Chapter 3781 — The Next Target

"That's exactly the reasoning. Meng Zhou, just remember one thing: right now the pressing priority is points—that's the only thing that truly counts. Find every chance you can to overtake Wei Zhao, force him to panic, force him to blunder. That is the key; everything else is secondary."

Meng Jueming instructed him earnestly: "As for trash like Qiao Hongcai, just trample over him in passing and be done with it. There's no need to deliberately set your eyes on him. As an expert of the early Foundation Establishment stage, you must have the boldness and the vision befitting an early Foundation Establishment expert. Understand?"

"Yes, yes, Ninth Cousin Brother is the thoughtful one, as always. I, a distinguished early Foundation Establishment expert, treating a minor character like Qiao Hongcai as worth my attention—that would be flattering him far too much! I should just leave him hanging, let him think he's somebody, and then stomp him dead with one vicious kick!" Meng Zhou chuckled.

Meng Jueming laughed heartily, then lowered his voice and warned: "That Xiao Che knows which way the wind blows and conceded of his own accord, so there was no chance to strike at him. Nothing to be done about that. But this Qiao trash is a different matter. With that reckless Zhang Fei temperament of his, he'll definitely fight you even knowing he can't win. You must not let this opportunity slip—find the right moment and wipe him out in a single move. Leave no survivor. You know what I mean?"

"Understood. Rest easy, Ninth Cousin Brother. So long as I get matched against him, that punk is dead meat." Meng Zhou pledged, thumping his chest.

To sound out the depth of Wei Zhao's strength, and to clip away his two wings, Xiao Che and Qiao Hongcai—those were the goals Meng Jueming had set for this round of the challenge tournament.

The first goal was premature for now. After all, among the newcomers under his command, the only one with the strength to test Wei Zhao was Meng Zhou, this early Foundation Establishment expert; even a formidable newcomer like Li Zhengming was not qualified.

The second goal, however, was an urgent matter.

To eliminate Wei Zhao, first remove his wings—this was the policy Meng Jueming and Xu Lingchong had settled on together after discussion. After all, the previous several attempts to kill Wei Zhao had all ended in failure, and carrying on that way would likely yield no better results. Better to first find a way to finish off his two lackeys, Xiao Che and Qiao Hongcai—surely those two couldn't be as hard to deal with as Wei Zhao!

This would not only weaken his strength but also blunt his fighting spirit and goad him into a desperate corner—two birds with one stone.

Unfortunately, incisive as this intent was, the rules of the challenge tournament stood in the way. No matter how many newcomers Meng Jueming had under him, he could not deploy any human-wave tactic. Moreover, because both Xiao Che and Qiao Hongcai ranked very low in the cave-dwelling standings, the only person who truly had the right to challenge them proactively was, for the moment, just one: Meng Zhou.

Of course, with Meng Zhou's early Foundation Establishment strength, one man was quite enough to deal with those two underlings of Wei Zhao.

Yet what exceeded their expectations was that Xiao Che, ordinarily such a quiet, unobtrusive sort, proved so slippery—he gave Meng Zhou no opening at all, simply conceding outright.

But next came Qiao Hongcai. With that temperament of his, there was no chance he would soften up right from the start like Xiao Che. So what if he was allowed to gloat for one round? The moment he faced Meng Zhou, with nothing but Heaven-rank great-perfection strength, he was doomed beyond doubt.

That was fine too. Since Xiao Che had slipped away, they would use this Qiao trash as the knife's edge—blood would be drawn all the same!

In the first round of the Azure Cloud Pavilion newcomers' challenge tournament, those first three opening duels were truly a succession of surging waves and bizarre turns.

Counting them up, not one was a proper contest of strength, yet each was deeply layered, and a single misstep could cost a life. The peril in them went without saying.

After that, however, whether it was Wei Zhao's group or Meng Zhou, these few most dazzling newcomers of Azure Cloud Pavilion had all finished their challenges; and owing to the cave-dwelling rankings, no one else was in a position to challenge them either. So there was nothing more in it for them.

As for the remaining newcomers, in both strength and capacity to stir discussion they fell far short of drawing the same attention as those few. They fought a scattered handful of bouts, some won, some lost, but on the whole there was nothing noteworthy—flat and flavorless.

Among these people, Li Zhengming's strength ought to have stood out and pressed down the other newcomers.

Unfortunately, the situation he faced now was as awkward as Wei Zhao's: stuck fast in the Number Two Cave Dwelling at the foot of the mountain, possessed of strength but with no place to use it. There was nothing to be done—he could only stifle himself honestly and wait for other newcomers to come challenge him of their own accord.

As for sending him to challenge Wei Zhao—first, he was secretly one of Wei Zhao's underlings, so that was hardly likely; second, it would be pure suicide, and he wasn't that sick in the head.

In the end, the first round saw seven duels in total. Apart from the clashes between Meng Zhou and Wei Zhao's faction, plus Zha Wu, that overreaching unfortunate, which still offered some spectacle, the rest were a matter of some rejoicing and others lamenting, with no further surprises.

Within a mere hour and a half of the opening, all seven duels were finished, and the first round of the Azure Cloud Pavilion newcomers' challenge tournament thus came to a close.

The newcomers dispersed. Those who needed healing went to heal, those who needed to scheme went to scheme, those who needed to cultivate spirit-herb seeds went to cultivate them—each and every one busily making ready.

After all, with the spirit-herb trial and the newcomers' challenge tournament stacked together, the intensity was self-evident. Apart from freaks of nature like Wei Zhao who played by cheat codes, no one could afford to idle.

"Not bad, not bad—in this first round of the challenge tournament, several junior brothers have all opened with a win. Congratulations!" The long-suffering senior brother looked at Wei Zhao and the others with a face full of gratification.

Not a word of that was false. Counting up Wei Zhao's three: Wei Zhao, one battle one victory, earning four points; Qiao Hongcai, one battle one victory, earning four points; and Xiao Che, though worse off by two points from his loss, had forfeited of his own accord and never let Meng Zhou land so much as a scratch on him. So in a sense, that too was already a victory.

More crucially, leaving aside Wei Zhao, that top newcomer whom no one dared provoke, neither Xiao Che nor Qiao Hongcai had expended any true qi. That meant that for the period to come, they need not waste time recovering true qi and could press straight ahead with their plans to break through to Foundation Establishment. Once they succeeded, the situation against Meng Zhou would be altogether different.

Of the two, Xiao Che already had deep reserves, and now, situated in the Number Fifteen Cave Dwelling at the foot of the mountain, favored by every condition, his prospects for Foundation Establishment were bright indeed.