Chapter 3888 — The Day the Spirit Herbs Were Handed In

Meng Jueming was about to be promoted to Third Pavilion Master of the Welcome Pavilion, which meant his authority and influence would rise another notch. And now he had gained Murong Zhen, a peak early Foundation Establishment expert, under his command—and if Meng Zhou took the Midnight Heart-Splitting Pill, that would make two peak early Foundation Establishment experts!

Against the Welcome Pavilion's newcomers, a lineup like that was already an invincible existence. In Meng Jueming's view, even if Wei Zhao's slap that sent Murong Zhen flying had not relied on the Limit Golden Pill but purely on his own strength, there was still nothing to worry about.

Two peak early Foundation Establishment experts joining hands—surely they could not fail to handle a mere Wei Zhao?

As for those two early Foundation Establishment underlings, Xiao Che and Qiao Hongcai, Meng Jueming had long since stopped taking them to heart. Once Wei Zhao's protection was gone, before Murong Zhen and Meng Zhou those two were nothing but stepping stones for others to trample.

"Two peak early Foundation Establishment experts? Heh, a bit interesting." Wei Zhao shook his head and gave an indifferent, unconcerned smile, betraying not the slightest worry.

The ones who could truly pose a fatal threat to him were people like Nan Tianguan and Xu Lingchong. As for Meng Jueming and Murong Zhen, right under his nose, he had already filed them under the rank of common soldiers and petty officers, hardly worth fretting over.

Even with his current strength, he had more than enough to deal with them—and what was more, the two Heart-Devouring Linglong Herbs would soon mature. Once he successfully refined a Foundation Establishment Golden Pill, he would immediately advance to mid Foundation Establishment.

People like Murong Zhen and Meng Zhou—if they were not common soldiers and petty officers in his eyes, what else could they be?

The newcomer challenge tournament had ended. For the less than a month that followed, the Welcome Pavilion arranged no assessment tasks for the newcomers; only after the spirit herb trial stage was completely over would the fifth newcomer assessment formally begin.

In the short term, the alliance of Murong Zhen and Meng Jueming had no real effect on Wei Zhao. Even if those people wanted to join forces and pull some tricks, they would at least have to wait until the fifth newcomer assessment.

For the other newcomers, this stretch was a perfect opportunity to rest and recover after the long, exhausting newcomer challenge tournament—and at the same time an unmissable chance to cultivate their spirit herb seeds.

After all, they had nothing else on their plates during this period. There were no newcomer assessment tasks, and even the three-month mining contract they had signed with the Spirit Jade Hall had expired—just the right time to devote themselves wholeheartedly, with no distractions, to cultivating the last batch of spirit herb seeds.

This had been the plan of many newcomers from the start. During the two months of the challenge tournament, they had only tested a small number of spirit herb seeds to grope for experience, saving the bulk for this final month. How many points they could earn in this stage—or whether they could even keep their points from being deducted—all depended on what came next.

Day after day passed, and the newcomers hurried to hand in their work at the Elixir Hall's spirit herb field before the deadline.

All in all, the spirit herb trial stage proved to be, for the newcomers—especially the worst-off newcomers of the Azure Cloud Pavilion—exactly as they had predicted: a complete and utter scam.

Even with the final month to cultivate at full strength, the final results left jaws dropping: apart from Xiao Che and Qiao Hongcai, who each handed in six spirit herb seeds, the best of the rest was Meng Zhou, with a total of only three seeds successfully cultivated. Most others had a mere one or two, and quite a few had scored a big fat zero.

That is to say, by the scoring method of the spirit herb trial, apart from Xiao Che and Qiao Hongcai, even Meng Zhou—the best performer—would still have points deducted this round. As for the rest, needless to say, their prospects were even gloomier.

Fortunately, these people had been fairly sensible when they first drew their spirit herb seeds, choosing only the minimum of ten. Had they chosen more, this stage might have cost them a dozen or more points, and they would have had nowhere to cry.

However, with a reminder from some interested party, the newcomers recalled that not everyone had registered for only ten seeds when the draw was made. A certain formidable Azure Cloud Pavilion newcomer seemed to have signed up for the maximum of forty spirit herb seeds in one breath!

Yet now, with the deadline already upon them, this self-styled number one newcomer of the Azure Cloud Pavilion, this master of ostentation, seemed not to have handed in a single successfully cultivated spirit herb seed.

Envy for what others have and glee at what they lack—such was the mindset of the vast majority, and even cultivators like them were no exception. When one suffered a loss and felt miserable, one simply had to find balance by looking at someone else's misfortune.

At least in the spirit herb trial assessment, Wei Zhao was absolutely the one who could make them feel best about themselves!

He had drawn a full forty spirit herb seeds back then, and now there was not a peep—which meant the fellow was about to have forty assessment points deducted in one go. To watch this number one newcomer take such a fall—what a delightful spectacle!

This was originally Wei Zhao's own business alone. No matter how many points he lost, it had not a single spirit jade's worth of relation to anyone else. Yet under the deliberate fanning of the flames by Meng Jueming, Meng Zhou, and their ilk, it had become a matter of intense public attention.

Especially on this final deadline day, every newcomer of the Azure Cloud Pavilion came out in full force, doing nothing else but gathering to watch Wei Zhao take his fall.

Seeing Meng Jueming lead the Azure Cloud Pavilion newcomers to blockade Wei Zhao's cave dwelling entrance first thing in the morning, Miserable Senior Brother, Xiao Che, and Qiao Hongcai could only exchange bewildered glances.

"Are these people out of their damn minds? Instead of cultivating, they run over to gawk at the boss—they've got nothing better to do! Even if the boss loses forty points, taking first place afterward will be a matter of minutes. You bunch of weaklings don't amount to shit!" Qiao Hongcai wore a face of open displeasure as he watched the gloating, spectating expressions on the crowd's faces.

Even Miserable Senior Brother, an honest man through and through, was now filled with righteous indignation: "Meng Jueming is going too far. Making such a fuss and stirring up trouble—it's nothing but an attempt to erase the prestige Junior Brother Lin built up in the earlier assessment stages, so he can cover up his own incompetence!"

Though he stood on Wei Zhao's side, even Miserable Senior Brother could not help breaking out in a cold sweat for him.

Having spent all these years in the Threefold Pavilion, he saw things far more deeply than newcomers like Qiao Hongcai. If all forty spirit herb seeds came to nothing, it would be far more than a simple forty-point deduction—if anyone with an agenda wanted to make an issue of it, Wei Zhao would be in serious trouble this time. RS