Chapter 3923 — The Troublemaker Arrives

The only thing that left Xiao Che and Qiao Hongcai helpless with frustration was this: the outer reaches of the back mountain stretched vast as a sea, and worse, they had never had the chance to agree on a meeting place with Wei Zhao beforehand. For just the two of them to try to find him was like fishing a needle out of the ocean—no easy task at all.

Fortunately, neither of them was foolish enough to devote themselves solely to searching for Wei Zhao. Aside from gathering the rare treasures and natural materials they came across along the way, Xiao Che also kept an eye out for the various spirit beasts they encountered. Qiao Hongcai might already have his spirit pet, but the spirit pet talisman was still clutched in his hand.

With Qiao Hongcai's Ghost-Eyed Golden Eagle chick as the benchmark before him, Xiao Che's standards naturally could not sink very low. A candidate had to have strength, and potential besides, so ordinary spirit beasts no longer had much hope of catching his eye.

The back mountain teemed with spirit beasts, thick as hairs on an ox, but finding one that met both conditions at once—and that also fell within the effective range of a low-grade spirit pet talisman—was in truth no easy matter.

Unless Xiao Che followed Qiao Hongcai's example and set his sights specifically on the cubs of certain powerful spirit beasts, which would satisfy all these requirements. But the risk involved was one that his current strength could not bear at all.

Luckily, Xiao Che had always been even-tempered and was not one to chase quick returns. Even if he had not yet found anything suitable to his liking, he remained unhurried and unruffled. What fate has in store will come in time; what fate does not hold, do not force.

And so Xiao Che and Qiao Hongcai drifted about the outer reaches of the back mountain. Yet beyond all expectation, instead of running into Wei Zhao, they were the first to collide with their sworn enemy—Meng Zhou and his gang.

At that very moment, the band of newcomers led by Meng Zhou was on high alert. Meng Zhou especially was so tense that cold sweat poured down him, and he scarcely dared draw a full breath.

There was no other reason: Meng Zhou was attempting to subdue a spirit beast—an excellent target that he had forced his gang to spend a full ten days before they finally found for him.

The Black-Backed Staff Ape, one of the exceedingly rare breeds among spirit beasts that were born with the ability to wield weapons. A full-grown specimen could reach above the early Foundation Establishment stage, and the one Meng Zhou had his eye on now was a near-adult that had just left the protection of its parents, with strength at the peak of the late Heaven Grade.

To Meng Zhou, this Black-Backed Staff Ape was a pie dropped straight from heaven—he doubted there was a spirit pet in all the world better suited to him. There was only one problem now: could the low-grade spirit pet talisman in his hand actually subdue this Black-Backed Staff Ape?

Li Zhengming stood nearby atop the tree canopy, watching coldly from the sidelines. Under Meng Zhou's direction, the Black-Backed Staff Ape had already been surrounded on all sides by their group, with nowhere to flee, and it had been badly wounded in many places, its initial ferocity and sharp spirit utterly gone.

To subdue a spirit beast at the peak of the late Heaven Grade with a single low-grade spirit pet talisman—the odds of success were not high. But if this Black-Backed Staff Ape had already lost the will to resist, then there was still every chance Meng Zhou would succeed.

Meng Zhou had already begun the subjugation. Barring any mishap, the result would emerge within the time it took to burn a stick of incense.

Watching all this, Li Zhengming could not help but secretly fret. There was no question about the Black-Backed Staff Ape's strength; equip it with a fine staff-type weapon, and at the level of ordinary spirit beasts it would have almost no match among its peers.

If Meng Zhou succeeded this time, then on the strength of this peak late Heaven Grade Black-Backed Staff Ape alone, he could lock in first place in this spirit pet assessment round—beyond any doubt.

Naturally Li Zhengming did not want to let him succeed so easily. Yet with so many people around and so many eyes watching, if he tried to sabotage things in secret, he would easily give himself away. As a key undercover agent Wei Zhao had planted at Meng Jueming's side, to expose himself early over such a trifling matter would hardly be worth the cost.

But if things went on this way, once Meng Zhou succeeded in the subjugation, then in the spirit pet battles to come, even Wei Zhao might not have a way to deal with him. After all, it was spirit pets that fought in the arena—no matter how strong Wei Zhao was, it would do him no good.

Just as Li Zhengming stood caught in his dilemma, Xiao Che and Qiao Hongcai happened to pass by not far from where he was.

In fact, by their original route, the two of them would never have run into Meng Zhou's gang; under normal circumstances they would simply have passed each other by. But now there was a Li Zhengming standing atop the tree canopy, and the situation was altogether different.

From his commanding height, a common fruit suddenly came hurtling at the two of them, giving Xiao Che and Qiao Hongcai quite a start and instantly drawing their attention.

And Li Zhengming, the one who had set it all in motion, pretended not to have noticed them at all, continuing to stand atop the canopy as though nothing were amiss, carrying out the lookout duty Meng Zhou had forced upon him.

Xiao Che and Qiao Hongcai were, after all, capable hands of the early Foundation Establishment stage. Under ordinary circumstances they might not have spotted Meng Zhou's gang, but now with Li Zhengming's hint, it took them only an instant to find them.

"Talk about enemies meeting on a narrow road. Well, well, top newcomer Meng—what a coincidence, subduing a spirit pet, are we? Want me to lend you a hand?" Qiao Hongcai sneered with a cold chuckle, rolled up his sleeves, and came charging over.

Facing him were a full dozen or so men led by Meng Zhou, yet he launched his charge without a shred of scruple, not taking them seriously in the least.

Xiao Che followed close behind, though he cast Li Zhengming a glance laden with meaning. Whose hand that fruit had come from, Qiao Hongcai might not be able to tell, but it could not escape Xiao Che's eyes.

Deliberately luring the two of them over with a fruit—just what was Li Zhengming playing at?

Xiao Che could not help but feel baffled. If that woman Murong Zhen were present, such a move might be understood as luring snakes into a jar—after all, with Murong Zhen plus Meng Zhou's gang, dealing with him and Qiao Hongcai would be more than easy. But there was no sign of Murong Zhen at all now. Luring the two of them over like this—wasn't that just sabotaging Meng Zhou's plans?

While Xiao Che was still hesitating, Qiao Hongcai had already leaped forward to the front of Meng Zhou's group. Meng Zhou was instantly thrown into a panic and hastily shouted to the Azure Cloud Pavilion newcomers: "Stop him, quick! There'll be rich rewards afterward!"

This was the critical moment in his subjugation of the Black-Backed Staff Ape, and he was on the verge of complete success. If Qiao Hongcai interrupted him now, all his work would come to nothing, and the spirit pet talisman he had used would be wasted along with it.

But Qiao Hongcai's strength had already been plain for all to see back at the newcomers' challenge tournament—formidable enough that even Meng Zhou, a capable hand of the early Foundation Establishment stage, had been beaten half to death by him. The Azure Cloud Pavilion newcomers present were only at the great perfection of the Heaven Grade; how would they dare to recklessly stake their lives against a hard case like this hotheaded fool?