Chapter 3785 — The Closed-Door Breakthrough

Hearing all this mockery and jeering, Zha Wu's heart sank straight to the bottom of a pit. Kicking a man when he was down—stepping on him even harder when he was already low—was the common way of the cultivation world, true enough, but the present scene was far more than being stepped on; he had stirred up the fury of the entire crowd!

If he, Zha Wu, were powerful, with the confidence to stand toe to toe with Meng Jue Ming, the senior fellow disciple and steward, the way Wei Zhao did, that would be one thing. The trouble was that he was not merely not powerful—he was the very bottom of the heap, and his position was already desperate. To stir up public wrath at a time like this was practically to cut himself off from the Threefold Pavilion for good.

Ai! Cleverness turned against its owner—this time I really let my hot head dig my own grave!

Zha Wu wished he could slap himself twice across the face. If he had only kept his head down and guarded his few meager points, instead of dreaming up some wild scheme to challenge Wei Zhao and grab himself an eyeful of attention, he would not have brought this on himself and sunk to such a sorry state.

Now it was done. Being on the verge of tears was putting it lightly. Once he was locked into negative points and barred from the Azure Cloud Pavilion, all his past efforts would be swept down the drain, and that would be the end of him in this life. There was only one fate left for him—being tossed into the mines to dig ore...

But enough of Zha Wu and his self-pity. Looking at the other newcomers of the Azure Cloud Pavilion, they had been trading blow for blow in this round of the challenge tournament, every one of them straining with all their might to seize points; the spectacle was, one had to admit, a dazzling one.

Only, none of this splendor had anything to do with Wei Zhao and his two companions.

Xiao Che, needless to say, was buried beneath the mountain in Cave Dwelling No. 15, calmly preparing for his Foundation Establishment, while Wei Zhao was trapped in Cave Dwelling No. 1 beneath the mountain, unable to challenge others of his own initiative, and with Zha Wu standing there as a living cautionary example, the other newcomers—even those who had harbored the same opportunistic hopes—did not dare challenge him now.

Are you kidding? That poseur Wei Zhao had no sense of the times whatsoever, and yet his strength was so monstrous that no one could make sense of it. To go up and provoke him would not only fail to win anyone glory—it would get you pounded into the next Zha Wu, and you might well lose your little life in the bargain. Who would dare try such a thing now?

Among the three of them, the one with the best chance of kicking up a commotion this round was Qiao Hongcai, stationed in Cave Dwelling No. 12 beneath the mountain.

First, his cave dwelling's ranking was decent, giving him the right to challenge the dozen or so newcomers above him—an advantage bestowed by heaven itself.

Second, right behind him in Cave Dwelling No. 13 beneath the mountain was Meng Zhou, a cultivator in the early Foundation Establishment stage. Looking across the whole Azure Cloud Pavilion, the only one with the nerve to claim he was not nervous was probably Wei Zhao alone; everyone else, Qiao Hongcai included, was absolutely under crushing pressure.

At a time like this, given the chance, any normal person would find some way to put as much distance between himself and Meng Zhou as possible.

So no matter how one looked at it, Qiao Hongcai could well repeat his old trick—just as he had challenged Zha Wu in the previous round, challenge one rank higher again. That way he could both gain points and temporarily escape the threat of Meng Zhou behind him, buying himself a rare bit of breathing room.

Yet, to the surprise of every newcomer present, Qiao Hongcai made no move at all. He neither challenged anyone of his own accord, nor was challenged by anyone; he simply coasted through the round, neither wind nor rain.

This outcome caught even Miserable Senior Brother off guard, and he could not help asking, "Junior Brother Qiao, didn't we agree you'd retreat in order to advance? Why aren't you challenging upward?"

True, when Qiao Hongcai had first entered the Welcome Pavilion, he had been no more than a peak expert of the late Heaven Rank, with no particular edge over the other newcomers. But since throwing in his lot under Wei Zhao's banner, his strength had advanced by leaps and bounds. Even facing other Heaven Rank experts at the great perfection stage, he held a solid advantage—one could not say he would crush them all, but at least his odds of succeeding in an upward challenge were not low.

That would win him another chance to turn things around, buying time to attempt Foundation Establishment before he had to face Meng Zhou. In the eyes of Miserable Senior Brother and the others, this strategy was in fact very sound.

But Qiao Hongcai shook his head and said, "Senior Brother Ku, that's where you don't understand me. A man like me will, at most, take the occasional step back when there's no other choice. If I retreat again and again, that's just not my style. So this time I absolutely will not retreat. Next round is the decisive battle between me and that bastard Meng Zhou!"

The answer was so categorical that Miserable Senior Brother could only shake his head helplessly, temporarily at a loss for words.

Qiao Hongcai was, after all, the hot-blooded Qiao Hongcai. Pulling a clever trick last round to retreat a step in disguise had already been his limit; expecting him to retreat again and again on top of that was simply unrealistic.

His attitude was already firm as could be. No matter what, no matter whether he succeeded in Foundation Establishment or not, next round he was absolutely going to have it out with Meng Zhou—that was a foregone conclusion he could not avoid.

Only, if he succeeded in his Foundation Establishment attempt within the next three days, that would be one thing. But if he failed, then not only would he have to face Meng Zhou with nothing but Heaven Rank great perfection strength—he would also suffer a severe backlash from the failed attempt.

A Heaven Rank expert at the great perfection stage, wounded, going up against an expert in the early Foundation Establishment stage—and one with whom he had long-standing grievances. What kind of ending that would be, even a toe could figure out!

Miserable Senior Brother secretly shot Wei Zhao a look, signaling him to speak up and talk the man around. True, he was the steward senior brother, and nominally Wei Zhao and the other two were junior brothers who had come under his protection—but how things really stood, everyone knew full well.

At bottom, Wei Zhao was the core of their little group. Once he spoke, not only would Xiao Che and Qiao Hongcai listen to him, even Miserable Senior Brother himself would willingly follow his arrangements. That much awareness, Miserable Senior Brother had possessed for a long time.

Stubborn as Qiao Hongcai was—once his mind was made up, he would not turn back until he hit the south wall, and once he hit it he still would not turn back, but would batter straight through it before he was willing to stop—this matter also depended on who was doing the persuading. Miserable Senior Brother and the others would be useless at talking him around, but if it were Wei Zhao, it might not be useless at all.

The place Wei Zhao now held in that fellow Qiao Hongcai's heart was absolutely lofty and exalted; one word from him was worth at least a hundred from anyone else.

Yet Wei Zhao only smiled and said, "Then do your best. Try to succeed in your Foundation Establishment before you face Meng Zhou—I'll be waiting to see what you can do!"

"You got it! Just you watch, Boss!" Qiao Hongcai swung his fist excitedly, turned on his heel, and ducked into his own Cave Dwelling No. 12 beneath the mountain.