Sovereign of the Three Realms

From the way they dressed, it was clear that they weren't from the same faction. The six people were divided into three groups. They'd formed an alliance for a specific purpose.

Jiang Chen wasn't their only target. They planned on robbing any genius who passed by.

The leader of the group was from the Flora Sacred Land, Qin You. He was among the top three young geniuses in Flora.

Next to him was a young man who was similarly dressed. His shock of short, white hair made him stand out.

The other four geniuses were from Polylore and Void.

These three sacred lands had always been on friendly terms. Under the table, they interacted closely and could be considered an alliance. Among them, Flora was the leading faction.

They'd come to the grand competition to fight for the seat of the alliance leader. Flora was especially hungry for the title.

When Qin You heard that Jiang Chen was nearing the trap they'd set up, he'd thought they were going to catch a big fish, gaining orbs and avenging Flora at the same time.

Unfortunately, Jiang Chen changed directions before setting foot into the trap.

They couldn't help but wonder if it'd been a coincidence, or if Jiang Chen had purposefully avoided them.

"Senior brother Qin You, I hear that my Polylore's Hu Lei was defeated by Jiang Chen last night," remarked a Polylore genius. The green outfit he wore made him blend together with the island.

"So what?" Qin You scoffed. "Hu Lei is bold but brash. He often strikes before getting to know his enemies. I'm not surprised that he'd be defeated. Even if he hadn't met Jiang Chen, he would've lost after running into other strong opponents."

Qin You dismissed the top genius like he was nothing.

The Polylore genius in green opened his mouth to say something but decided against it. He wasn't pleased that Qin You had belittled his senior brother, but Flora was on the rise and the sect was Polylore's close ally. He kept his mouth shut even though he was unhappy.

One of the geniuses from the Void Sacred Land spoke up, "Jiang Chen is remarkable, but standing out too much isn't necessarily a good thing."

The Polylore genius dressed in green asked curiously, "Why?"

"Think about it, Jiang Chen will garner even more attention after defeating Hu Lei, won't he? People are going to be more wary of him, aren't they?"

"True. Jiang Chen is indeed talented. I wonder if there are any youths from the ten sacred lands who can rival him."

"Maybe there are, maybe there aren't. It doesn't matter. The tallest tree will be toppled by the wind first! The more Jiang Chen stands out, the fewer allies he has. If he's powerful enough to alarm most geniuses, people will reach an unspoken agreement to target him. Imagine what will happen if everyone else work together to fight Jiang Chen. No matter how good he is, he can't overpower so many people."

His analysis was very convincing.

Even Qin You cracked an intrigued smile. "I didn't know you were that insightful, junior brother Ding. You're right. Jiang Chen better keep a low profile, or people will gang up on him soon enough."

"Hmph, even if we put that aside, hasn't our trap deterred Jiang Chen? He's afraid!"

The group of six muttered among themselves, but there was little they could do to Jiang Chen.

Jiang Chen came to a sudden stop after he and Gan Ning had walked toward the west for some time. He turned into a narrow path covered in thorny vines, which led them back to the north.

"Senior brother, we're headed back to the north again, aren't we?" asked a curious Gan Ning.

Jiang Chen focused his senses and suddenly asked, "Have you noticed that the smell of the weeping trees is stronger in this section? There aren't many weeping trees in this area at all."

Gan Ning paused. "What do you mean?"

"I suspect that Wu You's passed through here," Jiang Chen explained.

"Senior brother Wu You has been here?" Gan Ning didn't expect that. "Where did he go? To the north?" He tracked the winding path with his eyes.

"There are obvious signs that the path was set up on purpose. It was meant to direct people to the north." Jiang Chen had great attention to detail.

"On purpose?" Gan Ning was even more surprised. "Has senior brother Wu You been misled?"

"Very likely." Jiang Chen nodded. "Otherwise there shouldn't be so many man made signs along this path."

Gan Ning wasn't sure what that meant. "Then should we take the path, or…?"

"We're going along, of course, but the path will take us to the trouble I mentioned. We'll be walking right into a trap. Many cultivators are waiting for us. They've set up an ambush for candidates passing by." Jiang Chen was confident in his speculation.

"What should we do then?" Gan Ning was at a loss. If they did run into a group of cultivators, he worried that even someone as powerful as Jiang Chen wouldn't be able to win, given he was a dead weight.

"What should we do?" Jiang Chen smiled lazily. "They've put in so much effort to welcome us. We shouldn't disappoint them. However, we're not taking the path they've set up for us. That'd be suicide. Let's take a different path and find out how many orbs they have in their possession."

Realization dawned on Gan Ning.

Jiang Chen had never intended to take any orbs from him. He was going to steal other people's orbs! Those who had formed set up ambushes should possess even more than the average genius.

If Jiang Chen's plan went well, it was very likely for the team to get a good rank in the end.

Qin You and the others were still in the dark, lamenting the fact that Jiang Chen had avoided their trap. They hadn't realized that their target had become their hunter, and they themselves the prey!