Chapter 384: Elder Shun and Huang’er Appear Again
They’d been biased towards the top geniuses and blacklisted the secular genius before out of a simple choice.
In their eyes, there was no way the secular genius could measure up to the preeminent sect geniuses.
However, the various talents that the secular genius had continuously uncovered had slowly upended their prejudices.
They’d thought that the secular genius lacked in martial cultivation because he’d kept avoiding that area.
For one lacking in martial cultivation, no matter how strong his other talents were, he was destined to be marginalized in the world of martial dao where the strong reigned supreme. He would never become the main character.
However, the secular genius’ actions had once again overturned their understanding!
He’d charged singlehandedly into the meeting of the most brilliant geniuses.
He’d fought first seed Lei Gangyang to a standstill amidst chatter and laughter.
He’d arrived calmly and left stylishly.
Like a malicious blade, the mocking words he’d left behind carved out an internal demon in the hearts of those prideful geniuses.
Indeed, the geniuses had been jeered as trash, but were bereft of the ability to do anything. This kind of psychological pressure would cast a shadow on their dao hearts.
“Ai, this secular genius!” An examiner murmured to himself. “Has he hardened his heart to become enemies with the geniuses? Has he not considered his future path?”
“Indeed! Even if he has great talent, he will need to coexist with the geniuses when he enters a sect in the future. This fellow is truly too arrogant,”
Some of the examiners were truly despondent.
Just as they were sighing, a messenger reported in outside the door. “Report! Examiners, the secular genius has gone to the comprehensive area after being notified of his restrictions in the strength of heart area.”
“What?”
“Has he gone to the comprehensive area to farm points now?”
“This… can it be that his talents cover all areas?”
The examiners all surged to their feet when they received the message, incredulity writ all over their faces.
His extraordinary potential in the areas of pills and strength of heart had been already enough to shock them. Now that this freak genius had run to the comprehensive area, did he have astounding potential there as well?
An indifferent smile crossed the face of the examiner who’d been against blacklisting Jiang Chen to begin with. “It looks like our plan of blacklisting him is about to become a complete joke.”
The others had nothing to say to these words.
Indeed, if the secular genius could also farm points in the comprehensive area, then their grand plan of blacklisting him was truly an utter joke.
How could one ban him then? If he could only request missions seven times in each area, he just needed to rotate among the various areas to continue his plan to grind out points.
If that was the case, the only way to ban him would be to restrict him from requesting missions entirely and ban him from participating.
But everyone knew that was impossible.
They were well aware that the current restrictions were already quite shameless and in complete violation of the principles of fair competition.
If they restricted him from participating, what could he do next? He might as well withdraw from the selection entirely.
What was more, they’d also tragically discovered that with this candidate’s strong potential, he had no true need to keep playing with the four great sects.
Even if this kind of genius youth left the sixteen kingdom alliance and went to a bigger place, he would have no shortage of people interested in him!
The examiner’s look had a few traces of mockery in it as his gaze swept across the faces of each of the examiners’.
“Everyone, do you plan on continuing your ban and push such a secular genius completely out of the sixteen kingdom alliance? Or do you cancel the blacklisting and return a fair treatment to him?”
The Purple Sun Sect examiner spoke through gritted teeth, “We should carry this through, no matter the consequences. Since we’ve already set on our course. If we retreat, he won’t feel indebted to us. We might as well greatly increase our suppression.”
Even the other examiners looked greatly awkward with these words.
The examiner with the cold look started laughing. “Have you gone mad? Increase our suppression? How? Do you plan on taking the field yourself to oppress him?”
“There’s no need for me. I just need to open my mouth and give those preeminent geniuses a chance to challenge him. I trust those geniuses will do the job cleanly and swiftly.”
The Purple Sun Sect examiner smiled sinisterly.
The other examiners contemplated his words, but didn’t say anything.
What they’d done before was indeed out of line. If they continued down this path, it really would be too unfair to the secular genius.
But on the other hand, if they didn’t do so, then this secular genius’ insane momentum would be completely unstoppable.
As time went on, all the sect geniuses would be so trampled that they wouldn’t be able to lift their heads. This would be an enormous loss to the four great sects.
At the end of the day, the examiners were people from the sects.
They all had their own selfish thoughts and didn’t wish for their sect’s geniuses to be completely eclipsed by the appearance of a secular genius.
Once a prodigal genius was overshadowed by another and unable to deploy their own potential to their heart’s content, then their path of martial dao would become winding and twisted.
“Do so in a concealed manner. Us examiners should indeed not continue to pile up restrictions or bans. If we do so, we really will become the laughingstock of the land.”
“Indeed, we should’ve told them to resolve their own issues before. We did not fully think through our interference.”
When the aloof examiner heard that they wanted to go from public suppression to moves in the shadows, he too gave an inward sigh.
He was unable to wrench the situation around with his power alone.
……
In a secluded corner in the Eternal Spirit Mountain.
An old man with flowing, long, white hair, exuding an ethereal, detached air, was standing with his hands behind his back, looking down at the mountains and gullies beneath his feet with a furrowed brow and a profound gaze.
