"Put bluntly, it means throwing in your lot with me, swearing loyalty to me, and working for me. Put nicely, it means being friends with me, helping each other out.
You can attain extraordinary progress in martial arts and limitless potential. In the future, ascending to the realm of Celestials, or even Gods and Devils, will not be impossible.
And I will gain a friend like you, whose status and position are far from ordinary. That also makes me very happy."
Shi Jiawen's expression darkened. As had been said before, he was a man both insecure and arrogant.
His pride lay in his family and background. In terms of standing within the Noble Aristocracy System alone, he was far nobler than Meng Zhao.
Thus, at heart, although Meng Zhao possessed Unrivaled Martial Arts, had experts gathered beneath him like clouds, and wielded considerable influence, none of it could change Shi Jiawen's deeply rooted attitude.
He had looked down on him before, despised him before, and he still looked down on him and despised him now.
It was like how some people, if they liked someone, would call them a kindred spirit even if that person was a penniless pauper. Yet even if another possessed enormous wealth and supreme authority, they would still be regarded as a nouveau riche, a provincial tycoon, or a bureaucrat utterly devoid of conscience.
Shi Jiawen harbored precisely this sort of prejudice toward Meng Zhao. Liu An, Yan Libing, and Qiao Nian were no different from him.
Even Liu An and Yan Libing, who appeared to hold Meng Zhao in high regard and feared his martial arts, found it difficult to change such deeply ingrained notions.
But then again, no matter how much one looked down on another, when that person could change one's future, increase