Chapter 3580 — The Retaliation Begins

"That... is indeed a problem." Wei Zhao was helpless as well. He was willing enough to take on the mining task, but if Meng Jueming did not give his nod, everything was just so much vapor.

Wei Zhao thought it over and said, "But even though the decision lies in his hands, this is, after all, a daily task recognized by the Welcome Pavilion. In principle, it ought to be something that encourages newcomers to take part—if I raise it openly, then even as the managing senior brother, he can't simply refuse for no reason at all, can he?"

Meng Jueming might be the managing senior brother, but the Welcome Pavilion was not his family's business. Even holding some authority in his grasp did not mean he could do exactly as he pleased; at least on the surface, he had to maintain fairness and impartiality. Otherwise, once word got out, there would surely be those behind his back looking to settle accounts with him.

"That reasoning is sound enough, but even if he were forced to agree to let you go mining, he would still have ways to make things hard for you when the time comes." Senior Kubi spoke with deep feeling on this point. "The spirit jade ore below varies—some deposits are good and some are poor. In a high-grade vein you can dig up spirit jade with little effort; with a bit of luck, three or five days might see you a full hundred pieces. But in a poor vein the odds of finding spirit jade are very small. If your luck is slightly worse, you could toil a whole day and not dig up even a single piece—and that happens all the time."

"The vein our Azure Cloud Pavilion was allotted is nothing to boast of to begin with. If Senior Brother Meng then assigns you to the worst vein of all, who knows how much time you would have to spend to dig up a full hundred pieces of spirit jade. You might labor a month or two and still get no pay for it, while delaying your own cultivation progress—more loss than gain." Senior Kubi counseled him earnestly, afraid Wei Zhao would get a fixed idea into his head.

"Don't worry, Senior Brother Ku. I'll think it through carefully before I say anything." Wei Zhao nodded. He needed those medicinal herbs, and mining was now the only way.

Of course he knew the possibility Senior Kubi had described. In fact, given the way Meng Jueming, that managing senior brother, conducted himself, once he proposed to go down into the mine, being assigned to the worst vein was a sure thing. Had it been anyone else, the eventual result would certainly be more loss than gain.

But Wei Zhao was not anyone else. Remember, he possessed a wondrous artifact like the jade pendant space. Spirit jade was in nature the same as the energy stones of the mortal world, and since the jade pendant space could recharge energy stones, it very likely could recharge spirit jade as well!

These past two days Wei Zhao had been busy consolidating his cultivation realm and had not tried anything of the sort, but now he could. Of course, he first had to spend some time draining enough spiritual energy from his own piece of spirit jade—otherwise, when the test came, he would not be able to see the effect.

And once the test truly succeeded, Wei Zhao would be made. He could then secretly pocket some worthless scraps of jade with little spiritual energy from the spirit jade mine, and after recharging them in the jade pendant space, they would become genuine spirit jade, fit to trade with others.

This way, even if Meng Jueming assigned him to the poorest vein, it would not matter. Spirit jade was hard to find, but scraps of waste jade, surely, would not be so hard to come by! Once in Wei Zhao's hands, waste jade would be spirit jade!

Impatient to get back and run his test, Wei Zhao was just about to take his leave of Senior Kubi when, before he could speak, he looked up and saw Meng Jueming and Meng Tong descending from the No. 8 cave dwelling not far above, chatting and laughing as they came. From their mouths, Wei Zhao even faintly caught his own name.

What were those two ill-intentioned creatures doing, bringing up his name for no reason?

Wei Zhao was frowning inwardly when Meng Jueming and the other man caught sight of him too. As though caught in the act of something, their expressions froze at once; then, after exchanging a glance, a trace of an eerie, sinister smile appeared on each face.

"Well, if it isn't the strongest newcomer of our Azure Cloud Pavilion? Don't tell me you've used up your spirit jade and come running to Junior Brother Kubi for comfort?" Meng Jueming said with a face full of mockery. "What a pity Junior Brother Kubi is nothing but a clay idol—he can't carry a great deity like you!"

"Greetings, Senior Brother Meng." Despite the sarcasm, Senior Kubi still dutifully cupped his hands in greeting, and Wei Zhao followed suit without betraying anything in his expression.

"Heh heh, strongest newcomer? More like the most ostentatious newcomer! Just wait till next month's ranking tournament—you'll make a fool of yourself!" Meng Tong jeered from the side.

He had never gotten over Wei Zhao defeating him in a single move. And afterward, some busybody had actually saddled Wei Zhao with the title of Azure Cloud Pavilion's strongest newcomer on account of it—which rankled him no end!

"Hah... I haven't heard anything about this 'strongest newcomer' business, but at next month's ranking tournament, I do hope you won't be careless and underestimate your opponent again. Otherwise, if I accidentally defeat you in one move again and people start calling me ostentatious, I'll be very wronged." Wei Zhao answered with a smile.

"Hmph! Just you wait! There'll be a time for you to cry!" Having his wound picked at so, Meng Tong's face stiffened at once.

Everyone in the Azure Cloud Pavilion, Meng Jueming included, believed Meng Tong had lost to Wei Zhao only because carelessness cost him Jingzhou, but he himself knew that in that exchange he had gone all out to show off—there had been no carelessness about it. Which meant Wei Zhao's one-move victory over him had been a true reflection of their respective strength.

To be honest, Meng Tong was actually a little afraid of facing Wei Zhao now. Fortunately, he had a patron like Meng Jueming at his back, to look after him openly and covertly, while Wei Zhao had publicly offended a great figure like Xu Lingchong and would be suppressed on every front. As one waxed and the other waned, so long as he cultivated well over the coming month, that would be enough to close the gap.

Besides, he, Meng Tong, was, after all, a native Heaven-rank great-perfection expert—was he really going to be afraid of a country bumpkin from the mortal world like Wei Zhao? Next month's ranking tournament was the perfect chance to wipe out his former shame! Then he would show all the newcomers clearly just who the strongest newcomer of the Azure Cloud Pavilion really was!

Still, at the thought of the plan he had just discussed with Meng Jueming, Meng Tong instantly grew smug again. So long as the plan succeeded, there would be no need to wait for next month's ranking tournament to watch that ostentatious fool Wei Zhao come to grievous ruin!

At this thought, Meng Tong shot Meng Jueming wink after wink—he could hardly wait to see Wei Zhao fall.

Meng Jueming nodded in understanding and said to Senior Kubi with a solemn face, "It is already the fourth day now..."

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