Chapter 3783 — Using You to Clear the Way
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 3
"Think about it, Leader Meng Zhou—going back on one's word isn't a big deal for ordinary newcomers like us, but you're our newcomers' leader, and what stands out most about you is your prestige! But where does prestige come from? Beyond great strength, the most crucial thing is that a word once spoken must stand. If a leader goes back on his word, how can he have any prestige left? Wouldn't you agree?" Zha Wu reasoned with earnest, bitter sincerity.
"What you've just said, kid, does have some sense to it." Meng Zhou pinched his chin, lost in thought.
In truth, he had harbored this very concern himself—otherwise he wouldn't have hesitated earlier. After all, he had set his heart on regarding himself as the newcomers' leader, and as a leader, having publicly declared war on Qiao the waste for the next round, how could he go back on his word and grow fat on his own promise?
But after Meng Jueming had lectured him a moment ago, he had thrown that notion to the back of his mind.
Just as Meng Jueming had said, as an expert of the early Foundation Establishment stage, one ought to carry the bearing of an early Foundation Establishment expert. If he took Qiao the waste—a mere newcomer at the Heaven Rank Great Perfection—so seriously as to let slip the solid, tangible benefit of points, that would be overestimating his opponent far too much, and the loss would outweigh the gain.
On one side, solid, tangible points; on the other, a trifling empty reputation—and moreover, he could reclaim his face soon enough afterward. Which was lighter and which heavier was plain at a glance.
Still, for all that, to a face-obsessed newcomers' leader like Meng Zhou, empty reputation was no small thing either. If he let his prestige suffer for the sake of three points, that seemed more or less a poor bargain, didn't it?
Seeing Meng Zhou waver, Zha Wu was overjoyed and hastily pressed on. "Exactly! With your strength, Leader Meng Zhou, scoring a hundred points or so in this kind of challenge tournament is a breeze. By then, overtaking a self-entangling show-off like Wei Zhao will come as naturally as water flowing into a channel—so why would you ever miss these paltry three points off me? To sacrifice your prestige in everyone's eyes for these insignificant three points—forgive me for speaking bluntly, but that would be putting the cart before the horse!"
"Is that so? Then by that logic, this great one ought to let you off the hook?" Meng Zhou squinted at him sidelong.
"Isn't it just, Leader Meng Zhou! If you let me off and go straight to crushing that idiot Qiao the waste, that's killing two birds with one stone!" Zha Wu boasted, his face alight with excitement.
"Two birds with one stone? Then tell this great one, kid—how exactly is it two birds with one stone?" Meng Zhou's interest was instantly piqued.
"Think about it, Leader Meng Zhou. If you let me off this time, first, you won't have to go back on your word and can preserve your prestige in everyone's eyes; second, giving up points already in hand in order to protect me—that's what they call the legendary righteousness that reaches the clouds! With a leader so loyal and true, who would dare not submit, who would dare not respect you? Wouldn't you agree?" Zha Wu analyzed and bewitched with a perfectly solemn face.
"What you've said, kid, makes a lot of sense." Meng Zhou nodded repeatedly as he listened.
What he dreamed of day and night was the support of the other newcomers—for his every word to stand as if cast in bronze, with no one daring to raise the slightest objection. Only then could he truly count as Azure Cloud Pavilion's newcomers' leader; otherwise, he was merely deceiving himself.