Chapter 378: I’ll Make the Rules One Day
Word of the examiners’ accord quickly traveled out.
One of their representatives came to find Jiang Chen at his residence, explaining everything to him.
Jiang Chen was taken aback, and his tone suddenly dropped when he finished listening to the examiner. “Master examiner, to make things simple, you mean that I can’t continue requesting missions in the pill area in the future, is that so?”
“Indeed. You’ll be able to spend only a week out of a month in the pill area in the future. This is an decision reached by all the examiners after thorough discussion.” The examiner nodded and was quite forthright about things. He didn’t worry that this secular genius would have any backlash. Since it was a decision by the collective whole, there was nothing to be done even if he felt strongly about it.
Jiang Chen smiled coldly, “So even though I haven’t broken the rules, you can just suppress me whenever you want to, is it?”
“Don’t think too much about it. Although it’s a bit unfair to you, this is also for the greater picture. Besides, it’s a sort of protection for you as well.”
“Protection?” Jiang Chen laughed. “Judging from this, I might actually be in trouble instead if you all hadn’t done this?”
“Think about it from the long-term perspective. Do you want to become the hated enemy of all geniuses? Do you wish to be public enemy number one? I trust that your goal is to join one of the four great sects. You don’t want to offend all the geniuses of your future sect before you even join it, right?”
The examiner was also displeased to see that Jiang Chen hadn’t accepted his words with good humor. You’re just a mere secular cultivator, how can you be so insensible?
Jiang Chen laughed jeeringly in his anger and nodded lightly. “I understand, so if anyone surpa.s.ses the so-called geniuses, that means they’ve given offense? This is the highest criteria of the four sects’ selection in that those so-called geniuses mustn’t come off worse in any exchange, huh?”
“Think whatever you want to think.” The examiner’s expression hardened. “Remember, you are but one of many, and going along with the flow is the wise choice in the face of the greater picture. My words end here, you digest them yourself. Regardless, you can only request seven missions in the area of pills in the future. No one will give you any missions if you go beyond this number. Whether you accept this or not, this is the final result.”
These words were the final ultimatum.
The examiner turned to leave after he finished.
Jiang Chen’s eyebrow arched as his projecting voice transformed all the qi throughout his body into a surge of fury to the heavens. “Remember, there is no so-called greater picture. Those so-called geniuses that all of you are incessantly scheming to protect will be under my foot one day in the future! Whether you accept this or not, that will be the final outcome!”
Jiang Chen felt that he had a good temper, but he’d been thoroughly enraged this time.
He’d always kept a low profile and tried to not attract any trouble, silently commencing his great plan of farming points.
Sadly, the trees may prefer the calm but the winds will not subside.
His low profile had earned him all sorts of bullying and oppression instead.
The examiners were even publicly restricting him with these ludicrous reasons.
To be honest, if the examiners had modified the rules and applied them to everyone, Jiang Chen might not have been so angry then.
But these modifications were being applied to him exclusively. This obviously meant that they wanted to suppress him. How could he possibly take this lying down?
Even a Buddha made from clay would possess some temper, much less Jiang Chen.
The examiner’s body halted slightly as he heard these words and responded faintly without turning his head, “If you really do that one day, then the rules of the four great sects will also be able to change for you.”
“Change for me?” Jiang Chen laughed coldly. “You’re wrong. When that day comes, I’ll be the one to make the rules.”
Although Jiang Chen was burning with rage, he’d yet to lose his reason. He knew that the examiners dared to so blatantly suppress him because he was just a secular genius. Compared to the emotions of all the sect geniuses, it was apparent from a glance what direction the scales should tip in.
The examiner started and smiled coldly, mentally relegating Jiang Chen to a lunatic voicing nonsense out of a daydream. Secular cultivators are country b.u.mpkins alright, they only know to puff themselves up and overestimate their abilities.
Word of the examiners’ restrictions on Jiang Chen made the rounds at first light.
Fervent discussion immediately arose in the sky quadrant once again. Most candidates were all baying with praise, thinking that the examiners were unparalleled in their justness.
There were a few candidates who retained their rationality however, and felt pity for Jiang Chen. This was the harsh world of the sects.
Rules were often used to only restrict the weak and favor the strong.
“Haha, this is to all of our immense satisfaction! Let’s see how he farms points now. He’ll be slapped back to his original form now huh?”
“Absolutely. Secular cultivators have limited potential in the end. Taking such an unorthodox path, he won’t amount to much in the end. At the end of the day, the selection is still a game in which only sect geniuses likes us are allowed to play.”
“Heh heh, they’ll all be able to sleep easily tonight huh?”
“I pity the secular genius, I bet he probably wants to hang himself right now, hmm? Hahaha, he was just a mere shooting star in the end, vanis.h.i.+ng after a flash.”
All sorts of similar talk suffused the sky quadrant. There were all sorts of delight in Jiang Chen’s misery and kicking him when he was down formed an atmosphere of excitement after successfully suppressing him.
