Chapter 3585 — Framed and Set Up
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 3
"Senior Brother Meng speaks absolute truth!" the newcomers answered in unison. He who does no wrong fears no ghost at the door; since they were not the ones who had done it, Meng Jueming could investigate however he pleased—and perhaps there would even be a fine show to enjoy.
"Very good, then we shall begin the investigation with our own people!" Meng Jueming smiled as though his scheme had borne fruit, and deliberately laid out his analysis: "In theory, the restrictive spells on your caves are enough to withstand the full-force attack of a peak late-stage Heavenly Rank expert. That is to say, to break easily the restrictive spells on the caves of Meng Zhou and Li Zhengming, one must be at least a Heavenly Rank great-perfection expert—and moreover the most formidable kind of peak late-stage Heavenly Rank great-perfection expert at that!"
At these words, the newcomers' suspicious gazes instantly fell upon Wei Zhao, who stood at that moment before the gate of Cave No. 14 at the foot of the mountain. Of the fifteen newcomers of the Azure Cloud Pavilion, there were in total only three Heavenly Rank great-perfection experts: apart from Meng Zhou, only Wei Zhao and Xiao Che, both risen from the mortal world.
Xiao Che had always kept quiet and unobtrusive; the crowd paid him little attention. Wei Zhao, however, had become the focus of all eyes on his very first day and had moreover incurred a deeper enmity with Meng Zhou. Now that trouble had arisen, he was naturally the first suspect.
"Junior Brother Lin, this is not your senior brother deliberately targeting you—there is cause behind it, and I trust you can understand that," said Meng Jueming, walking with his followers to stand before Wei Zhao, a smile on his lips but none in his eyes. "Besides, your cave is the nearest to Meng Zhou's. That we start our suspicions with you is therefore pardonable."
Brother Kubi, Xiao Che, Qiao Hongcai and the others sensed something amiss and hurriedly wanted to intervene, but they were hard pressed to know how to help. They could hardly stop Meng Jueming from searching with his men—that would not be helping Wei Zhao but harming him! It would be little short of hanging out a sign reading "three hundred taels of silver buried here!"
Fortunately, at that moment Wei Zhao gave them a reassuring look, which set their hearts somewhat at ease.
Given Wei Zhao's character, he ought not to do anything so shameless and witless as this!
"Of course I understand," Wei Zhao nodded faintly, then said: "But Senior Brother Meng, I did not have the chance to say earlier—the restrictive spell on my cave has also been broken."
At this the crowd broke into an uproar once more. Even Wei Zhao's cave had been hit; this affair was growing rather complicated.
"The restrictive spell on your cave has also been broken?" Meng Jueming raised an eyebrow and said with a mocking laugh: "Then I wonder, has Junior Brother Lin also lost something?"
"That I have not. There is nothing of value here worth stealing, and unlike Meng Zhou and the others, my spirit jade is so small that it is quite convenient to carry on my person."
Wei Zhao's tone was flat and ordinary as ever, but the mockery in his words was plain for all to hear—and on this point the newcomers felt a deep sympathy. After all, in the matter of distributing spirit jades, Meng Jueming's favoritism had been all too blatant. The victim was not only Wei Zhao; even they felt their discontent.
We are all newcomers alike—by what right are Meng Zhou and the others given the largest spirit jades, while what is allotted to us must be smaller!