Chapter 3583 — Wei Zhao Steps Forward
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"Senior Brother Meng, count me in!"
"Senior Brother Meng, me too, me too!"
"..."
The crowd instantly surged around Meng Jueming, each one falling over himself to curry favor. Though Meng Jueming was pleased with himself, he still put on a show of displeasure. "Quiet, quiet! What is this racket? Is this any way to behave? One at a time! Anyone who wants to sign up, raise your hand high!"
With power firmly in his grasp, Meng Jueming watched as the crowd hurried to fall silent and obey, terrified that one wrong move might cost them their livelihood. Anyone who so much as faltered now was immediately fixed with the glares of all the rest, courting universal wrath.
This was exactly the effect he wanted!
Meng Jueming smiled smugly. In years past, he would have had these newcomers eating out of his hand by the first day of registration. Who would have thought that this year would produce the freak Wei Zhao, who had stolen the spotlight on day one, making Meng Zhou a laughingstock and leaving him, the managing senior brother, with egg on his face—to say nothing of establishing any authority over the newcomers.
But in the end, an arm could never twist a thigh. When all was said and done, he, Meng Jueming, was the managing senior brother with real power in his hands. It had taken some trouble, but these newcomers would still have to listen to him! If not to him, then were they going to listen to that country bumpkin from the secular world, Wei Zhao?
One after another, the newcomers who wanted to sign up for mining raised their hands high. Meng Jueming called out a name at random, and the newcomer would act as though he had won the grand prize, showering him with gratitude and flattery. Some even swore on the spot to obey him in all things from then on, which pleased Meng Jueming immensely.
After going around the circle, twelve of Azure Cloud Pavilion's fifteen newcomers now stood behind Meng Jueming. The remaining three, needless to say, were Wei Zhao and his companions.
Under the mocking gazes of the crowd, Xiao Che and Qiao Hongcai clenched their fists in unwillingness. Truth be told, like the other newcomers, they too were eager to seize this chance to earn spirit jade—but the trouble was, they could not.
This was not purely a matter of allegiance. More than anything, it was because of what Miserable Senior Brother had analyzed for them while Meng Jueming was calling names. He had already laid it out for Wei Zhao earlier, and it came down to ten words: mining carries risk; enter the trade with caution.
The risk was not to life or limb, but this: if they were assigned to the poorest-quality mining zone, the likely outcome was that they would waste vast amounts of cultivation time and, in the end, fail to dig up even a hundred pieces of spirit jade, earning no reward at all—the loss outweighing the gain.
Among the three, Xiao Che already had Cave Dwelling No. 1 at the foot of the mountain, so he was less dependent on spirit jade than the others; all he had to do was cultivate diligently. Qiao Hongcai, though he had only the rather unremarkable Cave Dwelling No. 13 at the mountain's foot, was currently at the peak of the late Heaven Tier, with a short-term goal of breaking through to Heaven Tier Great Perfection—a stage that did not demand too much spirit jade, and one he could well achieve with his existing cultivation resources.
Having heard Miserable Senior Brother's advice, the two weighed their options and ultimately chose to give up the opportunity. One should not grasp for more while holding what one has; tending to the present was what mattered.
Yet, to everyone's astonishment, it was not Xiao Che and Qiao Hongcai—Wei Zhao's two henchmen—who failed to raise their hands. It was Wei Zhao himself who, at this moment, unhurriedly lifted his hand. "Senior Brother Meng, I want to sign up."
What was going on?!