Chapter 368: Admitting Defeat, Calling You Boss

“Fourth level now. I’ll reach the fifth level soon. Haven’t even seen a hair of that kid, he probably hasn’t even made it to the second level yet?”

Tang Hong was even prouder when seeing his victory at hand. He loved to gamble. When he made a bet, he wasn’t looking to gain anything, but purely reveled in the delight brought by gambling.

He loved the feeling of winning, and loved the other’s dejection after losing. That was his greatest joy.

There wasn’t any malice in this, it was just his guilty pleasure.

Of course, this was also brought up because Tang Hong had a good impression of Jiang Chen.

He’d heard of the freak genius of the boulder’s heart in the sky quadrant. And honestly, he’d been a bit skeptical. Was the freak genius really as incredible as rumors made him out to be?

However, he grew quite interested once he heard that the freak genius had pulled even Master Shuiyue down in the earth quadrant.

Someone as haughty and ill-tempered as Master Shuiyue was disagreeable to Tang Hong’s eyes. In the sky quadrant, her disciple Long Juxue threw her weight around as if she was really something, placing herself up on a pedestal and projecting the image of a saint with no one worthy of entering her eyes. To someone as unreserved as Tang Hong, this was really someone who irked him greatly.

So when he heard that Master Shuiyue had been taken down in the earth quadrant, Tang Hong rather admired those actions.

He’d so happened to bump into Jiang Chen today at the Divine Maze Tower, and was of a mind to test this renowned secular genius.

After a bit of probing, he’d discovered that the rumors were indeed true, he hadn’t been able to touch the other two moves in a row. This strength won Tang Hong’s respect.

Tang Hong’s personality was like thus, direct and forthright. If he admired someone, he would express that admiration in his own way.

Betting, for instance, was a method in which he expressed this admiration.

However, Jiang Chen didn’t understand Tang Hong and had no idea what that action had meant.

Tang Hong spent some time on the fourth level. But even once he found the proper passageway, there was still no one behind him.

“Mm, although I spent quite some time on the fourth level, the time I’ve spent has yet to reach even a third of the allotted time. There’s not that many in the sky quadrant who can match my speed, right?”

He was indeed confident in this regard. Although he had yet to enter the ranks of the most elite on the path of martial dao for various reasons, he was confident that his abilities in the strength of heart were enough to place him in the top five, or perhaps even the top three.

He arrived on the fifth level.

“Hoo, finally here. I should hurry up and find my jade pendant so that that kid accepts his defeat. But that kid’s such a rookie, he’s probably still going in circles on the second or third floor? Hahaha!” Tang Hong couldn’t help but cackle when his thoughts traveled here.

“What are you laughing about?” A voice suddenly traveled to Tang Hong’s ears.

“None of your freaking business!” Tang Hong responded irately back, but suddenly froze. Why did this voice sound familiar?

“Ah?” Tang Hong looked in the direction of the voice and jumped up. “You!”

Jiang Chen was standing not too far away from him. He smiled faintly at Tang Hong and swung the jade pendant in his hand. “Sorry about that, I was just a bit faster than you.”

“You... how is that possible? How did you get up here?” Tang Hong was petrified as he was stunned senseless, completely unable to believe his eyes.

“I got up here the same way you got up here. Who told you to only be thinking of how to win along the way and thus waste time?” Jiang Chen laughed leisurely. “I’ll go down first, you take your time in finding your jade pendant.”

“...” Tang Hong had a dumbfounded expression. His mouth hung open so widely, several large mantous could almost fit inside.

Having obtained the 25 points in the trial of heart, Jiang Chen now had a total of 50 points on his hands.

“Mm. All things are difficult before they become easy. The beginning was smooth, and at least I’m not penniless with the current 50 points.” Jiang Chen smiled and was about to head towards the next examination area.

“Wait.”

Tang Hong had also exited the Divine Maze Tower at this time. “Don’t go yet, wait for me to get my points.”

Jiang Chen halted his footsteps when he saw that Tang Hong looked quite serious. Judging from the look of this fellow, he’d probably go on a rampage if Jiang Chen didn’t wait for him.

He was the winner anyways, he wasn’t afraid of the other not owning up.

Tang Hong walked over with a depressed look after getting his points. “What are you smirking about? I am willing to admit my defeat. I’ll call you boss if it comes down to that. But I’m going to win next time! You’ll have to call me boss then!”

“Alright, I’ll wait for you to win.” Jiang Chen smiled dashingly.

“The next area is the five pill exams. Do you dare make a bet?” Tang Hong chuckled. “Let me introduce myself, I’m a Precious Tree Sect disciple, pills are my forte. If you don’t have the guts to make a bet with me, you can tell me now.”

Jiang Chen smiled. “Then let’s not bet.”

Tang Hong smiled proudly. “Mm. You’ve got some brains after all. I would want to win fair and square. Humph humph, who would dare compete with us Precious Tree Sect disciples regarding pills in the sixteen kingdoms?”