“A bunch of cowards, despicable!” Chu Xinghan viciously slashed down in the empty air in a residence somewhere, giving rise to vicious spirit power ripples.
“Unable to defeat others and resorting to threatening the examiners to change the rules with the intent of suppression instead, this kind of selection is truly ludicrous.” Rage also burned in Chu Xinghan’s heart.
He too felt it odd. As a disciple of Master Shuiyue, he should be standing in the camp of oppressing Jiang Chen.
However, a flame of fury burning in his heart not only made him not feel proud about this, but the hot fires of anger all of a sudden made the entire selection seem pointless and boring.
“However, I’m truly curious. Will Jiang Chen be finished for good, or will he rise again in the face of adverse circ.u.mstances?” The light of deep contemplation shot out from Chu Xinghan’s eyes, ones that were as bright as the stars.
…...
“Shameless, despicable, contemptible, filthy!” Tang Hong rushed to Jiang Chen’s residence immediately after hearing of the happenings and started cursing loudly, indignant on Jiang Chen’s behalf.
“Boss, these people are ridiculous! They’re afraid that your score will catch up to them and so they pressured the examiners. This is absolutely oppression!” Tang Hong’s face was beet red with outrage.
How would Jiang Chen not know that this was oppression and true persecution?
However, his emotions had long since returned to the state of being impervious to desires and pa.s.sions. Oppression? Persecution? That’s right, but can this break me, Jiang Chen?
Absolutely not!
Jiang Chen swallowed his rage and laughed coldly. “Don’t be agitated Tang Hong. This at least proves one point.”
“What is that?” Tang Hong started when he saw Jiang Chen able to chat so leisurely and in such good spirits. He seemed to be wholly unaffected. Tang Hong was quite baffled by this.
“It’s very simple. The more they do things like this, the more uneasy they feel. The so-called geniuses aren’t nearly as confident as they’re projecting.”
Jiang Chen’s tone was calm as he smiled elegantly. “Perhaps they think that they can keep me down with actions like these, but their uneasiness will leave a crack behind in their fragile hearts. When they realize that all sorts of methods will be unable to suppress me, those cracks will turn into internal demons and consume them, disturbing their dao hearts.”
Tang Hong was stunned. He felt that these words made a lot of sense. However, he didn’t seem to quite understand them either. He was a direct guy and didn’t have so many twists and turns in him.
“Boss, does this mean you’re alright with accepting this?” Tang Hong was a bit dejected.
“I accept it, but I’m not alright with it. I accept the current situation, but there will come a day that I will return it back to them tenfold in spades!”
Jiang Chen said to Tang Hong after this, “Go back first, I’m going to train now.”
He suddenly felt that he should actually thank these idiotic examiners. Thanks to this round of suppression, they’d trans.m.u.ted into motivation for him that helped him find a slight sliver of inspiration.
This inspiration actually caused the shackles of his fourth level spirit realm to exhibit great signs of cracking open. These were the omens of breaking through to the fifth level spirit realm!
When Tang Hong saw this, he looked at Jiang Chen with bloodshot eyes and took his leave. He cursed all along his way back.
His voice thundered up to the heavens, and his aura was astounding.
Since he was unable to salvage anything for Jiang Chen, he could only use this kind of method to vent some ill temper for his boss. His curses were very ear piercing and direct.
“Geniuses? Bulls.h.i.+t! Tattling and crying like a snot nosed kid to the examiners when they can’t beat someone. You are all cowards! Vermin!!”
“Hahaha! It turns out that these so-called geniuses are all cowards afraid of compet.i.tion. Interesting, how interesting! Chicken-hearted yet pretending to be deep and mysterious. What geniuses? Absolute s.h.i.+t! No wonder the four great sects are besieged on all sides and the position of the sixteen kingdom alliance hanging by a thread! Is it all because of these wusses that there are no real geniuses here?”
Although Tang Hong was a direct guy, he was quite talented when it came to insulting others. He was raging down the path like a harlot shrieking on the streets. Add to that his naturally loud voice, he only felt somewhat placated when he’d loudly circled the residence area three times.
None of those geniuses were deaf, they could all hear him clearly. But they were indeed feeling guilty, and whoever jumped out to refute him now would be testifying to that fact.
Therefore, although they burned with rage, no one dared jump out.
Jiang Chen on the other hand, remained oblivious to the happenings of the outside world. He had already fully immersed himself into the world of the fifth level martial dao.
He’d charged through the shackles of the fourth level spirit realm like a collapsing dam. Endless power surged into his spirit ocean as he finally broke through and entered the fifth level.
Hoo!
He opened his eyes a few hours later as a beam of wisdom shot through his clear eyes. “It seems that this suppression isn’t without benefit, hmm? It provided me an opportunity to break through in one go. It looks like all matters have a cause and effect. Disaster and fortune go hand in hand, and all is naturally ordained in the heavens.”
Inspiration regarding all his various divine arts flowed after his breakthrough endlessly, making Jiang Chen engross himself further into training with satisfaction.