Chapter 3686 — A Sore Loser Plots to Cheat

Don't forget who was standing at his side—Xu Lingchong. Wei Zhao was the very troublemaker who had openly defied young Master Xu. Even if only to curry favor with him, Hu Yunfeng absolutely did not want Wei Zhao to earn any decent ranking—let alone the astonishing, record-breaking eighteen hundred points.

The examiner took Wei Zhao's back-basket and drew out the spirit herbs one by one, tallying up the score. Around them the crowd scarcely dared breathe, every face a mask of tangled emotions, their eyes darting back and forth between Wei Zhao and the herbs on the ground.

"This... there won't be any problem with this, will there?" Long-Suffering Senior Brother hovered nervously at Wei Zhao's side. Compared with the man himself, who stood there perfectly at ease, it was the bystander who was all aflutter—the eunuch fretting himself sick over the emperor's calm.

On one hand, he earnestly hoped Wei Zhao's score was real: it would win the crucial Foundation Establishment Pill, and it would crush the arrogance of Meng Jueming and his lot. On the other, reason told him the number was far too absurd to be genuine.

After all, the new disciples were closely matched in strength, and their time was too short. Even in the fiercest free-for-all of past trials, no one had ever reached a height of eighteen hundred points.

The logic was simple: even a cut above the rest of his year, the moment a man successfully stripped the points from two other new disciples, he became the target of every eye. To hold on to the end and walk away unscathed was all but impossible.

Unless his strength had grown so overwhelming that no alliance of all the others would dare oppose him. Long-Suffering Senior Brother had great faith in Wei Zhao, but he was not so blind. In his understanding, Wei Zhao was still only heaven-grade grand completion—not an early- Foundation Establishment hand who towered above every new disciple.

Faced with Long-Suffering Senior Brother's doubts, Wei Zhao merely smiled faintly. "Relax. There won't be any problem."

The minutes trickled by. Though Wei Zhao's basket held no small number of herbs, the examiner soon reached his conclusion. "Reporting to the three elders, this new disciple Wei Zhao's score is eighteen hundred points—confirmed."

The words fell, and the whole hall went dead silent. Every gaze turned on Wei Zhao was transfixed with the shock of a man seeing a ghost.

Meng Jueming and Meng Tong were utterly undone at the news. This examiner was neutral staff of the Rear Mountain Hall; his word carried the same weight as the three elders'. Even with ten times the nerve, neither dared raise the slightest objection now.

"Cousin Jiuming, what do we do now?" Meng Tong asked in a low voice, still unwilling to yield.

By the scores as just announced, the final result would be Wei Zhao first, Meng Tong second, Xiao Ran third.

True, a place in the top three won a Foundation Establishment Pill—but do not forget that first place carried a bonus of ten spirit jade, the equivalent of a full three months' wages in the mines. It had been firmly in his grasp; how could he let it slip away so easily?

And beyond that, first place was an honor. The top ten disciples would be inscribed in the records—a glory that would live on when they entered the Azure Cloud Pavilion.

Meng Jueming cast a troubled glance at the three elders seated above. If this had been within the Welcome New Pavilion, he might still have found a way to conspire with Hu Yunfeng and pull some strings—but this was the Rear Mountain Hall. Rig the thing under all those watching eyes, and the three elders would likely snuff him out on the spot.

After all, these three elders had no idea who Meng Jueming was, and they would hardly risk gossip for a nobody. If a trial under their supervision were decried as unfair, those three old faces would be hard put to bear the shame.

Strings could not be pulled under the elders' noses—and yet, to stand by and watch first place go to a creature like Wei Zhao, neither Meng Tong, the party concerned, nor Meng Jueming himself could swallow that gall.

Time waited for no man. Since the examiner had confirmed Wei Zhao's score, the final ranking had naturally fallen into place. But just as Hu Yunfeng braced himself to announce it before the crowd, Xu Lingchong at his side shot him a look.

"What are young Master Xu's orders?" Hu Yunfeng bobbed and scraped.

Xu Lingchong glanced at him, his face blank. "I don't care how you do it—Wei Zhao must not take first place. Otherwise, how would I have any face left before so many new disciples?"

"This..." Hu Yunfeng was instantly in a bind. He stole a look at the three elders not far off. Head of the Welcome New Pavilion he might be, but in the Rear Mountain Hall he was nothing at all. If he dared openly move against Wei Zhao, he might be booted out of his post the very next moment.

And yet Xu Lingchong's grandfather, Xu Yuanzheng, was his most crucial patron. Offend this young Master Xu, and his own fate would be no better.

As Hu Yunfeng stood caught in his dilemma, Meng Jueming suddenly came trotting up from below, leaned close to him and Xu Lingchong, and whispered, "Young Master Xu, Pavilion Master, I have a way to keep Wei Zhao from taking first."

Hu Yunfeng brightened at once. "What clever scheme? Out with it."

"It's come to this—Wei Zhao's score is set in stone; we can hardly press it down anymore. But that doesn't mean he's entitled to first place. We need only fabricate a score higher than his, and that will overshadow him, won't it?" Meng Jueming proposed.

Xu Lingchong and Hu Yunfeng exchanged a look. Hu Yunfeng said doubtfully, "Fabricate a higher score—will that even work? Wei Zhao has a full eighteen hundred, and all the other new disciples' scores have already been reported once. Those can't be changed, can they?"

"Eighteen hundred is high, true enough, but Meng Tong's sixteen hundred isn't much lower. We need only find one new disciple willing to contribute two hundred-odd points to Meng Tong, and won't that put him above Wei Zhao?" Meng Jueming said cautiously. With his present influence among the new disciples, this would not be hard to arrange.

Xu Lingchong was somewhat moved. So long as that blind, insolent fool Wei Zhao did not have the last laugh, he cared not who took first.

But Hu Yunfeng remained dubious. "By the rules, once we're back in the Rear Mountain Hall the trial is over. No seizing points from one another, and no handing herbs around to rig the rankings in disguise. Can we really get away with this?"

For the fastest updates and ad-free reading, please visit...