Chapter 3877 — Murong Zhen's True Intent

In that instant, Meng Jueming's entire body went limp with bliss. Had this not been a public occasion like the newcomers' challenge tournament, he probably would have been unable to resist dragging this seductive woman into a cave dwelling and fighting three hundred rounds with her!

Meng Zhou, standing off to the side, could not help but purse his lips in jealousy. Though Meng Jueming was his patron, when it came to women, even one's own father had to step aside—of course, with his current strength he had no way of leaving Meng Jueming's protection, so no matter how discontent he felt, he could only choke it down for the time being.

Unexpectedly, Meng Jueming quickly snapped out of his besotted daze and said, his manner restored to normal: "A shameless little vixen, to be sure—but if you want my approval, you're still far from it!"

No matter how much he drooled over Murong Zhen, Meng Jueming was ultimately not a simple-minded sort like Meng Zhou; a single glance could not make him truly fall to his knees before her skirts.

If Murong Zhen could not offer any substantive action, then even if she truly threw herself at him, Meng Jueming would merely play along for the moment and would never treat her as one of his own.

And the action Meng Jueming wanted to see was, plainly put, very simple: he wanted Murong Zhen to step forward and openly move against Wei Zhao—that would be a true and substantial pledge of allegiance!

This newcomers' challenge tournament was Murong Zhen's first formal appearance since arriving at the Welcome New Pavilion. Only through her actual actions could her stance be truly gauged; apart from that, all sweet words were empty clouds.

Not only Meng Jueming—at this very moment, Wei Zhao too was watching Murong Zhen's movements, using them to infer the woman's true intentions.

This woman was a peak expert of the early Foundation Establishment stage. In other words, apart from Wei Zhao himself, every other newcomer of the Azure Cloud Pavilion—Xiao Che and Qiao Hongcai included—was far from her match. She was a variable capable of overturning the entire situation among the Azure Cloud Pavilion newcomers.

If this woman truly intended to make some targeted move, then even if Wei Zhao himself was fine, the two beneath him, Xiao Che and Qiao Hongcai, would not be able to withstand it.

A moment later, with all eyes upon her, Murong Zhen—this newcomer who had just arrived—gracefully became the first to step onto the arena, and said in a clear voice that lost none of its charm: "Honored referee, Murong Zhen of Cave Dwelling No. 16 at the foot of the mountain challenges Cha Wu of Cave Dwelling No. 15 at the foot of the mountain."

At these words, everyone in the venue was struck dumb, and Cha Wu, the party being challenged, instantly turned as black in the face as the bottom of a pot.

Damn it all! Was it not bad enough that he had already been squeezed into the most broken, most wretched Cave Dwelling No. 15 at the foot of the mountain? Now along came a Murong Zhen who named him the moment she stepped up—and you're a peak expert of the early Foundation Establishment stage, you beauty!

Cha Wu could barely restrain himself from roaring aloud before the crowd, but alas he lacked the nerve. Hearing her words, he could only weakly step onto the arena and concede outright; even if he were lent ten times the courage of a bear's heart and a leopard's gall, he would not dare defy a peak expert of the early Foundation Establishment stage like Murong Zhen!

To pay out a few challenge points, to hand over Cave Dwelling No. 15 at the foot of the mountain that he had thought was already the worst, and to move into an even more wretched little wooden hut—such was Cha Wu's fate. With this, his negative score across the first four rounds of the newcomers' assessment was sealed; there was no escaping it.

Unexpectedly, before stepping down from the arena, Murong Zhen took the initiative to propose: "Young man, if you don't mind, the two of us need only swap rankings, and you may continue living in Cave Dwelling No. 15 at the foot of the mountain. How about that?"

"Huh?" Cha Wu was instantly stunned, and everyone else wore expressions of bafflement as well.

Murong Zhen covered her mouth and laughed, then said in a cloyingly sweet voice that made one's scalp tingle: "Oh, I'm a bit of a neat freak—I don't want to live in a filthy cave dwelling, and I actually prefer the little wooden hut everyone built for me!"

"Th-then... very well, thank you, Miss Murong!" Cha Wu said once he had come to his senses, hastily expressing his gratitude.

Though Cave Dwelling No. 15 at the foot of the mountain was the most wretched dwelling in the Welcome New Pavilion and beneath the notice of an expert like Murong Zhen, for him—a lowly figure at the very bottom of the Azure Cloud Pavilion newcomers—no matter how poor the spiritual energy concentration in that worst of cave dwellings, it was still far better than a little wooden hut outside.

Murong Zhen gave a charming smile that set every heart aflutter, swayed her hips, and stepped down from the arena.

And while Murong Zhen basked in the admiration of the Azure Cloud Pavilion newcomers, Wei Zhao and Meng Jueming, without prior agreement, both shook their heads in unison. What exactly Murong Zhen meant by this move, neither of them could understand.

In the newcomers' challenge tournament, fighting one's way up from the very last cave dwelling was the optimal strategy for accumulating as many challenge points as possible. No one would find it strange for anyone to do so—yet in the case of this Murong Zhen alone, it seemed rather bizarre.

She had enrolled midway and was now already a peak expert of the early Foundation Establishment stage, with a background as an elder of the Soaring Sky Pavilion; even if she stayed on at the Azure Cloud Pavilion in the future, she would not lack a patron. In theory, there was no need for her to attach such importance to this newcomers' assessment, already more than half over, still less to start step by step from the very last cave dwelling.

By Wei Zhao's and Meng Jueming's reckoning, for Murong Zhen to secure her footing here in the days to come, she would most likely use this appearance of hers to make her stance clear through action—for instance, challenging either Xiao Che or Qiao Hongcai, or perhaps challenging Wei Zhao directly. Only thus could she make Meng Jueming feel her worth.

Of course, other possibilities could not be ruled out—for instance, she might step forward to challenge Meng Zhou. That would earn her Meng Jueming's enmity, but it would equally serve as a means of asserting her presence; and with Wei Zhao's faction holding him in check, even Meng Jueming would be unable to do anything about her.

Yet Murong Zhen chose none of the above. Instead, she chose an approach no one had anticipated: challenging Cha Wu, who ranked at Cave Dwelling No. 15 at the foot of the mountain.

With this, what this woman was scheming, neither Wei Zhao nor Meng Jueming could make out at all.

In their eyes, challenging Cha Wu was a completely meaningless move on Murong Zhen's part. Even doing nothing at all would have been better—there was simply no need for such a superfluous act that only invited suspicion.

Or could it be that Murong Zhen's purpose was precisely to make Wei Zhao and Meng Jueming suspicious of her, thereby leaving the two of them hesitant and wavering?

It was not impossible. Though Murong Zhen had already fallen out with Wei Zhao, if she wished to become the third pole in a three-way balance of power, she could not simply throw in her lot with Meng Jueming; otherwise she would be directly at odds with Wei Zhao. And if Wei Zhao misread her because of it and the two sides came to a death struggle, she would be reduced to a mere accomplice and hanger-on of Meng Jueming.