Tang Hong’s words were suffused with strong confidence.

“Mm, it’s not a matter of having brains, but that you’d lose even more badly if we bet on the dao of pills. You wouldn’t be able to make a comeback in this lifetime at all.”

“What?!” Tang Hong yelled. “Kid, don’t be so cocky! Do you know who you’re talking to? You still dare boast about your pill abilities in front of a Precious Tree Sect disciple?”

Jiang Chen smiled faintly, “What now, is this how you admit defeat?”

Tang Hong chuckled and scratched his head. “Boss. Alright, you’re my boss now. But I still have to say, don’t boast about the dao of pills in front of me.”

“I’m really not boasting.”

𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

“Then what do you mean?” Tang Hong’s expression grew a bit stiff. He felt rather put out that his opponent wasn’t even looking at him properly. Him, a Precious Tree Sect genius!

“I just don’t want you to lose that badly.” Jiang Chen shrugged and smiled.

“Me, losing?!” Tang Hong leapt up. “I was careless just now and accidentally lost to you. If you dare bet with me on the dao of pills, I’ll be able to beat you even with my eyes closed.”

One could see that Tang Hong was quite confident in the dao of pills.

“Haha, it’s a good thing to be confident.” Jiang Chen didn’t continue the conversation as he turned to leave after a few casual words.

“What are you laughing about? Do you think I’m blustering?” Tang Hong was even more surprised. He really couldn’t handle being taken lightly in the area of pills.

“Mm. You are indeed blustering.”

With Jiang Chen’s potential in pills, everyone in the sixteen kingdoms was blustering when they said they could beat him. Although he hadn’t been able to cultivate in his prior life, his skills had reached a heavenly existence with the dao of pills. He truly did have the confidence to voice such words in a tiny little place of this mundane world.

“Then let’s make another bet.” Tang Hong’s self respect had been completely provoked.

“You’ve already lost one bet, what else can you bet?” Jiang Chen chuckled.

“Let’s go another round. If I lose, I’ll be your lackey for the rest of my life. I’ll never go back on my words or make trouble for you. Do you dare?”

“Rest of your life?” Jiang Chen laughed. “Isn’t that too much?”

Tang Hong pounded his chest. “Those who know me know that I never change my mind. If you can truly beat me in the dao of pills, I’ll even call you grandfather without a frown, much less boss.”

“Let’s forgo calling me grandfather, I don’t want my life to be shortened. You’re the one who said boss for a lifetime, are you sure you won’t regret this?” Jiang Chen felt that this fellow was quite cute in his stubborness and had his interest peaked as well.

“Regret? I, Tang Hong, have never known regret in this life!” Tang Hong yelled loudly. “I won’t take advantage of you either. If you lose this bet, we’ll call it even and continue to bet next time.”

“I won’t lose.” Jiang Chen smiled faintly.

Tang Hong had made many bets in his life, and had seen many who boasted of self-confidence.

But he’d never been as serious as he was today. His desire to win was fully awakened when he saw Jiang Chen calm and confident.

“Alright, you think that you won’t lose, I also feel that I definitely won’t lose. Let’s see just who’s going to lose!”

Tang Hong was already making large strides for the pill examination area as he spoke.

For such an interesting opponent to appear all of a sudden, the dry and humdrum examinations become a bit more exciting.

Jiang Chen treated this as entertainment and walked towards the examination area.

He might not have been so certain of victory in other areas.

But he dared say so in the area of pills, and there was no room for accidents at all.

The pill exams were varied and creative.

The five exams were completely different. The first one was to identify spirit medicines. They had to sort through and organize 81 medicines with the fastest speed possible, no mistakes allowed.

“Begin!”

When the examiner learned of their bet, he too seemed to approve of it and aided them, giving them the same testing content.

These spirit medicines were as ordinary as eating and drinking to Jiang Chen. Particularly the lower level medicines, they were even easier to identify.

He hardly even needed to use his eyes as he could organize them appropriately with a slight sniff. Some didn’t even need to be sniffed as he could sort them through touch alone.

He raised his hands after a few breaths of time and said, “Done.”

Tang Hong was startled. He’d only completed about half! However, he was a Precious Tree Sect disciple after all and had enormous concentration. He wasn’t affected, and quickly finished as well.

“Candidate number 91 completes the first test first.” The examiner was a fair person and announced Jiang Chen had taken the first victory.

Tang Hong was a bit skeptical as he walked over to take a look at Jiang Chen’s sorting. It was all neat and orderly. His expression changed from skepticism to bafflement. Tang Hong flicked a few glances at Jiang Chen, as if looking at a freak.

However, he still talked tough.

“Humph. Crude methods. Your hands were just faster. Whoever wins the three out of five exams first is the true victor.”

Jiang Chen smiled. “This should indeed be the case.”

The examiner seemed to enjoy watching the clashes between youngsters, particularly when one was a secular genius and the other a Precious Tree Sect genius.

This kind of clash would absolutely give rise to many fireworks, making things exceedingly fascinating.