Chapter 4873 — The Contest for the Tribulation Points

Had he not been leading so many people, Wei Zhao would have gone up and asked a few questions, as both courtesy and common sense demanded—never mind what happened next; at the very least, once he had a clear picture of the situation, he could send word to Jiang Yuechuan and let him give up hope early.

But now was certainly not the time. He could only press his doubts down deep. What Wei Zhao had to do now was fulfill his duties as captain and lead everyone to find tribulation points first.

In silence the group groped their way forward for the time it took to burn a stick of incense. Along the way they did discover several tribulation points, but unfortunately all of them had already been seized by others; up ahead they could still vaguely make out the silhouettes of a great crowd. At this rate, even if they found more tribulation points, they would certainly not be the ones to snatch up the leftovers.

"Following the main road any further is probably hopeless. How about this—we make a small detour, so we aren't always trailing behind everyone else." Wei Zhao thought it over and proposed.

The others hesitated a moment, then nodded in agreement one after another. Staying on the main road was certainly safer, but if they kept this up and failed to secure any tribulation points, that would be no small problem. To break through to the Mystic Ascension stage as quickly as possible, a little risk was necessary.

With Wei Zhao and his group leading the way, some disciples from other academies behind them followed suit, though their numbers were not large; the vast majority still insisted on exploring along the main road.

Soon Wei Zhao's proposal bore fruit. The group finally discovered four vacant tribulation points in a row, and joy lit up their faces as each of them itched to try.

Fortunately they had not forgotten that Wei Zhao was their captain. No one was a fool; covetous as they were, if anyone bypassed Wei Zhao and made a rash grab for it, they would very likely become the target of everyone's wrath, and when that happened, even fellow disciples from Morning Star Academy would show no mercy.

"Those of you who want to stay, stay. The rest needn't fight over it—follow me and we'll keep searching ahead. The way things look, finding more tribulation points won't be difficult at all. There will be no problem." Wei Zhao turned and said to the group.

Everyone was struck dumb in unison. By the established rule that the strong took precedence, they had assumed Wei Zhao would claim the first one for himself; they had not expected this temporary captain to be so magnanimous.

Even so, no one dared make a rash grab. Since Wei Zhao did not want it, the next claim would go to Wang Xinyan and Huang Xiaotao—after all, among cultivators of their level, they had almost no rivals.

Of course Wang Xinyan and Huang Xiaotao would not stay behind; they were determined to accompany Wei Zhao. Not only them—even Lu Xiaozhong immediately declared he would follow Wei Zhao. It was his father Lu Dachang's instruction: during the trial he must stick close to Wei Zhao, for only thus could he preserve his life and reap the benefits.

One could only say that Lu Dachang deserved his reputation as a scoundrel of the first order. Once he saw that Wei Zhao was a promising prospect, he had his son cling to him like a scoundrel too, holding on for dear life. Crude and simple, yes, but extremely effective.

None of that was surprising. What left Wei Zhao most speechless was that even Bao Zuoliang and Su Kesheng, for reasons unknown, had not gone to grab a point either, but chose to keep following him. Otherwise, given their backgrounds and strength, the other Morning Star disciples could never have outcompeted them.

Since the important figures all showed no interest, the other Morning Star disciples were not about to play the fool. They at once scrambled to claim the points, though with Wei Zhao and the others watching, they dared not come to blows; they could only keep it to a contest of who reached a tribulation point first—whoever got there first would have it.

Wei Zhao continued leading the group forward. He paid a little attention and noticed that Qin Chan and the two male disciples had also failed to secure tribulation points and could only keep following along.

Wei Zhao had assumed tribulation points were distributed at random—that the odds were the same whether one took the main road or a side path, the only difference being that the side path carried a greater chance of unexpected danger. The four tribulation points they had found all at once just now seemed proof enough. Yet half an hour later he realized he had been wrong, for beyond those, they had not encountered a single one.

The group could not help growing restless. Judging by the situation, the vast majority of tribulation points must be distributed around the main road. No wonder so few disciples from other academies had followed them—they must have gathered intelligence in advance.

"In that case, let's circle back and take a look. We have a full three months, so no one need get worked up." Wei Zhao smiled faintly, then led the group back to the main road they had left. Anyone else would not have dared to cut across the terrain so freely unless retracing their original route, but for him this was plainly no difficulty at all.

Back on the main road, the chances of discovering tribulation points along the way were indeed much greater—only, just as before, these points had long since been seized by others, and the group never got their turn.

Fortunately they had been mentally prepared for this and were not too discouraged. Otherwise, watching tribulation points being taken one after another along the way would have been like desperately needing the toilet yet failing to secure a stall—a frustration that would surely give them a case of the nerves.

"Hold on." Wei Zhao suddenly stopped in his tracks.

"What is it?" Wang Xinyan asked quickly. The others all tensed, thinking some danger had appeared, each of them poised as if facing a great enemy.

"No need to panic. There's a show to watch up ahead." Wei Zhao raised an eyebrow.

A show? Everyone looked puzzled, and only then did they notice that far ahead there were indeed dense clusters of figures, with bursts of clamor rising from time to time. It looked as though quite a crowd had gathered.

Wei Zhao led them over, but to avoid any mishap he did not draw too close, stopping several dozen zhang away so as not to get dragged into trouble.

Ahead, a cacophony of quarreling filled the air. Though blows had not yet been exchanged, the tension was thick with the smell of gunpowder; if things kept developing, a brawl would surely be unavoidable.

Besides Wei Zhao's group, there were other onlookers gathered to watch the excitement, and from their whispered discussions the situation was quickly made clear.

It turned out that disciples from two academies were fighting over territory, and the root cause of this great conflict was an entire large expanse of tribulation points—a rough estimate put the number at no fewer than fifty, enough to accommodate every disciple of an entire academy.

This discovery set everyone's eyes burning with envy. If they could seize this expanse of tribulation points, there would be no trouble at all from then on. If they kept searching further on like this, who the hell knew whether they would ever find so many tribulation points again!

But envy was one thing; they dared not go up and contend with those two factions. The others' numbers were no fewer than their own—likely more—and to dare stick a foot in at this moment would be tantamount to challenging two academies at once. The consequences of that could be figured out with one's toes.

The onlookers nearby made this plain enough. Were it not for that fear, they would have made their move long ago—why else would they still be stuck here watching the show? (To be continued.)