Chapter 3719 — Fatal Weakness

To put Wei Zhao to death—this was not merely their ambition, but the will of Young Master Xu himself!

With Young Master Xu's deep background, even if they used underhanded means to do away with a newcomer, so long as they did not crudely hire an assassin and leave behind evidence, the aftermath could be smoothed over entirely, with no fatal risk at all.

So in the past, Meng Jueming and his lot could only make petty trouble and take small advantages off Wei Zhao, not daring to attempt anything too outrageous. But now, Wei Zhao had to die.

"So long as Young Master Xu wants him dead, dead he will be. So you, boy, must take the long view and not fix your shortsighted eyes on a few points and dawdle over trifles. Whether we can find a way to do away with Wei Zhao as quickly as possible—that is the crux, understand?" Meng Jueming instructed earnestly.

"Oh, oh, still Ninth Cousin who sees things clearly—one look and you pierce right to the bone!" Meng Zhou at once wore the face of one profoundly enlightened.

"But of course. If I lacked even that much vision, how could I ever become a Pavilion Master of the Third Pavilion?"

Meng Jueming smiled complacently, then said, "Young Master Xu sent word to me just now. He says he has contacted several skilled hands in the Law Enforcement Hall, and we are to plot together when the time comes, to do away with Wei Zhao in the next stage of the trial. But before that, we must first study this brat's greatest weakness. Once we pinpoint his weakness, this time he will find it hard to escape death even if he wants to! You have dealt with him for so long—tell me, what is this brat's greatest weakness?"

"His greatest weakness?" Meng Zhou tilted his head and thought, then after a moment gave a feeble shake of his head. "This thing doesn't seem to have any great weakness, does it?"

Though as the greatest sworn enemy among Azure Cloud Pavilion's newcomers he ought in theory to be one of those who knew Wei Zhao best, judging from all his past performances, he truly had never discovered any weakness in Wei Zhao that could prove fatal.

The only possible weakness might be that this thing could not tell good jade from worthless jade—but such a weakness was at best good for taking a small advantage. To use it to put him to death was hardly realistic.

"No—every man has a fatal weakness, so this brat must have one too; it is only that we have not noticed it yet!" Meng Jueming shook his head decisively, then turned and called over Li Zhengming, who was not far from them. "Zhengming, what do you think is Wei Zhao's greatest weakness?"

After several previous incidents—especially after he had successfully probed out Wei Zhao's strength at the early Foundation Establishment stage for them—Meng Jueming felt fairly at ease with Li Zhengming, so he had no intention of hiding even a matter this confidential. It was a good chance to pool everyone's wisdom and think of a plan together.

Li Zhengming was taken aback. He had noticed the two whispering here a moment ago and guessed they were plotting something unspeakable again. He had meant to creep closer and eavesdrop for any intelligence, but never expected to be called over directly—and to be asked his opinion outright. This suited him perfectly.

"Wei Zhao's weakness? Does lust count?" Li Zhengming answered without changing his expression.

"Lust? That is indeed a weakness, but at most it could be used, as last time, to sow discord between him and the eldest young lady of the Shangguan family. It would be of no use in the coming stage of the trial, and even less could it put him to death!" Meng Jueming said with some disappointment.

So these two really were scheming against Leader Wei Zhao! Li Zhengming understood at once, and then deliberately fell into deep thought, saying no more.

The several of them frowned and thought for a long while, yet still came up with nothing. Suddenly Meng Jueming changed tack. "If for the moment we cannot think of any fatal weakness of Wei Zhao's, perhaps we should change our approach. What does this brat like to do most in ordinary times?"

Meng Zhou's eyes lit up, and he answered at once, "This I know—putting on airs! I hate seeing him put on airs most of all. He is just begging for a beating!"

Since Meng Zhou had already rushed to answer, Li Zhengming was happy to go along with it. "Quite so. From his past behavior, Wei Zhao does indeed love to put on airs."

He said this on the surface, but in his heart he was sneering. Leader Wei Zhao was clearly only so composed and calm in every situation because his strength was great—and that counted as putting on airs? Then what of Meng Zhou, who could not even gauge the depths of his opponent's strength yet spent every day fantastically dreaming of trampling him underfoot—what was that?

"Exactly!" Meng Jueming clapped his hands. "Why did we call this brat the Airs-Putting Newcomer before? Because this little wretch puts on airs every waking moment. In other words, putting on airs has become his habit. If we make good use of it, that is his most fatal weakness!"

"How are we supposed to make use of it?" Meng Zhou still did not understand.

But Meng Jueming only kept him in suspense, saying with an air of profound mystery, "That we will discuss in a couple of days when we plot with Young Master Xu and the others. With Young Master Xu's influence, plus my Meng Jueming's schemes—this time, Wei Zhao need not dream of living past the second round!"

Watching Meng Jueming's pose of a master who held everything in the palm of his hand, Meng Zhou hurried to heap flattery on him, while Li Zhengming chimed in agreement—yet deep in his heart he laughed to himself. It seemed that in a couple of days he would be able to send Leader Wei Zhao another piece of valuable intelligence!

Three days—not long to speak of, nor short. And during these three days, almost every newcomer of the Newcomer Welcoming Pavilion spent the time in extreme busyness.

Besides tending to the injuries left from the first stage, the trial of oppressive force, and nursing their bodies back into condition, they also had to cram at the last moment, making final preparations in the time that remained. Those who had ranked high before strove to hold on to their lead, while those who had ranked low racked their brains for ways to catch up as quickly as possible.

In short, everyone wanted to be at the front, and no one wanted to fall behind.

Yet compared with the busy newcomers, Wei Zhao was the one exception that made everyone's jaw drop—apart from his normal daily cultivation, this thing not only did no special practice for the second stage of the trial, but even leisurely went off to dig ore at the Spirit Jade Hall. This was simply incomprehensible!

Everyone knew that to accommodate the newcomers' trial, the Spirit Jade Hall had permitted the newcomers not to report in during these three days. Yet this thing Wei Zhao had gone digging ore of his own accord—if word of this got out, it would make everyone laugh their teeth out!

Do not forget, this thing was one of the unlucky wretches assigned to the No. 10 dead ore zone. Even with good luck, a whole month of hard toil might not earn him a single spirit jade!

To set aside the all-important newcomer trial and instead go dig ore in a dead ore zone—such a brilliant feat of idiocy could only be described by one old saying: throw away the watermelon and pick up a sesame seed.