Chapter 326:
Chapter 326: [Title at the End]
Jiang Chen remained where he was, but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t paying attention to the outside world.
His Psychic’s Head had been in continual operation all along, and he could feel unfriendly looks shoot towards him from all directions.
He didn’t even need to look to know that it was the Cheng brothers and their henchmen.
Suddenly, Jiang Chen heard Master Fang announce a name that he was more familiar with — Han Xianke.
Han Xianke was one of the disciples of the Precious Tree Sect, and he had even fought with Jiang Chen for a bit regarding the matter of the Five Winged Lesser Dragon during Ye Chonglou’s birthday banquet. However, friendship grew from an exchange of blows and Han Xianke had actually become quite loyal to Jiang Chen. He’d even wanted to become Jiang Chen’s follower.
When they met again in the capital of the Skylaurel Kingdom, Han Xianke had even helped Tang Long’s little brother, making his symptoms vanish with medicine.
Although Han Xianke had the temper of a sect disciple, he wasn’t a bad sort and he at least was someone who kept his word.
He said, that day during the banquet, that if he lost to Jiang Chen, he would become Jiang Chen’s servant.
He didn’t deny this matter afterwards or refuse to owe up to it. Instead, he’d waited in the capital for Jiang Chen to fulfill the terms of his bet.
From this perspective, Han Xianke’s character was quite decent.
However, Jiang Chen had erupted in open hostilities with the Precious Tree Sect after Han Xianke had returned to the sect and Jiang Chen hadn’t had the opportunity to get in touch with him again.
To think that they would meet again in the mystic quadrant!
Since he was familiar with this name, Jiang Chen naturally paid a bit more attention.
The odd thing was, when Xiao Fei heard Han Xianke’s name, he actually looked at Jiang Chen and he saw the latter open his eyes, casting a glance at Han Xianke’s ring. Xiao Fei’s heart trembled slightly.
“He… he hadn’t been paying attention to the matches earlier, but he immediately opened his eyes when Han Xianke appeared. This means he knows Han Xianke. Indeed… if I’m not mistaken, this freak genius is Jiang Chen!” Waves of emotion rose in his heart.
However, none of this was revealed behind the mask.
“I know he’s Jiang Chen, but he doesn’t know who I am. Sigh… he probably doesn’t know either that I can thoroughly determine who he is thanks to Han Xianke.” Xiao Fei’s heart was in a turmoil.
Behind the mask, Xiao Fei was actually Dan Fei.
She hadn’t even told the old tutor when she signed up for the selection. She herself didn’t even know why she was here.
It wasn’t that she aspired to the sects, but there was something that she couldn’t give up in the depths of her heart. It weighed down and occupied her whole heart.
She actually knew full well that all of this was because of Jiang Chen.
However, she had been afraid and hadn’t dare to face this reason.
She kept deceiving and comforting herself that she was only very competitive and she wanted to prove herself against the so-called sect geniuses.
However, she was well aware of the true reason, and that was that she wanted to witness the journey of Jiang Chen’s rise.
Jiang Chen hadn’t disappointed her. He easily stomped all the obstacles along the way and he had become the champion of the first selection.
Other people may not know who the champion is, but Dan Fei had spent many days with Jiang Chen and she could deduce his identity from the various details.
The most critical was that she had absolute confidence in Jiang Chen. She’d always felt that Jiang Chen would absolutely emerge from the masses with unstoppable momentum.
It was because she was thus predisposed that she was more certain than anyone that the freak genius was Jiang Chen.
She’d been ninety nine percent sure of her hunch, and the last bit of uncertainty had been dispelled after Han Xianke had appeared.
This was because she had witnessed all the various grudges between Jiang Chen and Han Xianke as she’d been a participant in the old tutor’s birthday banquet!
Many of the Precious Tree Sect disciples had been selected, with Jiang Chen not reacting to them at all.
He only opened his eyes when Han Xianke had been chosen.
That was enough to explain everything.
As the old tutor’s direct disciple, Dan Fei had never fully revealed the depths of her cultivation. She’d advanced rapidly in the last two years thanks to the honored tutor’s efforts and her potential had been fully developed.
In terms of cultivation level, she could absolutely rank in the top ten of the mystic quadrant.
However, she hadn’t wanted to expose her identity. She’d wanted to fully witness Jiang Chen’s rise first.
At the moment, Jiang Chen’s thoughts were all on Han Xianke’s battle. He had absolutely no idea that it was Dan Fei by his side.
“Han Xianke’s fighting skills aren’t too bad. It looks like he should be able to win this fight.”
Indeed, Han Xianke defeated his opponent before too long, just like Jiang Chen had predicted, claiming his first victory.
If a challenger won, they could continue to accept challenges.
Han Xianke obviously had some ambitions as he decided to continue after thinking for a short while.
However, Jiang Chen smiled ruefully when his opponent appeared. The new opponent was obviously a first level candidate, and judging from his appearance, he was a Purple Sun Sect disciple like the Cheng brothers.
