Chapter 3709 — The Oppressive Might Trial
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 3
Xu Lingchong naturally could not perceive such subtle thoughts on Shangguan Lan'er's part. He still believed the young miss would be delighted with the spectacle he had arranged, little knowing that this was the very junior sister who had sworn to watch over Wei Zhao.
Gazing at Wei Zhao amid the crowd, Xu Lingchong gave a cold smile. This was the first time an oppressive-might trial had been arranged for newcomers; if some mishap occurred along the way and a luckless newcomer or two perished, surely no one would find that too surprising.
Since Xu Lingchong had not consulted Meng Jueming and the others this time, acting entirely on his own whim, neither Zhong Yongliang nor Li Zhengming had been able to supply Wei Zhao with any forewarning.
Yet Shangguan Lan'er's warning glance just now had been enough to make the matter plain. Wei Zhao had already sensed the lethal danger lurking within it.
After all, back at the Summit of the Hidden Houses in the mortal realm, someone had already tried to seize the opportunity to cut him down. This time it was merely Xu Lingchong in their place—nothing new at all.
Still, though he had perceived the other's ill intent, Wei Zhao had not the slightest intention of retreating, for he was confident enough of withdrawing unscathed.
After publicly restating the rules once more, Hu Yunfeng had all the newcomers of the Welcome Pavilion enter the raised platform to undergo the oppressive-might trial together. The scores of the newcomers from the Threefold Pavilion would afterward be tallied separately, without affecting one another.
For this round of the oppressive-might trial, each person's score would be the sum of two parts: a time-limit score and a ranking score.
The time-limit score depended on how long one could hold out within. If one lasted past a single stick of incense, one gained five points; two sticks, ten points; three sticks, fifteen points; and so on, up to a cap of thirty points.
The ranking score depended on one's standing among the newcomers of one's own pavilion in the Threefold Pavilion. Whoever endured longest and ranked first gained fifteen points; second place gained fourteen; and so on down to the fifteenth and last, who gained only a single point.
In theory, the finest performer in this oppressive-might trial could earn both the thirty-point time-limit score and the fifteen-point ranking score at once—forty-five points in total.
Of course, attaining that theoretical perfect score was essentially impossible. For an ordinary person, lasting three sticks of incense was already the limit; as for holding out more than six sticks to claim the thirty-point time-limit score? Utterly out of the question.
"Show-off newcomer, I hope you survive this round—this lord is still waiting for the chance to wipe out his former shame! Hahaha!" On the way in, Meng Zhou deliberately drew near and flexed his biceps, flaunting the bearing of an early-stage Foundation Establishment expert for all to see.
This fool had actually broken through to early-stage Foundation Establishment as well? Beside them, Xiao Che and Qiao Hongcai exchanged a glance, each wearing a look of shock. Though each of them held a Foundation Establishment Pill, unlike Meng Zhou they had no way to obtain Foundation Establishment Spirit Liquid from Xu Lingchong's hands, and so to this day had not dared to take theirs lightly.
Wei Zhao, however, was not in the least surprised, for he had received word of this well beforehand. If one took both the Foundation Establishment Pill and the Spirit Liquid together and still failed to establish a foundation, one would truly have to be hopelessly good-for-nothing.