Chapter 3627 — Buying Medicinal Herbs

The kid was actually coming to him with a request? Meng Jueming's heart leapt with delight, and a rush of private satisfaction washed over him. Had it been any other newcomer begging him for a favor, he likely wouldn't have felt much of a thrill—after all, such things were only natural. But when the one doing the begging was Wei Zhao, that stubborn, unruly sort who had never submitted to him, the feeling was something else entirely!

What could be sweeter in all the world than the sight of an enemy, a sworn foe, groveling before you?

"Go on, then—out with it. What is it you want from me?" Meng Jueming's irritation vanished in an instant, and he deliberately put on an air of haughty indifference.

"I'd like to request a day's leave tomorrow. I hope Senior Brother Meng will approve it," Wei Zhao said.

He and the other newcomers present had all signed contracts with the Spirit Jade Hall and were digging here under a rule that forbade unexplained absences within three months. Yet before they were miners of the Spirit Jade Hall, their foremost identity was still newcomers of the Welcome Pavilion. So it was just as it had been when the mining zones were assigned: Meng Jueming, as the managing senior brother, could poke his nose into how the Spirit Jade Hall handled this batch of newcomers. As long as Meng Jueming nodded, a day or two of leave was a single word's matter.

So that was it—the fellow wanted leave! Understanding dawned on Meng Jueming, and he at once thrust out his chin and said, "And the reason? Why should I approve your leave?"

"You saw it yourself, Senior Brother Meng. I toiled the whole day and still couldn't dig out a single decent piece of jade. It's a bit stifling, so I feel I need a rest," Wei Zhao said, putting on a deliberately glum face.

"Ha? Stifled? From your expression I'd have thought you didn't care at all—so you do get stifled after all?" Meng Jueming was instantly delighted, and even Meng Zhou, who had been smarting with humiliation a moment before, broke into a beaming smile.

From the very first day they met Wei Zhao, no matter how they schemed against him, Wei Zhao had always worn that calm, unruffled expression. Every time that look appeared on his face—especially when their plots backfired and they ended up in the pit themselves—Meng Jueming and Meng Zhou felt as foul as if they had eaten shit!

But now, the bastard was openly admitting to his gloom to their faces. This was an unprecedented victory!

Gloom was good! In days to come he'd keep you gloomy till you dropped dead! Meng Jueming's mood soared, and clapping Wei Zhao on the shoulder with a hearty laugh, he said, "Ordinarily I couldn't approve this leave of yours—after all, retreating at the first little setback, if word of that got out it'd damage the reputation of our Azure Cloud Pavilion! But seeing how gloomy you are, I'll be magnanimous and grant you the one day. In fact, if it comes to that, taking a few more days is no problem either—you can't dig out a damn thing anyway, so what difference does it make? Just don't dig a few more days and then die of pent-up frustration. That'd make you the first newcomer in the history of the Heaven-tier North Island to be done in by his own gloom!"

"Then many thanks, Senior Brother Meng." Wei Zhao paid not the slightest heed to the mockery laced through those words, spared the crowd not another glance, and turned to leave.

"Heh heh, Ninth Cousin, look at that ugly smile on the kid—it's practically a sob! Wahahaha!" Meng Zhou taunted without the least restraint from behind.

Wei Zhao's expression was in fact no different from usual, but at this moment, in Meng Zhou's eyes, it could not have looked uglier. Before, that look had always seemed to him like putting on airs, and he'd have loved nothing more than to pounce over and kick the fellow in the face. Now, though, the more he looked the more pleasing it became—the man was in sheer bliss!

Meng Jueming smirked with equal mockery. "That, my friend, is what we call 'profound cultivation'—understand? No matter how gloomy you are, you must still put on a calm and smiling face. Otherwise how could he live up to the title of the newcomer who puts on airs?"

The newcomers nearby burst into a chorus of laughter. Wei Zhao had been a thorn in everyone's side from day one, universally acknowledged as standing above the rest of them ordinary newcomers. To be treated to the sight of him taking such a tumble—well, the mood could only be described in one word: sweet!

Serves you right for putting on airs. You had it coming!

Never mind how merry this lot was—Wei Zhao, for his part, hadn't taken them to heart at all. As for that so-called gloom, it was purely for show, no different in nature from putting on a performance for a bunch of monkeys!

After all, Meng Jueming, that peerless philanthropist, had generously handed him a full fifty spirit jades across two occasions. He was too busy being overjoyed to feel gloomy!

His request for leave from Meng Jueming was naturally not out of any wish to steal a day of idleness, but to seize the chance to make a trip to the market. His spirit jades were now more than sufficient, so he might as well buy up the five medicinal herbs needed for refining the Heavenly Dao Golden Core first, lest too much time pass and those five herbs be bought out and go out of stock—that would be awkward indeed.

True, those five herbs appeared to be in plentiful supply, but one must guard against the worst, however unlikely!

Early the next morning, Wei Zhao donned the Thousand Silk Mask and headed straight for the market.

Thanks to Meng Jueming's contributions, coupled with the spirit jades he had secretly pocketed from mining these past days, Wei Zhao had now amassed a little under sixty spirit jades. Such wealth might not be called lavish, but among newcomers it absolutely made him a grand and prosperous lord.

And in a place like the market, a bulging purse naturally lent one more confidence. Having spent eight spirit jades to smoothly acquire the five herbs he had previously had his eye on, Wei Zhao did not immediately turn back, but prepared to wander about the market at leisure.

He was off for the day anyway, with time to spare, so there was no hurry to return.

On his last visit he had also strolled around a couple of times, but with only a few spirit jades to his name, he had merely glanced at many things from afar and had not asked many questions.

This time was different. With fifty-odd spirit jades in hand, he could afford to buy quite a lot.

Strolling at an unhurried pace through the outer street and the middle street, he saw plenty of novel curiosities, but few things truly caught his eye. In a cultivators' market like this, everything, broadly speaking, fell into one of two categories: goods to aid cultivation, or goods to aid combat.

For Wei Zhao, he had the jade pendant space and could refine his own pills, so virtually nothing in the market meant to aid cultivation could catch his fancy. Scanning the entire outer and middle streets, even the most valuable and effective cultivation aids fell far short of the effects of his own jade pendant space, so there was naturally no need to buy any.

As for combat aids, with a formidable martial art like the Mad Fire Eight Trigrams Palm, Wei Zhao's strength was enough to crush opponents of his own level in an instant, and if need be he could even challenge beyond his tier. His need for such items was naturally not great either. (To be continued...)