Chapter 3757 — Digging His Own Grave

"You're the Azure Cloud Pavilion's number-one newcomer—surely you have to sign up for a few more, win us some face!" Meng Jueming pressed him with a look of solemn righteousness.

"Heh heh, most of you probably don't know this, but our brother Wei Zhao here was already a pill refiner back in the mortal world. He understands the nature of these spirit herbs inside and out—a true expert in every sense. Taking twenty or thirty seeds is nothing to him; it's practically wasting his ability. As far as I'm concerned, no number would be too many!" Kang Jingming chimed in to bolster the flattery.

Given all the bad blood between him and Wei Zhao, an opportunity to corner Wei Zhao in public was naturally not one he would let slip.

At his words, the other Azure Cloud newcomers erupted in a stir—they had known Wei Zhao was powerful, but they had never expected him to be a pill refiner as well.

Pill refiners, though long held in high esteem in the cultivation world, were generally frail compared with other experts of the same level, since they poured the vast majority of their energy into pill refining and advanced mostly by consuming all manner of pills.

Of course, there were exceptions to every rule. The Pill God, Zhang Lifeng, was not only the pinnacle figure among pill refiners, but also possessed immense strength in his own right, not a whit inferior to the other top magnates of the Cloud-Tier Island.

What the newcomers had not expected was that Wei Zhao, standing before them, was just such a monster—his strength sufficient to crush experts of his level, and on top of that, a pill refiner of rare distinction!

Though he was nowhere near the level of the Pill God Zhang Lifeng, compared with these newcomers of the Triple-Layer Pavilion, he was already a most remarkable existence.

For a time, the envy, jealousy, and resentment in the eyes of every newcomer on the field as they looked at Wei Zhao grew all the more intense.

"My heavens, so you're a pill refiner after all, Mr. Showboat! Then this golden opportunity can't be wasted. You've already taken two perfect scores—it'd be inexcusable not to make a run at it this time, wouldn't it? I say thirty is too few. For the name of Showboat Newcomer, you've got to aim for a perfect score, otherwise how demeaning!" Meng Zhou, on hearing this, immediately cried out in feigned astonishment.

To him, if Wei Zhao did not make a fatal mistake, there would be no hope of ever overtaking him in the assessments to come—he would simply be trampled underfoot forever. Only an assessment like this spirit herb trial, where points could be deducted, offered any chance to close the gap swiftly, or even overtake him.

Of course, all of that rested on Wei Zhao losing his head and blundering badly. If Wei Zhao honestly signed up for ten spirit herb seeds like the other newcomers, then there was no hope at all—the man could coast on the vast advantage built up in the first two stages alone.

As the crowd vied to flatter and goad him, Wei Zhao swept them with a half-smile—this was the classic tactic of killing with praise!

But that suited him perfectly. Without these people's help, he would have had a hard time justifying signing up for forty; now, though, it would all flow naturally.

"Junior Brother Lin, just play it safe and take ten—that's about right. This stuff is tricky, and it'll interfere with the fourth assessment stage later on. It'll be exhausting. Don't let these people talk you into it," the long-suffering senior brother whispered in warning.

Wei Zhao nodded knowingly and shot him a look that said not to worry, then stepped forward and said to the manager of the herb garden, mild as could be, "Since everyone has such high hopes and such encouragement for me, I've no reason to disappoint them. So—forty it is, then. Actually, Kang Jingming was right; I was even thinking of signing up for eighty!"

The moment the words fell, the whole hall erupted.

Never mind the long-suffering senior brother and the handful of others who were well disposed toward Wei Zhao, left gaping—even Meng Jueming, Kang Jingming, and the rest who had been needling him without pause were struck dumb. Could Wei Zhao really be so easily provoked? A few taunts, and like a fool he picks all forty?

Eighty, no less? The way you put on a show, you really do live up to the title of Showboat Newcomer! Meng Zhou, too, was secretly overjoyed—his hopes had just grown enormously!

The effeminate manager of the herb garden could not help covering his mouth, looking Wei Zhao up and down in astonishment. "Are you certain?"

When he had explained the rules earlier, he had stated plainly that even the disciples of the Pill Hall most skilled in spirit herb cultivation could not bring forty spirit herb seeds to maturity within three months—the survival rate simply could not be guaranteed.

For this Wei Zhao, a newcomer—even a pill refiner somewhat familiar with the nature of spirit herbs—to sign up for all forty at once was nothing short of thinking he had too many points and seeking to cripple himself!

One had to understand: pill refiners might handle spirit herbs constantly, but at bottom, that was a completely different matter from being a spirit herb cultivator!

Put plainly, a pill refiner was like a master chef—handling all kinds of vegetables and ingredients every day, able to turn out a superb dish, but to conclude from that that he ought to go and grow vegetables? That was a joke! Cooking and farming—were those the same thing?

Kang Jingming, the newcomer disciple most highly touted by the Soaring Heavens Pavilion, was himself a pill refiner, and even he dared sign up for only twenty. To sign up for forty at once, with the fourth assessment stage coming up simultaneously—was that not courting death?

"I am certain," Wei Zhao said with a firm nod, paying no heed at all to the strange looks on every face.

Now even the effeminate manager of the herb garden had nothing to say. He had kindly given Wei Zhao a chance to reconsider, but the man simply refused to mend his ways; there was nothing for it but to nod and have the spirit herb seeds prepared.

In truth, he and Wei Zhao were complete strangers—whether Wei Zhao lived or died was not a cent's worth of concern to him. It was only the spirit herb seeds he regretted.

True, they were all batch-cultivated by the Pill Hall and not especially costly, but they were spirit herb seeds all the same—nurtured properly, they would become genuine spirit herbs. Handed to this overreaching newcomer, hardly any of them would survive.

Still, this newcomer assessment of the Welcome Pavilion was an important measure approved by the Council of Elders. As chief manager of the herb garden, no matter how his heart ached for those seeds, he could only pinch his nose and play along.

Watching Wei Zhao receive the forty sealed packets of assorted spirit herb seeds, Meng Jueming and Kang Jingming exchanged glances, mockery written across their faces.

It seemed this Showboat Newcomer, having lucked into two divine-grade perfect scores, truly believed himself invincible—that he could jump into any pit laid before him!

People say that if you don't dig your own grave, you won't fall into it—but now Wei Zhao, the fool, was insisting on digging his own, and no one could stop him!