Chapter 3662 — Initial Encounter with the Enemy

Just as Xiao Che and the others had said, if the three of them each fought alone, then no matter how many herbs they gathered early on or how many points they racked up, it would all be for nothing; in the end it would only benefit Meng Zhou and his lot. That way not only would they come away empty-handed, they would in effect be supplying the enemy—handing Meng Zhou a gift and indirectly making it even harder for Wei Zhao to contend for victory.

That was a real problem!

Wei Zhao thought it over, then pulled from his basket the map of the back mountain's outer fringes issued specially to every newcomer and studied it. Pointing to a spot where two streams converged, he said, "Then here's how we'll do it. For the first two days we still act separately, but at noon two days from now, we meet at Three Streams Junction here, and then return together. Time is tight, so the two of you stop shoving this back and forth with me—it's settled."

Acting apart for the first two days would let each of them search for as many herbs as possible and rack up points, and it was relatively safe at this stage.

After all, even if Meng Zhou and his people wanted to move against them, they would not choose to strike this early. They could not kill, and even if they ganged up to give Xiao Che and the others a sound beating, there would be no real gain in it for them. If they were going to act, they would surely pick the final return trip, when it would be easiest to plunder the fruits of another's labor and maximize their profit.

As for the rendezvous two days later, with Wei Zhao holding things together among the three of them, even if Meng Zhou and his crew had the numbers, they might not come out ahead. When the time came, who would crush whom was still anyone's guess!

Since Wei Zhao had put it that plainly, Xiao Che and Qiao Hongcai naturally had no further grounds to refuse and could only nod in agreement. After all, Wei Zhao's plan was not only more sensible and rational, it was also more advantageous to the two of them.

Seeing that the three had settled on a plan, the long-suffering senior brother still felt it carried a certain risk, but on second thought, how could a cultivator ever go from beginning to end without taking a single risk? Risk was forever in direct proportion to reward; that was simply the way of things.

"All right then—in any case, the three of you must be careful, and then careful again. Whatever you do, don't get careless. Your enemies are not only the other newcomers; don't forget that the back mountain itself is the true source of danger!" the long-suffering senior brother warned one last time.

Wei Zhao and the other two nodded. Once everything was ready, they went with the rest of the newcomers to the trial departure point on the plaza before the Back Mountain Hall.

At that moment, more than a dozen enormous flying spirit beasts waited at the departure point, poised to launch. These were standard equipment for the Back Mountain Hall; after all, their guardianship covered the entire back mountain, and whenever something came up, they ordinarily relied on flying spirit beasts for transport. If they had to go on foot, who knew how long it would be before they reached the scene of trouble.

So this was how the random deployment worked!

Only upon seeing these flying spirit beasts did Wei Zhao finally understand. When he had first heard the trial rules, he had wondered how newcomers like them would be deployed to the outer regions of the back mountain; he had assumed there would be some teleportation array or the like. So it turned out they were to be air-dropped by flying spirit beasts!

Once all the newcomers had taken their places on the beasts' backs, the dozen or so flying spirit beasts rose with a simultaneous roar—a magnificent sight that drew a burst of startled cries from the newcomers.

Then, under the direction of the Back Mountain Hall's experts, the beasts split into three groups and carried the newcomers of the Three Stack Pavilion to their respective assigned trial zones.

Judging by their bearings, the zones lay in completely opposite directions from one another, which maximized the impossibility of the Three Stack Pavilion newcomers crossing paths—even if they wanted to run into each other, they could not.

After flying for roughly the time it takes to burn a stick of incense, the newcomers standing on the beasts' backs began, one by one, to be dropped at random at the orders of the Back Mountain Hall's experts.

Wei Zhao made a rough estimate: the initial drop points of any two newcomers were at least several dozen li apart. Even on a broad, level road, a distance like that would take a long while to cover, let alone in this vast, trackless forest where every step was hard going.

Seen this way, even if the newcomers had plans to meet up and team with one another beforehand, within a single day they would be hard pressed to find anyone else. Generally speaking, managing to regroup after two days would already be good.

This deployment pattern clearly served a special purpose. Though the newcomer trial encouraged competition, it did not wish to see vicious competition among the newcomers.

If the newcomers were dumped together in one place from the start, the result would most likely be constant chaotic fighting among them. No one would bother searching for herbs; from the very beginning, everyone would pin their hopes on plundering the fruits of others' labor.

That obviously ran counter to the Three Stack Pavilion's original intent in having newcomers gather herbs as a strategic reserve. With everyone now spaced far apart as they were, at least for the first two days the newcomers would not fixate on slaughtering one another and would turn their attention to searching for herbs. As for competition among them—that was a matter for two days later.

Once everyone had accumulated enough points, the competition would only grow fiercer. Was that not so?

Having seen through this bit of calculation on the trial organizers' part, Wei Zhao could not help but smile. Still, this suited him perfectly—at least for the first two days, no fool with more guts than sense should be coming to trouble him!

The only remaining question was whether he could find the Heart-Devouring Linglong Herb. The long-suffering senior brother had said there was Heart-Devouring Linglong Herb in the back mountain, but the back mountain was vast; whether he could find it within a mere three days was truly uncertain. And even if it existed, it was not necessarily in the outer fringes—if it grew only in the inner reaches or even deeper, that would be a real kick in the teeth.

Here's hoping things aren't too bad! Wei Zhao offered a silent prayer, then, at a signal from one of the Back Mountain Hall's experts, leaped down from the flying spirit beast's back.

To make deployment easier for the newcomers, the flying spirit beasts did not fly very high; the tallest treetops could be touched with an outstretched hand. And when Wei Zhao sprang down, it was into just such a vast, impenetrable canopy.

Whoosh—!

Dropping from the flying spirit beast's back, before he had even steadied himself, Wei Zhao immediately sensed killing intent from behind. At the same moment, his jade pendant gave warning. With no time to turn and look closely, he activated Butterfly Microstep at once, and only just managed to evade the ambush.

Even as Wei Zhao dodged aside, a crudely made but exceptionally sharp wooden spear whistled past, grazing the hem of his robe, and buried itself whole in the trunk of a giant tree.

Wei Zhao looked back. On a branch some five or six zhang away stood an ape-type spirit beast, its whole body covered in black fur. Its build was not especially powerful, but the savagery leaking from its crimson eyes was enough to make one's blood run cold.