Chapter 3768 — The Biggest Beneficiary
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 3
This was an innate advantage, one that no amount of effort could ever alter.
So judged from that single angle, on the very first day at the Newcomers' Pavilion, when Wei Zhao had seized Mountain-Low No. 1 from him and handed him the most broken-down, most ramshackle Mountain-Low No. 15 instead, in a certain sense the man had actually done him a favor. After all, no one at the time could possibly have guessed that the challenge tournament stage would turn out to be governed by rules like these.
Facing the complaints and confusion of Xiao Che and Qiao Hongcai, the much-put-upon senior brother laid out his analysis: "The intention behind those above drafting the challenge tournament rules this way is actually quite plain. They want to encourage newcomers to cross blades with as many of the others as possible. Only in that way can a newcomer hope to rack up as many points as possible, and only in that way can each newcomer's potential and shortcomings be gauged to the fullest extent, so that the points that emerge carry any real reference value."
"Exactly. If a man does nothing but chase a high rank, it's useless even if he succeeds. Once he's taken his fifteen points, all he can do, as Xiao Che is doing right now, is sit and wait for challenges—he can't initiate any himself, he's thrown completely onto the defensive, and that's a thoroughly awkward spot to be in. Far better to start from the bottom rank and work his way up one by one; that way he harvests far more points," Wei Zhao agreed.
Hearing this, Qiao Hongcai groped his way toward the gist of it, and the truth burst upon him: "So by that reasoning, people like us, who started out in the low-ranked cave dwellings, actually come off better?"
He held Mountain-Low No. 13, and apart from Wei Zhao in Mountain-Low No. 14 and Meng Zhou in Mountain-Low No. 15, his position really was more favorable than that of any of the other Qingyun Pavilion newcomers.
"Just so. You need only challenge your way up one cave dwelling at a time, and with the strength you have now, you should stand a very good chance of claiming a fair haul of points," Wei Zhao said with a nod.
"Heh heh, I never would have thought a wreck of a cave dwelling like ours could come with a perk like this. Looks like that month and more of grinding wasn't wasted after all!" Qiao Hongcai could not help laughing.
For newcomers starved of cultivation resources like spirit jade, the quality of one's cave dwelling was crucial. Especially for a newcomer like Qiao Hongcai, whose starting strength was nothing remarkable—had he not received every manner of care from Wei Zhao, he could never have climbed to where he now stood, one thin line away from Foundation Establishment. He would have sunk to the very bottom of the newcomers, and without some other stroke of fortune, he might well have been a man of no prospects for the rest of his days.
And yet, even without having yet broken through to Foundation Establishment, Qiao Hongcai's current strength was enough to rank him among the top five of all Qingyun Pavilion newcomers. Add to that this extraordinarily favorable starting position, and with a well-laid challenge plan, he truly did stand a fine chance of raking in points by the armful.
Xiao Che, by contrast—though his strength still surpassed Qiao Hongcai's—had been planted from the outset in the most awkward position of all, Mountain-Low No. 1. Barring some dramatic turn of events, it was hard to see him making much of anything of it.
At the thought of Xiao Che's present predicament, for a moment no one knew what to say. When Wei Zhao had won Mountain-Low No. 1 and handed it over to him, his heart had been set on nurturing one of his own, and over the past month Xiao Che had indeed benefited greatly from it.