Chapter 3983 — Heading to the Birthday Banquet

"Quite right. By any reckononing, trash of your lowly sort could never set foot in a banquet of such high breeding in a hundred lifetimes. This young master is merely repaying a favor to my junior sister Lan'er on your behalf, and incidentally letting you see clearly just how vast the gulf between us truly is—so you can spare yourself any further deluded fantasies and stop pestering her." Xu Lingchong looked down on him from his lofty perch with utter disdain.

That said, without so much as a glance at Wei Zhao's expression, Xu Lingchong promptly led Kang Jingming and the others away, striding off with his nose in the air.

Wei Zhao merely smiled, unbothered. Thinking over what these people had done for him today—delivering spirit herb seeds and even a birthday banquet invitation—it was like a door-to-door delivery service of warmth. He truly could not fathom what they were so smug about.

Then again, Meng Jueming and Meng Zhou had worn that same expression every time they came to deliver spirit jade in the past. The people of Cloud Terrace Island really were a bit short in the wits department!

Still, it was hardly surprising. The cultivation world of Cloud Terrace Island had its share of scheming and backstabbing, but when all was said and done, it ran on raw strength, so it stood to reason that its people were not as sharp as those of the mundane world.

After all, these people spent their days pondering how to cultivate. No wonder Kang Jingming had found favor—a scoundrel this despicable was probably the first Xu Lingchong had ever encountered.

After this little interlude, Wei Zhao returned to his cave dwelling on his own and devoted himself to refining Foundation Establishment Barrier-Breaking Pills. This time, thanks to the abundance of spirit herb materials he had stockpiled in advance and his deliberate intention to refine extra batches in exchange for spirit jade, he worked without pause, refining three whole furnaces in one go.

It was just as well he had the Divine Farmer's Cauldron. Had it been any ordinary pill furnace, Wei Zhao's reckless exertions would likely have blown it apart long ago. Yet apart from running a little hotter than usual, the Divine Farmer's Cauldron showed no abnormal reaction from first to last.

Everything proceeded smoothly, and three furnaces later, Wei Zhao had reaped a veritable windfall—thirteen Foundation Establishment Barrier-Breaking Pills in total, every single one of them of the finest quality!

If all thirteen of these top-grade pills were sold to the Hong Merchant Guild, even at the absolute rock-bottom rate of eight hundred spirit jade apiece, they would still be worth at least ten thousand spirit jade—more than enough to cover whatever the auction demanded.

What was more, Wei Zhaoshou still had the millennium tree crystal and that sack of blood-red gravel treasure in hand. Neither was of any use in artifact forging, so if need be, they too could be put up for auction—and would no doubt fetch another enormous sum.

This time, in order to gather all the artifact-forging materials that Scrap King had spoken of, Wei Zhao had truly gone all out.

In the past, even if Wei Zhao was short on spirit jade, he would never have put such a massive quantity of top-grade Foundation Establishment Barrier-Breaking Pills on the market. After all, no wall in this world was truly windproof, and if word of such a thing reached the wrong ears, it would be just like the secret of the Star Ink Stone being exposed—very likely to land him in deep trouble.

This time, however, Wei Zhao had no choice. According to Scrap King, without at least ten thousand spirit jade on hand, it would be nearly impossible to gather the other six materials besides the mysterious water droplet, even with an auction qualification. And the worst part was that once this auction passed, there would be no assembling those materials again anytime soon.

Fortunately, after all these dealings, Wei Zhao had come to know Hong Zhong's character fairly well. The man was no short-sighted fool. Even if he supplied him with a larger batch of top-grade Foundation Establishment Barrier-Breaking Pills at once, so long as they were a little careful not to let outsiders catch wind of it, the risk should be manageable.

The following evening, Kang Jingming delivered four sets of spirit herb seeds as promised. Wei Zhao counted them carefully and, after confirming that four of them were Soul-Devouring Linglong Grass seeds, accepted the goods with satisfaction.

He transplanted all four sets of seeds into the jade pendant's space. With careful tending, barring any mishap, he would harvest four Soul-Devouring Linglong Grass plants in a few months. Together with the two Foundation Establishment Golden Pills he already had, that should be enough to sustain his next two breakthrough attempts.

Of course, that was merely idle speculation. After all, having asked Hong Zhong and Chen Heihu to help with the procurement, and now with these four Soul-Devouring Linglong Grass seeds, his future supply of the herb was assured to a degree. So as far as Wei Zhao was concerned, the two Foundation Establishment Golden Pills in his possession did not necessarily have to be kept for his own use.

He had no use for them in the short term, and in the long run he would not need to fret over Soul-Devouring Linglong Grass—so there was no reason at all for Wei Zhao to cling to these two top-grade Foundation Establishment Golden Pills. Used elsewhere, they would better realize their value.

For the next while, Wei Zhao enjoyed a rare stretch of undisturbed cultivation. Apart from the occasional visit to Scrap King to discuss matters of artifact forging, nothing interfered with his work.

Diligent cultivation, steadily consolidating his strength at the mid-Foundation Establishment stage until he could command every ounce of power and every thread of true qi within his body with absolute precision—that was what Wei Zhao occupied himself with now...

Time slipped away, and in the blink of an eye the eighth day of the month arrived. The birthday banquet of Shangguan Lan'er, the foremost young lady of the Soaring Heaven Pavilion, slowly raised its curtain in Huayang Residence, the most luxurious and exclusive venue within the Pavilion's walls.

Invitation in hand, Wei Zhao set off at once for the Soaring Heaven Pavilion. This was the first time since arriving on Cloud Terrace Island that he had entered the Pavilion's core area—and this time, openly and aboveboard.

With the birthday banquet invitation in hand, he naturally passed through unimpeded, save that at every checkpoint the guards subjected him to a thorough search. Being treated like a thief was truly speechless.

There was no help for it—he was not one of the Soaring Heaven Pavilion's own people, and anyone could see at a glance that he had no powerful background or backing.

At this moment, before the great gates of Huayang Residence, Xu Lingchong, host of the birthday banquet, stood in person to welcome the guests, flanked by his diehard brother Lou Tianyou and the others. What surprised Wei Zhao rather a lot was that even Kang Jingming was mingled among them.

By rights, with Kang Jingming's paltry standing, he was no more qualified than Wei Zhao to appear at such an exalted occasion—let alone to stand at the gates welcoming guests alongside young masters of the Soaring Heaven Pavilion like Xu Lingchong and Lou Tianyou.

After all, those who came and went at today's banquet were either high-ranking figures from the Threefold Pavilion or men of real power in their own factions—every one of them a genuine big shot. Even for greeting guests, one had to be at least a young master of deep background. Ordinary people had no chance at all to show their faces before such a gathering of magnates.