Chapter 3732 — Three Insiders

The crucial thing was that over the past month or so, not the slightest sign of anything had been detected in Wei Zhao—the fellow had hidden it deeply enough!

Little did they know, this was purely their own fantasy. Although Wei Zhao had many hidden cards up his sleeve, a defensive martial skill of this sort was the one thing he did not possess. This time they had truly overthought it.

"Indeed, it is so. The fault is mine for failing to notice this beforehand and letting the boy exploit the gap, which caused our plan to fall through at the final step. I beg Young Master Xu to punish me!" Meng Jueming hastened to apologize with a crestfallen look.

Xu Lingchong's expression shifted unpredictably, and for a long while he said nothing.

This time, in order to do away with Wei Zhao and to ensure nothing went wrong, he had expended no small amount of effort and capital—not only stepping forward to persuade Zhao Hongbo, the fourth elder of the Green Cloud Pavilion, but even going so far as to part with a fourth-grade Great Return Pill at great cost.

Yet now the result was this: Wei Zhao was not only entirely unharmed, but had once again, just as last time, magnificently scored a perfect divine-grade result. Every bit of his investment had gone down the drain.

And that was not even the crux of it. Losing this bit of capital was one thing—even the costly fourth-grade Great Return Pill he had not taken much to heart. The crux was that this time he had once again lost face before Shangguan Lan'er!

Three days ago in the Enforcement Hall he had already lost face once, and now again. At this rate, how would he ever have the face to meet Shangguan Lan'er in the future? After all, his grandfather Xu Yuanzheng had given him a strict order: he must attach himself to the Shangguan family's high branch. Whether the Xu family could truly enter the ranks of the top-tier elites all depended on him alone!

Watching Xu Lingchong's exceedingly grim expression, Meng Jueming could not help feeling uneasy, scarcely daring to breathe too loudly for fear of provoking the young master's fury.

Strictly speaking, although this attempt on Wei Zhao had not succeeded, Meng Jueming's performance was in fact creditable. After all, from the perspective of men like them, had it not been for Wei Zhao's formidable and uncanny "defensive martial skill," any other person in his place would have had no possibility of failure.

To put it plainly, this was in no way a fault of the battle itself. Meng Jueming could not be blamed for not trying hard enough—only Wei Zhao could be blamed for being too uncanny.

But when trouble arose, Meng Jueming, as the behind-the-scenes mastermind of this attempt on Wei Zhao, had to step forward and accept blame on his own initiative. Otherwise, how could Young Master Xu have been given a graceful way out?

"Enough. The fault this time does not lie with you, Old Meng. So what if that brat Wei Zhao escaped this once? He is still nothing but fish and flesh on our chopping block; he won't be able to prance about for long!" Xu Lingchong pressed his anger down into his heart and patted Meng Jueming's shoulder reassuringly.

Xu Lingchong was, after all, the future heir of the Xu family, trained by Xu Yuanzheng's own hand—not some pure playboy of the second generation. He knew well that to achieve greatness, one must not only be able to afford to lose, but still more must have the capacity to tolerate others.

And judging from Meng Jueming's earlier performance, the fellow was indeed a talent—merely buried because his origins in the Green Cloud Pavilion were too lowly. It would be just right to take him in and make use of him.

"Many thanks for Young Master Xu's magnanimity. Old Meng will hereafter go through fire and water for you, sparing no effort!" Meng Jueming hurriedly fawned and pledged his loyalty, secretly heaving a breath of relief. This way he could go on cherishing his hopes for the position of third pavilion master.

Able to afford losses, able to tolerate others, and on top of that possessed of deep background and lavish in spending—this Young Master Xu really did count as a wise lord!

Xu Lingchong smiled, then straightened his face and instructed: "Although we have ample opportunity to crush Wei Zhao to death as easily as pinching an ant, we must still learn from this lesson. Before dealing with him next time, we must first probe his depths thoroughly, lest some other mishap occur!"

Meng Jueming nodded repeatedly and pledged, thumping his chest: "Rest assured, Young Master Xu. When I return this time, I will have Meng Zhou, Li Zhengming, and the others find a way to sound out Wei Zhao's background and ensure the next plan is foolproof."

"Good. Then I shall look to your performance." Xu Lingchong nodded, then his gaze fell upon Shangguan Lan'er in the distance. What gave him a headache now was how to explain to this little junior sister his reasons for failing twice in a row!

As the illustrious young master of the Soaring Heaven Pavilion, to stumble again and again on Wei Zhao, a newcomer from the mundane world—this was truly hard to justify. It was fortunate that no other young masters were present; otherwise Xu Lingchong's face would have been utterly lost.

After hesitating for a long while, Xu Lingchong finally steeled himself and walked over to Shangguan Lan'er's side, explaining in a low voice with an awkward expression: "Junior Sister Lan'er, this time it was due to insufficient intelligence that Wei Zhao managed to exploit the gap. But rest assured, next time he won't have such luck. I will certainly give him a proper thrashing on your behalf, Junior Sister, and vent your anger!"

"Hmph!" Shangguan Lan'er gave a cold snort. She had originally meant to ignore him, but after thinking it over she added: "Next time, remember to inform this young lady."

"Certainly, certainly." Xu Lingchong nodded hurriedly in agreement. He had been afraid that Shangguan Lan'er would ignore him from then on; so long as the girl was still willing to come out with him, everything else could be discussed.

In that case, he really ought to thank Wei Zhao properly—otherwise it would not have been easy to invite the girl out. This was just the opportunity to make more contact, win the beauty's heart, and lay a solid foundation for carrying her home in days to come!

Little did he know, Shangguan Lan'er was purely thinking of Wei Zhao. If Xu Lingchong had some plan in the future, she could notify Wei Zhao in advance once she learned of it. True, just as in these two instances, Xu Lingchong was unlikely to tell her the specific details, but she could still learn the general outline and give Wei Zhao advance warning.

What Shangguan Lan'er did not know was that Wei Zhao had already successfully planted two insiders among Xu Lingchong's group—Zhong Yongliang and Li Zhengming. Counting her, that made three insiders, an intelligence team of unprecedented scale. If Xu Lingchong's group could still manage to get the better of Wei Zhao under such circumstances, the sun really would rise in the west!

In the space of half a day, all the newcomers of the Threefold Pavilion had finished their assessments. However, the second stage was not yet over—after all, so many newcomers were still carrying injuries that had not healed!

Until their injuries were fully recovered and the corresponding recovery points confirmed, the rules required them to remain in the main hall of the Welcome Pavilion. Otherwise, their recovery points would all be counted as zero.

Though this might seem somewhat inhumane, it was meant to uphold the most basic fairness. If these people were sent back to their respective cave dwellings before recovery was confirmed, setting aside the differences in spiritual qi density among the caves, what if someone secretly took a spirit medicine capable of healing injuries? (To be continued...)

(.)