Chapter 3939 — Deep Awe

"Waaah—!" Meng Tong was stunned by his own blow. He shook his head in disbelief, then scrambled up from the ground once more, his eyes—already bloodshot—now wholly crimson.

The side effects of the Midnight-Noon Heart-Shattering Pill did more than subject a person to heart-rending agony at noon and midnight; anyone of weaker will was tormented until they lost their reason altogether, becoming a raving madman through and through.

Meng Tong had never been a man of strong will—otherwise he would not have undergone such a drastic change of temperament in a mere ten days, turning into the sinister creature he now was.

Eyes dyed crimson were the herald of reason utterly lost, of a wild, berserk rampage.

Seeing Meng Tong come charging at him once more in a fury, Wei Zhao smiled faintly and shook his head. "Don't go eating filthy things at random," he said with a curl of his lip. "You've truly set a living example for everyone."

Then, before the other could launch an attack, he raised his hand and struck again, slapping Meng Tong flat onto the ground.

At the sight, the crowd below fell into dead silence. They had been shocked into complete numbness; the only sound left in the whole arena was Meng Tong's harsh, ragged breathing.

"Go... to... hell...!" Like a wild beast, Meng Tong crouched on all fours, wheezing and gasping, grinding out each word through clenched teeth.

With his words, the hard stone slabs beneath his feet shattered one after another, as though they could no longer bear his weight. The near-mad, sky-soaring momentum gathering around him made everyone's eyelids twitch violently. Surely this fellow wasn't truly about to lose his mind and go berserk?

Yet Wei Zhao turned a blind eye to it all, still serene and unruffled, watching Meng Tong with a calm expression, watching every move the creature made.

From the very first day he set foot on Cloud Terrace Island, he had never regarded Meng Tong as his rival—not before, and not now, after Meng Tong had taken that sinister elixir, the Midnight-Noon Heart-Shattering Pill.

Though Meng Tong was gradually losing his reason, he still sensed within Wei Zhao's calm demeanor a trace of contempt, deeply hidden. Perhaps it was not deliberate on Wei Zhao's part—merely the natural disdain of the strong for the weak.

The greatest contempt is not mockery or scorn, but plain and simple disregard.

"Hahahaha!" Meng Tong suddenly burst into hysterical laughter, glaring fixedly at Wei Zhao with a hideous face as he howled, "You dare look down on me? You dare look down on this lord? Do you even know how the word 'death' is written, you posturing fraud?"

"Of course I do. I was properly schooled, you know—or didn't you know? Shall I teach you? Only the price might be a bit steep." Wei Zhao replied with teasing mockery, showing not the slightest sign of taking the other seriously.

"You're asking for death!" Meng Tong exploded with rage on the spot. Power surged through a thousand legs; the shattered slabs beneath his feet blasted outward in an instant, splattering the crowd below and leaving them in a wretched state, with no time even to dodge.

"Heh, what a fierce look. What a pity..." Wei Zhao's eyes narrowed. Around his body, a searing fist intent, almost materialized, abruptly gathered. He unleashed a Furious Fire Fist, Style Twenty-Four, straight and true, with a faint smile: "It's still far from enough to deal with me."

Boom! With a thunderous crash, amid a sky full of dust, a figure was blasted backward like a cannonball, tumbling wretchedly to the ground only after dozens of yards, life or death unknown. It was none other than Meng Tong, battered beyond recognition.

When the dust slowly settled and the crowd took in the scene before them, everyone—Meng Jueming included—could not help but draw a sharp breath in unison.

The Azure Cloud Pavilion newcomers' arena, which had endured countless newcomer contests and been perfected over the years, was now blasted beyond recognition. With a single Furious Fire Fist, Style Twenty-Four, more than half the arena had been smashed to rubble!

The only intact spot left was the patch of ground beneath Wei Zhao's feet. The crowd was truly dumbstruck by the sight—such was the might of a single punch!

One had to remember that the arena was protected by a dedicated defensive formation, its defensive power far greater than anywhere else. An ordinary newcomer could forget about destroying the arena—even leaving a scratch on it was exceedingly difficult.

This was the first time a newcomer had ever destroyed the arena. Today's scene was fit to be recorded in the annals of the Welcome Pavilion.

"Challenge me? You've merely taken a crooked path—where did you get such confidence?" Wei Zhao did not look at Meng Tong, whose fate hung in the balance, but swept a cold glance over Meng Jueming below the stage.

Under that piercing gaze, Meng Jueming—a senior disciple and steward—was actually cowed by a mere newcomer until his scalp tingled, not daring to meet his eyes.

By now, Meng Jueming was himself a capable hand of the mid-Foundation Establishment stage, yet the pressure Wei Zhao brought to bear on him at this moment gave him the urge to turn and flee. The very thought of it was absurd.

"Could this fellow already be a mid-Foundation Establishment expert? If so, it would make sense that Meng Tong is no match for him. But how could that possibly be?" Watching Wei Zhao descend from the arena with utter composure, Meng Jueming was badly startled by the thought that had just surfaced in his mind.

No matter how he looked at it, a mere newcomer like Wei Zhao advancing to the mid-Foundation Establishment stage was simply too outrageous. After all, even the legendary Alchemy God and Medical Sage, Zhang Liju, had never reached such a terrifying level in his day!

Never mind the Azure Cloud Pavilion newcomers—across all the newcomers of the Welcome Pavilion, only two had reached the peak of the early Foundation Establishment stage: one was Murong Zhen, who had joined midway, and the other was Meng Tong, whom Wei Zhao had beaten to the brink of death.

Murong Zhen needed no explanation—she had already been at the peak of the early Foundation Establishment stage before coming to the Three Stack Pavilion, so there was nothing surprising there.

As for Meng Tong, were it not for the comparison with a freak like Wei Zhao, he could well have counted as a legendary newcomer of the Welcome Pavilion. After all, to advance from the Great Perfection of the Heaven Rank all the way to the peak of the early Foundation Establishment stage in just a few short months—setting aside crooked paths like the Midnight-Noon Heart-Shattering Pill—was a speed frightening enough in itself, one that left ninety-nine out of a hundred newcomers far behind.

Unfortunately for him, his opponent was Wei Zhao. As the saying goes, "Why must Zhou Yu be born if Zhuge Liang is to exist?"—and Meng Tong, by any measure, hardly came up to Zhou Yu's level.

Even Meng Tong and Murong Zhen, two experts at the peak of the early Foundation Establishment stage, were utterly outshone before Wei Zhao. As for the other newcomers, they were naturally no more than passing clouds.

For a time, everyone in the arena looked at Wei Zhao with deep awe.

Watching Wei Zhao grow stronger step by step, ever more unfathomable, they felt this awe planted almost into their very bones. In the days to come, no matter how much Meng Jueming might wish to order them to oppose Wei Zhao, it would be very hard to make them obey. R1152

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