Chapter 3890 — Take Him Down!

It was not that he had thrown in his lot with Meng Jueming and his kind; he genuinely ached for those spirit herb seeds—forty of them, all wiped out by one insolent newcomer who did not know his place. It was sheer wanton waste of good material!

If such a thing were not severely punished to make an example of him, and future newcomer trials saw everyone following suit, would his spirit herb garden even be worth running anymore?

"Good!" Meng Jueming bellowed, and before his voice had even faded he struck out at Wei Zhao. The formidable aura around him was laid bare for all to see, and everyone present gasped in astonishment.

Mid-stage Foundation Establishment! Even Wei Zhao could not help but start slightly. Meng Jueming's cultivation had previously been no more than the peak of early-stage Foundation Establishment, on par with Murong Zhen—and now he had actually broken through to mid-stage!

Before anyone could react, Meng Jueming's claw had already closed on Wei Zhao's shoulder. He used no powerful martial technique, but there was not the slightest restraint in the force of his grip.

Had this happened before his breakthrough to mid-stage Foundation Establishment, then given Wei Zhao's crushing display in the final match of the challenge tournament, when he had sent Murong Zhen flying with a single slap, Meng Jueming might not have dared lay a hand on him. If he had failed to beat Wei Zhao before a crowd like this, his tenure as the chief steward senior brother would have been finished, and he would never have had a chance to rise again.

But now, with absolute superiority in cultivation and such a fine pretext handed to him, if he still did not hurry up and teach this sworn foe of his a lesson, then he would not be Meng Jueming—he might as well change his name to Poor Wretch and be done with it.

Today, he would show every person present just who held the say over the newcomers of the Azure Cloud Pavilion—was it Wei Zhao, that blind, posturing newcomer, or Meng Jueming, the chief steward senior brother?

A mid-stage Foundation Establishment expert, even without any powerful martial technique, could shatter Wei Zhao's shoulder outright with a full-force strike. Even if Wei Zhao had not taken the Limit Golden Pill last time and was a bona fide peak early-stage Foundation Establishment expert, he would still have to suffer badly from this blow.

Yet before Meng Jueming's claw could take firm hold, a surge of powerful true qi abruptly erupted from Wei Zhao's shoulder, catching Meng Jueming off guard and making him swallow a silent loss.

Hiss! Meng Jueming drew back his hand in pain, shock and wariness churning inside him, though on the surface he put on a blustering show. "Wei Zhao, I held back to spare you some face. If you keep being so ungrateful, that will count as defying the San Die Pavilion—then don't blame your senior brother for not being polite!"

"Heh, then I really must thank Senior Brother Meng for holding back," Wei Zhao said, raising an eyebrow with an amused look. "Otherwise, just now, this shoulder of mine would surely have been ruined, wouldn't it?"

"Naturally. Surely Junior Brother Lin isn't so conceited as to think he can face a mid-stage Foundation Establishment expert alone?" Meng Jueming sneered contemptuously.

Mid-stage Foundation Establishment? He could kill a peak late-stage Foundation Establishment expert on the spot with a single blow—so what was one newly advanced mid-stage expert to him?

Wei Zhao found it absurdly funny. Were it not for all these eyes watching, then merely for having dared to lay a hand on him just now, he would already have struck Meng Jueming dead. Since he had once beaten Yu Jiang half to death, dealing with a Meng Jueming was naturally nothing worth mentioning.

At that moment, Qiao Hongcai suddenly stepped forward and said, "One ringleader isn't enough? Then count me in—how about that?"

Xiao Che spoke up as well. "Count me in too."

At the sight of these two stepping out, the other newcomers were startled, and it seemed the situation was showing signs of slipping out of control.

Yet Meng Jueming, far from angered, only laughed. "So you want to rebel? Don't say your senior brother didn't warn you—seizing Wei Zhao and bringing him before the elder of the Pill Hall is the consensus of Pavilion Master Hu and the Pill Hall's higher-ups. From first to last, there is reason and evidence. Whoever dares defy it will be deemed to have openly rebelled, and by the rules of the San Die Pavilion, such a one may be killed without mercy!"

As he spoke, Meng Jueming shot a glance at Murong Zhen and Meng Zhou, and each of them gathered their power and fixed their eyes on Wei Zhao and the others.

This time, they held the imperial sword of authority and stood on unimpeachable ground. Even if they killed Wei Zhao and the rest outright, the San Die Pavilion would not pursue the matter. Conversely, if Wei Zhao and his companions dared to resist, that would only confirm the charge of rebellion—and they would have died for nothing!

"Hold on, hold on! Senior Brother Meng, wait—there's been a misunderstanding here!" Seeing how badly things stood, Poor Wretch Senior Brother hurried forward to smooth matters over.

He had been somewhat worried about this affair from the start, and sure enough the situation was now developing in the most dangerous direction. Meng Jueming was plainly setting a trap for Wei Zhao. With a hot-blooded young man like Wei Zhao, once he lost his temper and was truly provoked into confirming the charge of rebellion, his whole life would be finished—the San Die Pavilion would never let any rebel off.

"A misunderstanding? Everyone saw Wei Zhao resist just now, yet Junior Brother Poor Wretch spouts such nonsense as to call it a misunderstanding. Shielding him so shamelessly, without the least principle—it seems you're preparing to throw in with them, are you?" Meng Jueming casually clapped another great hat down on him. "Or is it that you secretly took those forty seeds out and sold them?"

He had already realized that this was a perfect opportunity—a perfect opportunity to bury Wei Zhao and his whole faction, and even Poor Wretch along with them!

"That..." Poor Wretch Senior Brother was at once rendered speechless. He had never been good with words, and in a situation like this, half a wrong sentence might well bring utter ruin down on him, so he dared not speak carelessly at all.

"Take them down!" Meng Jueming gave no one a chance to think of a countermeasure. With a single command he once again took the lead in attacking Wei Zhao, and this time he was neither careless nor contemptuous, nor did he intend to hold back—Yin Bone Claw, Twenty-Third Form!

Yin Bone Claw, as its name suggests, was an exceedingly sinister and vicious martial technique. It was said that when cultivated to an extremely profound level, the bones of the practitioner's hands would begin to deform, gradually becoming a claw of yin bone in the truest sense.

And though Meng Jueming's palms had not yet fully transformed into inhuman claws, compared to an ordinary person's they had already grown markedly deformed—a mark of his power.

As Meng Jueming once more struck at Wei Zhao, the other newcomers tactfully drew aside, while Poor Wretch Senior Brother, Xiao Che, and Qiao Hongcai were already held fast under the watchful eyes of Murong Zhen and Meng Zhou.

Wei Zhao had always shown himself to be formidable, strong enough even to overwhelm Murong Zhen, a peak early-stage Foundation Establishment expert; yet not a single person present believed he was a match for Meng Jueming.

After all, Meng Jueming was a mid-stage Foundation Establishment expert—the two were simply not on the same level.