Chapter 377: Too Much of the Limelight, Time to Suppress Him a Bit?

The secular freak genius quickly became the sky quadrant’s hottest topic. Almost everyone managed to talk about it sometime each day.

There were even candidates starting to complain that the secular genius’ actions were disrupting the balance of the quadrant.

“Breezing through everything with just a single move? I admit his potential in pills is astounding. But we’re martial dao geniuses! We still need to make use of our fighting strength to emerge from the masses in the future. He’s deviating to a side path, like walking on the edge of a blade, when he furiously grinds points like this. He’s completely destroying the ecosystem of the sky quadrant!”

“Yeah, this isn’t fair. Letting him grind points like this, won’t all the other geniuses be forced to just gaze at his back in a few months? Who can take care of him then?”

“Indeed, there’s no difference between this and cheating. He should go test his skills in other areas if he has what it takes. He only knows to freeload in the pill area; what kind of skill does he possess?”

“I think we should sign a petition in protest. This rule is too unreasonable and should be modified. A candidate can’t keep accumulating points in the same area. Otherwise, his advantage is too obvious. Even the most preeminent of geniuses will be eating his dust in a few months.”

“Well said. We need to start a petition that proposes an amendment to the rules. Otherwise, we’ll go on strike! We can’t let a secular cultivator use such despicable methods to sit on top of our heads.”

“Makes sense! How can us sect disciples be overcome by a nameless nobody? How depressing is that?”

All of the fellows kicking up a fuss were quite radical, spewing incredibly shameless words. What cheating, grinding out points, or amending the rules? All of them spoke with such self righteousness but failed to understand that their lack of skill was what led them to overlook such a method that abided by the rules.

Of course, some disagreed with those words.

After all, everyone was competition in the entire sky quadrant. Human hearts were difficult to predict, and it was impossible that they all shared the same opinions.

Some folks were hollering shamelessly, while others scorned their actions.

“What’s wrong with breezing through everything in one move? Anyone who has what it takes can do the same as well. Since the rules are set thus, he’s not doing anything wrong. Which one of us isn’t picking our most confident area when we request missions? Or is it that people should use their weaknesses to challenge someone else’s strengths?”

“The organizers are doing things in this fashion in order to unearth geniuses. This secular genius is absolutely a genius in pills. If he doesn’t make use of this overwhelming advantage, then he’s truly an idiot. Calling a bunch of grapes sour just because they can't have any, how narrow minded!”

“He’s accumulating points reasonably and properly. And they accuse him of cheating? These fellows are completely shameless! What ecosystem? Must the top geniuses be ranked first in order for them to call this shameless? Is it that a genius from the mundane world can’t rank at the top?”

These were the two camps of thought.

Of course, there were also those who were neutral. They neither supported nor protested the developments, merely watching the proceedings with indifferent eyes.

But overall, those in favor of suppressing the secular genius’ rise still held the upper hand.

This included those top geniuses. Although none of them voiced anything in public, they exerted a lot of pressure privately and strongly hinted their feelings to the organizers.

It was obvious that Jiang Chen’s rise was giving them a lot of pressure, forcing them to take risks and further stressing them.

If they didn’t take some chances to challenge level four or even level five missions, then they were destined to be flung far behind Jiang Chen as time passed.

Which of these geniuses didn’t have their sights set on the top? Would they be willing to see a secular cultivator use these sorts of methods to rise to the top and leave them far, far behind?

Of course not.

…...

Elsewhere, the examiners that held authority in the sky quadrant gathered together. What had happened lately simultaneously gave them excitement and headaches.

They were stunned by the rise of this pill genius and racked their heads as to how they would recruit this genius for their sect.

In many ways, this pill genius wouldn’t lose to a top tier martial dao genius.

Martial dao geniuses could be replaced, but a superior pill genius often couldn’t be.

There were many martial dao masters in the world of martial dao, but pill masters were few and far in between.

A pill master was quite important in the world of martial dao, and held even greater strategic meaning to a sect.

“Everyone, let’s discuss without inhibitions. If this continues, the hearts of the sky quadrant will waver, and all will be thrown into chaos.” An examiner sitting in the middle laughed wryly.

“What’s there to talk about? This can’t be allowed to continue. I recommend changing the rules or restricting him personally. He can’t be allowed to proceed like this. The heck! This is clearly deviating from the correct path, and certainly not the actions of a noble gentleman!”

However, those who were aware of the speaker’s identity were greatly dismissive of these words. This fellow was Master Shuiyue’s junior brother. The two were on exceedingly friendly terms. Such a proclamation was obviously not speaking out for justice, but on behalf of his own personal grudges.

