Chapter 3811 — A Fitting Comeuppance

He was terrified that Xu Lingchong, in a fit of pique, would shake out his sleeves and stalk off, and then turn around and put him on the blacklist—and after that there really would be no hope for him at all. Even the post of third Pavilion Master of Yingxin Pavilion, which was all but in his grasp, would end up like water drawn in a bamboo basket, gone to nothing.

Xu Lingchong stood there with a dark face and said nothing for a good while. He glanced at Meng Zhou, who was trembling beside him, scared nearly out of his wits, and only then turned back and said in a low voice, "Go on. I'm listening."

"Yes, yes. Young Master Xu, you may not have heard—lately, those two underlings of Wei Zhao's, Xiao Che and Qiao Hongcai, have both broken through to the Foundation Establishment stage, for reasons nobody seems to know!" Meng Jueming explained cautiously.

"Hm? Is that so?" Xu Lingchong had expected Meng Jueming to come up with some excuse to fob him off, and had not anticipated being hit with such astonishing news right off the bat.

For a newcomer, establishing a foundation in such a short time was no easy feat. Everyone knew that the reason Kang Jingming and the others had managed to break through to Foundation Establishment so early was entirely thanks to Xu Lingchong's patronage—otherwise, without foundation-establishment liquid to go with their foundation-establishment pills, they would never have even dared to make the attempt.

And look at Wei Zhao and his lot by comparison: never mind the foundation-establishment liquid, which could not be bought for love or money—they could not even manage one foundation-establishment pill apiece. The greatest backer behind them was a pauper like Lu Bianren, who had no means of procuring any pills for them at all.

That being the case, how could they possibly have succeeded in establishing a foundation?

If this had happened to Wei Zhao alone, it might have been put down as a fluke. But now even Xiao Che and Qiao Hongcai, two of his rank-and-file lackeys, had established foundations—and that was truly baffling.

Xu Lingchong was utterly at a loss. He could only grit his teeth and listen as Meng Jueming went on—and Meng Jueming clearly had no reasonable explanation to offer either, so he could only recount, point by point, everything that had happened over the past few rounds to Young Master Xu.

As for these matters, Shangguan Lan'er and the little Curly Bear at his side were listening with great relish. Although Wei Zhao had not taken the field in person for any of it, hearing how his underlings had matched wits and courage against Meng Zhou was really rather entertaining!

Strictly speaking, Wei Zhao was Shangguan Lan'er's junior fellow disciple, which meant that Xiao Che and Qiao Hongcai could likewise count as the underlings of an underling of her, the eldest young lady Shangguan. And Meng Zhou was the underling of an underling of that odious Xu Lingchong. So were not the things Meng Jueming was describing tantamount to a hidden clash of arms between her and Xu Lingchong?

Everyone knew that Shangguan Lan'er's loathing for that hypocritical young master Xu Lingchong was far from slight. Over the years, that pest had pestered her no end, and yet, out of consideration for the relationship between their elders, she could not simply ignore him altogether. Over time, this had built up a considerable store of resentment, so that hearing all this now, she could not have been more secretly delighted—it was a thoroughly satisfying release of her grievances!

While Meng Jueming was racking his brains to explain matters to Young Master Xu, Wei Zhao's group, by contrast, were all relaxed and cheerful, chatting and laughing among themselves.

Meng Zhou had surrendered of his own accord the moment he stepped up. That outcome was somewhat beyond their expectations, though not unreasonable—after all, a fourth-grade Great Restoration Pill was no ordinary pill to be found on any street corner.

That Meng Jueming had managed to get his hands on two of them already was the absolute limit. If they kept pouring them into Meng Zhou like coins down a bottomless pit, not only would Meng Jueming be unable to bear it—even a young master with backing as deep as Xu Lingchong's might not be willing to grit his teeth and sink such capital into it.

"Heh heh. Boss, you see how Meng Jueming and Meng Zhou always carry on in front of us, strutting about with their noses in the air, like they're untouchable. And now that Xu Lingchong turns up, they shrivel into crawling turtles on the spot. Just look at the way the pair of them don't dare breathe too loud—it's fucking pathetic, isn't it!" Qiao Hongcai gloated with great glee.

Wei Zhao could not help laughing. "Heh heh, well, whose fault is it that they tried to pull a fast one on this Young Master Xu the moment he arrived? He finally comes to Yingxin Pavilion for once, and the first thing he sees is Meng Zhou surrendering to our Xiao Che. If I were him, I'd be stewing in my own juices right about now—and of course the only place he can vent all that temper is on underlings like Meng Jueming!"

Beside him, poor Senior Brother and Xiao Che exchanged a smile at these words. It was a rare sight to see Meng Jueming and Meng Zhou so thoroughly thwarted; even two honest, good-natured sorts like them could not help but feel a wave of satisfaction. A fitting comeuppance indeed!

"Heh, pity that fellow Meng Zhou's probably scared out of his wits by now. I was looking forward to him challenging me, so I could have another go at him and see whose Thousand Legs is tougher—his or my Iron Cold Palm. Just a shame I doubt I'll get the chance today," Qiao Hongcai said with a regretful shake of his head after they had joked among themselves for a while.

Wei Zhao could not help but laugh at that, and shook his head. "That's enough out of you. You'd better hurry on up and challenge your way up the ranks to collect points—that's what you ought to be doing right now. As for dealing with Meng Zhou, I give you my word: there'll be no shortage of chances in the days to come."

"All right, I'll do as you say, Boss," Qiao Hongcai said with a nod, and then, under everyone's watchful eyes, turned and stepped up onto the arena platform.

As one of the four top early-Foundation Establishment fighters of Qingyun Pavilion, and having fought Meng Zhou to a mutual ruin for two bouts running, Qiao Hongcai had now completely shed the label of trash. What defined him now was no longer merely being an underling of Wei Zhao, but a true figure of note who drew everyone's attention.

By now, in Qingyun Pavilion, no one dared look down on him. On the contrary, whenever anyone recalled the ferocious way this fellow had fought Meng Zhou to a standstill twice over, they could not help but feel their scalps prickle, and would not even dare to meet his eye—for fear that he might mistake it for a provocation and fix his sights on them, in which case they could weep all they liked and it would avail them nothing.

Following the principle of maximizing points, Qiao Hongcai's next challenge was naturally a direct call-out to Mountain-Base Cave Dwelling No. 11, one rank above his own. The outcome of that duel was never in any doubt.

The fight was over in a single exchange. Qiao Hongcai collected his points with ease and, escorted off the stage by all eyes filled with awe, stepped down unhurriedly.

徐 Lingchong? No. [[26]] Taking in such a galling spectacle, and hearing all these miserable tidings from Meng Jueming, Young Master Xu's face had by now darkened to the point of dripping. It had never once crossed his mind that in the short time he had been away, so many upheavals could have occurred here—and upheavals that left him so thoroughly shamed, at that!