Chapter 1973: Competition Heats Up
Everyone knew of Jiang Chen’s name. Service to him was probably more fruitful than being a regular disciple of some sacred land. After all, countless marvelous stories had been told about him already. He had a reputation for the miraculous.
Because he’d been ignored by all of the sacred lands, Gong Hu had been feeling quite dejected. He was sincerely thankful for the sudden olive branch.
“Very good. Follow me from now on.” Jiang Chen smiled coolly. “You come from Greattusk Island. According to the rules, I must give you and your faction a present.
“Since you are very close to peak great emperor, allow me to provide you with an Emperor Supremacy Pill to speed you on your way.”
Jiang Chen took out two of the named pills, giving one each to Gong Hu and Greattusk.
These pills had been valuable to him once upon a time, but after obtaining a large batch of Heavencloud Ganodermas, he had refined a similarly shocking amount of them to stash away for the future. Two was trivial to him.
Gong Hu had only desired to follow Jiang Chen. The worth of the present was immaterial to him. His heart was warmed when he saw his new master attending to his needs.
As Greattusk Island was a third-rate faction, it had little right to speak under such circumstances.
In fact, its representatives were quite proud of the fact that its very own Gong Hu had been chosen by the young lord Jiang Chen. His future was going to be far brighter than it could have been anywhere else.
The Emperor Supremacy Pill held more symbolic than actual value for them.
They could very well announce to the outside world in the future that the young lord Jiang Chen had their back. It would certainly elevate their position in the eyes of their peers.
Some were astonished at the fact that Jiang Chen hadn’t passed up even the last guy on the rankings. Was he really that hungry for talent? Yet others were annoyed and disinterested.
A genius who hadn’t reached empyrean realm was plentiful in Myriad Abyss. There was no point going out of one’s way to nab one here, was there?
Among numbers 149 to 140, only one piqued the interest of the Void Sacred Land and received a corresponding invitation.
Jiang Chen didn’t extend his hand to the remaining eight. They were much less useful and malleable than Gong Hu.
He had chosen this stocky youth not because of his talent, but his character. Clearly, Gong Hu wasn’t the kind of person given to deceit. It was easy to tame someone like him, since his loyalty would be essentially unchanging once earned.
To put it more harshly, he was easy to brainwash. The other eight didn’t share this trait.
Jiang Chen didn’t like people who tried to use what cleverness they had to gain an advantage. Only true wisdom went far; too many martial cultivators had only a semblance of guile.
Initially, everyone had thought Jiang Chen would simply lap up anybody who was left behind. That he didn’t pick up anyone aside from Gong Hu was rather unexpected.
The geniuses who were skipped over were somewhat disappointed by this.
From genius 139 onward, the sacred lands began to move with a bit more frequency. Two or three out of every ten were chosen.
Among these ten, Jiang Chen moved once more. This time, he got his hands on a teenager. This youth was probably the youngest on the rankings – as well as the most rebellious.
“Zou Lie, I have need for more personal attendants. Are you willing to come with me?” Jiang Chen’s tone was as detached as ever.
Zou Lie’s boyish eyes radiated joy. “Big brother Jiang Chen,” he responded excitedly, “Myriad Abyss is a huge place. I don’t respect many people in my life, but you’re my number one. Helping you do great things has always been my dream!”
This astonished many once more. Common opinion was that this Zou Lie was too unruly to bring to heel, hence why none of the sacred lands had chosen him. His worship of Jiang Chen certainly made things easier for the latter.
Jiang Chen broke out into laughter. “Alright, then. I promise we will accomplish some amazing things together. You won’t regret it!”
He gave out two more Emperor Supremacy Pills, just like with Gong Hu.
The drafting slowly heated up. As the ranks descended, the quality of the geniuses became better. Real competition began to appear.
Jiang Chen gave the Eternal Sacred Land some suggestions from time to time about who to choose and avoid. Whether the first prime listened was up to her. He wasn’t going to make decisions in her stead.
As it turned out, the first prime and Ziju Min were very attentive to Jiang Chen’s advice. They heeded it most of the time.
About half of the geniuses were gone at this point.
Aside from Gong Hu and Zou Lie, Jiang Chen acquired another attendant under his wing. The new guy named Xiao Hong was above his two predecessors in cultivation.
The Eternal Sacred Land had adopted five or six geniuses by this point as well, a large number compared to their peers.
The Flora Sacred Land was even more generous. It had accepted nearly ten geniuses into its fold.
The other sacred lands marveled at the amount of resources it had paid out in order to do so. It seemed that Flora was intent on rising above the rest.
The first prime was very displeased because of this. She believed that the Flora Sacred Land was intentionally butting heads with them.
Alas, open competition was completely permitted. Flora was wealthy enough to take on so much risk, and the other sacred lands could do nothing except envy it.
No underhanded methods had been employed in order to win these geniuses over, after all.
The number of remaining geniuses began to dwindle below seventy. The ones left were of an even higher caliber.
“Jiang Chen, the first prime would like you to help the sacred land recruit more geniuses. We can’t let the Flora Sacred Land steal the show,” transmitted Ziju Min.