Chapter 3568 — Respecting Senior Brother Meng

Meng Jueming shot him a venomous glare. If this useless lump of mud had not been so hopeless—incapable of being propped up even against a wall—how would he ever have landed himself in such an awkward position? The words he had already spoken were water poured out; with so many eyes upon him, how could he possibly take them back? If he were to renege now, then not only Meng Zhou but Meng Jueming himself would become the laughingstock of the entire Welcome Pavilion, unable to hold his head up before the stewards of the other two pavilions!

With every gaze in the hall fixed upon him, Meng Jueming could only grit his teeth and declare, "This is the law of the Welcome Pavilion, and everyone must obey it—no exceptions! Even I must obey it!"

At these words, Meng Zhou looked as though he had lost his own parents; but beneath Meng Jueming's oppressive authority, he could only swallow his shattered teeth along with his blood. Wei Zhao, however, merely smiled faintly and said, "Senior Brother Meng is most enlightened."

Meng Jueming gave a noncommittal grunt, though the praise sat in his stomach like a fly swallowed whole—the kind of fly that had just crawled out of a latrine.

But in the next breath, Wei Zhao turned to Xiao Che and said, "Xiao Che, I now offer my Cave Dwelling Number One on the mountain in exchange for your Cave Dwelling Number Thirteen at the foot. What say you?"

Another exchange? The whole hall broke into an uproar. Earlier, when Wei Zhao had traded his Cave Dwelling Number Fourteen at the foot for Qiao Hongcai's Number Fifteen, that could at least be understood as a move against Meng Zhou. But now he meant to give away the Number One cave dwelling he had just won for Xiao Che's Number Thirteen at the foot—this truly baffled everyone!

Anyone else would have been overjoyed to seize Cave Dwelling Number One at the foot; to volunteer to trade it away for somebody's Number Thirteen at the foot? Was his brain diseased?

Could it be pure nobility of spirit? The world of cultivation had always been cruel; since this Wei Zhao had managed to rise above the mortal realm, he surely was not so naive. Did he harbor some other scheme?

"Uh… Brother Lin, this is far too valuable—forgive me, I cannot accept it!" Xiao Che froze for a moment, then hastily waved his hands in refusal.

Though he and Wei Zhao had both come up from the mortal realm, and their bond was naturally closer than that of the other newcomers present—so that a little mutual consideration between them was only to be expected—the problem was that Cave Dwelling Number One at the foot carried far too much weight. It was so heavy that even if he were to toil like an ox and a horse for Wei Zhao for the rest of his days, he might still not be able to repay such a favor!

True enough, Cave Dwelling Number One at the foot was the dwelling every newcomer present dreamed of, and he, Xiao Che, was no exception. With his cultivation at the peak great perfection of the late Heaven Tier, if he could add the benefits of Cave Dwelling Number One, then—never mind competing with the people of the Soaring Sky Pavilion and the Mystic Mechanism Pavilion—he would at the very least be highly likely to claim the foremost seat among the Qingyun Pavilion newcomers present!

To anyone, this was an irresistible temptation—as true for him, Xiao Che, as it surely was for Wei Zhao!

Although Wei Zhao had earlier said that the cultivation method he practiced was peculiar and did not require high spiritual qi density, any clear-eyed person knew this was merely a pretext. No matter how heaven-defying or bizarre the method, when it came to the spiritual qi of heaven and earth, more was always better; there was no such thing as denser qi producing worse results.

"Brother Xiao, just take it. If it truly doesn't suit you, then after you've used it for half a month, we can trade back." Wei Zhao spoke with a smile, yet his words brimmed with incontrovertible finality, leaving Xiao Che not the slightest room to refuse. "It's settled, then—unless you mean to cut ties with me for good!"

To repay every wrong and every kindness—that was Wei Zhao's invariable principle. If only for Xiao Che's earlier goodwill in trying to bring him along to cultivate at Cave Dwelling Number Thirteen at the foot, he must return a peach for a plum; and besides, having both come up from the mortal realm, they were natural allies for mutual support in the days to come. That Xiao Che should grow stronger faster was no bad thing for Wei Zhao either.

Seeing Wei Zhao so resolute, and that he did not appear to be joking—and that it had even escalated to the point of severing their friendship—Xiao Che hesitated a moment, then had no choice but to agree. "Then… very well. A great kindness needs no thanks in words. From this day on, I, Xiao, shall follow wherever Brother Lin leads."

Born into a declining ancient clan like the Xiao family, Xiao Che had grown up watching the fickleness of human feeling and the scheming of men, yet a singular figure like Wei Zhao he was meeting for the first time. Though the man's strength was only at the Heaven-Tier Great Perfection, an intuition honed through years of adversity told him that this Wei Zhao before him would one day be no mere creature of the pond.

Whether it was called repaying kindness or long-term investment, Xiao Che knew that from this day on, he had been publicly branded as one of Wei Zhao's faction. Henceforth in the Welcome Pavilion he would advance and retreat with Wei Zhao—shared glory, shared ruin.

By now, the way all the newcomers looked at Wei Zhao had changed again. A moment ago their eyes had held only awe; now, along with the awe, there was a measure of mockery.

It seemed Meng Zhou had been right after all. This fellow called Wei Zhao truly did love to put on airs. He had only gotten lucky and won a single bout against Meng Zhou just now, and in the blink of an eye his tail was already up in the sky, utterly ignorant of the heights of heaven and the depths of earth. Without the aid of Cave Dwelling Number One at the foot, his strength a month from now would surely not rise as quickly as the others'; when he then bound himself in his own cocoon and lost the ranking tournament, that would be a fine show to watch.

Just a country bumpkin from the mortal realm who had somehow stumbled his way up—what was he so puffed up about? Truly, a petty man drunk on his little triumph! Even if he wanted to gather followers, need he go this far? If he lost a month from now, did he really think Xiao Che would still look up to him?

To throw in one's lot with a weakling—was that not the act of a fool?

Wei Zhao seemed utterly oblivious to the shifting expressions of those around him. Glancing at Qiao Hongcai standing beside him, he decided to see the good deed through to the end. "Brother Qiao, let us simply trade Cave Dwelling Number Thirteen at the foot back to you. I shall lodge in my Cave Dwelling Number Fourteen at the foot as before—out of respect for Senior Brother Meng's arrangements, since after all this dwelling was allotted to me by Senior Brother Meng."

"Ah? That… very well." By now Qiao Hongcai was somewhat numb. In all his years, this was the first time he had encountered a creature as eccentric as Wei Zhao. Compared to the startling move of exchanging for Cave Dwelling Number One at the foot just now, this present business hardly deserved mention. He cupped his hands toward Wei Zhao. "Brother Lin, many thanks. If ever you have need of me, just say the word."

Though Qiao Hongcai did not, like Xiao Che before him, declare that he would follow wherever Wei Zhao led, he did address Wei Zhao as "Brother Lin" and said that Wei Zhao need only give the word—the implication was plain enough.