Chapter 3802 — The Only Way

Wei Zhao alone had already been enough to make their scalps prickle, and now they found the situation taking a sudden turn for the worse: Meng Zhou could not only no longer beat Wei Zhao, he might not even be able to beat any random underling of Wei Zhao's. How was this game supposed to be played?

Meng Jueming had no shortage of new recruits, but among those twelve, Meng Zhou was the only one at the early Foundation Establishment stage. Wei Zhao's crew, by contrast, numbered only three, yet every one of them had already succeeded in Foundation Establishment. Who was strong and who was weak could not have been clearer.

Faced with such a vast gulf in strength, no amount of scheming on Meng Jueming's part could avail him now. Before absolute power, all those so-called plots and machinations were nothing but passing clouds.

And so it was that Meng Jueming, that deep-buried schemer who never let joy or anger show on his face, could not help but feel a sudden stirring of panic.

For he had realized that, at this rate, even if he rode Young Master Xu's backing smoothly into the seat of Third Pavilion Master of the Greeting Pavilion, the day might still come when he could do nothing about Wei Zhao's crew.

The performance of Wei Zhao's three had been far too dazzling. Once it drew the attention of the Azure Cloud Pavilion's upper echelons, any further attempt on his part to make trouble from within would become far harder—one misstep and he would only invite a heap of trouble onto himself; it was not even out of the question that he might capsize in the gutter.

Meng Jueming turned it over and over in his mind, and at last arrived at the only effective solution: he must find a way, as quickly as possible, to raise Meng Zhou another stage, restoring to him an overwhelming superiority over Xiao Che and Qiao Hongcai—and indeed over Wei Zhao himself—so that the situation could be brought back under his control.

However disrespectful Wei Zhao's three might be, they were still new recruits of the Azure Cloud Pavilion, shielded by layer upon layer of protection. If he did not wish to take the risk of borrowing outsiders, the only way to deal with them was to cultivate a still more powerful Azure Cloud Pavilion recruit to crush them.

And that candidate could only be Meng Zhou.

Other recruits like Li Zhengming were, after all, still only at the peak of the Heaven Rank; to build one of them up to the height where he could crush Wei Zhao's people was plainly unrealistic, and in terms of loyalty they were hardly as dependable as Meng Zhou.

But Meng Zhou had only just recently advanced to the early Foundation Establishment stage, and he had managed it by taking Foundation Establishment Pills and Foundation Establishment Fluid. To push him up another level in so short a time—the difficulty of that went without saying.

The normal route was certainly out of the question. The only way was through elixirs—and not ordinary elixirs meant to aid cultivation, but rare elixirs capable of forcibly raising one's stage and settling the matter once and for all. Anything less, even a Foundation Establishment Barrier-Breaking Pill, the sort of treasure Foundation Establishment cultivators flocked to, would be of no use.

Unfortunately, if Meng Jueming had possessed such an elixir, he would have taken it himself long ago. How could he possibly have kept it until today?

But the fact that Meng Jueming did not have one himself did not mean he could not obtain one. After all, behind him now stood that towering patron, Xu Lingchong. With the unfathomable background and influence of Young Master Xu, if he truly set his mind to procuring an elixir of that kind, it should not be difficult.

When all was said and done, raising Meng Zhou's strength was for the sake of dealing with Wei Zhao—and though Meng Zhou was not someone Young Master Xu regarded highly, he was, at any rate, still the underling of an underling beneath him. To find a way to lift Meng Zhou's strength would, for Young Master Xu, kill two birds with one stone.

Having silently settled on this resolve, Meng Jueming's heart felt a little steadier. Yet when he looked toward Wei Zhao and the others, the look in his eyes had, without his quite noticing it, grown a shade darker and more venomous than before.

Let you strut about a while longer. Once I have won Young Master Xu over, I will come and deal with you!

Sensing Meng Jueming's cold, sinister gaze, Wei Zhao knit his brows slightly and said, "That creature Meng Jueming—could he be hatching some crooked scheme again?"

Since the long-suffering senior brother had already escorted Qiao Hongcai back to the cave dwelling ahead of them to rest and heal his wounds, only Xiao Che remained at Wei Zhao's side at that moment.

After all, given the formidable strength Qiao Hongcai had displayed, and with Xiao Che at his back to shield and escort him, recruits like Zha Wu would never dare stroke his whiskers. So even though he had not yet been challenged this round, one could be certain no one would come seeking a challenge against him; he might as well go back to the cave dwelling and tend his injuries first.

Of course, if Meng Zhou somehow recovered in short order, he might well challenge Qiao Hongcai directly in a bid for revenge—only that was an impossibility. Given his current injuries, even taking a fourth-grade Great Return Pill, he would need a full day before he could possibly recover completely.

Hearing Wei Zhao's suspicion, Xiao Che could not help laughing. "Leader, you worry too much. In the present situation we have three early Foundation Establishment cultivators, while he has only Meng Zhou. The gap is too wide; no matter how he works his abacus, it is useless now!"

That was the truth of it. With Meng Jueming's own strength he could certainly handle Wei Zhao and the others, but he could never take the field himself, and his only powerful piece was Meng Zhou—nowhere near enough to deal with the three of them. After all, even a clever housewife cannot cook a meal without rice.

"Let us hope the creature keeps to his place," Wei Zhao nodded. If Meng Jueming could see reality and beat the retreat, then all these messy troubles would cease, and in the days to come he could focus on cultivation and raising his strength.

Pausing, Wei Zhao changed tack and asked, "What are your plans? This round, do you mean to coast through a round, or challenge upward directly for points?"

Xiao Che had all along been keeping to the rear, deliberately holding the cave dwelling's ranking behind Meng Zhou's. This was to guarantee a double insurance: that way, even if Qiao Hongcai could not handle Meng Zhou, he could step in naturally, shielding Qiao Hongcai—who held the higher cave-dwelling rank—while at the same time putting effective checks on Meng Zhou.

But two successive rounds of mutual ruin had already proven that Qiao Hongcai fully possessed the strength and the confidence to stand against Meng Zhou head-on. That being so, Xiao Che's double insurance now seemed a needless flourish, with no particular necessity.

Rather than lingering here and wearing himself down against a piece of trash like Meng Zhou, it would be more reliable to challenge upward directly and take the points.

As the cave-dwelling rankings now stood, Meng Zhou was Cave Dwelling Thirteen at the foot of the mountain, and Xiao Che was Cave Dwelling Fourteen at the foot of the mountain—precisely behind Meng Zhou. Given the enmity between them, even an honest, decent sort like Xiao Che could not possibly let such an opportunity served up on a platter go to waste.