Lu Mingye was inwardly surprised, but didn’t lose his bearings because of it. Yes, his opponent was strong, but his confidence wasn’t diminished in any way.
He examined Jiang Chen thoughtfully for a moment. “Jiang Chen,” he declared, “you’ve been talked about all over Myriad Abyss for the past few years. They all say you’re the best genius of our generation. Don’t you feel embarra.s.sed at being called that?”
Jiang Chen didn’t expect such a bizarre angle. He’d expected Lu Mingye to defend Qin You and the others, or perhaps the Flora Sacred Land. Instead, his every word was tinged with personal jealousy.
The Eternal genius burst into laughter. He didn’t exactly want Myriad Abyss to be so attentive to his actions either. He didn’t care about that kind of fame.
Perhaps the Eternal Sacred Land enjoyed the boost in reputation. Perhaps they were even the ones responsible for it.
It was very positive to announce one’s excellence in young geniuses to the world. This was especially true for an ambitious sacred land that wanted leaders.h.i.+p and authority.
Qin You and his cronies moaned when they caught sight of their senior brother. “Senior brother Lu, you have to avenge us! That Jiang Chen kid is really vicious! He stole our stuff and hurt us for no reason… help us, senior brother!”
Lu Mingye was unmoved. He was a very proud youth and quite disliked the pathetic display his peers were putting on. They brought dishonor to the Flora name.
“Jiang Chen, it seems you don’t plan on giving up your t.i.tle of being the best. Maybe I should just take it from you.” He stared provocatively at his chosen opponent.
Jiang Chen smiled faintly. “You’re not even the best genius in the Flora Sacred Land, Lu Mingye. Don’t you think you’re biting off more than you can chew by wanting to be the best in Myriad Abyss?”
This was a pain point for Lu Mingye, one of the things he hated to be mentioned the most.
He was understandably furious.
“It’s not your place to chatter on about the affairs of the Flora Sacred Land, kid! I’m going to trample you underfoot and take your fame for myself!” Lu Mingye’s voice was frigid.
“A nice idea. What a shame that it’ll only stay that way. It won’t be too late for you to challenge me after you become the best in your own sacred land either. Why don’t you tell the rest of your pals to come out?”
“What pals?” Lu Mingye snickered. “I’m the only one here. I will step on you today!”
Jiang Chen’s smile widened. “You’re not worthy,” he shook his head. “Though you want to deny it, it’s written all over your face. You’ve been second place your entire life, and you’ll always come in second! You’ve never been the top in your own sacred land, so I’m not sure why you’re daydreaming about becoming number one in all of Myriad Abyss!”
A few exchanged words had imparted to him the thorn in Lu Mingye’s heart. Poison Consort s.h.i.+ Qinglu, no doubt.
Jiang Chen had a rather good idea of what was going on based on his opponents’ order of appearance.
If Lu Mingye was the strongest, he would’ve shown up last. Because s.h.i.+ Qinglu hadn’t made her presence known yet, he was clearly ranked below his unseen peer.
This was a very exploitable weakness.
Lu Mingye’s handsome face iced over. He was incensed by what Jiang Chen was insinuating. His anger burned even hotter when he saw what happened next.
Jiang Chen ignored him completely, walking right by him to head deeper into the forest.
“Wait, where are you going?!” he shouted angrily.
“I’m looking for the person who has my junior brother. You can go play elsewhere.” Jiang Chen’s leisurely tone radiated contempt for the other genius.
It was more than Lu Mingye could bear.
“I swear that I’ll give you a real beating today, kid!” His face contorted with rage.
Nevertheless, Jiang Chen was completely unmoved. He proceeded onwards without hesitation.
Lu Mingye exploded. He stormed over, attempting to stop Jiang Chen in his tracks.
However, Jiang Chen was incredibly fast. His Kunpeng Meteoric Escape propelled him forward in a ray of light, disappearing right before Lu Mingye’s eyes.
Whenever Lu Mingye felt like he’d just caught up, Jiang Chen would be a mile out in the next instant. When this kept repeating itself, Lu Mingye realized that he couldn’t reach his enemy no matter how hard he tried.
As one of Flora’s brightest, he was sensible enough to calm down.
“Jiang Chen, everyone else says you’re some kind of hero, but I only see a coward who’s running away. Are you such a wimp that the only thing you can do is run?” Lu Mingye tried his hand at getting a rise out of his opponent.
Jiang Chen wasn’t going to fall for such an obvious tactic. He felt no qualms whatsoever ignoring the feeble attempt at stopping him.
Lu Mingye grew more and more anxious. They were almost at s.h.i.+ Qinglu’s domain.
She had authority over jurisdiction of that place. He would no longer have the right to fight. He had an agreement with her that if he could beat Jiang Chen before the Eternal genius got to her, then she would refrain from partic.i.p.ating.
However, the reverse was also true. If Lu Mingye couldn’t stop Jiang Chen’s advance, s.h.i.+ Qinglu would be the only one allowed to fight him. Any orbs acquired as spoils would be hers alone.
Though the two geniuses were from the same faction, they competed against each other nonetheless. They both knew that Jiang Chen was sure to have a large number of orbs. Winning would also considerably add to the honor of the victor.
Regardless of how anxious Lu Mingye was though, he could not close the gap between Jiang Chen and himself.
Lu Mingye sighed internally. He had not expected his ambush to be such a failure. He had let Jiang Chen go right in front of his eyes, without so much as touching a hair on the other genius’s head.
“Jiang Chen, I’m warning you, if you fight me fairly here, you won’t be too badly off even if you lose. If you’re foolish enough to proceed, you’ll definitely regret it!” Lu Mingye nearly blurted out the poison consort’s name outright.
Jiang Chen smiled serenely. “Brother Lu, thank you very much for the reminder. You mean to tell me that s.h.i.+ Qinglu awaits further in, is that right?”
Lu Mingye shuddered. As he was about to argue, an aloof voice sounded from the distance. “You told me you would cut Jiang Chen off, Lu Mingye, but you haven’t done much other than tell him off.”
The pitch of the voice was chilling to the bone.