His expression was solemn as he seemed to have sunk into an anxious mood.
A young girl in pale green clothes, not too far away from him, was lying on a patch of shrubbery. The girl seemed like a mountain elf amidst the haziness of the mountain mist, as if a fairy in the world of men, giving one an otherworldly feeling.
The old man’s gaze would glance at her every now and then, boundless love and anxiety clear within his eyes.
“Sigh. There’s been three occurrences in the last year. The healer once said that if they progressed to three times a month, Huang’er life will be in danger. Villainous heavens! Huang’er is such a pure and kind girl, with no quarrel with the world, why is she the one to be afflicted with such evil luck?”
The old man sighed in his heart, pained by his inability and worried about the girl’s sickness.
The old man was naturally the resident expert at the Hall of Healing in the Eastern Kingdom, Elder Shun, and the young girl was Huang’er.
Elder Shun had been keeping an eye on Jiang Chen since the Eastern Kingdom, identifying him as the one the clues in old man Qian Ji’s divination pointed to, the one who held the cure to healing Huang’er’s sickness.
Therefore, he’d kept his eye on Jiang Chen all along the way.
It had been Elder Shun who’d helped Jiang Chen from the shadows when he’d almost lost his life to Chu Xinghan at the Second Crossing.
He’d also covertly followed Jiang Chen to the Skylaurel Kingdom when the latter journeyed there.
And now that Jiang Chen had entered the legacy territory of ancient times for testing, Elder Shun had brought Huang’er into the Eternal Spirit Mountain two months ago.
That was when Jiang Chen had entered the sky quadrant.
This territory was heavily guarded, and there were four origin realm cultivators in residence. Logically speaking, the defenses were supposed to be so strong that a water splash would be unable to make it in.
However, Elder Shun had used some sort of amazing ability to enter this area as easily as walking into his own backyard, and he’d followed Jiang Chen all the way to the Eternal Spirit Mountain.
The four origin realm cultivators were present here, but they couldn’t sense this duo at all.
It was as if the latter two were part of the mountain.
Many matters weighed heavily on the old man’s mind. Huang’er’s sickness seemed to be occurring with increasing frequency in recent years. This made Elder Shun feel an increasing sense of urgency.
“Jiang Chen, ah Jiang Chen. If you’re not the clue in old man Qian Ji’s divination, then you really will have killed me, and Huang’er’s life will have been put in danger because of you. Even though this is just my one sided yearning, I really do hope that you’re the one in the divination.”
Elder Shun sighed lightly in his heart. He was caught between a rock and a hard place now, and could only hedge his bet on Jiang Chen.
“This selection is simply too long. Three years, I need to wait a full three years, but who knows what’ll happen to Huang’er’s sickness in the meantime? Huang’er can’t afford the wait, and neither can I.”
Elder Shun had the urge to just grab Jiang Chen, but with his understanding of Jiang Chen’s personality, he knew that this would likely backfire on him if he did so.
There was an enormous power hidden within this young man’s body, a type of power that no amount of domineering force could subdue.
Elder Shun admired that trait, and knew that he would never succeed with force.
Even though Elder Shun had been a bystander, his understanding of Jiang Chen was like the back of his hand!
Jiang Chen was wearing a mask, specific robes, and his face and voice had been altered.
Even the four great origin realm forefathers didn’t recognize him, while even people beside him like Dan Fei had been unable to confirm his identity at first. However, Elder Shun had identified Jiang Chen as soon as he’d arrived in the sky quadrant.
He’d watched all of the various suppression tactics that had descended on Jiang Chen’s head as he’d streaked forward in the sky quadrant.
“From the four origin realm practitioners down to the examiners in the sixteen kingdoms—all idiots. They cast aside and ignore such a wonderful genius, yet hold this kind of boring selection. They reject those within reach and seek that which is far away. How idiotic. What’s even more idiotic, the sky quadrant examiners weren’t overjoyed at discovering the treasure that was this genius, but instead decided to harshly suppress him. Are their brains made of bean curd dregs?”
Elder Shun didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He was speechless at the people of the sixteen kingdom alliance.
“I truly cannot wait three years. Jiang Chen, don’t blame me for ruining your tempo. I can wait for you for half a year at most. Huang’er’s sickness cannot be delayed.”
Elder Shun murmured to himself, feeling slightly apologetic when he mentioned Jiang Chen’s name.
He too knew that with the advantages of the Eternal Spirit Mountain, this was the best timing for Jiang Chen to cultivate and progress immensely. He shouldn’t ruin Jiang Chen’s rhythm. If he could cultivate for a full three years, Elder Shun firmly believed that Jiang Chen would crush all the so-called geniuses of the four great sects.
At that time, the only one who could barely pose a threat to him would be that girl with the innate constitution.
If it wasn’t for Huang’er’s illness, Elder Shun would’ve been willing to wait a decade or two, much less three years.
He also wanted to witness how this young genius rose to power.
It was a pity that time waited for no one!