Chapter 4869 — Wei Zhao Elected

"Bao Zuoliang? Ha—Bao your mother's head!" Lu Xiaozhong's single sentence set the whole atmosphere off like a powder keg. Everyone was taken aback; the only person who would dare curse Bao Zuoliang to his face was probably this single-minded fool.

"What did you say, Lu Xiaozhong?!" Bao Zuoliang's face darkened at once, and he fixed Lu Xiaozhong with an unfriendly stare, while he and Su Kesheng flanked him from left and right.

"I said bao your mother's head—what about it? Couldn't hear me clear, want me to say it a third time?" Lu Xiaozhong was not the least bit afraid of this posturing. He and Bao Zuoliang had clashed more times than he could count and he was long since used to it; besides, this time he had come squarely for Bao Zuoliang.

"You're asking for death!" Bao Zuoliang gnashed his teeth in fury and, beside himself with rage, was about to strike on the spot, while Su Kesheng likewise put on a hostile face and sealed off Lu Xiaozhong's retreat.

"Is that so? I've been waiting for you two to make a move—perfect chance to settle the score from last time. Come on!" Lu Xiaozhong, with nothing to fear, dropped into a fighting stance. "Back when I was only at the peak of late Nascent Soul I never feared you lot, and now that I've reached Nascent Soul Great Perfection, why in hell should I fear you!"

Bao Zuoliang was instantly struck dumb. He exchanged a glance with Su Kesheng and had no choice but to awkwardly stand down, only now recalling that after taking the Nurturing Essence Pill, Lu Xiaozhong too had become a Nascent Soul Great Perfection expert—otherwise he would never have been here!

In the past he could still use his cultivation advantage to keep Lu Xiaozhong down, but now that advantage had vanished entirely. And this Lu Xiaozhong fought like a madman with no regard for his own life; even back when the man was only at the peak of late Nascent Soul, he had been merely half a step weaker, and Bao Zuoliang had needed Su Kesheng's help to fully suppress him. Now that Lu Xiaozhong had become a Nascent Soul Great Perfection expert, even the two of them together might not win...

Watching Lu Xiaozhong suddenly leap out to stir up trouble, Wei Zhao could not help but be taken aback. Like father, like son—he was exactly the same breed as his old man, Lu Dachang!

Still, come to think of it, this disruption was a good thing!

Otherwise, if no one had stepped forward to compete and the matter dragged on, the position of captain would ultimately have fallen to Bao Zuoliang. And once this fellow, with his ulterior motives, insisted on separating Wei Zhao from Wang Xinyan and Huang Xiaotao, then if Wei Zhao had to oppose him head-on, it might truly have caused some trouble.

Of course, Wei Zhao was not afraid of trouble; a mere Bao Zuoliang was not worth taking seriously. But this road to the top had academy higher-ups presiding over it after all, and unless absolutely necessary, Wei Zhao did not want to rashly make a move and stir up a mess. He had come here to push toward the Xuan Ascension, not to waste breath bickering with an idiot.

Wei Zhao was quietly amused when Lu Xiaozhong suddenly shifted tack: "A Bao Wuliang who does nothing but lift women's skirts wants to be captain? Don't make me laugh. As I see it, there's only one person here truly qualified to be captain—and that's Master Lin!"

"Huh?" Everyone was stunned, and all eyes instantly converged on Wei Zhao.

So I'm involved in this too? Wei Zhao was caught off guard for a moment. He was no Morning Star Academy disciple, merely an outsider who had tagged along to snag a trial slot, and had never once thought of leading anyone.

"Bullshit! He's not even from our academy—what right does he have to be our captain?" Bao Zuoliang stamped his feet in protest.

"Why not? Even Master Qing Xuanzi is Master Lin's disciple. Since Master Qing Xuanzi is the academy's chief alchemist, then Master Lin is naturally an academy elder as well. You can ask everyone present—ask if any of them objects?" Lu Xiaozhong grinned with utter confidence.

Bao Zuoliang was practically fuming smoke from all seven orifices. There was no need to ask at all—the way everyone shrank their necks in unison said it plainly enough. Toward him, the city lord's son, they felt only a measure of wariness, but before a freak like Wei Zhao, they felt sheer, unalloyed awe. The two carried weight on entirely different levels.

He had racked his brains to put forward this proposal in order to create an opportunity for himself, not to leave a ripe peach for someone else to pluck—least of all for Wei Zhao, the very man he wished he could strangle with his own hands.

But Lu Xiaozhong had pulled this move out of nowhere, and for the moment Bao Zuoliang truly could not think how to refute it. Everyone here was a Nascent Soul Great Perfection expert; in terms of strength, aside from monstrous talents like Wang Xinyan and Huang Xiaotao, whom the academy universally acknowledged as heaven-blessed, they were all roughly on par. Count them however you liked, the captain's seat could only fall to Wei Zhao, the one with the greatest standing.

Bao Zuoliang stealthily shot Su Kesheng a look, signaling him to hurry up and find a way to smooth things over. No matter what, today's business could not be allowed to end with Wei Zhao picking up the ready-made prize—otherwise they really would lose the rice trying to catch the chicken.

Su Kesheng nodded in understanding, his eyes flicking ever so slightly, and at once stepped forward: "Fine then, we support Master Lin as captain!"

Everyone exchanged bewildered glances. Bao Zuoliang nearly keeled over on the spot with rage. Su Kesheng was the subordinate he relied on and trusted most, who had never once slipped up before—so how was it that at this critical moment the man had suddenly turned traitor and stabbed him in the back?!

Bao Zuoliang was about to start cursing when he saw Su Kesheng repeatedly shooting him looks. Suspicious, he drifted unobtrusively behind the man; he would hear just what this brat was planning.

"Young Master Bao, captain or no captain doesn't matter. Best we don't complicate things right now. As long as we can get in and travel together, with the Thunder-Inducing Banner, are we afraid we can't finish off Wei Zhao? Once he's done for, we mop up Lu Xiaozhong along with him—easy as a matter of course, a trifling thing!" Su Kesheng explained softly, betraying nothing in his expression.

"Mm, what you say makes some sense. Then let it be so." After thinking it over, Bao Zuoliang had no choice but to nod and whisper back.

It was a choice with no alternative. Ideally he would have seized the captain's title for himself, but as Su Kesheng said, it made no real difference even if he failed. What mattered most right now was not being separated from Wei Zhao; otherwise, holding the Thunder-Inducing Banner would be useless. Only thus could the plan proceed—everything else had to be set aside.

Watching the two of them wink and grimace at each other, Wei Zhao frowned slightly. They had carefully screened off their voices with spiritual sense, but instinct told Wei Zhao that this furtive whispering must hide some scheme—who knew what foul brew was churning in their bellies.

At the Nascent Soul stage, spiritual sense was still nowhere near even the rudiments, but certain basic applications had become quite commonplace—just like this little trick of theirs for isolating their voices.

If Wei Zhao truly wanted to eavesdrop, it was not entirely beyond him, but to do so he would have to circulate his mental cultivation method to break through the other's spiritual sense barrier, which would be far too obvious. At such close range, the two of them would certainly notice.