Gan Ning scoffed and purposefully didn’t say anything in response. 

What a fool! He doesn’t deserve to be the top of the Five Great Gentleman with his small-mindedness!

A hundred orbs was nothing. That wasn’t enough to slot anyone in for the championship.

Sui Chen interpreted their silence as having less than a hundred orbs. He sneered, “You dare talk about getting first place when you don’t even have a hundred? Do you think it’s enough to have sixty or seventy orbs?”

Annoyed, Gan Ning retorted, “You’re the top of the Five Great Gentleman, senior brother Sui Chen. In theory, you should be Eternal’s role model. Tell me, how many orbs do 

you 

have?”

Sui Chen froze. That hit him where it hurt the most. His voice descended.

“Hmph, I had a good enough number, and I got every one of them through legitimate means! Unlike a certain someone, who robbed innocent people and tarnished Eternal’s reputation.”

Sui Chen cast the first stone to cover up his mortification.

Wu You frowned. “You shouldn’t be spreading rumors, senior brother Sui Chen. If you have something to say, say it outright. Don’t make insinuations. We all know who embarrassed Eternal and damaged its reputation in the competition. Do you need me to set the record straight?”

Sui Chen had always been jealous of Jiang Chen. He scoffed when Wu You and Gan Ning jumped to defend Jiang Chen without being told, like good little slaves.

“You rank second among the Five Great Gentlemen, Wu You. Have you stooped so low that you have to wag your tail at Jiang Chen like a little dog?” Sui Chen’s tone dripped with venom.

Wu You’s face clouded. “You’re just asking for humiliation, Sui Chen. Need I remind you how you tried to flirt with the holy girls but ended up captured for your rudeness? Should I advertise how senior brother Jiang Chen accepted their challenges and won your release? How you claim that the holy girls took all the orbs so that you can take all of your teammates’ orbs?”

His words were cutting. Sui Chen’s face turned a dark red.

“Bullshit! I didn’t need your help! They wouldn’t have hurt me even if you had done nothing! Murder is explicitly prohibited. They could at most ground me by ganging up on me. They couldn’t have killed me. I didn’t need saving!” Sui Chen blatantly twisted the truth.

Wei Yong lowered his head, shamefaced. He couldn’t believe the person in front of him was the senior brother he’d always admired.

Sui Chen

 had been the one telling him to seek out Jiang Chen for help. How could he deny the facts and even cast the blame on Jiang Chen? That just crossed a line!

Jiang Chen had saved Sui Chen and helped him regain freedom. Otherwise, the two holy girls could’ve made him suffer greatly.

The first prime looked at Jiang Chen, then at Sui Chen. “Members of the same faction should support each other, Sui Chen. Only a petty man mocks his peers. Besides, you should be grateful if it was Jiang Chen who saved you. It’s unbecoming of you to twist the truth.”

She was still a fair and just leader, and she was clever enough to piece together what had happened thanks to the expressions of Wei Yong and the others.

“How many orbs do you have, Sui Chen?” she asked. “Be honest.”

“None. The two holy girls took all of them.” Sui Chen seemed determined to stick to his story.

Jiang Chen paused. 

Is it true that Sui Chen doesn’t have any orbs? 

Had the two holy girls lied to him?

His instincts told him that this wasn’t the case. Sui Chen wasn’t giving a false statement.

Nonetheless, Sui Chen wouldn’t have said he had no orbs if he had any. After all, that would determine the team’s score and his personal score.

Perhaps Jiang Chen’s original speculations were right. Sui Chen had lost his orbs in the last three days. They had been taken by someone other than the two holy girls after he left the valley.

Wei Yong couldn’t believe his ears. “Many of the orbs were ours, senior brother Sui Chen!” he blurted out. “How did you lose them? Please tell us so that I know how I lost.”

He didn’t know what to believe, but he was beginning to suspect Sui Chen.

The two holy girls really didn’t seem like liars. If they’d wanted the orbs, they could’ve kept Sui Chen captive until the end of the competition. Then his orbs would automatically be theirs.

It didn’t make any sense for them to let him go and

 then

 take his orbs.

Sui Chen shot Wei Yong a glare. “You don’t believe me?”

Wei Yong pursed his lips. “This isn’t right, senior brother. I put in a lot of effort to get the orbs too. I bled and sweat for them. If someone took them from you, you should tell me the truth. As far as I know, the two holy girls didn’t take any of our orbs. Who did you lose them to?”

“It’s them!” Sui Chen lied blatantly. “The two girls lied to you! They’re ambitious and want first place!”

Their conversation was interrupted by a burst of laughter from the Flora’s group. “It’s Sui Chen, isn’t it? Thank you for the generous offer of thirty orbs in the last two days. I’ll remember your contribution if I manage to get first place.”

It was Lu Mingye.

After Shi Qinglu suffered her defeat and gave up on winning the competition, Lu Mingye rose to the top and became Flora’s strongest contestant.

Over the past few days, he’d accumulated a good number of orbs through coercion and every trick one could think of. He too wanted first place.

In his opinion, Shi Qinglu was no longer a threat. If he became the champion, he would lead Flora in the future.

That was why he stepped in when he noticed Sui Chen arguing with his peers at Eternal. This was too good an opportunity to pass up. He mocked and provoked Sui Chen, thus humiliating Eternal and escalating its infighting.

Sui Chen’s face flushed red with mortification.

After all the accusations he’d levied at the two holy girls, Lu Mingye had exposed his lies with a simple sentence. It was a stab to his chest and a slap to his face.

He couldn’t be more humiliated.

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