Chapter 3787 — Near Ink, One Turns Black
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 3
These men growing stronger meant his own faction growing stronger; when that day came, his voice would carry weight accordingly, and if Meng Jue Ming and his sort wanted to pull any more tricks, they would first have to weigh the cost carefully. At the very least, it would spare him a great deal of needless trouble.
Of course, what mattered most to Wei Zhao was still his own strength. But having only just recently advanced to the peak of early Foundation Establishment, another breakthrough in the short term was hardly realistic; he would first have to consolidate for a time.
Beyond that, his most pressing task was to tend those two Heart-Devouring Linglong Grass seeds. Once the two seeds were coaxed to life, the Foundation Establishment and Golden Core stages ahead would no longer trouble him; otherwise, he would have to start racking his brains over hunting down more Heart-Devouring Linglong Grass right now.
From the day he received the spiritual herb seeds, a full eight days had passed, and despite possessing a cheat of an artifact like the jade pendant space, plus a daily, precisely measured supply of true qi from Wei Zhao himself, the two Heart-Devouring Linglong Grass seeds had shown not the slightest movement, no sign at all of putting down roots or sprouting.
According to what that sissy chief steward of the herb garden had said, under favorable conditions one would generally see results in fifteen to twenty days. Half that time had already gone by; by the growth patterns of ordinary plants, they ought at least to have begun sprouting by now. The seeds' present state, neither plainly alive nor plainly dead, left Wei Zhao rather anxious.
Fortunately, however, it was not only the two Heart-Devouring Linglong Grass seeds that lay still; the other seventy-eight spiritual herb seeds in the jade pendant space were just the same, and that let Wei Zhao breathe a little easier.
He still could not tell whether they lived or died, but at least there was a basis for comparison: the possibility that the two Heart-Devouring Linglong Grass seeds alone had withered could be ruled out, and that was enough.
And if, given conditions as favored as the jade pendant space, all eighty spiritual herb seeds should still wither and die, such an absurd possibility Wei Zhao simply refused to believe, not for anything. If even he, with advantages like his, could not raise them, then the other newcomers might as well give up outright; all their toil would be wasted effort.
Three days slipped by in a blink, and the third round of the newcomers' challenge tournament began on schedule.
This time was different from the previous two rounds. True, the earlier rounds had featured no small number of bouts between newcomers, but none could be called a spectacle.
In the first round, Meng Zhou versus Xiao Che ought to have been a fierce clash that struck sparks, yet it ended with Xiao Che simply conceding. As for the second round that followed, it was even more lackluster: of the top five newcomers of Qingyun Pavilion, apart from Meng Zhou effortlessly plucking three points off Zha Wu's head, the other four powerhouses made no move at all, the whole lot merely going through the motions for a round, nothing worth watching.
In this third round, however, the three powerhouses Wei Zhao, Li Zhengming, and Xiao Che might again make no move, but one thing was beyond doubt: Meng Zhou, now ranked second in points, would face the fourth-ranked Qiao Hongcai. That was already an unavoidable certainty.
To be sure, both men's cave-dwelling rankings were very low at present, so win or lose, the stakes hardly counted as heavy, and set among other newcomers it would not be worth watching at all. But do not forget: these two stood as natural enemies.