Chapter 3772 — This Is a Good Thing

Xu Lingchong and Meng Jueming and the others withdrew to a quiet corner before he finally spoke up: "Old Meng, do you think Wei Zhao has some other scheme in doing this? The fellow isn't especially clever, but surely he wouldn't just jump into a pit of his own accord?"

Meng Jueming frowned in thought for a moment, then said heavily, "Young Master Xu, I've turned it over and over, and apart from buying himself some goodwill, Wei Zhao gains absolutely nothing by doing this. This is fixed by the challenge rules—no matter how hard he racks his brains, it's useless."

"Maybe he's after the fifteen initial points that come with the Mountain-Low No. 1 cave dwelling?" Meng Zhou suddenly put in from the side.

Meng Jueming shot him a look and cursed in exasperation at his failure to live up to expectations: "Are you an idiot? Even if the Mountain-Low No. 1 cave dwelling starts out with fifteen points, from then on he can't challenge anyone to earn more points—he can only sit there passively waiting for others to challenge him. What the hell use is fifteen points if all you do is guard them?"

Yet Xu Lingchong seemed somewhat hesitant: "Didn't you say that when this fellow was at the Pill Hall earlier, he chose forty spirit herb seeds in one go? If he switches to the Mountain-Low No. 1 cave dwelling this time, not only can he buy goodwill and smoothly pocket the fifteen points, but since no one wants to jump into that pit voluntarily, probably no one will be willing to challenge him for the first dozen rounds or so."

"Right! That way the fellow can save his strength and devote it entirely to those forty spirit herb seeds—three birds with one stone. Truly cunning, the bastard. Good thing Young Master Xu saw through it!" Meng Zhou hastened to agree.

Once Xu Lingchong put it that way, even Meng Jueming, who had been dismissive at first, could not help growing cautious.

At this, Li Zhengming thought to himself that things looked bad. At this rate, Wei Zhao's bid to swap cave dwellings with Xiao Che was likely to fall through—after all, rules were made by men, and with a great young master like Xu Lingchong standing right here, finding some pretext to block him would be the work of a moment.

After pondering for a while, Li Zhengming suddenly spoke: "Young Master Xu, Senior Brother Meng, I have a thought or two—though I don't know whether I ought to voice them."

Meng Jueming and Xu Lingchong exchanged a glance. Li Zhengming was, after all, the one among his newcomers—Meng Zhou aside—whom he valued most, so he nodded at once: "Go on."

"It's like this. I think that Wei Zhao fellow is overestimating himself. Taking forty spirit herb seeds of his own accord earlier was in fact digging his own grave, because given the conditions we newcomers of the Green Cloud Pavilion have, no matter how much effort he pours in, those forty spirit herb seeds are basically all going to wither and die. Wei Zhao can be no exception!" Li Zhengming declared with righteous confidence.

Xu Lingchong, Meng Jueming, and the rest nodded in agreement. In truth, guaranteeing the survival rate of spirit herb seeds required a specially constructed environment like a spirit herb garden; otherwise, even with their own conditions, none of them could ensure a decent survival rate.

So when Wei Zhao had announced that he would take all forty, he had in fact already leapt into a deep pit from which there was no climbing out.

Pausing a moment, Li Zhengming went on: "Therefore, I believe that even if we let him swap cave dwellings with Xiao Che, the outcome cannot be changed—and moreover, for Leader Meng Zhou here, this is a stroke of luck he could only dream of!"

"How do you figure that?" The others were momentarily taken aback.

Li Zhengming said slowly, "In fact, if things proceed normally, Wei Zhao will dig his own grave during the spirit herb trial. So Leader Meng Zhou need only win points according to plan and he is certain to overtake him. But if Wei Zhao is left in the Mountain-Low No. 14 cave dwelling, there is one not-insignificant variable that could easily ruin everything."

Meng Jueming was likewise a man of deep scheming, and once Li Zhengming had touched on the point, he understood his meaning at once.

"Zhengming, you mean Wei Zhao will likely wait until Meng Zhou challenges one rank up, and then immediately challenge Meng Zhou?" Meng Jueming drew a sharp breath.

"Exactly." Li Zhengming nodded. "Although Leader Meng Zhou is already a fine hand at the early Foundation Establishment stage, Wei Zhao is not to be underestimated either. Judging from how he withstood a full-force blow from a peak early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator last time, if Leader Meng Zhou faces him, the situation does not look promising."

"What the hell are you talking about!" Meng Zhou was instantly displeased. Wei Zhao was his sworn enemy, and for Li Zhengming to say in front of Young Master Xu that his prospects were not promising—that was practically asking for a beating!

"You're the one talking nonsense!" Meng Jueming glared at him. Between Meng Zhou and Wei Zhao, who was weaker and who stronger was plain at a glance; anyone with eyes could see it, and they were certainly not so foolish as to deceive themselves.

Even if Meng Zhou were arranged to face Wei Zhao afterward, it would only be to probe the depths of Wei Zhao's strength—they had never expected him to win. Otherwise, if Wei Zhao were so easy to deal with, would the lot of them need to rack their brains here?

Only then did Meng Zhou grunt sullenly. In truth, even he—his confidence soaring after succeeding in Foundation Establishment, and with the experience of the earlier endurance assessment behind him—would not claim he could handle Wei Zhao a hundred percent; he privately reckoned his chances at only three or four in ten.

Little did he know that with such meager strength against Wei Zhao, he had not even the faintest chance of winning—three or four in ten, indeed. In his dreams!

"Zhengming's concern is very much to the point. If every time Meng Zhou challenges one rank up, Wei Zhao immediately challenges him and knocks him back down, then in the end Meng Zhou will win no points at all in this challenge stage—every last one will go to Wei Zhao. And that would be enough to offset his losses in the spirit herb trial, leaving Meng Zhou no chance to overtake him!" Meng Jueming said, thoroughly convinced.

For the sake of the managing senior brother's face, he was determined to kick Wei Zhao down from first place. But to block Meng Zhou's path of advancement purely to thwart Wei Zhao's wishes would clearly cost more than it gained.

Nor was he alone—even Young Master Xu Lingchong, an outsider to the affair, found it thoroughly irksome to see Wei Zhao sitting atop the scoreboard.

"In other words, if we take this chance to grant Wei Zhao's request to show off, we can kick him aside and give him no opportunity to make trouble at all?" Xu Lingchong nodded thoughtfully.

"Young Master Xu is wise—that is precisely the reasoning!"

Meng Jueming hastily fawned: "Anyway, the challenge tournament will offer plenty of chances to probe his strength. Better to leave it to the very end—by then everything will be settled, and whether Meng Zhou wins or loses, Wei Zhao will only be able to swallow his frustration under our feet! Since the fellow wants to show off, let him put on his act. Young Master Xu, what do you say?"

"Mm, let it be so, then," Xu Lingchong assented. "If it's at the very end, I can still think of something for Meng Zhou! I can help him once, but not every time—if Wei Zhao keeps challenging him, even I won't be able to do anything!" (To be continued)