Chapter 3728 — They Fell for It!

Under the gaze of the entire crowd, Wei Zhao gave the Bitter Senior Brother and the others a reassuring look, then slowly walked over to the examiner and came to a stop a zhang away from him.

Unlike Meng Tong's earlier arrogance, he was calm and unhurried, composed and at ease, carrying himself with the bearing of a true expert.

The examiner could not help but start in surprise, and a murmur of doubt rose in his heart. Earlier, when he had seen the young man's unruffled expression, he could still chalk it up to a bluff put on for appearances. But now, with death staring him in the face, the boy could still maintain that same posturing air, without even a trace of nervousness showing. Was he not laying it on a bit too thick?

Could it be that, having watched Meng Tong, who had gone before him, survive his turn, the boy had convinced himself that he too would pass with ease, and that was why he was so utterly without restraint?

The examiner smiled to himself. As a cultivator at the early Foundation Establishment stage, the boy did not even have this much self-awareness, nor the slightest premonition of the danger before him. If he died in a moment, he would have no one to blame but himself—he could only call himself a fool!

Calamity sent by Heaven may yet be forgiven; calamity brought upon oneself cannot be escaped. A fool of this magnitude would not be saved even by the heavens!

Down below, Xu Lingchong, Meng Jueming, and the others exchanged a knowing smile at the sight, their scheme come to fruition. The deadly trap they had painstakingly laid was finally entering its last stage.

At this point, even if Wei Zhao sensed something amiss, it was already too late to turn back. All he could do was grit his teeth and press on—and what awaited him was a miserable death, with no second possibility!

"Woo woo woo woo!" The near-suffocating tension in the hall made the little Curly Bear in Shangguan Lan'er's arms instinctively restless, and it could not help but whimper toward Wei Zhao.

As a spirit beast, even though it was still in its juvenile stage with little strength to speak of, the little Curly Bear's sense of danger still far surpassed that of ordinary people—and it clearly sensed that the danger which made its instincts quail was at this moment hanging over Wei Zhao's head!

"Quiet, Xiao Bai," Shangguan Lan'er said with a slight frown. Because Xu Lingchong had earlier disclosed part of the plan to her, though she did not know the specifics, she still felt that something was off about the situation—it seemed Wei Zhao had fallen completely into their trap, and his position was quite dire.

Yet even if she wished to step forward and help Wei Zhao now, she still had to heed the agreement she had made with him: in front of others, she must put on a show of disliking him. Otherwise, not only would she be unable to help him, she might well bring him even greater trouble.

Though Shangguan Lan'er was normally guileless and gave others the impression of a naive, sweet girl, that did not mean she was stupid. On the contrary, when she truly set her mind to pondering something, she was far cleverer and quicker-witted than most.

Since Wei Zhao had asked her to play along and put on an act before others, though he had not explained why, she could guess that there must be a deeper meaning behind it.

Analyzing the reason, it was most likely to numb certain people. If those people saw that she was close to Wei Zhao, then because of her special status, it would easily bring trouble—perhaps even fatal trouble—to Wei Zhao, a grassroots newcomer from the secular world.

So in front of outsiders, she had to keep her distance from Wei Zhao. This was, in a sense, a form of indirect protection for him.

And if she stepped forward to intervene now, quite apart from whether she could actually help Wei Zhao, at the very least this layer of indirect protection would naturally be shattered—and that would be no good thing for Wei Zhao.

So even though she knew Wei Zhao's situation was somewhat precarious at this moment, after struggling with herself for a long while, Shangguan Lan'er never did call a halt. Only after Wei Zhao quietly gave her a reassuring look did the heavy stone in her heart finally settle.

This little junior brother Wei Zhao really did have the confidence to handle this crisis!

Though she knew well how difficult such a challenge above one's level was, though she had met Wei Zhao only a handful of times and did not know how much he truly had in reserve, Shangguan Lan'er instinctively chose to believe in him—to believe that her little junior brother would surely pass with ease!

"Please," Wei Zhao said, raising his hand slightly to signal that the examiner might begin at any time.

Posturing! The examiner curled his lip in imperceptible disdain, then swiftly gathered his true qi into his palm, and soon it reached the sealed upper limit.

But that was not the end. Even having reached the sealed limit, through the not-quite-tight gaps in the seal, he could still continue to draw on his remaining true qi—though it was more laborious to mobilize, and limited in quantity.

After gathering power this way for a moment, the true qi condensed in the examiner's palm finally reached its peak, plainly far surpassing the level of a peak early Foundation Establishment expert—exceeding it by more than thirty percent!

This time it was different from when he had faced Meng Tong. The palm strike that had sent Meng Tong flying had not seemed particularly alarming at first; only at the final instant when it struck Meng Tong did it unleash its thunderous might.

But this time, even before the examiner made his move, just the mere condensation of true qi was enough to set everyone in the hall on edge, carrying with it the air of a gathering storm that pressed the breath from their lungs.

Why did this palm strike feel so much stronger than the one used against Meng Tong? A trace of doubt rose unbidden in the crowd's hearts, but since they themselves were only Heaven-rank great-perfection experts with no deep understanding of the peak early Foundation Establishment level, they soon dismissed the thought as an illusion.

After all, Pavilion Master Hu Yunfeng had stated plainly that each examiner's strength was fixed by the seal, and that attacks of the same level could never differ in weight from one palm to the next—so this strange notion must surely be an illusion.

And yet, how could it possibly be an illusion?

The palm strike Meng Tong had faced carried only seventy percent of a peak early Foundation Establishment expert's might, but the one Wei Zhao now faced carried a full one hundred and thirty percent—nearly double the former. Naturally, the two were not remotely comparable in power!

"Damn it, Junior Brother Lin has fallen for it!" The Bitter Senior Brother's heart lurched. Unlike these newcomers, who could be forgiven for not understanding what peak early Foundation Establishment strength was, how could he not know?

Do not forget—he had been stuck at the barrier of early Foundation Establishment for a long time. After having Wei Zhao refine the Foundation Establishment Barrier-Breaking Pill for him last time, though he had not taken it immediately in order to guarantee a hundred percent success, he had spent these days making final, all-encompassing preparations for his breakthrough. He was now truly just a hair's breadth from the peak of early Foundation Establishment, so of course he knew full well what strength one could wield after breaking through!RS

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