Chapter 376: Catching Up At Top Speed

“He’s out!” Some sharp-eyed fellow called out.

All gazes shifted over to that direction in unison.

Only ten hours had passed, he was out already?

Tang Hong’s enormous feet stomped over, pushing aside the people in his way. He took a look and saw that the person who’d come out was indeed Jiang Chen.

“Boss!” Tang Hong’s eyes widened as his heart sank. It wasn’t a good sign that he’d come out this early.

What did ending a level five mission early mean?

Jiang Chen also blinked when he saw the sixty or so people gathered in the lobby. He looked at Tang Hong and then pointed at those in the lobby. “What’s going on here?”

Tang Hong chuckled, “They’re all here to watch the show since they heard you requested a level five mission.”

“Well, boss? Didja crush it?” Tang Hong was a quite agitated as his large hands were clenched into fists, light shining out of his eyes.

Jiang Chen nodded, “The level five mission is rather a bit interesting.”

“Eh? Whaddya mean interesting? Did you succeed or not?” Tang Hong scratched his head full of straw-like hair and asked forthrightly.

When the others saw that Jiang Chen had nodded and then said the mission was a bit interesting, they too didn’t know if he’d succeeded or not. They all looked at Jiang Chen with gazes full of complex emotions.

Some were anticipatory, some were waiting to watch a joke. There were also those who were disdainful. Jiang Chen caught glimpse of a microcosm of human emotion from those assembled in that moment.

“Mm, I succeeded.” Jiang Chen’s expression was remote as he nodded.

“Fantastic, hahaha!” Tang Hong threw his head back and laughed. “Level five mission, haha! Do you see that? This is a true genius, a real genius!”

Jiang Chen walked forward as the crowd of onlookers all parted in twain in front of him. A mix of emotions played across their faces as they looked at Jiang Chen.

“Master examiner, this is the mission token, please inspect it.” Jiang Chen did not become full of himself just because he’d completed a level five mission.

He also ignored the reactions of those around him. Whether they were envious or jealous, he, Jiang Chen, walked only his own path.

The examiner’s hand spasmed slightly as he accepted the mission token, murmuring, “I hadn’t thought... hadn’t thought that the first to succeed in a level five mission in the sky quadrant would be a secular candidate. Our four great sects should truly reflect. How many gems have we missed in the ordinary world over the years?”

The examiner sighed and took Jiang Chen’s mission token, awarding 160 points to him after checking it.

In this way, there were 400 points on Jiang Chen’s candidate token.

This score was just enough to ensure that he wouldn't be eliminated from the sky quadrant.

“Brother, let’s get to know each other. I’m Iron Dazhi of the Precious Tree Sect. I hadn’t thought that a genius like you would exist in the ordinary world. This really is an eye opener for me. I’ve come because I’d like to personally witness a secular genius’ glory. Would you be interested in gathering at my residence? In terms of the dao of pills, if my Precious Tree Sect dares call ourselves second amongst the four great sects, then there will be no one who dares say that they’re first.”

Iron Dazhi was the first to come over and greet Jiang Chen enthusiastically.

Jiang Chen stared blankly. He hadn’t thought that Iron Dazhi would have this side to him. He still remembered when he’d bumped into Iron Dazhi with Tang Hong that day. They hadn’t seemed to get along.

The fellow had seemed to forget the matters of that day already and was greeting him warmly.

Tang Hong also blinked. He walked up and shoved Iron Dazhi aside, “Bugger off and don’t block the way here.”

Iron Dazhi was incensed but managed to restrain himself, and said coldly, “Tang Hong, you and I are of the same sect. I wouldn’t be kicking up a fuss if I were you. I’m recruiting a genius for the sect now, so what are you messing around for?”

Tang Hong wasn’t kindly disposed towards Iron Dazhi. “What the hell are you? Do you think you represent the sect? You only represent the Iron family at most. Do you understand?”

Iron Dazhi snorted coldly, “I can’t be bothered arguing with idiots like you.”

He proceeded to smile apologetically at Jiang Chen, “Brother, Tang Hong is a fool. Don’t take him seriously. I have some superior wine in my residence and it makes me feel anguished that I have no one to share it with. Good wine and geniuses are a match made in heaven, no? Are you interested in having a drink?”

Jiang Chen’s brow furrowed when he saw Iron Dazhi kick up a fuss in front of him. “Not interested. Move.”

He didn’t pause after saying these words and walked past Iron Dazhi as if he was air, heading for the door.

Tang Hong chuckled oddly, “Iron Dazhi, don’t think you’re actually a genius just because you have a good ancestor. You’re really unworthy.”

With this bout of self-humiliation that he’d brought down on himself, a streak of killing intent flashed through Iron Dazhi’s eyes.

The others also started laughing uproariously. Their look at Iron Dazhi was full of mockery and sarcasm. It was obvious that they were delighting in the fact that Iron Dazhi was being shamed.

It wasn’t that they were enemies with Iron Dazhi. They were competing with each other, so it was natural for them to feel delighted at seeing someone else unlucky and making a fool of themselves. They were only one step away from kicking Iron Dazhi when he was down.

