Chapter 3809 — What a Good Samaritan
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 3
In truth, it was not only their looks that were worlds apart. The impression Lin Er had made on Yu Jiang was of something exceedingly cunning and troublesome—nothing at all like the boastful, self-aggrandizing fool Meng Jueming had described, whose intellect was supposedly defective. Listening to him, you would think they were two entirely different people.
It was only out of deference to Xu Lingchong, who had gone to such elaborate lengths to come all the way to Yingxin Pavilion, that Yu Jiang could not simply take his leave. And from where he stood, even if this Wei Zhao was not the Lin Er he was after, the other newcomers had not yet been ruled out as possibilities.
"Brother Meng, the newcomer I'm looking for is not only outstanding in strength—he should also have a fair pile of spirit jade on hand, several hundred pieces at the very least, I'd say. Do you happen to know whether this Wei Zhao or any of the other newcomers fits that description?" Yu Jiang asked instead.
He had no intention of recounting the details of that day, for they involved treasures of the first order—the Star Ink Stone and the supreme Foundation-Breaking Barrier Pill. If he were to speak of them in front of Xu Lingchong and the others, then even supposing Lin Er was later dug out without a hitch, there would likely be nothing left in it for him.
Fortune is made in silence. Yu Jiang did not mind serving as a hired blade for a young master of Xu Lingchong's caliber, but where treasures of that sort were concerned, there was simply nothing to discuss.
In fact, it was not only this Young Master Xu, with whom he had so little acquaintance—Yu Jiang had never even mentioned the Star Ink Stone or the supreme Foundation-Breaking Barrier Pill to his own master, Nan Tianyong, fobbing him off with vague generalities. When profit was at stake, a cultivator who recognized no kin but himself—that was the true mark of the breed.
"Several hundred pieces of spirit jade? Impossible. That wretch Wei Zhao is a pauper. Never mind several hundred—if he could pinch and scrape together even one, you'd have cause to burn incense in thanks. As for the other newcomers, they may not have several hundred either, but they're certainly a good deal better off than a pauper like Wei Zhao." Meng Jueming rejected the notion out of hand.
Even now, he still assumed Yu Jiang had come looking for someone with some profitable scheme in mind, and so he kept right on running Wei Zhao down.
Still, his words were not far off the mark—at least in the eyes of everyone else, himself included, there was certainly no spirit jade to be had on that creature Wei Zhao. On the rare occasion he managed to get his hands on a few decent pieces, the Qingyun Pavilion newcomers around him would immediately swap them away for scraps.
Given the wolfish greed of these Qingyun Pavilion newcomers, leaving Wei Zhao even a single good piece was already an act of great mercy. As for several hundred pieces of spirit jade? That was simply out of the question—he probably did not even have several hundred scraps.
What was more, scraps of that sort could at best fool a simpleton like Wei Zhao. Try passing them off outside, and there was no chance of getting away with it—once discovered, a man would deserve to be beaten to death on the spot.
Hearing Meng Jueming out, Yu Jiang at once ruled out Wei Zhao entirely. Apart from a slight resemblance in build, the man's appearance, his manner of doing things, and his store of spirit jade all marked him as a completely different person from the Lin Er he knew—there was no connection between them whatsoever.