Chapter 3556 — Xu Lingchong, the Backer
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 3
He knew very well that to gain a foothold on Ascending Cloud Terrace Island, his own strength alone would never be enough; the most important thing was to latch onto a strong thigh—and this Xu Lingchong before him was plainly a very thick thigh indeed. As long as he could win the man's favor, then never mind gaining a foothold on Ascending Cloud Terrace Island—even taking revenge on Wei Zhao in the future would be a simple matter.
Back in the day, it was only by toadying to Xiaotaohong that he had managed to make contact with Ancestor Xuanchen. If he could get close to the pavilion master, then this Xu Lingchong too would become a stepping stone for Kang Jingming—in Kang Jingming's eyes, he had already become a heap of dung, just like Xiaotaohong before him.
Xu Lingchong was secretly delighted, thinking this kid wasn't bad! Yet on the surface he still smiled with studied indifference. Kang Jingming's flattery had struck right at his heart: across the whole of the Heaven-Tier North Island, there were not many who could set foot on the heavenly dao and succeed at Foundation Establishment before thirty—only a handful out of each batch of disciples. And though Xu Lingchong's strength owed a great deal to the priceless resources piled into him, the fact remained that he possessed early Foundation Establishment power, more than enough to crush many a prodigy of his generation.
Kang Jingming's skill at reading faces was formidable. One look at Xu Lingchong's expression and he knew he had flattered the man correctly. Seizing the moment, he pressed on: "Before I came to Ascending Cloud Terrace Island, I thought something like Wei Zhao—nineteen years old and already at the peak of the late Heaven-Tier, at great consummation—was already a top-tier prodigy such as appears once in ten thousand years. But now that I've met Senior Brother Xu, I realize how laughable that notion was. To judge cultivation by the standards of the secular world—that's nothing but viewing the sky from the bottom of a well!"
To win someone over, one had not only to flatter but also to set up a common enemy for both parties—only then could their relationship be brought closer quickly. This was the wisdom Kang Jingming had distilled from experience, just as it had been with him and Ancestor Xuanchen back then.
From Senior Brother Xu's behavior just now, it seemed he held those so-called cultivation prodigies in very low regard. Prodigies were generally proud and arrogant, bursting with a sense of superiority, and what such people could least tolerate was a rival of their own kind.
Sure enough, Xu Lingchong took the bait quickly: "A Heaven-Tier great consummation at nineteen? Is this Wei Zhao some core disciple of a major sect in the secular world?"
"No—just an ordinary grassroots loose cultivator. But he's insufferably full of himself, and he puts on the grandest airs!" Kang Jingming hastened to say.
"A grassroots loose cultivator? Putting on airs?" Xu Lingchong's face filled with scorn. "Then perhaps he picked up some heretical cultivation method somewhere. His rank may have shot up quickly, but his foundation must be unsteady and his real strength surely nothing much. Even if such a man reaches the peak of the late Heaven-Tier, at great consummation—wanting to succeed at Foundation Establishment? Heh heh, that's about as hard as ascending to heaven. Which is only natural. You know what a frog at the bottom of a well is? He's had no one to measure himself against. If he had... heh heh."
"Senior Brother Xu truly has eyes like a torch! If he had known of Senior Brother Xu sooner, he'd probably have been shattered into a split personality long ago! But that Wei Zhao relies on a few petty tricks to run roughshod over the secular world, and everyone can only swallow their anger and say nothing. Senior Brother Xu, you must uphold justice for us." Kang Jingming put on a pitiful look.