Chu Xinghan stood at the door, and the two flicked a seemingly noncommittal glance at each other when Jiang Chen passed through the door.

“It’s him alright!” Chu Xinghan already had a preconceived notion in his mind. When he saw that meaningful look, the familiarity coming from his previous interaction with Jiang Chen surged to the fore again.

Standing at the door, Chu Xinghan sighed to himself as he watched Jiang Chen vanish into the distance. “Am I destined to be enemies with such a character?”

Chu Xinghan shook his head and warned himself again. “No, I cannot become involved in this morass of a conflict. He is the fated rival of Long Juxue, and that’s between the two of them. I, Chu Xinghan, am loyal to martial dao. I’ve already saved Long Juxue once due to my gratitude to the honored master. I have no need to become involved again. There is a power on him that makes my heart palpitate. I have a premonition that he won’t be that easily suppressed.”

Chu Xinghan warned himself repeatedly with a calm heart.

After the clash between gazes just now, he was even more certain of his notions. The secular genius wasn’t someone who’d be that easily oppressed.

Although Long Juxue had talent that surpassed all, if she were to underestimate her enemy, she would suffer quite a bit at the hands of this person.

Chu Xinghan even had the vague feeling that there was a formless bearing to this secular genius that even Long Juxue lacked.

…...

“Boss, boss, you’re famous now! I firmly believe that your name will be listed alongside those top geniuses. They’ll probably even list you as one of their competitors in the future.” Tang Hong chuckled.

“Competition?” Jiang Chen chuckled. “Is that important? I walk my path. What do the top geniuses have to do with me?”

“Alright, that’s my boss alright! Damn awesome!” Tang Hong sighed.

Completing a level five mission did indeed cause great ripples in the sky quadrant. Almost everyone was discussing the secular genius who’d appeared out of nowhere. They were all quite curious about him and also kept uncovering his glorious feats.

Champion of the first selection. Champion of the mystic quadrant. Champion of the earth quadrant.

He’d swept over almost all his opponents on this victorious march to championship. The number of people who’d tasted defeat at his hands exceeded even that.

Guo Ren had been scared to the depths of forming an internal demon and spitting out blood without Jiang Chen even making a move.

He Yan, fourth disciple beneath Master Shuiyue, had been easily trampled.

Hai Tian, third disciple beneath Master Shuiyue, had appeared all that but had been slain.

Master Shuiyue, the keeper of the earth quadrant, had lost two disciples in a row and had been pulled off her station, losing all face in front of the senior executives of the four great sects.

When these glorious feats had been unearthed one by one, the secular genius’ prestige in the sky quadrant was even more amplified. He was immediately listed as one of those who could make it into the top 64.

There were even those who optimistically felt that the secular genius had hopes of vying for a spot in the final 16, becoming one of the four venerated forefathers’ personal disciple.

Everyone was curious now, just where had this secular genius popped out from? Just what was his identity?

Apart from some of the geniuses in the Purple Sun Sect knowing the truth behind the matters, many could guess, but they had no clues. The premier geniuses of the Purple Sun Sect would naturally be disdainful of gossiping like this.

Although a level five mission in the pill area was a bit more eye-catching, it still didn’t register much in these genius’ line of sight.

“A genius in the dao of pills, utter trash in martial dao. Even the strongest potential in pills is but fleeting winds in the ring.” These were the disdainful thoughts in a great majority of them.

“In the world of martial dao, martial dao is king in the end. The dao of pills is but a supporting way.” These were the thoughts of the more peaceful, objective factions.

“This secular genius possessed such a heaven-defying dao of pills. If his martial dao potential is just as amazing, then he will be a formidable opponent.” This was the calm minority who had yet to lose their reason.

However, the surprise Jiang Chen brought to everyone didn’t end here. He fell into a routine after this, grinding out points in the area of pills in going from level one to level five and repeating this over and over again.

He was able to gain 310 points in one full cycle.

With such a perverse point accumulation speed, his score had exploded to an astonishing 1,640 points after a month!

This speed made the entire sky quadrant sink into a strange atmosphere.

This almost insane speed in grinding out points had patently formed a latent threat to those preeminent geniuses.

If one were to say that they had been slightly dismissive in the beginning, they could feel that the secular genius was catching up to them at top speed a month later.

Although things had yet to reach the level of a fire licking at their behinds, at this rate, even if the secular genius’ score didn’t surpass theirs at the end of the cycle, it would be on par with theirs.

In that moment, even the preeminent geniuses couldn’t help but feel a certain sense of urgency.

They’d never thought that there would be such a pill genius in the mundane world. He’d never failed once in his repeated attempts!

This was able to be so easily summed up with a mere title of “pill genius”. Even the words of “perverse genius” was insufficient to describe him.

Even the examiners were flabbergasted, much less the candidates in the sky quadrant. They’d never thought that such a dark horse would suddenly appear in the area of pills. His momentum was so fierce that all the other premier geniuses felt uneasy in their positions.

Indeed, if this rhythm was maintained, even the preeminent geniuses would likely have to start taking some risks and increase the number of times they request a level four mission.

They would even have to attempt a level five mission. Otherwise, with this speed, being surpassed would be inevitable!