“Things aren’t looking good for Han Xianke.” Jiang Chen sighed in his heart.
One had to say, Jiang Chen possessed quite a keen eye. Han Xianke’s earlier advantages were all almost restricted to a fault in this battle. He couldn’t hold on in less than fifteen minutes and he was defeated.
In this regard, his chances were over today. Completing two challenges in a day and having one victory and one loss wasn’t too bad.
However, for someone who wanted to make it into the top ten, this was only a middling result.
Jiang Chen could subtly see that amongst the four sects, the Purple Sun Sect was the most domineering. The matches were even more intense when they faced Precious Tree Sect disciples.
The other two sects seemed to have ordinary relations with the Purple Sun Sect.
However, the fighting strength of the Purple Sun Sect disciples were a bit stronger indeed. Their win rates were obviously higher.
“It looks like the Purple Sun Sect does indeed have more of an advantage in the area of martial dao. The four sects all have their specialities, but this selection focuses on fighting and so it’s understandable that the Purple Sun Sect has a bit of an advantage.”
Although these were Jiang Chen’s thoughts, he didn’t have any longing for this sect.
In terms of martial dao heritage or foundations, even ten Purple Sun Sects wouldn’t measure up to even one tenth of Jiang Chen’s memories. In terms of martial dao, he’d be the last person who needed to kiss up to anyone.
Just as he was lost in thought, his name was called.
Another batch of rings had been emptied and new challengers were being picked. This time, the champion of the first selection numbered amongst them!
“Brother Boulder, it’s your turn!” Dan Fei couldn’t help but cry out. Emotions rippled through her heart. She’d been anticipating all along to see Jiang Chen shine and dominate the selection.
And now, this moment was finally here.
Jiang Chen smiled faintly and nodded, walking towards the elevated rings.
An examiner guided him to the appropriate one.
“According to the rules, you are to select your own opponent. All opponents will be selected at random.”
Jiang Chen nodded. He didn’t care who his opponent was or their level. The hundred challenges would be spread out evenly in the end, and he’d face twenty five candidates from the four levels.
Although it was at random, theis distribution would never change.
Jiang Chen’s luck was quite good as his first opponent was a third level opponent from the Flowing Wind Sect.
The person selected was obviously not too happy. After all, the matches in which one was selected were the most meaningless. They wouldn’t count as part of your win rate no matter the result.
However, when he saw that Jiang Chen was wearing the uniform of a secular disciple, his expression became quite lively.
“My luck’s not bad to get an ordinary practitioner, hahaha!” The person rejoiced. “Although this won’t count in my win rate, if my scores are the same as someone else in the end, I will rank further ahead since I was challenged often. Although this won’t count, it’s nice to add a notice to the number of times I’ve been challenged. Perhaps this will become the defining fight in determining my ranking? I wish that these ordinary practitioners would pick me everyday!”
It was more than apparent that the sect disciples had an overwhelming amount of prejudice against the secular disciples.
They all felt that the secular disciples wouldn’t stand up to a single blow at all.
Jiang Chen’s opponent wasn’t immune to this mindset either, traces of his mentality could be gleaned from his proud mindset.
“Secular practitioner, it’s an affront to the eyes that you stand in this ring. Recognize the greater situation that you’re in and concede the match.” The Flowing Wind Sect disciple said arrogantly.
Jiang Chen crossed his hands in front of his chest and stood to the side of the ring.
He paid no attention to who his opponent was once he set foot in the ring. His only thought was to defeat them!
“Make your move.” The Flowing Wind Sect completely dismissed Jiang Chen and puffed his chest out.
Jiang Chen nodded and he didn’t waste time in talking. He lifted his feet and his body moved like lightning. He formed a hand seal that transformed into a ball of flame, as ferocious as a tiger, slapping it at the Flowing Wind Sect disciple.
“Pfft. Tricks and foolery.” The disciple couldn’t help but laugh when he saw this move. It was the most basic and crude of moves — the “Obscure Seal of Life and Death”.
“Haha, it’s the ‘Obscure Seal of Life and Death’. That secular disciple is so pathetic. He doesn’t even possess a decent method. If I recall correctly, this technique is the basic technique that everyone has to practice for the entrance exams to the four great sects?” Those watching beneath the stage also started jeering.
“The ordinary world is a poor and desolate place. It’s normal that they don’t have any good techniques. Tsk tsk. To think that I thought that the first amongst the ordinary world disciples would possess a certain level of skill. It looks like he was quite disappointing indeed.”
“Then this is your fault, you shouldn’t have had any expectations in the first place. If he truly was a genius, why would he have floundered about in the ordinary world?”
“True that, a real genius wouldn’t be buried even if he was born in the ordinary world. Our junior sister Long Juxue for example. She was born in the ordinary world, but she is a phoenix amongst men, destined to soar into the skies!”
Chapter 326: Xiao Fei Dan Fei, Jiang Chen Takes the Field