After a moment, the holy girl exhaled. “You make a strong point, Jiang Chen. It’s not possible for all of us to become saints and martyrs, we all have our personal biases. Those who claim to be without them are hypocrites. However, present circumstances mean that a portion of our interests are rapidly converging. Only when more and more step up to do their part can the continent be saved.”

“You’re a pessimist then, Holy Girl Si Tong?” Jiang Chen asked with a smile.

“I’ve been to the offworld battlefield once before.” Si Tong’s reply had sad notes in it. “Only then will you understand how hard of a time Divine Abyss has had until now.”

Jiang Chen hadn’t expected this revelation. Even he hadn’t been there! Newfound respect flickered for Sunrise’s holy girl.

“You should go take a look yourself, Daoist Jiang, if you have a chance. You’re above the level of this competition.” Strangely, Si Tong didn’t ask any more questions.

“Get that Sui Chen out here,” she waved. “He can go.”

After a moment, Sui Chen walked out with some embarrassment. His shame was intensified when seeing that Jiang Chen and his teammates were present. He wanted to dig a hole and bury himself in it rather than let anyone see his sorry state.

Wei Yong stepped up. “Senior brother Sui Chen,” he called out.

Sui Chen gave Wei Yong a vicious shove. “You and your nosiness!” he rebuked. He strode off as rapidly as his words fell.

Everyone was shocked at his behavior. Even Wu You and Gan Ning felt tremendous second-hand humiliation.

Sui Chen was supposed to be the first of the Five Great Gentlemen. His shameful behavior dragged down the entirety of the Eternal Sacred Land with him.

Without senior brother Jiang Chen here to contrast him, they would’ve been too distressed to stick around much longer.

Yao Guang wasn’t the type of woman to hide her emotions. Her eyes flashed with scorn, clearly disappointed with Sui Chen’s character.

Wei Yong was mildly disconcerted as well, but he was Sui Chen’s teammate and friend at the end of the day. He hesitated a moment, then approached Jiang Chen with an agonized expression. “Thank you for helping us out, senior brother Jiang Chen.” He cupped a fist.

Jiang Chen waved dismissively.

When Wei Yong left as well, Si Tong sighed. “Daoist Jiang, do you know how much the other sacred lands envy Eternal right now?”

“Oh? Why’s that?”

“Consider this: if you had joined any of the other sacred lands, what business would Eternal have on this stage?” Si Tong grinned.

The Eternal Sacred Land wasn’t particularly excellent in any respect compared to its peers.

Jiang Chen’s appearance had swiftly elevated it out of mediocrity. Its fame had spread so rapidly that the public now believed that Eternal was one of the top sacred lands.

No one wanted to get on its bad side, at least.

This was entirely due to Jiang Chen’s contribution. The Taiyi Skymender and Crowning Empyrean Pills offered tremendously valuable opportunities. If they could be mass produced, they would represent a tremendous increase in overall strength for a sacred land.

In light of that, who’d want to be Eternal’s enemy?

Thus, Si Tong’s words were quite sincere. If Sunrise had obtained him…

What a wonderful future that would have been.

Jiang Chen was hardly arrogant enough to bask in his own praise. Smiling, he changed the subject. “Thank you for your graciousness, holy girls. I’m glad everything has been resolved satisfactorily. I must now take my leave.”

Si Tong blinked as he turned around. “You won, Daoist Jiang. Don’t you want to take our orbs?”

Jiang Chen blinked in turn. That hadn’t crossed his mind at all.

“I’m a principled man. I don’t take orbs from just about anybody. You’ve been the image of courtesy and good manners to me, and that makes you the last people I would want to take anything from. Plus, you didn’t take Sui Chen’s orbs either, right?”

“How do you know that?” Si Tong replied with a half-smile.

“If you had, he would’ve mentioned it before leaving. Since he didn’t, well…”

Jiang Chen knew Sui Chen well. He wasn’t the kind of guy that would eat a loss lying down.

Si Tong smiled faintly, but inwardly approved of Jiang Chen’s sound judgment.

“What if we voluntarily gave up our orbs to you? If we want you to win, what then?”

Jiang Chen chuckled. “As long as you don’t give up your orbs to anyone else, I’m pretty confident that I’ll end up winning.”

He raised a cupped fist salute once more before departing with his own teammates.

Si Tong sank into a reverie for a while before sighing. “He’s on an entirely different level than the rest of us,” she murmured, half to herself. “It must be lonely at the top.”

Yao Guang stubbornly disagreed. “Is he really as good as you say, Sister Si Tong? He just got lucky by being a reincarnated god. Once he’s done tapping into that potential, he’ll come to a halt. We can catch up, eventually.”

“I’d like that day to never come,” Si Tong remarked seriously.

“Why’re you taking his side so much, sister? Have you taken an interest in him?” Yao Guang suddenly took on a playful grin. “I see how it is! You’ve never looked at anyone that way before. Hehe, Holy Girl Si Tong’s started thinking about something different, huh?”

“What am I thinking about?” Si Tong asked, still smiling.

“Love.” Yao Guang stuck out her tongue impishly.

“You’re making jokes at my expense now, are you? I daresay you were so icy in order to attract his attention, hmm?” Si Tong retorted.

“Not at all! I just didn’t like how proud he was. Sister, have you heard how lecherous he is? I heard someone say that he smacked Shi Qinglu’s bottom!” Yao Guang puffed up her cheeks in indignation.

“Can you think of a better way to deal with Shi Qinglu? Trying to scare her with words or cultivation strength won’t work. Jiang Chen just gave her a taste of her own unreasonable medicine.” Holy Girl Si Tong rather disliked the poison consort.

She was a very proper and upright girl. Shi Qinglu, on the other hand, was as crooked as could be – at least in her outward actions. Therefore, they harbored a natural detestation of each other.

“See? I was right, you are interested in him! Why else are you trying to justify his lewd behavior? Sister Si Tong, why didn’t you take that opportunity to confess just now? How good can that Yan girl be? Her only advantage is that she got to him before everyone else. If you met him first, he may be yours now. All that stuff about fish in the sea… is he going to ignore the advances of one of the sixteen hairpins? I don’t believe it!” Yao Guang was a little miffed.

“Why don’t you make a pass at him, if that's the case?” Si Tong snickered.

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