Chapter 3794 — Who Wins, Who Loses?

Although Meng Jue Ming was currently only the senior brother in charge of affairs, Hu Yun Feng had his own channels of information and already knew that Xu Ling Chong intended to support Meng Jue Ming's rise to power. Since the two of them would both belong to Xu Ling Chong's faction and become comrades in the same camp, they naturally had to show each other a little more courtesy from now on.

"A draw?" Meng Jue Ming was taken aback. He deliberately lowered his voice, ensuring that no one nearby could hear him.

For Hu Yun Feng, the Pavilion Master, declaring this confrontation a draw would better preserve his image as an objective and impartial arbiter. After all, everyone could see what a state Qiao Hongcai and Meng Zhou had fought themselves into; calling it a draw was perfectly reasonable, and no one could find fault with it.

Yet he had made this proposal to Meng Jue Ming in private. That meant if Meng Jue Ming had any objections, there was still room to maneuver.

A seasoned schemer like Meng Jue Ming naturally saw through the implications. Hu Yun Feng was leaving himself an escape route, preparing to use the opportunity to do Meng Jue Ming a favor at little cost.

In the past, something like this would have been utterly unthinkable. After all, the other man was the dignified Pavilion Master of the Welcoming New Pavilion, while Meng Jue Ming was merely a lowly senior brother in charge of affairs. Their statuses were worlds apart, and theirs was an unmistakable superior-subordinate relationship. Whenever anything came up, all Hu Yun Feng had to do was issue an order. How could he ever have imagined the man treating him with such courtesy and discussing matters with him like this?

Truly, when beating a dog, one had to look at its master's face. With Young Master Xu Ling Chong as his powerful backer, the treatment one received was simply different!

At this rate, if he eventually took the position of Third Pavilion Master, then even the exalted Pavilion Master Hu Yun Feng would have to call him brother and clasp arms with him as an equal, would he not?

Meng Jue Ming reveled inwardly for a moment before thinking it over and saying, "Pavilion Master, there has never been any mention of a draw in the rules for our newcomer assessment. After all, these rules were approved by the Council of Elders. If we rashly alter them on our own, we may be accused of showing disrespect to our superiors and invite all manner of gossip. We martial practitioners have always said that there can be no first place in literature and no second place in martial arts. That is precisely the principle at work here!"

"What you say is true, but this matter must be dealt with promptly. If we keep dragging it out and the two newcomers onstage suffer some lasting injury, then neither you, Jueguang, nor I will have an easy time explaining ourselves to our superiors." Hu Yun Feng hesitated.

It was true that adding the unprecedented term "draw" without first obtaining approval from above carried a certain amount of risk. But if they continued to delay and allowed Qiao Hongcai and Meng Zhou, two promising newcomers only in the early Foundation Establishment stage, to exhaust themselves to death, the consequences would be far more serious than the former risk.

Once someone with ulterior motives seized upon the matter and stirred up public sentiment, Hu Yun Feng, as Pavilion Master of the Welcoming New Pavilion, would undoubtedly be saddled with the accusation of incompetence and occupying his post without doing his duty.

This was no idle threat. Being dismissed on the spot would be the least of it. The Law Enforcement Hall might even be alerted, and if the unsavory things he had kept hidden from the light were dug up, Hu Yun Feng might truly find it difficult to escape death.

Therefore, even if it meant enduring a few whispers and taking on a little risk, Hu Yun Feng had to bring this mutually destructive confrontation to an end as quickly as possible.

After all, he was not without connections above. So long as he did not alarm those fiends in the Law Enforcement Hall, a few careless remarks and some rumors floating around would hardly pose a serious problem.

At this, Meng Jue Ming's eyes shifted. "Pavilion Master, I actually have an idea. It would spare us the need to keep dragging this out, and we would not have to invoke the word 'draw,' which has never appeared in the rules. We would incur no risk at all, and our reasoning would be sound enough that no one could find fault with it."

"Oh? Then speak up, Jueguang. Let me hear it." Hu Yun Feng's eyes lit up. If there really was a way to satisfy both sides without leaving anything to chance, nothing could suit him better.

Meng Jue Ming gave a sly chuckle, then immediately leaned over and whispered his plan into Hu Yun Feng's ear. Hu Yun Feng listened, nodding again and again, and finally slapped the table in delight.

After the two men had conferred in private, Hu Yun Feng finally stepped onto the arena and announced loudly to the assembled crowd, "Given the special circumstances of this confrontation, both newcomers have suffered severe injuries and lost the ability to act. If they continue to wear each other down, it will serve no purpose and may even cost the Welcoming New Pavilion two promising newcomers. Therefore, in my capacity as Pavilion Master of the Welcoming New Pavilion, I hereby declare this confrontation suspended."

His announcement provoked no controversy. Everyone, Wei Zhao included, knew that this outcome was inevitable. If Qiao Hongcai and Meng Zhou were allowed to continue grinding each other down, Hu Yun Feng's tenure as Pavilion Master would probably be over.

Yet the few words Hu Yun Feng spoke next sent a wave of uproar through the entire arena.

"However, although both sides have been grievously injured and neither can do anything to the other, the newcomer challenge has never recognized such a thing as a draw. A loss is a loss, and a victory is a victory! Under the rules, the challenger who occupies the lower-ranked cave dwelling is naturally at a disadvantage. Even if the two sides fight to a standstill, that still counts as the weaker party overcoming the stronger. Our Welcoming New Pavilion has always encouraged its disciples to face formidable enemies and advance in the face of hardship. Therefore, I hereby announce that the winner of this confrontation is Meng Zhou of Cave Dwelling Number Thirteen at the foot of the mountain!" Hu Yun Feng delivered the verdict with righteous conviction.

Count Meng Zhou as the winner? Everyone in the arena froze. Then, once they grasped what they had heard, the crowd erupted like a pot set to boil, and voices rose in every direction.

In theory, Hu Yun Feng's reasoning was indeed impossible to fault. According to the rules of the newcomer challenge, an active challenger could not stall for time and had to make the first move within the time it took half an incense stick to burn. In that sense, the challenger truly was at a natural disadvantage.

But every clear-eyed person present could see that Qiao Hongcai had plainly turned the tables and gained the upper hand. If a verdict had to be given, a mutually destructive draw would have been far more reasonable. Hu Yun Feng, however, had directly declared him the loser to Meng Zhou, which was obviously unfair to Qiao Hongcai.

Of course, since the matter did not concern them, the others would do no more than watch the spectacle and discuss it among themselves. No one would actually make an issue of it.

Wei Zhao, however, was Qiao Hongcai's backer and the leader of his little group. He would never stand by and watch his younger brother take a loss.