Chapter 3946 — Waiting for the Rabbit to Come

Yet the sudden turn of events just now had placed that crisis squarely before Wei Zhao. If Meng Jueming had truly seen through his identity and exposed the matter to Nan Tian Guan, Yu Jiang, and the others, then there was one thing he would have to consider next: how to deal with Nan Tianxiong.

Now that he had broken through to the mid Foundation Establishment stage, Wei Zhao's strength had surged by a considerable margin. Given a sufficiently favorable opportunity, he might not be entirely without hope of dealing with Nan Tian Guan the way he had brought down Nan Tian Yong last time.

But if his opponent was Nan Tianxiong, who stood on an entirely different level, then there was nothing he could do. Though he was extremely unwilling to admit it, that was the reality. Faced with an opponent so powerful, Wei Zhao had no chance of victory whatsoever. He could only flee for his life—and even escaping might not be possible!

To guard against trouble before it arose, Wei Zhao had to make preparations as early as possible. If he simply allowed matters to develop to that point, the result would truly be disastrous.

After leaving the Hong Clan Merchant Association, Wei Zhao did not linger. He went straight back to the Welcoming Pavilion, but before returning to his cave dwelling, he deliberately found a secluded corner and observed the place from a distance. What he saw made his heart give an abrupt lurch.

Meng Jueming and Murong Zhen were sitting beside the tea table outside the wooden hut, flirting shamelessly as they drank tea and chatted.

Wei Zhao was not the least bit surprised to see this pair of shameless lovers together. However, Meng Jueming's appearance here clearly had nothing to do with fooling around with Murong Zhen. His real purpose was obviously elsewhere.

That Meng Jueming was plainly trying to use this opportunity to further confirm whether Wei Zhao was in fact the Lin Er he had encountered in the market district earlier.

Fortunately, Wei Zhao had been cautious enough to keep an extra measure of vigilance beforehand. Otherwise, had he appeared rashly, then even if Meng Jueming had still harbored some uncertainty, this would have conclusively confirmed his suspicions.

Wei Zhao immediately abandoned his plan to return to his cave dwelling. Instead, he remained where he was and began a battle of endurance with Meng Jueming.

After all, Wei Zhao had always secluded himself for cultivation. So long as he did not take the initiative to show himself, Meng Jueming had no way of confirming whether he was currently inside the cave dwelling. Even if he tried knocking on the door, it would be useless. Cultivators in seclusion never paid attention to anyone.

Meng Jueming remained at Murong Zhen's wooden hut until the depths of the night. Only after failing to catch even a glimpse of Wei Zhao did he finally leave in disappointment. Before departing, he still refused to give up and instructed Murong Zhen at length to keep watch over Wei Zhao's movements.

Wei Zhao's patience, however, was far beyond that of ordinary people. After Meng Jueming left, he waited until he had confirmed that Murong Zhen had fallen completely silent and relaxed her guard. Only then did he return to his own cave dwelling as quietly as a cat.

This response might not have dispelled Meng Jueming's suspicions, but it was still better than allowing him to confirm them outright. So long as there was no hard evidence, the matter remained nothing more than a baseless rumor, and Meng Jueming would not dare act rashly. That was the only opportunity Wei Zhao could fight for at present.

In the days that followed, Meng Jueming did not come looking for trouble again, nor did any word come from Nan Tian Guan or Yu Jiang. Wei Zhao's countermeasure seemed to have produced a fairly good effect.

Soon afterward, Hu Yunfeng, master of the Welcoming Pavilion, once again summoned all the newcomers of the Threefold Pavilion together. Although the newcomers' examination had now concluded in its entirety, that did not mean their affairs were over.

Before announcing the start of the newcomers' examination, Hu Yunfeng had personally told every newcomer that they would be given an opportunity to challenge the newcomers of Xuanji Pavilion and Qingyun Pavilion across pavilion lines.

An inter-pavilion challenge! Since the newcomers had entered the Welcoming Pavilion, they had gone through so many events, so many trials and examinations, yet this was the first time anything like this had ever happened. Before now, the three pavilions had always conducted their affairs separately.

For a time, the atmosphere between the newcomers of the three pavilions became noticeably more tense and hostile. Leaving aside the circumstances within each pavilion, this was a contest between the three pavilions themselves; calling it a class struggle would hardly be an exaggeration.

At least at a time like this, the newcomers present still possessed a fairly strong sense of collective identity.

The very purpose of this inter-pavilion challenge was to demonstrate fairness. Everyone knew that the survival of the fittest was the unchanging law of the cultivation world, but as the upper echelons of the three pavilions, they still had to put on this show for appearances' sake.

Even if they could not silence everyone, it was enough if they could leave the vast majority with nothing to say.

At this moment, the atmosphere was more tense than ever. With the unequal treatment laid bare before them, many of the newcomers from Xuanji Pavilion and Qingyun Pavilion were practically drooling over the mountain-top cave dwellings of the newcomers from Chongtian Pavilion, dreaming day and night of taking their places.

Now that the opportunity had truly been placed before them, however, every one of them hesitated to step forward.

It was a classic case of Ye Gong loving dragons. As the naturally disadvantaged group within the Threefold Pavilion, every one of them wanted so-called fairness. Yet when they were actually given the chance to stake their strength against others, they suddenly lacked the confidence.

Setting aside the handful of freakish newcomers such as Wei Zhao, Chongtian Pavilion was plainly far superior to the other two pavilions in terms of the strength of the newcomers present—especially superior to those of Qingyun Pavilion.

Even counting Wei Zhao, Murong Zhen, and the others, Qingyun Pavilion had only six newcomers who had successfully reached Foundation Establishment. Everyone else remained merely at the peak of the Heaven Rank. Chongtian Pavilion, by contrast, already had a full ten experts in the early Foundation Establishment stage!

Over the past few months, the profound backgrounds of the newcomers from Chongtian Pavilion had finally begun to show their effect. Even if they had failed to obtain Foundation Establishment pills and the like during the newcomers' trials, they still had ways of acquiring them through various private channels.

With their talent and accumulated foundations, together with the necessary pills, their chances of successfully breaking through to Foundation Establishment were naturally not low. Of the fifteen newcomers in Chongtian Pavilion, ten had now reached the early Foundation Establishment stage. That alone was proof enough.

As for the newcomers of Xuanji Pavilion, although those old fellows had indeed been formidable when they were newcomers, breaking through to Foundation Establishment was not something that depended on strength alone. In terms of medicinal resources, they obviously could not compare with the second- and third-generation cultivators of Chongtian Pavilion. Thus, only six of them had successfully reached Foundation Establishment, putting them level with the newcomers of Qingyun Pavilion.