Though Jiang Chen didn’t much like Sui Chen’s moral character, he couldn’t simply let a peer to languish. The same went for this Wei Yong.

Peers were supposed to help each other, regardless of their flaws.

“Aren’t you on Sui Chen’s team, Wei Yong? Why are you by yourself?” he asked coolly and straightforwardly.

A hint of difficulty appeared on Wei Yong’s face. “Sui Chen is in big trouble,” he smiled wryly. “I heard you were nearby, senior brother Jiang Chen, so I fled without paying heed to the consequences to come ask you for help.”

“This is only a trial. Even if he’s in some trouble, his life is hardly in danger. What can possibly warrant all this?” Jiang Chen chuckled with deliberate laziness.

“Ah, senior brother, there’s something you don’t know!” Wei Yong replied hurriedly. “Our team was stopped by another. They asked us to hand over our orbs.”

“So, did you hand them over?” Jiang Chen inquired with a smile.

“No! What right do they have to take the orbs we worked for? Plus...” Wei Yong trailed off.

“Keep going,” Jiang Chen waved.

“Senior brother, this affects you as well. Many sacred lands seem to have come to an unspoken agreement to oppose Eternal. They want to create some competition for us, you see. The more orbs they have, the harder it’ll be for you to take first place.”

𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Jiang Chen laughed without reservation.

Harder for him to take first place?He knew that he had enough orbs to all but guarantee victory. Unless all the other orbs were in one team’s hands, first place was as good as his.

And was that possibility even remotely realistic? Not at all.

There were sixty geniuses in twenty teams. No genius of a sacred land would be content to be the background for any other.

Everyone wanted to show off in this international competition. It was one thing if they couldn’t keep their orbs from being taken by another, but the best geniuses were far too proud to just freely hand theirs over.

This was a simple fact of human nature. Jiang Chen was absolutely sure of this.

Wei Yong’s words were intentionally provocative, aimed to drag Jiang Chen to his aid.

Wu You could see Wei Yong’s ulterior motives at play as well.

“We’re not fools, Wei Yong,” he frowned. “Keep your scheming to yourself. You think they can stop us from winning? In your dreams!”

“I’m curious, though,” Gan Ning laughed. “Sui Chen isn’t exactly weak. In the ten sacred lands, only a few can decisively win against him, right?”

That number that could be counted on two hands.

Wei Yong knew the jig was up. “Excuse my impudence,” he said with some embarrassment. “Sui Chen is caught by the holy girls of Radiance and Sunrise: Yao Guang and Si Tong.”

“I assume Sui Chen thought too highly of his looks, eh? He tried flirting with them?” Gan Ning’s tone was rather prickly.

“No, no, it wasn’t like that!” Wei Tong argued hastily. “Senior brother Sui Chen just wanted to say hello, but they suddenly turned on him...”

“Those two sacred lands were once a single faction. They separated at some point, but they’re extremely well-connected still. Yao Guang and Si Tong are like sisters to one another. If Sui Chen made a pass at one of them, that’ll make them both angry,” sneered Gan Ning. “He can deal with his womanizing problems himself. Senior brother Jiang Chen won’t be able to help him with that.”

Wei Yong was ghastly afraid that Jiang Chen would give him the cold shoulder because of what Gan Ning had said. “Senior brother Jiang Chen,” he begged, “the two holy girls are adamant that they’ll keep senior brother Sui Chen locked up until the trial ends. All of our orbs are with him! Imagine how many the holy girls will have if they get them from him?”

Jiang Chen shrugged with nonchalance.

How many orbs could Radiance and Sunrise possibly have, even if all of their geniuses added theirs together?

His team had over two hundred orbs right now. It was impossible to find another that could claim to have more. However, regardless of Sui Chen’s character, they were peers.

If Jiang Chen refused to assist now, he would have a hard time later answering to the first prime. It was expected to lend a helping hand to one’s peers in their time of need.

“Come on then. Lead the way. I’ll go take a look. But if the two holy girls really won’t release him, I’m not sure there’s anything I can do otherwise.” Jiang Chen uttered an appropriate disclaimer beforehand.

“Oh, no. If you come, senior brother, the two holy girls are sure to release Sui Chen. If even the poison consort can’t defeat you, how can anyone else possibly imagine otherwise?”

Clearly, Shi Qinglu was more renowned in the ten sacred lands than the two holy girls.

“Senior brother,” Gan Ning advised, “you can present yourself and your case. However, those from Radiance and Sunrise are generally quite aloof. We should be as courteous as possible in our words and actions. These two holy girls are highly ranked among the sixteen beauties and are rather unapproachable because of it.”

More golden hairpins?

Jiang Chen knew that this was going to be just as hard as rescuing Wu You.

With Wu You’s situation, he had had a definite idea to defeat the poison consort and save the former from her clutches.

In comparison, these two holy girls had only temporarily arrested Sui Chen. Sui Chen was also just Jiang Chen’s peer and not a teammate.

Jiang Chen could help him – or, he could say that it was none of his business.

If he did want to intervene, the two holy girls from two different sacred lands would surely band together against him. Since he was alone, he wouldn’t be able to guarantee victory without using one of his strongest trump cards.

Moreover, because Eternal desired to lead the alliance, angering Radiance and Sunrise at this juncture was disadvantageous to its ambitions.

The more he thought about it, the stupider this Sui Chen seemed. Rather than contributing, he was a liability to his faction.

Jiang Chen came to a decision. As long as the two holy girls were remotely reasonable, he would maintain as much cordiality as possible.

“Senior brother,” Wu You transmitted, “this affair is quite odd. We’re heading there to rescue Sui Chen, but we must be wary of the possibility that he’s the bait to a trap.”

Having suffered very recently, Wu You was now extraordinarily cautious.