Chapter 3682 — Surrender or Die

So that was what Leader Wei Zhao was really like—no wonder he had the confidence to handle so many people at once! Xiao Che and Qiao Hongcai exchanged a glance, and in their eyes was nothing but wholehearted admiration.

Wei Zhao winked at the two of them, then turned to the crowd of new disciples opposite and said mildly, "Weren't you all so set on ganging up on the few? Then surely you won't mind me using my strength to bully the weak. Let's not waste time—get on with it. I still have to report back at the Rear Mountain Hall when this is done."

Every word, every syllable, borne on an aura of overwhelming power, struck the eardrums of the new disciples like heavy blows. Already frightened half to death, they now felt terror take fresh root; one after another they hung their heads, not daring to meet Wei Zhao's gaze, each afraid of becoming the first to fall.

Even when they had once faced Meng Jueming, a far stronger expert at the peak of the early Foundation Establishment stage, they had never known such dread. But now, facing Wei Zhao, they understood for the first time what it truly meant to tremble with fear.

It was simple enough: position shapes the mind. Meng Jueming, however strong, would never have done anything to them—but Wei Zhao was their real enemy, and this was a trial where attacking one another was expressly permitted. Even if he flew into a rage and crippled every last one of them, he would suffer no punishment at all.

More to the point, a single sentence ago they had all been scheming to surround and attack Wei Zhao. Who would have thought the strong and weak would trade places in the blink of an eye, and their own group would become lambs waiting for the slaughter? At a moment like this, how could they not be afraid?

Seeing them begin to shrink back as one, Wei Zhao shook his head in exasperation.

The Azure Cloud Pavilion had been weak for a long time, and now even this batch of new disciples was hopeless—mud that would not hold up a wall. When it had been their turn to gang up on the few, every one of them had been eager as could be; now that things looked bad, they promptly tucked in their heads. For dignified heaven-grade grand completion experts to be this craven was truly a disgrace.

"Come on, then." Wei Zhao had no wish to waste more time, and took a step forward.

But what he never expected was that such a completely harmless movement would startle the most nervous of them all, the great Master Meng Zhou, clean out of his wits. Without a word, the man let out a howl and ran—actually tumbling and scrambling away on all fours.

Oh, for heaven's sake—did this fellow have any shame at all?

Everyone present, Wei Zhao included, was struck dumb. The man had not even done anything yet, and this one had already fled in utter panic. And to think that just before, he had been loudly proclaiming himself the leader of the Azure Cloud Pavilion's new disciples! That was simply beyond indecent.

But be that as it may, Meng Zhou, the so-called leading brother, had indeed run—and run without a backward glance, and remarkably fast at that.

Right on his heels, Li Zhengming quietly slipped away as well. He was a clear-eyed man, and he had already seen that Wei Zhao was held back by Xiao Che and Qiao Hongcai, two burdens who now had no fighting strength left, and seemed to have no intention of giving chase. Besides, Meng Zhou had already broken the ice—if not now, when?

One makes two, and two makes three. Watching Meng Zhou and Li Zhengming flee in turn, the other new disciples began to hatch schemes of their own, each shuffling his feet and edging toward escape.

Wei Zhao, however, was not about to grant their wish so easily: "Did I ever say you could leave? The next one who tries to run—don't blame me for forgetting all about the bond between fellow disciples!"

That single sentence drained the color from the faces of the new disciples, who had been itching to move. Though every one of them still wanted to flee, none dared be the first to stick his neck out.

True, if they all scattered and ran, even an expert like Wei Zhao at the early Foundation Establishment stage would have difficulty stopping them. But by the sound of his words, whoever dared be the first to run would have him fixed on that first man, hunting him down—and that he was absolutely capable of doing, and doing exactly as promised.

For a time, all the remaining new disciples stood frozen.

Only then did Wei Zhao nod. He had not anticipated that Meng Zhou would be quite so shameless, and so he had in fact miscalculated a little earlier. Had he spoken up in advance to overawe them, Meng Zhou and Li Zhengming would never have gotten away for nothing.

After all, as Li Zhengming had guessed, Xiao Che and Qiao Hongcai were still standing behind him. If he had truly gone after Meng Zhou, then no matter how swift Meng Zhou's movement technique, he would have had no choice but to submit and be taken. But in that case, he would not have been able to keep an eye on the other new disciples.

If any of them had gotten ideas and, while he was chasing Meng Zhou, snatched Xiao Che's spirit medicines and bolted—or simply crippled both Xiao Che and Qiao Hongcai—then even an expert like Wei Zhao at the early Foundation Establishment stage would have found himself with too many places to be at once.

Still, although Meng Zhou and Li Zhengming had escaped, the remaining new disciples did not dare make another move. All in all, the outcome was not bad.

Wei Zhao swept his gaze once around the remaining new disciples. Every one on whom his eyes fell stood terrified and trembling, like hardened criminals caught red-handed awaiting sentence. Their fate now rested entirely in Wei Zhao's hands.

It was unlikely, true, that Wei Zhao would do something as universally resented as crippling everyone present. But if, to avenge Xiao Che and Qiao Hongcai, he were to give each of them a sound beating as a warning—that was entirely possible.

Put themselves in his place, and they would probably have made the same choice; otherwise the resentment in his heart would never be appeased.

Yet the words Wei Zhao spoke next made everyone breathe a sigh of relief: "I won't make things hard for you. Every one of you need only hand over spirit medicines worth a hundred points, and I'll show leniency and let you go. Of course, if you don't cooperate, I'll have no choice but to resort to more violent means. How you choose is up to you."

By their reckoning, having all the spirit medicines on each of them confiscated was already the very least of the punishments they could expect—escaping without a beating would have been a stroke of luck. Never had they imagined Wei Zhao would be so merciful to them!

These people had not spent long gathering spirit medicines, but they still had three or four hundred points apiece, the highest among them over five hundred. If each merely contributed a hundred points, there would essentially be no real loss.

The reasoning was simple. Things having come this far, Wei Zhao's group was certain to hold the upper hand. Even with the two uncertainties of Meng Zhou and Li Zhengming still in play, for those present the top three were plainly out of the question; the best they could hope for was a place in the top ten, which would at least earn them three spirit jades by way of consolation.

And the hundred-point limit Wei Zhao had set scratched them exactly where they itched.

Because among the trial rules there was one supplementary rule that drew little attention!

It was this: although the trial rewards were given according to ranking, there was also a minimum-score requirement. That is, if you failed to reach the most basic score, then even if your final points ranked first, you still could not claim the reward. And that minimum score was two hundred points.