Chapter 3700 — Meng Zhou's Worry

Off to the side, Meng Zhou was muttering endlessly to himself, though he dared not voice any of it aloud. After all, the matter was simply too humiliating—what sort of fool would go out of his way to tear open his own old wounds?

"But if that's the case, why didn't he strike you all down ruthlessly during the trial? And the aura he usually gives off is clearly nothing more than Heaven-rank great perfection, isn't it?" Meng Jueming was still somewhat perplexed. By instinct, he simply did not want to believe it was true.

Li Zhengming was slightly startled. Making these people believe that Wei Zhao was now a skilled early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator—this was the very first instruction Wei Zhao had given him. As an insider who had just switched sides, he absolutely could not botch this first assignment.

"Perhaps, as Senior Brother Meng guessed at the time, he wasn't yet a skilled early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator?" Li Zhengming said after a moment's thought.

"What do you mean?" Meng Jueming and the others could not help but be taken aback.

"Because when I probed him just now, I felt that although he is indeed a skilled early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, his qi is not yet stable—it looks as though he broke through only recently. So I suspect he may have taken the Foundation Establishment Pill awarded for the trial, and that is why he has only just broken through!" Li Zhengming deliberately misled them.

Wei Zhao had said he had already given the Foundation Establishment Pill to someone else, but Meng Jueming and the others knew nothing of that. This explanation, at least, sounded perfectly reasonable.

"Right! That speculation of yours is the only logical one!" Meng Jueming clapped his hands and said, "For a cultivator at Heaven-rank great perfection, the Foundation Establishment Pill can't guarantee a hundred-percent success, but it can greatly raise the odds. So you see, this Wei Zhao truly had the luck of a dog's turd—he took the Foundation Establishment Pill and, before he knew it, stumbled right into a successful breakthrough!"

Hearing him say this, Xu Lingchong and the others finally came to a dawning realization.

To any cultivator at Heaven-rank great perfection, a treasure like the Foundation Establishment Pill was exceedingly precious. The vast majority, seeking to be safe, would hoard it even after obtaining one, pushing their own strength to the absolute limit of what they could achieve before finally taking it—only in that way could they maximize the odds of a successful breakthrough.

But there were also the bold ones who, the moment the Foundation Establishment Pill was in hand, could not wait to swallow it straight away. Their success rate was far below that of the first sort, but they too had a certain chance of breaking through.

And in Meng Jueming's eyes, Wei Zhao was obviously one of those second-sort people with the luck of a dog's turd.

To everyone present, compared with the notion that this fellow Wei Zhao had broken through by his own strength, that latter speculation was plainly far more convincing.

Break through to Foundation Establishment purely on one's own strength? Even a great young master like Xu Lingchong had failed to pull that off—and Wei Zhao, a country bumpkin from the secular world, could? What nonsense!

"But no matter how you look at it, it's already certain that this Wei Zhao is now a skilled early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. Ninth Cousin, what am I supposed to do? The ranking tournament is the day after tomorrow!" Meng Zhou could not help saying, his face full of anxiety.

Wei Zhao's successful breakthrough was hardly good news for Xu Lingchong, Meng Jueming, and the others, yet it posed no direct threat to them either. But Meng Zhou was different!

Not only was he Wei Zhao's greatest rival among the same batch of Qingyun Pavilion newcomers—he had not forgotten that, after being defeated by Wei Zhao in a single move on the first day, he still had a ranking-tournament challenge pending against him!

Though he had ultimately taken second place in the trial, and likewise clutched a Foundation Establishment Pill in his hand, he dared not swallow it rashly.

Otherwise, if this attempt at a breakthrough failed, he would not only waste the precious Foundation Establishment Pill—the side effects would also make the next attempt even harder. And then, without better pills to assist him, he, Meng Zhou, might never have another chance at Foundation Establishment in this life. When that happened, he would truly be sobbing without even a grave mound to cry over!

"It's all because you're useless. You clearly have a Foundation Establishment Pill but won't dare take it, and now that Wei Zhao has beaten you to it!" Meng Jueming shot him an exasperated glare. Still, he understood Meng Zhou's misgivings—after all, if he were in Meng Zhou's place, he would not dare take it lightly either.

"But Ninth Cousin, didn't you say yourself that in my current state, taking the Foundation Establishment Pill would give me less than a thirty-percent chance of success? How could I possibly dare take it!" Meng Zhou said with a tearful face.

Less than a thirty-percent success rate even with the Foundation Establishment Pill—no one could blame him for being timid! Otherwise, given his fondness for showing off, the chance to be the first to break the Welcome Pavilion's breakthrough record, and possibly even leave his name in the annals of history, would have tempted him beyond all reason!

Still, come to think of it, even without a freak like Wei Zhao this year, it was a foregone conclusion that the newcomers would break the Welcome Pavilion's breakthrough record of years past.

The reason was simple: in the past, when it came to people like Zhang Lifeng, there had been no extravagant trial reward like the Foundation Establishment Pill. Other than a cave dwelling and spirit jade, everything depended on one's own diligent cultivation—breaking through to Foundation Establishment rested solely on individual talent and effort!

In recent years, however, because Zhang Lifeng had deliberately shown them favor, the pill resources of the entire North Island Triple Stack Pavilion had grown by more than double what they once were! And precisely because of that, a reward like the Foundation Establishment Pill could fall to the newcomers of the Welcome Pavilion!

Otherwise, even if the newcomers had a chance at obtaining a Foundation Establishment Pill, they would surely have had to wait until the final month—how could they possibly be given such generous treatment as a Foundation Establishment Pill in the very first month! In the end, for obtaining the Foundation Establishment Pill so quickly, the person they ought most to thank was Zhang Lifeng, the previous holder of the breakthrough record!

Still, the people of old, lacking the Foundation Establishment Pill, could only gaze upon it and sigh; now these people had it, yet were tangled up over when to take it—each lot, it seemed, had its own troubles.

What Meng Zhou said struck right at the hearts of Kang Jingming and Zhong Yongliang standing nearby. After all, each of them also clutched a Foundation Establishment Pill in his hand, and out of the same misgivings as Meng Zhou, they had delayed taking it.

Originally, if everyone had simply remained at Heaven-rank great perfection, then hoarding the Foundation Establishment Pill would have been harmless enough. But now, with Wei Zhao as a precedent, the pressure had in an instant come crashing down upon their heads!

One had to understand—the upcoming ranking tournament was vastly different from the earlier newcomer trial. This time, the newcomers of the entire Triple Stack Pavilion would compete together. If they were still merely at Heaven-rank great perfection and had to face a Wei Zhao in the early stage of Foundation Establishment, then the situation truly did not look promising!