Chapter 3584 — The Stolen Spirit Jade Incident
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
"No need. Besides, if I tried to change it now, Senior Brother Meng certainly would not be pleased. He would only find an excuse to make trouble for me. You do not want to see me get scolded, do you?" Wei Zhao said with a smile.
"Well..." Qiao Hongcai and Xiao Che thought it over and realized that he was indeed right.
"All right, I will head back first. You two should return and cultivate as well!" Wei Zhao nodded and bade the three farewell before turning back to his own grotto. He was rather eager to carry out the spirit-jade experiment he had conceived earlier.
Yet the moment he reached the entrance, Wei Zhao stopped in his tracks. The ward covering the entrance to his grotto had vanished!
Ordinarily, such a grotto ward might not last forever, but it could never fail within such a short time. Moreover, the wards on the cultivation grottoes in the Welcoming Pavilion had all been set up anew when the newcomers arrived. They were nowhere near the point of failing.
A thought suddenly struck Wei Zhao. Could someone have broken through the ward on his grotto? He had not mastered this kind of ward himself, but common sense was enough to tell him that if it had not failed on its own, then this was the only remaining possibility.
With that in mind, Wei Zhao hurried into his grotto. At the same time, he felt somewhat fortunate. Thankfully, he had the jade-pendant space and had left nothing valuable inside. Otherwise, if someone had broken in without his knowledge, the loss would have been enormous.
Yet the moment he entered the grotto, his gaze sharpened.
The grotto was spacious and bare, with virtually no furnishings, so anything inside could be seen at a glance. And now, right in the center of the grotto, in the most conspicuous place of all, two pieces of spirit jade lay there in plain sight, white and crystalline.
Compared with Wei Zhao's own egg-sized piece of spirit jade, these two were considerably larger, both well above average. The larger one even looked strangely familiar to him. After standing there in a daze for a moment, he finally recalled it: was this not the very piece Meng Jueming had given Meng Zhou back then?
Just then, a sudden commotion arose outside. With the grotto ward gone, Wei Zhao heard it clearly. The uproar was coming from Grotto No. 15 at the foot of the neighboring mountain, whose owner was none other than Meng Zhou.
"Cousin Ninth, you have to stand up for me! Someone broke through the ward on my grotto, and even stole the spirit jade you gave me!" Meng Zhou wailed loudly. His cries immediately drew out the other newcomers who had yet to close their grottoes, and they gathered around to watch the spectacle.
At the same time, another anguished cry came from elsewhere. It was Li Zhengming, who occupied Grotto No. 2 at the foot of the mountain. In Wei Zhao's memory, he was the newcomer in the entire Azure Cloud Pavilion who was closest to Meng Zhou, and had therefore received considerable special treatment from Meng Jueming. His grotto and spirit jade were both excellent.
"Senior Brother Meng, the ward on my grotto was broken through as well, and my spirit jade was stolen!" Li Zhengming wailed loudly, his face crumbling in despair.
Could they really have attracted outside thieves?
The moment those words were spoken, the newcomers who had merely been watching the commotion were startled. They hurried back to inspect their own grottoes and valuables. If their spirit jade had been stolen like those of the other two, they would truly be left with nothing but tears.
"Everyone, check immediately. If anyone else's grotto ward has been broken, or if any valuable item has been stolen, report it at once!" Meng Jueming ordered in a deep voice. RS