Chapter 3564 — Who Dares to Challenge?

Behind him, Wei Zhao patted his shoulder in consolation. The Miserable Senior Brother was a decent man, but there was no help for it—honest folk are always the ones who get trampled, wherever they go.

Turning to look at the newcomer who had stepped forward, Wei Zhao did have some slight impression of him. Among the chorus of voices at the welcome assembly that had questioned Hu Yunfeng's unfair handling of matters, this Qiao Hongcai had been the loudest of them all.

"Cousin Jiu, don't forget about me!" Meng Zhou grew anxious at once in the crowd. With a backer like Meng Jueming standing right there, he had been utterly convinced that the first-ranking cave was already his; the last thing he expected was that the first name Meng Jueming called would not be his at all, but that of this Qiao Hongcai, who had never even met Meng Jueming before.

"What's the rush!" Meng Jueming shot him a displeased glance, then turned to look at the Qiao Hongcai who had stepped forward, a cold sneer playing over his face.

Just before he had left the Welcome Pavilion earlier, he had been specifically summoned by the Pavilion Master, Hu Yunfeng, and given instructions—and those instructions had been aimed squarely at this Qiao Hongcai. Who told the fool to have been the loudest one just now? A rootless rogue cultivator who was not worth a fart, and you dared to clamor about something as ridiculous as fairness? Had no one ever taught you that in this world of cultivation, the fist is the only fairness there is?

Being stared at like that by Meng Jueming, Qiao Hongcai felt at once that something was wrong. At first he had assumed he had made a deep impression on this Senior Brother Steward, and that was why he was being attended to first. Looking back on it now, deep was one thing—but it might not be a good thing! As the saying went, the bird that sticks its head out gets shot.

Sure enough, Meng Jueming looked at him and laughed coldly. "Congratulations, Junior Brother Qiao. From this moment on, Cave No. 15 at the foot of the mountain is yours."

Cave No. 15 at the foot of the mountain! The worst cave in history—scarcely better than sleeping out in the open!

Qiao Hongcai's head swam. Listening to the gloating laughter of the other newcomers around him, he finally came back to his senses, clenched his fists, and with veins starting on his forehead, said in a voice that could not quite accept it: "On what grounds do I have to take the worst cave? Senior Brother Meng, I have not offended you! Aren't the caves supposed to be allocated according to ability? Since Chongtian Pavilion and Xuanji Pavilion are the strongest and occupy the best, then even though we are the weakest, we too should have ours allocated according to ability, shouldn't we? I am at any rate a fine hand at the peak of the late Heaven rank—not Grand Perfection, to be sure, but still a middling sort. How is it that I am assigned to Cave No. 15?"

"You haven't offended me, true enough—but the people you have offended are people I cannot afford to offend!" Meng Jueming smiled coldly. "What's this, Junior Brother Qiao is dissatisfied with my arrangements? Then you can lodge a complaint against me—go to the Great Pavilion Master at the Welcome Pavilion and lodge your complaint against me there!"

This order had clearly been passed down on Hu Yunfeng's hint, so Meng Jueming was not the least bit afraid of Qiao Hongcai kicking up a fuss!

"I—" Qiao Hongcai gritted his teeth. Unwilling as he was in his heart, he still did not dare openly defy Meng Jueming before the crowd. As things stood, at least he still had a Cave No. 15; the worst cave in history it might be, but it was still better than none! Though he could not tell whether Meng Jueming had backers of his own or simply did not fear his lodging a complaint, at this moment he could only force himself to say: "I wouldn't dare. But since we are being made to make a push for Foundation Establishment, then having been given the worst cave, when the time comes and I fail, you will not blame me for it, Senior Brother—that is all I ask!"

"Ho! You say you wouldn't dare to your face, yet you still dare to bargain with me? So you are still dissatisfied. Very well then, I have always been a most fair and democratic man." So saying, Meng Jueming pointed a finger at Meng Zhou. "I now allot the finest cave, No. 1, to Meng Zhou, but likewise I give you a chance to challenge him. So long as you can beat him, Cave No. 1 goes to you. In the world of cultivation, the strong are honored—don't say your senior brother never gave you a chance! And if you cannot even beat him, I can hardly just hand Cave No. 1 over to you, can I? For then would Junior Brother Meng Zhou not say I had been unfair, and would it then be my fault if you could not reach Foundation Establishment?"

The moment Meng Jueming said this, Meng Zhou leapt out at once, bubbling with excitement, and taunted Qiao Hongcai: "How about a little contest? If not for Cousin Jiu's sake, a piece of trash with nothing but peak late Heaven rank cultivation like you would not even be worth my trouble on an ordinary day. But today I'll give you this chance! And I'll honor the wager—if I lose, I'll willingly take Cave No. 15, and if I fail to reach Foundation Establishment, I won't blame heaven or complain of others, and I'll let Senior Brother Meng reprimand me as he pleases!"

"Qiao Hongcai, Junior Brother Meng Zhou is being noble and magnanimous. What do you say?" Meng Jueming was thoroughly pleased with Meng Zhou's response. Now let us see what Qiao Hongcai had to say for himself.

Qiao Hongcai looked at the eager, restless Meng Zhou, and his face went from green to purple by turns. He himself was only a fine hand at the peak of the late Heaven rank, and one who had broken through not long ago at that, his foundations not yet steady; his opponent, by contrast, was a Grand Perfection master at the peak of the late Heaven rank, at least two grades above him. How was he supposed to fight that? If it came to blows in earnest, he feared he could not even take a single casual move from the man!

Seeing Qiao Hongcai back down, Meng Zhou sneered with a face full of smug contempt. "Spineless piece of trash. I say from now on you had better stop calling yourself Qiao Hongcai and just call yourself Qiao the Trash!"

Meng Jueming had anticipated this all along. He smiled without a care and turned to address all the newcomers: "What I said just now applies not only to him, but to every one of you as well. If you are dissatisfied with the cave allotted to you, no problem—so long as you can beat Meng Zhou here in this hall, Cave No. 1 is yours! Of course, if you happen to be on good terms in private, you may also swap caves among yourselves. I won't interfere with that!"

Meng Zhou obligingly puffed out his chest. Of the fifteen newcomers present, apart from Wei Zhao and Xiao Che, among the local newcomers only he, Meng Zhou, was a Grand Perfection master at the peak of the late Heaven rank. There was simply no one who could match him. And as for Wei Zhao and Xiao Che, those two bumpkins from the mundane world—even if they too were at Grand Perfection, he would not give them a second thought. He was, after all, a native fixture of Yun Jie Island; even at the same grade of cultivation, his true strength was far above that of these counterfeit outsiders from the mundane world. There was no comparison between them at all.

Seeing that no one dared utter a sound, Meng Jueming went on calling the roll: "Wei Zhao!"