Chapter 3774 — A Challenge by Name

But in the eyes of a forceful figure like Shangguan Tianxia, only a brutal, primordial contest of the sort where ten hounds are whelped so that one mastiff may emerge could truly select the most promising newcomers.

Throw ten pups into a cave and let them slaughter one another; the one that survives to the end is bound to be the strongest of them all. Such is the law of nature: cruel and simple, yet supremely effective.

And yet, though he held the proposals of the Council of Elders in contempt, Shangguan Tianxia, as the exalted Pavilion Master of the Soaring Skies Pavilion, could not possibly involve himself in every last trifle; to do so would earn him a reputation for reaching his hand too far.

The only reason he had spoken up this time was that these people had made far too much of a fuss over the assessment rules. The august Council of Elders had spent half a day debating a trifling matter of the Welcoming Pavilion, and Shangguan Tianxia simply could not stomach it. That was why he had spoken out, a blow to the head to bring them to their senses.

Of course, behind all this lay the various backstage maneuverings among the titans. Some restless souls wished to make a mountain out of a molehill and thereby expand their influence, while he, Shangguan Tianxia, was determined to suppress any such stirrings. Such matters, however, were not for outsiders' ears.

Leaving aside how the upper echelons of the Council of Elders schemed against one another, once Shangguan Tianxia had opened his golden mouth, at least this much was beyond dispute: with no corresponding rules to protect them, how to break this awkward deadlock was a problem left for the newcomers to solve themselves.

Ordinary newcomers, held back by various misgivings, dared not be the first to issue a challenge, but those who were truly strong could never be bound by so petty a nuisance.

Otherwise, if no one dared to break the deadlock for a long while, then it could only mean that this year's Welcoming Pavilion harbored no formidable figures. At the very least, it certainly had no peerless prodigy of the caliber of Gongyang Jun, the current Hall Master of the Law Enforcement Hall.

Sure enough, the awkward deadlock did not last long. In less than half an incense stick's time it was broken, and the one who first initiated the challenge was unexpected, yet entirely reasonable: none other than Meng Zhou of the Azure Cloud Pavilion.

Meng Zhou was the first to take the stage. His aggressive gaze swept slowly across the face of every Azure Cloud newcomer, and each one it passed over could not help shrinking his neck, quite unable to meet his eyes.

That domineering feeling of looking around and finding no one daring to stand against him was precisely the scene Meng Zhou had dreamed of ever since entering the Welcoming Pavilion, yet had never managed to bring about. What did it mean to steal the spotlight? This, this was truly stealing the spotlight!

Meng Zhou could not help laughing complacently, strutting about with a swagger that defied description.

"What is this fool so puffed up about? If Wei Zhao, as the leader, were not in Cave Dwelling No. 1 and unable to initiate challenges against others, would it even be his turn? Truly, when the tiger is absent from the mountain, the monkey proclaims himself king!" Qiao Hongcai cursed bitterly.

Across the whole of the Azure Cloud Pavilion, those whose strength surpassed the other newcomers by a margin and who had the confidence to break the deadlock were in fact only two: one was Wei Zhao, and the other was Meng Zhou.

As for the rest, like Xiao Che and Li Zhengming, though they too held an enormous advantage over the other Azure Cloud newcomers, they were, when all was said and done, merely at the peak of the Heaven Grade. Even if they were stronger than other peak Heaven Grade experts, that was still not enough to constitute absolute domination.

Those who truly possessed the absolute strength to crush the other Azure Cloud newcomers were, plainly put, only Wei Zhao and Meng Zhou. Both had already succeeded in Foundation Establishment and had thoroughly transcended these peak Heaven Grade newcomers. One-on-one, absolute domination was only to be expected.

And now, because Wei Zhao had exchanged cave dwellings with Xiao Che and willingly leapt into the pit, unable to extricate himself, the only one left with the capital to flaunt himself so grandly was Meng Zhou.

After all, the strength of early Foundation Establishment was plain for all to see, and no matter how much Qiao Hongcai disliked Meng Zhou, it was a fact he could not change.

Listening to Qiao Hongcai's complaints, Wei Zhao and the others exchanged smiles. It was just as well that one could not initiate a challenge against Meng Zhou, whose cave dwelling rank was lower; otherwise, given his temperament, Wei Zhao might well have been the first to leap out and challenge him, and Meng Zhou would have had no choice but to respond passively.

"Let us see whom this fellow intends to challenge. If I am not mistaken, he will likely make his first cut at the two of you," Wei Zhao speculated.

Sure enough, before Wei Zhao's words had faded, Meng Zhou on the stage had already locked his sights on Xiao Che beside him. With a contemptuous look, he declared loudly and smugly: "I, Meng Zhou of Mountain-Low Cave Dwelling No. 15, challenge Xiao Che of Mountain-Low Cave Dwelling No. 14 by name!"

At these words, the other Azure Cloud newcomers visibly breathed a sigh of relief, and then, with gloating eyes, they all fixed their gazes on Xiao Che.

Strictly speaking, Meng Zhou and they all belonged to the same faction under Meng Jueming, but precisely because their faction was so large, they in turn received even less benefit and care.

Challenge points concerned their future prospects. Meng Zhou would not yield, and neither would they, and if Meng Zhou wished to rise, he would ultimately have to climb up over their corpses. That was unavoidable.

Still, before being trampled beneath Meng Zhou's feet, to see Xiao Che fall into misfortune ahead of them was a spectacle they were still delighted to behold.

Though he had long been mentally prepared for this, when the moment truly arrived, Xiao Che still paused for a moment before stepping toward the arena.

"Do not push yourself too hard. Take care to protect yourself. It will not be too late to reclaim your ground after you have reached Foundation Establishment. The tournament will last a long while yet; if you cannot win, concede." Wei Zhao suddenly called out from behind him in warning.

Strong as Xiao Che was, against a capable early Foundation Establishment cultivator like Meng Zhou he was still far outmatched, with almost no hope of victory.

Yet Wei Zhao was not worried that Xiao Che would get hot-headed and fight Meng Zhou to the death. What worried him now was that Meng Zhou might use the match as an opportunity to strike a killing blow against Xiao Che!

The nature of the challenge tournament was in fact essentially the same as a duel. Though there were some emergency measures, life and death were never avoided. Fists and feet have no eyes, and life and death are fated: such was the natural rule of the arena, and even the Welcoming Pavilion, which had always been quite protective of newcomers, was no exception.

As with duels between newcomers, the challenge tournament had no forbidden moves and no other prohibitions whatsoever. Even if one beat an opponent to death on the arena, one would not be held responsible in any way.

There was, however, one point: these challenge tournaments all expressly stipulated that no weapons of any kind could be used. After all, a divine weapon of quality could, to a great extent, affect a person's strength.