Chapter 3699 — The Test's Outcome
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
After trading the three pieces of scrap jade he had prepared in advance for a single piece of good jade, Li Zhengming finally turned to leave. Behind him came Wei Zhao's voice: "If Meng Jueming notices anything off, give me a heads-up in advance. Even if you can't play the mole anymore when that happens, it doesn't matter. You're under my protection—I won't let you come to harm."
"All right." Warmth spread through Li Zhengming's heart, and he nodded firmly.
The instant he stepped out of Wei Zhao's cave dwelling, he suddenly felt that this trip, though perilous in the extreme, had been profoundly significant—enough, perhaps, to alter the entire course of his future life. Pledging himself to Wei Zhao had been a forced move born of sudden circumstance, but for a man who had endured such torment beneath Meng Jueming's command, was it not also a kind of release?
After all, no matter how you looked at it, a leader like Wei Zhao was far more dependable than a petty, underhanded nobody like Meng Jueming!
From this day forward, I, Li Zhengming, am one of Wei Zhao's people.
Watching Li Zhengming's departing figure, Wei Zhao pinched his chin thoughtfully. The situation had developed to this point so abruptly that even he had not foreseen it. Had Li Zhengming not offered of his own accord to serve as a mole, there would by now perhaps be one more corpse in the cave dwelling.
And though Li Zhengming, compelled by circumstance, had switched allegiance, and though he had volunteered the greatest secret he carried in order to give his new master a hold over him, many of the details remained unspoken.
For instance, why had the Qiu Shui Manor been wiped out all those years ago, and how had he, the son of its all-important patriarch, managed to escape the slaughter? And for another, if his identity token was such a fatal liability, why carry it on his person all this time?
If Wei Zhao truly set his mind to digging, he reckoned he could unearth no small number of secrets from this Li Zhengming—possibly even secrets concerning the Qiu Shui Manor itself. After all, something that could make even the bigwigs of the Elder Council go to such lengths must be no trifling matter once uncovered.
Yet just as Wei Zhao himself had secrets of every kind he was unwilling to reveal, Li Zhengming's silence on these family matters was likewise forgivable.
In the end, Wei Zhao did not care how great the secrets buried in Li Zhengming might be. He needed only that Li Zhengming harbor no treacherous thoughts and serve loyally and dutifully as his mole—that was enough. And should Li Zhengming truly turn traitor, then as he had said just now, with his strength he could snuff out Li Zhengming's life as easily as turning his palm; he had no need whatsoever to hold any leverage over him.
Wei Zhao believed Li Zhengming would not betray him—at least not in the short term. This was not a one-sided faith in Li Zhengming's so-called loyalty; in a cultivation world rife with mutual deception, so long as the temptation was great enough, anyone might cast aside their integrity at any moment, and Li Zhengming would be no exception.
His certainty rested on the belief that Li Zhengming was rational and shrewd enough. Anything shrewd could always see reality clearly and know which choice was best for itself.
Upon leaving Wei Zhao's cave dwelling, Li Zhengming was promptly summoned away by someone who had long been waiting there—not, however, to Meng Zhou's No. 15 cave dwelling at the foot of the neighboring mountain, but to Meng Jueming's cave dwelling on the mountain opposite.
Stepping inside, he glanced at the few familiar old faces within and could not help but start.
Waiting there were not only Meng Jueming and Meng Zhou, but also Kang Jingming and Zhong Yongliang of the Chongtian Pavilion—and what startled him most was that even Xu Lingchong, the young master Xu himself, was among them.