Chapter 3725 — Beneath His Notice
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 3
Yet Wei Zhao's next words, spoken lightly and without inflection, brought the whole crowd to an uproar: "Wei Zhao, strength: early Foundation Establishment. Challenging: peak early Foundation Establishment."
What? Peak early Foundation Establishment?!
Bitter Senior Brother, Xiao Che, and Qiao Hongcai were all startled on the spot, staring at one another in dismay. This was a trap laid bare for all to see—and Wei Zhao had actually fallen for it?
They were not alone. Even Li Zhengming, standing amid the crowd, wore an astonishment he could not mask. Before this, the others present might still have believed Wei Zhao would take the bait, but he alone had been certain otherwise.
After all, he had been the one who, racing through the night, had delivered word to Wei Zhao, laying out the plans of Meng Jueming and his lot in full detail—all to keep Wei Zhao from being caught off guard and, in a moment of hotheadedness, walking straight into the snare.
Surely any ordinary person, forewarned of the scheme, would never fall for it again? And yet Wei Zhao—a dragon among men, one who kept his depths well hidden—had, even after receiving that intelligence, gone and chosen peak early Foundation Establishment exactly as his enemies wished. What in the world was going on?
Li Zhengming stared in disbelief at Wei Zhao, whose expression remained placid, utterly at a loss. Granted, Wei Zhao's own strength had already reached peak early Foundation Establishment—but this was plainly a setup meant to bury him. His opponents would drive the examiner to unleash an attack three-tenths stronger than peak early Foundation Establishment. Could Wei Zhao withstand that?
Of course, with the jade pendant's space and the Xuanyuan Dragon Taming Art, so long as he could cling to a single breath even for an instant, he would recover. He could have chosen mid Foundation Establishment and still weathered a blow. But Wei Zhao did not wish to be too outrageous, and he also had to guard against the chance that, were he to select mid Foundation Establishment, Meng Jueming and the rest, mad as they were, would have the examiner raise the strength by another three-tenths—and Wei Zhao feared being killed outright in a single strike.
"Surely our little junior brother Wei Zhao hasn't let his temper run away with him?" Shangguan Lan'er, standing at a distance with Little Curly Bear in her arms, covered her mouth in astonishment.
Though she did not know every detail, Xu Lingchong, in a bid to save face before her, had let slip a little when he invited her over. It seemed the crucial link in their scheme was to goad Wei Zhao into a reckless, overreaching choice—and was this not precisely walking into their trap?
And while the others stood shocked and anxious, Xu Lingchong and the rest—creatures who had schemed so painstakingly to bring Wei Zhao down—exchanged knowing smiles, inwardly praising Meng Jueming as a true veteran of intrigue. This creature Wei Zhao might be a little slippery, but when it came to a battle of wits with Meng Jueming, he was still far too green.
"Very good—that's guts!" Meng Jueming raised his thumb and laughed mockingly. "I only hope Junior Brother Wei Zhao won't turn out to be the sort of fool the Pavilion Master spoke of. Otherwise it would be a shame—Qingyun Pavilion has rarely produced a talent as fine as you, and to see it cut down young would be too great a pity."
With a roar of laughter, Meng Jueming turned and departed, leaving the other Qingyun Pavilion newcomers to continue registering.
Bitter Senior Brother and the others hurried to gather around Wei Zhao, anxious. "Junior Brother Lin, you were far too rash! How could you fall for a trap that's plain as day? These trials will show no mercy—they could kill you with a single blow and bear no responsibility whatsoever. You'd have died for nothing!"
Wei Zhao, however, remained calm throughout, showing not the slightest sign of regret.