Chapter 4071 — Going to Make Trouble Again

Nan Tianguan frowned and thought it over, then suddenly slapped his thigh. "There is one! In Yingxin Pavilion there's a fellow named Kang Jingming. A while back, because I suspected he might be Lin Er, I made a point of observing him. He's a nasty piece of work, full of rotten schemes—but he does have a brain. Rumor has it the man never forgets a grudge; even in the newcomers' arena bouts he specializes in dirty tricks. Plenty of people have been done in by him!"

"Oh? Now that does sound interesting!" Si Haitao's eyes lit up at the words.

Nan Tianguan laughed. "What's even better is that this one is like us—he's a sworn enemy of Wei Zhao, and the grudge between them runs deep!"

Si Haitao was instantly all the more pleased, and made up his mind on the spot. "Excellent. Then I'll trouble you to make the trip and bring this man to see me—I have great use for him!"

Nan Tianguan had no idea what he was planning, but since Si Haitao had asked, he had no reason to refuse. He set off at once for Yingxin Pavilion.

Lately, Kang Jingming's fortunes had been thoroughly miserable—in fact, this was the worst stretch of days he had known since coming to Cloud Terrace Island.

Not only had he been soundly routed by Wei Zhao last time, but now he had also lost Xu Lingchong, that great patron of his. His post as newcomers' steward had become rather awkward; the newcomers no longer took him seriously, and any hope of advancing further was all but gone.

Even Pavilion Master Hu Yunfeng had begun to keep his distance, handing recent matters great and small directly to the various newcomers' managers and giving him fewer and fewer assignments.

And in a position like his, once there were no tasks, it meant no power—he was not far from becoming a transparent nonentity on the margins.

He could only watch as Wei Zhao latched onto a top-tier backer like Shangguan Tianxia, while his own prospects slid downhill day by day. At this rate, being ground under Wei Zhao's heel was as good as certain.

Kang Jingming was now surrounded by a sense of crisis, yet he had no countermeasure at all. Just then Nan Tianguan came knocking—it was as if someone had handed him a pillow the moment he grew sleepy!

Still, though Kang Jingming believed this was a rare opportunity dropped into his lap, for safety's sake he deliberately brought Zhong Yongliang along, so that if things went wrong there would at least be someone to take the fall with him.

And Zhong Yongliang happened to be curious to see just what these people were up to, so he agreed readily and went along.

Having brought the two men to the tavern, Kang Jingming's meeting with Si Haitao could be called, to put it kindly, a case of instant kinship; to put it bluntly, it was plain old birds of a feather flocking together.

A few flattering remarks from Kang Jingming and the atmosphere at the table turned harmonious at once; the two sides chatted away most agreeably.

"I hear you've had your run-ins with Wei Zhao too?" Si Haitao finally came to the point.

"Indeed. You don't know this, Proprietor Si, but the blood feud between Wei Zhao and me—and between him and Brother Zhong here—is a tale three days and three nights couldn't tell." Kang Jingming spoke with the air of one wiping away bitter tears.

"That suits us perfectly. Our positions align—the enemy of my enemy is my natural ally. Zhaoming, if you're willing to pledge yourself to me, fine; if you want me to look after you from now on, also fine. But first you'll have to accomplish something for me. Joining a band always requires a token of allegiance, doesn't it?" Si Haitao said with a narrowed-eyed smile.

Kang Jingming was overjoyed at this, but then hesitated. "Well… to be frank with you, Proprietor Si, some time ago we already went to make trouble for Wei Zhao of our own accord. We meant to wipe him out in one stroke, but the results left something to be desired—he slipped through our fingers. Both Senior Nan here and his brother can vouch for that."

Si Haitao glanced at Nan Tianxiong and Nan Tianguan, and seeing the two brothers nod in confirmation, said mildly, "Since you've already failed once, it still doesn't count as a token of allegiance. If you could go after him before, you can naturally go after him again now. Wouldn't you agree?"

"Uh… but these days he's always with those two young ladies. To take him on head-on would be no ordinary feat—we're only newcomers of Yingxin Pavilion, after all. Doing that would be no different from courting death. I do hope you can appreciate that, Proprietor Si." Kang Jingming said with a bitter face.

"That may be so, but if you can't do it head-on, can't you think of some way around it? If you don't even have that much ability, what use would you be to me even if I took you in?" Si Haitao said with a curl of his lip.

This old bastard won't let a hawk fly until he sees the rabbit! Kang Jingming cursed inwardly, then his mind turned quickly. "I've got it. Last time we went after Wei Zhao, he happened to be forging artifacts. Now that he's busy entertaining those two young ladies, he surely can't spare any attention for the forge—what do you think, Proprietor Si?"

Si Haitao's eyes brightened at this, and he stroked his beard. "Not bad—this is a rare opportunity indeed. Once artifact forging begins, it cannot be interrupted. He may not be there, but the work is surely still going! If you take the chance to go and sabotage it, even if you can't do anything to him, it'll break his heart. It's settled, then. So long as this is done well, it will count as your token of allegiance; afterward I will look after you properly, and wealth and glory will be within easy reach!"

"Good, I'll set out right now. Just wait for my good news, Proprietor Si!" Kang Jingming said, excited and exultant, then turned and walked out the door with Zhong Yongliang.

Last time under Wei Zhao he had suffered a great loss; this time was the perfect chance to get his revenge and make the fellow suffer for once. And since he wouldn't have to face Wei Zhao head-on anyway, there was no real risk to speak of.

Along the way, Zhong Yongliang grew secretly anxious. He wanted to warn Wei Zhao, but he didn't even know where Wei Zhao was now, so for the moment he could only follow Kang Jingming and take things one step at a time.

When they reached the cave mouth, Kang Jingming could hardly wait and dove straight in, with Zhong Yongliang close behind.

At that very moment, the Ruin King was wholly absorbed in studying the notes on artifact forging left behind by his master. That recent mishap had, to be sure, turned out more frightening than dangerous, with room enough to make amends—but the Ruin King had truly been scared stiff.

While Wei Zhao was away gathering materials to make up for the loss, he had to calm himself and go over his own forging plan from beginning to end, review his master's notes, and perhaps he might spot the blind spot in his thinking and keep a similar mistake from ever happening again.

So focused was he that the Ruin King never noticed Kang Jingming and Zhong Yongliang's intrusion from first to last. It was only when the two appeared behind him that he finally, belatedly, reacted.

"Who goes there?" The Ruin King was greatly alarmed and sprang up from the ground in a hurry.

But it was already too late. His strength was only at the peak of the early Foundation Establishment stage, and he was utterly hopeless at fighting. Kang Jingming hurled a small pill-fire bomb at him, and he was blown silly on the spot—his eyes rolled back and he collapsed unconscious. R1152