thinness of the heaven-and-earth spiritual qi and the heart-method verses simply could not compare.

In recent years there had indeed been some fine hands from the mortal realm who had successfully surmounted the summit and entered the upper echelons of the various sects of the Middle Island—but those were, after all, only a minority.

Wei Zhao gave a faint nod. He had seen far too many of this sort and was already numb to them; moreover, with his strength he could now kill such people in an instant. Even facing the Miserable Senior Brother, he would not be the weaker.

It was only that Wei Zhao had come here for a different purpose; there was no need for him to **lower himself to quarrel with these people.

Still, one thing could be seen from these people's behavior: the reason the Azure Cloud Pavilion had become the weakest of the three pavilions was not simply that they were grass-roots rogue cultivators.

The pitiful always have something hateful about them. These people, in both strength and background, started out naturally lower than those of the Skyward Pavilion and the Mystic Mechanism Pavilion, and yet all they knew was to throw their weight around at home—if that could still make the Azure Cloud Pavilion rise to power, then one might as well expect to see ghosts.

Seeing that Wei Zhao had chosen forbearance, Xiao Che, at his side, naturally would not strike either; his strength was nowhere near as formidable as Wei Zhao's, and he had resolved to cultivate quietly and keep a low profile, so he would not rashly stick his neck out.

But though the two of them chose forbearance, that did not mean the other side would let them off. The leader, a Heaven-Tier Great Perfection cultivator, walked up to the two of them and sneered down at them: "What? You look like you're not convinced and want to have a go with me? Fine, I, Meng Zhou, am famous for being helpful, so I'll reluctantly oblige and spar with you, and let you learn just how wide the gap is between Cloud Terrace Island and the mortal realm! Shall we make it a formal challenge?"

"Heh heh... If you're willing, then as you wish. I haven't fought anyone in the mortal realm for a long time, because no one has dared to fight me." Wei Zhao smiled without a care. He did not want to stir up trouble, but neither was he afraid of it; if this man wanted to spar, then let them spar. If he did not swat away these flies, who knew how many more would come pestering him later!

Besides, to beat someone like him, Wei Zhao did not even need to reveal his true strength—suppressing himself only to the peak of the late Heaven-Tier, the Great Perfection, would be enough to crush him to death.

"Meng Zhou, are you causing trouble again?" At that moment, a low voice suddenly sounded from behind the crowd!

Wei Zhao turned to look. The newcomer was a man who appeared to be in his thirties, with an aura of immense power, a notch stronger even than the Miserable Senior Brother beside him, that fine hand of the early Foundation Establishment stage—by the look of it, at the very least a peak expert of the early Foundation Establishment stage.

"This man is called Meng Jueming. Like me, he's a steward of our Azure Cloud Pavilion stationed at the Welcome Pavilion, and his strength and ranking are both above mine—whatever you do, never offend him." The Miserable Senior Brother hurriedly introduced him to Wei Zhao and Xiao Che in a low voice.

Another figure who must not be offended! Wei Zhao did not know whether to laugh or cry. It had been only a brief moment since they arrived at the Welcome Pavilion, and he had already heard that sentence from the Miserable Senior Brother's lips no fewer than three times. So it seemed that in the whole Welcome Pavilion, inside the Azure Cloud Pavilion or out, there was not a single person one could afford to offend—they were all great divinities beyond one's reach.

Though he too was a steward of the Azure Cloud Pavilion stationed at the Welcome Pavilion, this Senior Brother Meng Jueming made a far more imposing entrance than the Miserable Senior Brother. Wherever he passed, the Azure Cloud Pavilion disciples all rushed to greet him with respect; by comparison, at the Miserable Senior Brother's end, apart from Wei Zhao and Xiao Che, who were still reasonably courteous to him, not a single other person gave him any respect at all.

Seeing Meng Jueming appear, the previously high-and-mighty Meng Zhou immediately came forward bowing and scraping, fawning: "How could I? I was just briefing these two junior brothers who came up from the mortal realm, lest they disgrace our Azure Cloud Pavilion later on, isn't that right?"

"Two junior brothers who came up from the mortal realm?" Meng Jueming gave Wei Zhao and Xiao Che a meaningful glance and said coolly: "Even so, it's not for a newcomer like you to meddle. Miserable Junior Brother, since it was you who went to the trouble of fetching these two mortal-realm junior brothers from so far away, from now on you'll be responsible for instructing them as well, so they don't bring in those unsavory bad habits of the mortal cultivation world and ruin the good name of our Azure Cloud Pavilion."

"Miserable Senior Brother" was merely a nickname—Miserable was not really his name—yet Meng Jueming, as the chief steward senior brother of the Azure Cloud Pavilion here, called him by that nickname, which was somewhat disrespectful however one looked at it.

"Yes, Senior Brother Meng." It was the Miserable Senior Brother who saw nothing amiss; he gave a simple, honest smile and nodded.

Wei Zhao also smiled faintly, but Xiao Che clearly did not possess such depth of scheming; even his breathing had grown a little hurried.

Though this Senior Brother Meng Jueming's words were high-sounding and righteous, the contempt that ran through them marked him as a bird of the same feather as this Meng Zhou, and what he said was plainly announcing to everyone that the two of them were worthless trash in his eyes, and that was why they had been dumped on the Miserable Senior Brother. In that case, would not Meng Zhou and his lot grow even more brazen and unchecked from now on?