Indeed, someone sprang immediately to respond. “Are you kidding? He’s following the rules in requesting missions and is also taking on a great deal of risk. What do you mean by the wrong road and not the actions of a gentleman? Is he not to focus on the area of his strength and to arim to excel in areas of his weaknesses? Does this measure up to the original intentions of our selection?”

The Purple Sun Sect examiner was immediately offended. “Hey! What do you mean by this? Are you purposefully singing an opposite tune from me?”

“An opposite tune? Heh heh, I rather think it’s you who’s doing so. I recommend not bringing personal feelings into this, otherwise it’ll become very easy for you to be biased. What happened in the earth quadrant is an example to us all.” The examiner sighed.

He was obviously talking about Master Shuiyue being removed from her position.

The Purple Sun Sect examiner slammed the table when he heard this. “What did you say?! Who’s bringing in personal feelings? You, give me a clear explanation now!”

“You raise your voice because you’re in the wrong. Who are you scaring by slamming the table?” The examiner sniffed disdainfully and laughed coldly.

“Alright, alright, everyone calm down. Remember, this is an examiners area, can you all maintain some composure? With the outside being such pandemonium, how will we placate the candidates if we lose our calm?”

“Indeed, our duty as examiners is to maintain order and prevent chaos. The selection this time has to do with the future of our four sects. We cannot take this lightly.”

Others kept stepping in to smooth things over. The two examiners glared at each other a few times but kept their tempers in check. However, the eyes they used to look at each other were full of disgust.

“I’ll say one thing. There’s nothing wrong with what the secular genius is doing. Personally, I admire him. However, whether he’s right or wrong, he has indeed caused great ripples in the sky quadrant, making everyone uneasy and uncertain. The results of his actions have caused a negative impact in this quadrant. We should think of a way to resolve this. We would lose far more if the premier geniuses are disheartened.”

“Mm, the candidate has done nothing wrong from the perspective of the rules, but taking the greater picture into account, we should restrict him a bit. Otherwise, we’ll be unable to soothe the emotions of those top geniuses.”

“Right, let’s restrict him a bit for the bigger picture.”

“Alright. The four great sects know of his potential in pills anyways. We have already accomplished the goal of unearthing geniuses. We should let him spend some time in the other areas. After all, carving a place in the area of pills alone isn’t the way forward.”

Most opinions were surprisingly in accordance. They all felt that Jiang Chen should be restricted a bit for the greater picture.

“Humph. Is this how we choose talent? Is this fair? We set the rules, and now that someone hasn’t broken them but instead used them to rise with unprecedented momentum, he deserves to be suppressed? If this is the case, then those geniuses with high cultivation should also be restricted. After all, they’re furiously grinding out points by challenging other candidates!” An examiner with a frosty expression stood out in protest.

Winning a challenge would result in 20 points each time. This was a requisite daily mission for those top geniuses.

This was why the top geniuses had been able to streak ahead in points.

“That’s not what’s going on here. Martial dao geniuses engage in a conversation of martial dao when they challenge other candidates. This is a good thing for them. Why are we holding a selection? To choose martial dao geniuses, no? I think there’s nothing untoward in increasing their battle ability.”

“Mm. Martial dao is king in this world. The dao of pills is but supplementary.”

“Indeed, a preeminent genius must have this kind of advantage.”

Many people immediately stood out to rebut the cold faced examiner. The latter was one of upright personality, but it was difficult for him to make a stand against everyone alone.

He could do nothing when faced with his brethren’s attitude. He could only laugh coldly, “Your suppression can appease those premier geniuses, but have you considered the feelings of the secular genius?”

“This may be a bit unfair for him, but in consideration of the broader view, we can only ask him to give way.”

“Mm, if he’s smart enough, he’ll understand that this was a function of the circumstances. Truly, I trust that he’ll be able to understand.”

“Indeed. If not, it simply means his mind isn’t bright and he doesn’t understand how to analyze the situation. If he insists on doing things his way and makes himself a public target, then that’s also very disadvantageous to his growth.”

The examiners all spoke righteously and pretentiously, making the cold faced examiner snort in cold laughter.

“All of you posture so self righteously, and can speak so dutifully about your domineering actions in suppressing others. Hmph, at this point, one’s original sin is none other than being born of a humble background. If this secular genius had a mighty background, do you all think that you would suppress him in such a righteous manner?”

The other examiners could only smile wryly when faced with this sharp questioning. They all understood this logic, but in order to appease the rage of those top geniuses, they could only sacrifice those deemed lesser.

A secular genius’ feelings could be smoothed over easily, but if a group of preeminent geniuses all grew dissatisfied, then the sky quadrant would be thrown into chaos!