Sovereign of the Three Realms

“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 by now?”

Tang Hong was even more proud to see victory at hand. He loved to gamble. When he made a bet, he wasn’t looking to gain anything, but purely enjoyed the delight of gambling.

He loved the feeling of winning, and the dejection the other had after losing. This was his greatest delight.

There wasn’t any malice in this, it was just a guilty pleasure that he had.

Of course, this was also 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 to be honest, he’d been a bit skeptical. Was the freak genius really as incredible as rumors made him out to be?

However, when he heard that the freak genius had pulled even Master Shuiyue down in the earth quadrant, he’d felt that all this was quite interesting.

Someone as haughty and ill-tempered as Master Shuiyue was disagreeable to Tang Hong’s eyes. In the sky quadrant, Long Juxue was her disciple and threw her weight around like she was really something. She placed herself up on high, projecting the image of a saint with no one worthy of your regard. To someone as unrestrained 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 still quite admired such 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 testing, he’d discovered that the rumors were true and that he hadn’t been able to touch the other after 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 manner.

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 this move meant.

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

“Mm, although I spent some time on the fourth level, the time I’ve spent has yet to reach even one 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 for many reasons on the path of martial dao, he was confident that his abilities in the strength of heart were enough to place him in the top five, or even top three.

He’d 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 circling 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 however 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 on his face. His mouth had dropped open so widely that several large mantous could almost fit inside.

Jiang Chen had already obtained the 25 points in the trial of the heart. That made for 50 points total in his hands.

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

“Wait.”

Tang Hong had also exited from the Divine Maze Tower at this time. “Don’t go, 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 obtaining his points. “What are you laughing about? I am willing to concede 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 exams of pills. Do you dare make a bet?” Tang Hong chuckled. “Let me introduce myself, I’m a Precious Tree Sect disciples. 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 in the area of 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?”

Jiang Chen smiled faintly, “What now, is this how you concede 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.”

“Then what do you mean?” Tang Hong’s expression grew a bit frozen. 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.

“I’ll lose?!” 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 careless words.

“What are you laughing about? Do you think I’m blustering?” Tang Hong was even more surprised. He really couldn’t take any disdain from others 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, he 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 challenged.

“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 grandpa without a frown, much less boss.”

“Let’s forgo the mention of grandpa, 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 stubbornness and had his interest peaked as well.

“Regret? I, Tang Hong, have never known what it is to 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 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 so serious as he was today. His desire to win was fully awakened when he saw Jiang Chen’s look of calm confidence.

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

Tang Hong strode out with large steps to the pill examination area as he spoke.

That such an interesting opponent had appeared all of a sudden made the dry and humdrum examinations become a bit more exciting.

Jiang Chen also 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 would be no accidents at all.

The pill exams were varied and creative.

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

“Begin!”

When the examiner learned of their bet, he too seemed to think that this was a good thing and aided them, giving them the same testing content.

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

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

He raised his hands after a few breaths 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 as he announced Jiang Chen had taken the first victory.

Tang Hong was a bit disbelieving 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 viewing 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 like watching the clashes between young men, 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.