Ziju Min had always been resolute before important moral decisions. He immediately communicated Jiang Chen’s thoughts to the first prime.

Because the first prime prized Lan Huang considerably, she glanced meaningfully at Jiang Chen when she heard it. 

The young man hadn’t spoken out of selfish motives whatsoever. He didn’t mind being probed – he had nothing to hide.

The first prime might misunderstand his intentions and believe that he was preventing other geniuses from joining, but he wasn’t going to explain himself overmuch. If the prime was set on her hypothesis, so be it. Jiang Chen would then be the one disappointed in her vision and worldview.

Thankfully, she didn’t insist on pursuing Lan Huang further.

The Eternal Sacred Land’s sudden exit from the race surprised most. It had been common expectation that Eternal would compete with Flora to the last.

The other sacred lands were understandably pleased though. One of their strongest opponents was gone.

But with Eternal’s withdrawal, the competition for Lan Huang became significantly less exciting. The remaining sacred lands were far less decisive than Flora on the subject.

Eternal might have had the resolution and courage to fight Flora to the bitter end, but that wasn’t the case for the rest. The non-Flora sacred lands quickly gave up.

With no doubt about it, Lan Huang became part of the Flora Sacred Land.

However, something very unexpected happened at that time.

When a representative from Flora was about to launch into a celebratory speech, Lan Huang suddenly cut in. “I am deeply grateful for your interest in me, Flora Sacred Land. However–”

He paused, great sincerity filling his eyes. “However, my only goal for coming here is to be blessed with the opportunity to join the Eternal Sacred Land. Even without being promised or given anything, I would like to join them.”

The air froze over immediately.

The Flora Sacred Land’s executives had been very pleased only moments earlier. Frost formed upon their faces when they heard what Lan Huang had to say.

Why was he making such a declaration at this juncture?

Wasn’t this denying face towards the Flora Sacred Land?

Lan Huang’s eyes were clear and apologetic. He bowed deeply towards Flora. 

“Honorable seniors, the Flora Sacred Land is one of the leading factions of Myriad Abyss Island. In my heart, you are definitely one of the best. It’s not you, it’s me. I have only one goal in life: that I might join the Eternal Sacred Land and one day stand shoulder-to-shoulder to senior brother Jiang Chen.”

Jiang Chen again!

The Flora Sacred Land’s executives were livid. This assault out of nowhere sent them reeling. Still, Lan Huang’s sincerity was not to be denied. Evidently, this wasn’t due to any failing of theirs. He was the one who had the fixation.

If they took their anger out on Lan Huang, they would be the ones laughed at for their lack of magnanimity.

The Flora Sacred Land was hardly desperate for more geniuses. It could live without one.

One executive harrumphed. “Why didn’t you declare this earlier, Lan Huang? Did you intend to embarrass us all?”

Lan Huang laughed with some helplessness. “I was inconsiderate, yes. I had thought that perhaps the Eternal Sacred Land would be interested in me as well, but… well, this is the first opportunity I had to speak, really.”

If not for the sheer number of other people in attendance, Flora’s executives would’ve surely severely punished this intrepid youth. But they were under too much scrutiny to do so at the moment.

And if they insisted on disciplining Lan Huang, the others might think that they were too narrow-minded to accomplish much of anything.

Regardless of that though, the Flora Sacred Land had suffered a substantial blow to its reputation. This was the second time: first Gongxi Hu, now Lan Huang.

Flora had wanted both, but was met with the cold shoulder. Most upsettingly, both of the geniuses seemed to be completely loyal to the Eternal Sacred Land.

This gave off the vague feeling that Flora was inferior to Eternal in some way.

Many of the other sacred lands enjoyed schadenfreude. They didn’t appreciate the aggressive stance Flora had taken as of late.

The Eternal Sacred Land knew restraint when picking up geniuses. It focused on a few, only symbolically touching upon the others. That way, everyone had the chance to choose good geniuses out of the pool for mutual benefit.

The Flora Sacred Land, on the other hand, appeared to want to take every genius away from everyone else in a zero sum game.

Now came a different problem. All of the sacred lands glanced curiously at Eternal.

The sacred land in question was strangely silent. Shouldn’t it be theoretically overjoyed that the first-place genius in the rankings wanted to join its ranks?

Why was there no show of anything as of yet?

Suspicious eyes were cast upon the first prime, who was instantly thrown into disarray. She knew that Jiang Chen didn’t support a large expenditure from Eternal’s part to pursue this Lan Huang.

But now, they had the chance to get him for free. The savings to be had here were amazing.

Should they accept or refuse?

The first prime felt an itch in her heart. She couldn’t possibly refuse. The more she looked at Lan Huang, the more she liked him. He had almost as much potential as Jiang Chen!

If a genius like him could join Eternal, that would be an amazing thing.

Jiang Chen was mildly surprised. He hadn’t expected the sudden use of this tactic.

Bracing himself, he examined Lan Huang slowly again. Alas, the other youth’s eyes were as pure as the cerulean sky. This uncommon purity only repulsed him more.

His instincts told him that Lan Huang wasn’t nearly as harmless as he appeared. What was he really after?

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