“That…” Ziju Min traded a look with the first prime. They were stunned by the sheer magnitude of the number. Of the six hundred orbs in the trial, Jiang Chen’s team had nearly half of them!

“First Prime, Elder Ziju. That’s the number we tallied up before we came out. We counted a couple of times, just to make sure,” confirmed Wu You of his own volition.

The prime and the elder both knew that Wu You was a conscientious youth. He almost never made anything up.

“How in the world did you get so many?” Ziju Min found it incredible still. He wasn’t imaginative enough to figure out exactly how Jiang Chen had managed such a feat.

“We didn’t get any of them unfairly. Still, Gan Ning and I only helped a little with some errands, and we sometimes caused trouble of our own for senior brother Jiang Chen. Senior brother deserves most of the credit.” Wu You was quite honest about his involvement.

“You didn’t get the orbs unfairly?” Ziju Min was baffled. “If you got all of the orbs fairly, how did you get so many? Plus, the rules don’t ban you from using foul means as well as fair. As long as you didn’t kill anyone, you could do whatever you like.”

Wu You sighed. “About that… senior brother deserves a lot of respect. He never looked for anyone to rob. He only took care of a bunch of would-be robbers that wanted to take our orbs and returned their favors. A couple teams from Flora and Polylore were beaten up that way…”

“Senior brother did a lot of work in this competition,” Gan Ning added with enthusiasm. “Poison Consort Shi Qinglu is pretty famous, isn’t she? But she’s like a beginner in front of the senior brother when it comes to her area of expertise. She couldn’t do anything. Lu Mingye was pretty rude just now, but he too only dared peek from a distance rather than approach. Senior brother Jiang Chen has scared the living daylights out of him…”

Since Gan Ning was a good storyteller, Jiang Chen left him to his devices.

The first prime and Ziju Min greatly approved of how Jiang Chen had conducted himself.

He’d taken a hardline stance against those from Flora and Polylore because he wasn’t afraid of upsetting them. The more neutral and swayable factions’ geniuses, on the other hand, were gently chastised in order to maintain good relations.

“Well done,” Ziju Min praised. “There should be no question about Jiang Chen’s victory then, First Prime.”

If he had nearly half of all the orbs there were, it would be very strange for him to place anywhere else.

It was finally time for the sacred lands’ executives to gather together and determine the scores.

It was obvious that Lu Mingye was really fired up. Enormous pride in success flashed across his eyes. He had it in the bag even before the results were revealed.

From a distance, Gan Ning muttered disdainfully, “That Lu Mingye! He thinks he’s some hotshot because he got a few orbs in the last couple of days. When he finds out about how well our team did, I’d like to see him keep his smile.”

“Heh, unless he has every remaining orb, he’s not going to win.” Wu You was confident about Lu Mingye’s failure.

The Flora genius was skilled. Perhaps he’d done a lot in the final few days. However, he had robbed everyone who was weaker than him at most. The geniuses that were his equals or betters would have a fair few orbs themselves.

“All of the teams should be ready by now. Submit your orbs according to the designated order. Remember, this concerns your competition results as well as being important in the future. Please hold on to the orbs you really have rather than attempting petty trickery.”

Jiang Chen and his teammates lined up to wait their turn.

Many inquired at Gan Ning’s irrepressible smile. “Hey, Gan Ning, you look rather happy. Did you do well for yourself?”

Gan Ning loved hearing remarks like that. He had never fared too well among the best geniuses. In fact, he had often been ignored in the past.

The fact that so many people were actively talking to him, some in a deferential manner, was immensely satisfying. He was benefiting from his association with his senior brother, but that didn’t matter.

On the other side, Lu Mingye’s team was lined up as well. His sinister gaze swept Jiang Chen and his two companions like a viper’s. Right now, they were the only ones he felt threatened by.

He didn’t have much time to fill his mind with idle thoughts before it came to his team’s turn to submit their orbs.

Lu Mingye’s team had gathered a tremendous number of orbs. The two junior members had twenty or so each, while Lu Mingye himself took out six times that much. Added together, the entire team had more than a hundred and sixty orbs.

A large number of the other teams were in an uproar over what they’d just witnessed.

No wonder a lot of the teams had come out with a pitiable number of orbs. Two, in fact, had submitted zero altogether. They’d apparently been robbed blind just before exiting.  

“Good heavens, this Lu Mingye really is something. His team got a hundred sixty orbs by itself! Surely they’re the champions!”

“I always thought the poison consort was the Flora Sacred Land’s best genius. Perhaps that was a misunderstanding. Lu Mingye is clearly better!”

“He’ll be number one across all ten sacred lands soon, won’t he?”

Lu Mingye had a surprising number of supporters, some of them freshly gathered on the spot.

Lu Mingye’s team had more than five times the average number of orbs.  It was a truly shocking revelation.

An imperceptible smile curled at the corner of Gan Ning’s mouth. If Jiang Chen hadn’t instructed him to keep things close to the ground and civil, he would have begun to boast on the spot.

Even so, he was bursting with joy. Lu Mingye’s beaming face only made him all the more excited.

“It’s our turn, senior brother,” he announced delightedly.

The executive judges smiled at Jiang Chen and his teammates as they approached. “Take out your orbs and tell us how many you have. We will record your numbers.”

“I am Gan Ning of the Eternal Sacred Land. I have twenty-eight orbs.” Gan Ning intentionally spoke as loudly as he could muster.

As soon as he said these words, Lu Mingye’s team collectively trembled, whipping around to look at him.

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