Chapter 4575 — The Severed Finger

Originally, when Wei Zhao pushed the Bitter Senior Brother into the position of Third Pavilion Master of the Welcoming New Pavilion, it was a post that represented boundless prospects—one that many a well-connected second-generation cultivator would have coveted in vain. Add to that a powerful helper like Xiao Che at his disposal, and it was no exaggeration to say he had nothing to worry about.

In truth, however, the past year had been anything but comfortable for the two of them. They had suffered no small amount of humiliation. The other newcomers were manageable enough; the real problem was that thorn in their side, Ma Dangfeng. They simply could not suppress him—on the contrary, they were the ones being bullied by a newcomer, exactly the way Meng Jueming had once been toyed with to death by Wei Zhao.

Such matters were, after all, nothing to boast about, so whenever the Bitter Senior Brother or Xiao Che met with Lu Bianren, Qiao Hongcai, and Li Zhengming, neither of them made a point of bringing up Ma Dangfeng. In their thinking, once Ma Dangfeng entered the Azure Cloud Pavilion, the whole affair would blow over. Little did they expect that a scene like today's would suddenly unfold.

Ma Dangfeng was no ordinary newcomer. In terms of strength, he was more than a match even for the former Wei Zhao. Qiao Hongcai knew nothing of his true depths, and striking rashly would cost him dearly. The Bitter Senior Brother and Xiao Che hurried to warn Qiao Hongcai, but they were a step too late.

"You said it yourself. Since you're so bent on courting death, I'll be merciful and send you on your way!" Ma Dangfeng sneered, looking down at Qiao Hongcai with contempt.

With that, without any visible special movement, a fissure suddenly split open in the ground beneath his feet. It raced toward the spot below Qiao Hongcai at a speed the eye could scarcely follow, leaving Qiao Hongcai almost no time to react. He felt the ground vanish beneath him, and before he could catch himself, his whole body sank down, leaving only the part above his chest exposed. As for his lower half, it was trapped fast, unable even to struggle.

At the sight, Lu Bianren and the others all gasped in unison, shock written plainly on every face. Qiao Hongcai might have joined the outer sect of the Azure Cloud Pavilion only recently, but his strength was by no means weak among all the outer-sect disciples. Yet before this Ma Dangfeng he could not withstand even a single move—he did not even know how the other had struck. Too terrifying!

Before anyone could react, Ma Dangfeng's figure flickered, and in the next instant he appeared directly above Qiao Hongcai's head, a single step away, looking down on him from his commanding height. Even at this moment, Qiao Hongcai stubbornly held his earlier posture, his finger still pointed rigidly at the other's nose.

"Tsk tsk, I hear you're one of Wei Zhao's lackeys too. How is your strength so pitiful? What a disappointment. Like servant, like master—it seems this so-called King of Newcomers, Wei Zhao, is nothing much after all. Back then Shangguan Tianxia thought highly of him. Looks like he really misjudged. Hahahaha!" Ma Dangfeng laughed wildly and without restraint.

He was the King of Newcomers of the new cohort, while Wei Zhao had been the King of Newcomers of the previous one, only a year apart. Moreover, both were newcomers of the Azure Cloud Pavilion, so inevitably they were compared in every respect. That was unavoidable.

And in Ma Dangfeng's heart, the Wei Zhao he had never met had long since been trampled underfoot countless times. Otherwise he would never have gone to such lengths to break every so-called record Wei Zhao had set. Had he been given the chance to face Wei Zhao directly, he would surely have challenged him long ago. Now, though he could not find Wei Zhao himself, here was Qiao Hongcai, one of Wei Zhao's underlings, delivering himself up to be humiliated—so of course Ma Dangfeng would not hold back!

"Bullshit! Only two people have ever been praised to their face by Pavilion Master Shangguan—one is Gongyang Jun, and the other leads my Wei Zhao's faction. A piece of trash like you doesn't even qualify, and you dare say Pavilion Master Shangguan misjudged? Hmph, you're only fooling yourself!" Qiao Hongcai might be trapped fast and unable to move, but if anyone thought he would back down so easily, they could wait till the sun rose in the west.

"What did you say?!" Ma Dangfeng, who had been gloating and swaggering a moment before, immediately turned grim at these words. He considered himself superior to Wei Zhao in every respect, yet to this day there were still voices in the streets defending Wei Zhao—and the reason was none other than Shangguan Tianxia!

Because Wei Zhao had once won Shangguan Tianxia's approval, he was naturally regarded as a second Gongyang Jun. As for Ma Dangfeng, though he surpassed Wei Zhao in every way, though he had swept all before him in the inner-sect tournament, he had still failed to win Shangguan Tianxia's recognition. This was his undeniable sore spot, the one respect in which he fell short of Wei Zhao, and the topic he most resented others bringing up.

Now Qiao Hongcai had thrown it in his face—no different from publicly tearing open his scar. A man trampled beneath his feet still dared to be so arrogant? Did he really think Ma Dangfeng did not dare to kill?

"I say you're just sour grapes. What? Did I hit a nerve? Hahahaha!" Qiao Hongcai laughed and laughed, as though he did not regard this Ma Dangfeng as worth a glance at all. Even now, held at the other's mercy, he laughed when he wanted to laugh and cursed when he wanted to curse.

Watching from the side, Lu Bianren, the Bitter Senior Brother, and the others silently cheered Qiao Hongcai's stubborn courage, yet at the same time could not help breaking out in cold sweat for him. Qiao Hongcai's life now rested in Ma Dangfeng's hands; if Ma Dangfeng flew into a rage, the rest of them would not even have time to save him, and the consequences would be unthinkable.

To be sure, the Three-Tier Pavilion had strict rules governing disputes among disciples. Unless it was a publicly declared challenge, killing one another was absolutely forbidden, and violators would be severely punished. If Ma Dangfeng truly did kill Qiao Hongcai in a fit of rage, he would inevitably pay a heavy price himself. But he was now a genius whom the upper echelons of the Azure Cloud Pavilion unanimously valued; even if the price he paid was considerable, it would never be so devastating as to be unacceptable.

"You really think I don't dare to kill you?" A savage look flashed across Ma Dangfeng's face. His eyes went cold, and suddenly he stamped his foot down on Qiao Hongcai's hand—the hand that had been pointing at him ever since he walked through the door. Anyone who dared to challenge his bottom line would not end well.

Crack! A bone-splitting sound that made the scalp tingle. Qiao Hongcai's face went abruptly white, and he gasped sharply, cold sweat pouring like rain—yet from first to last he did not utter a single sound.

Lu Bianren and the others turned pale on the spot, and could not help but move to strike at Ma Dangfeng! (To be continued...) R527