Chapter 3971 — Seeking the Scrap King

Yet Murong Zhen suddenly spoke up: "Actually, in this lady's view, Li Zhengming's defection to Wei Zhao may not be quite the settled matter it seems."

"How do you mean?" Meng Zhou asked, puzzled.

"This lady said it just now—the moment Li Zhengming went over, Qiao Hongcai immediately challenged him. That was meant as a show of dominance, yet Li Zhengming turned around and beat him. What do you suppose Qiao Hongcai must be feeling now?" Murong Zhen mused darkly. "And what's more, this lady also heard that no sooner had Qiao Hongcai been defeated than Xiao Che issued a challenge of his own. What that signifies, I need hardly spell out."

"You're saying Li Zhengming is being squeezed out by Wei Zhao's core henchmen acting in concert?" Meng Zhou's eyes lit up.

Such a thing was hardly impossible. Were he, Meng Zhou, in Qiao Hongcai's or Xiao Che's position, he would likely have adopted the same tactics to shore up his own standing. Otherwise he would never have spent all that time before suppressing Li Zhengming in front of Meng Jueming.

"Precisely. So this is our opening—we can work to turn Li Zhengming back to our side!" Murong Zhen said, eyes gleaming.

"Fine by me, I've no objection." Meng Zhou glanced at Murong Zhen and went on: "This sort of thing is your specialty, surely. No need for me to show my face."

Except in dealing with the rare oddity, Murong Zhen's beauty schemes were, in the Yingxin Pavilion—where year in and year out no woman was to be seen—effective the vast majority of the time.

"There's no problem with this lady taking the lead. But Li Zhengming has endured in silence this long; he is no shallow sort. Whether he can be turned back depends entirely on your sincerity," Murong Zhen said with pointed meaning.

Back in the rear mountains, she had seen with perfect clarity how Meng Zhou treated Li Zhengming. In her view, Li Zhengming had thrown in with Wei Zhao purely because Meng Zhou had driven him to it. If Meng Zhou did not change his madman's ways, then no matter how great her exertions, they would likely come to nothing.

Meng Zhou's face stiffened. After a moment he said in a low voice: "You just go and work your charms on him. When the time comes, I'll know what to do."

"Very good. Then wait for this lady's good news." Murong Zhen smiled, then turned and swayed away, hips swinging. So long as Meng Zhou was willing to bow his head and apologize to Li Zhengming, she was confident that with her charms, hooking Li Zhengming would be no trouble at all.

Yet after returning, Murong Zhen did not go straight to Li Zhengming. After all, the man had only just gone over to Wei Zhao; even if he was being pushed out, it was still only a hint of trouble, not yet deeply felt.

Better to let him stew in it for a while—especially once he had crossed blades with Xiao Che, the conflict between the two sides would surely intensify. If she, Murong Zhen, appeared only when Li Zhengming was thoroughly miserable, she would achieve twice the result with half the effort and take him in hand with ease.

Of course, though the matter of turning Li Zhengming was set aside for the moment, Murong Zhen was not idle. Her pressing task now was to keep Kang Jingming firmly hooked—after all, he was the meat already in her mouth, and there was certain profit to be had.

Soon enough, thanks to Murong Zhen's artful pandering, her efforts were not wasted: Kang Jingming wrung a modest little sweetener for her.

With Xu Lingchong's tacit approval, Kang Jingming took the initiative to suggest to Hu Yunfeng, Pavilion Master of the Yingxin Pavilion, that Murong Zhen be made second senior brother in charge of newcomers at the Qingyun Pavilion.

The proposal happened to suit Hu Yunfeng's wishes. Now that Miserable Senior Brother had risen to become first senior brother in charge of newcomers at the Qingyun Pavilion, the post of second senior brother seemed trivial and carried little real power—yet it was a rare nail to drive in, and in the present circumstances its role was irreplaceable.

One written order from Hu Yunfeng, and Murong Zhen was transformed on the spot into second senior brother (sister) in charge of newcomers at the Qingyun Pavilion.

Wei Zhao did not mind in the least. To his eyes these were all trifles not worth mentioning. His foremost priority now was to make a trip to the Qingyun Pavilion—naturally, to find the Scrap King.

Several months had passed since his agreement with the Scrap King. True, he had been beset by one thing after another, but Wei Zhao still felt rather apologetic toward the man.

Now that Meng Jueming's threat had been dealt with and no other pressing business remained for the moment, it was time to honor his promise to the Scrap King. Wei Zhao needed to raise the grade of the fine-steel staff as quickly as possible—otherwise, a heaven-tier divine weapon could not be used at the Foundation Establishment stage.

After making rough inquiries from Miserable Senior Brother about conditions inside the Qingyun Pavilion, Wei Zhao set out at once.

Alone, Wei Zhao soon arrived at the Qingyun Pavilion's own territory. The grounds of the three-tiered pavilions were generally heavily guarded—the Skyward Pavilion especially so. Last time Xiao Che had merely gone in to find someone and nearly been killed; only luck in running into Shangguan Lan'er had saved his life.

Yet though the three-tiered pavilions were nominally peers, the gap between them was vast as heaven and earth. Compared with the heavily guarded Skyward Pavilion, the Qingyun Pavilion was loose to the point of being utterly undefended. From first to last, not a single guard came to question Wei Zhao, this sudden unfamiliar face; he came and went with perfect ease.

Of course, Wei Zhao's destination this time was only the outer area at the foot of the mountain. Had he truly meant to enter the inner grounds at the core of power, things would doubtless have looked quite different.

"Excuse me, senior brother—does Wang Lanyue live around here?" Wei Zhao had learned from Miserable Senior Brother that the fellow seemed to live in a wooden hut at the foot of the mountain. But after scanning all around, he found no hut at all, and so had to ask those nearby.

"Wang Lanyue? Who's that? Never heard of him..." The man frowned and turned to go, then paused and suddenly turned back: "Never heard of any Wang Lanyue, but there's a famously down-and-out fellow round here called the Scrap King."

Wei Zhao was caught between laughter and tears. The Scrap King was none other than Wang Lanyue. How on earth had the fellow managed his affairs? People remembered only his nickname; his proper name they had never even heard.

"That's the one. Could you tell me where he lives, senior brother?" Wei Zhao asked at once.

The man looked around, then pointed in one direction: "The fellow used to live in a wooden hut not far that way, but he seems to have run into trouble lately. You can go take a look—whether you find him will probably depend on your luck." R1152