Chapter 3682 — Surrender or Die
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 3
That single sentence drained the color from the faces of the new disciples, who had been itching to move. Though every one of them still wanted to flee, none dared be the first to stick his neck out.
True, if they all scattered and ran, even an expert like Wei Zhao at the early Foundation Establishment stage would have difficulty stopping them. But by the sound of his words, whoever dared be the first to run would have him fixed on that first man, hunting him down—and that he was absolutely capable of doing, and doing exactly as promised.
For a time, all the remaining new disciples stood frozen.
Only then did Wei Zhao nod. He had not anticipated that Meng Zhou would be quite so shameless, and so he had in fact miscalculated a little earlier. Had he spoken up in advance to overawe them, Meng Zhou and Li Zhengming would never have gotten away for nothing.
After all, as Li Zhengming had guessed, Xiao Che and Qiao Hongcai were still standing behind him. If he had truly gone after Meng Zhou, then no matter how swift Meng Zhou's movement technique, he would have had no choice but to submit and be taken. But in that case, he would not have been able to keep an eye on the other new disciples.
If any of them had gotten ideas and, while he was chasing Meng Zhou, snatched Xiao Che's spirit medicines and bolted—or simply crippled both Xiao Che and Qiao Hongcai—then even an expert like Wei Zhao at the early Foundation Establishment stage would have found himself with too many places to be at once.
Still, although Meng Zhou and Li Zhengming had escaped, the remaining new disciples did not dare make another move. All in all, the outcome was not bad.
Wei Zhao swept his gaze once around the remaining new disciples. Every one on whom his eyes fell stood terrified and trembling, like hardened criminals caught red-handed awaiting sentence. Their fate now rested entirely in Wei Zhao's hands.
It was unlikely, true, that Wei Zhao would do something as universally resented as crippling everyone present. But if, to avenge Xiao Che and Qiao Hongcai, he were to give each of them a sound beating as a warning—that was entirely possible.
Put themselves in his place, and they would probably have made the same choice; otherwise the resentment in his heart would never be appeased.
Yet the words Wei Zhao spoke next made everyone breathe a sigh of relief: "I won't make things hard for you. Every one of you need only hand over spirit medicines worth a hundred points, and I'll show leniency and let you go. Of course, if you don't cooperate, I'll have no choice but to resort to more violent means. How you choose is up to you."
By their reckoning, having all the spirit medicines on each of them confiscated was already the very least of the punishments they could expect—escaping without a beating would have been a stroke of luck. Never had they imagined Wei Zhao would be so merciful to them!
These people had not spent long gathering spirit medicines, but they still had three or four hundred points apiece, the highest among them over five hundred. If each merely contributed a hundred points, there would essentially be no real loss.
The reasoning was simple. Things having come this far, Wei Zhao's group was certain to hold the upper hand. Even with the two uncertainties of Meng Zhou and Li Zhengming still in play, for those present the top three were plainly out of the question; the best they could hope for was a place in the top ten, which would at least earn them three spirit jades by way of consolation.
And the hundred-point limit Wei Zhao had set scratched them exactly where they itched.
Because among the trial rules there was one supplementary rule that drew little attention!