Chapter 3936 — A Scream from the Mountain Cave

So even knowing it was a gamble, Meng Jueming had no choice but to grit his teeth and stake every last chip he had on Meng Zhou. If the creature could just prove reliable at the crucial moment, then the Meng family's ancestors would have to have been burning incense for them.

Only ten days remained before the final assessment. Meng Jueming could no longer wait for Meng Zhou to make a full recovery; he had no choice but to talk the fellow into a reckless plunge. It was a great risk, but he had no alternative.

Staring at the blood-red pill in Meng Jueming's hand, Meng Zhou could not keep himself from drooling. Ever since he had first learned of the Midnight Heart-Shattering Pill, he had waited for this day far too long. It was only Meng Jueming who had kept holding him back. Today, at last, he would get his wish.

Yet Meng Jueming did not hand it over so readily. Instead he spoke up: "Meng Zhou, how has your cousin treated you all this while?"

Meng Zhou started, then hurriedly poured on the flattery: "Wonderfully! Ninth Cousin has shown me kindness as heavy as a mountain. Whatever you command, I would dash out my brains and spill my liver without a second thought."

"Good. Then from now on, no matter what happens, you need only remember one thing: you and I are grasshoppers strung on the same thread. Whatever I do, I do for your good, and I would never cheat you or do you harm. That must be burned into your heart, understand?" Meng Jueming said, leading him along with a meaning-laden tone.

"Of course, of course! How could I not know how Ninth Cousin has treated me? Rest easy, Ninth Cousin. I, Meng Zhou, am not the sort to forget a kindness and repay it with treachery!" Meng Zhou, understanding nothing of what lay beneath, went on thumping his chest in assurance.

He assumed Meng Jueming feared he would take the Midnight Heart-Shattering Pill, grow stronger, and then turn on him.

Meng Jueming nodded in satisfaction, then handed over the Midnight Heart-Shattering Pill at last. He paused, then said: "You have already heard Young Master Xu describe the pill's effects. With your present cultivation at the early Foundation Establishment stage, taking it will beyond any doubt raise you to the peak of early Foundation Establishment—of that there is no question. But every thing has its two sides. As the saying goes, medicine is three parts poison. What lies behind such potent efficacy—surely you have some idea in your heart."

"I have! I have!" Meng Zhou nodded again and again. In truth he knew not a whit; he had not grasped the deeper meaning in Meng Jueming's words at all. All he wanted was to swallow the Midnight Heart-Shattering Pill at once and boost his strength.

"Since that is so, your cousin will say no more. There is no time to lose. Once you have steadied yourself a little, take this Midnight Heart-Shattering Pill as soon as you can," Meng Jueming said, his eyes narrowing.

Meng Jueming deliberately refrained from spelling it out. After all, however muddle-headed and foolish Meng Zhou might be, if he learned of the pill's side effects, he would likely not dare take it. This was a thing that could ruin a man's whole life—what sane person would dare stake his entire life as a chip?

In any case, Meng Jueming had said all this beforehand and had done his duty. As for Meng Zhou failing to grasp the deeper meaning of those words, that could only be blamed on his own stupidity, not laid at Meng Jueming's door.

"Yes, yes. Take care, Ninth Cousin." Meng Zhou could scarcely wait to begin.

Though over the past few months Meng Jueming had told him several times that the Midnight Heart-Shattering Pill's efficacy was fierce and domineering, and that one must make thorough preparations before taking it, Meng Zhou had paid it no mind. So long as he could rise a whole stage at once, everything else was nothing but clouds.

Meng Jueming nodded. At the doorway he suddenly halted and turned back: "Meng Zhou, when you take the Midnight Heart-Shattering Pill later, the process will inevitably be excruciating. If you cannot endure it, you are finished. These are no idle words to frighten you."

It was rare to see Meng Jueming so grave. Though Meng Zhou was burning with impatience, he at last caught a hint of what lay beneath the words and asked cautiously: "Then what should I do?"

However arrogant and reckless he might be, Meng Zhou could at least recognize clearly that willpower had never been his strong suit. If Meng Jueming's words were true, he might well not be able to hold out.

"If you truly cannot endure it, remember just one thing: hatred can carry a man through all pain and torment. You need only know who it is you most want to kill, and lay every ounce of suffering at his feet. You must live and hold on, and repay him a hundredfold, a thousandfold, in days to come. That is enough!" Leaving those words behind, Meng Jueming turned and departed.

"Hatred?" Meng Zhou repeated thoughtfully, then a savage, vicious glint flashed through his eyes: "Who do I most want to kill? Why, that bastard Wei Zhao, of course!"

To speak of rivals—given Meng Zhou's long-standing arrogant and overbearing nature, he had never lacked for them. Back in his hometown he had been a local bully and had clashed with plenty of people.

But ever since coming to the Welcoming Pavilion, he had been utterly cut off from the outside world. Under Meng Jueming's protection, the ordinary newcomers all dared not speak their anger aloud against him, and men like Li Zhengming, however savagely he oppressed them, never made a sound.

Now his greatest rival was down to one, and that was naturally Wei Zhao!

After all, was not the whole point of taking the Midnight Heart-Shattering Pill to bring down that pompous tyrant Wei Zhao?

"Just wait to die, Wei Zhao!" Meng Zhou spat viciously. After eyeing the Midnight Heart-Shattering Pill greedily for a moment, he jammed it into his mouth.

Only ten days remained before the final stage of the assessment. How long the Midnight Heart-Shattering Pill's effects would take to manifest, and how long after that to consolidate his strength and realm—all of it was still unknown. Meng Zhou was acting somewhat rashly, but it was precisely the situation Meng Jueming hoped to see.

What Meng Zhou had not expected, however, was that the moment the Midnight Heart-Shattering Pill went down his throat, the agonizing pain Meng Jueming had spoken of struck without the slightest warning—the legendary agony of a shattered heart!

"Aaaagh—!" A heart-rending howl of misery in an instant rang through the mountains and wilds. Nearly every newcomer of the Azure Cloud Pavilion around was startled out of their caves, staring at one another in bewilderment.

Before they could make sense of what was happening, another anguished howl followed. This time everyone understood: the screams were coming from Meng Zhou's Cave No. 4 at the foot of the mountain.

"What in the world is going on? Even butchering a pig is not this loud, is it?" The newcomers' faces turned strange.

The spirit-energy density in these caves at the foot of the mountain was not especially high, but they had been built by the Three-Tier Pavilion after all. Every facility was absolutely first-rate, and thanks to the cave's restrictive wards, the soundproofing was superb.

Normally, once the cave's gate and wards were shut, no matter what uproar went on inside, those outside could scarcely detect a thing—and that held true even for a perception as keen as Wei Zhao's. R1152