Gan Ning scoffed and purposefully didnât say anything in response. What a fool! He doesnât deserve to be the top of the Five Great Gentleman with his small-mindedness!
A hundred orbs was nothing. That wasnât enough to slot anyone in for the championship.
Sui Chen interpreted their silence as having less than a hundred orbs. He sneered, âYou dare talk about getting first place when you donât even have a hundred? Do you think itâs enough to have sixty or seventy orbs?â
Annoyed, Gan Ning retorted, âYouâre the top of the Five Great Gentleman, senior brother Sui Chen. In theory, you should be Eternalâs role model. Tell me, how many orbs do you have?â
Sui Chen froze. That hit him where it hurt the most. His voice descended.
âHmph, I had a good enough number, and I got every one of them through legitimate means! Unlike a certain someone, who robbed innocent people and tarnished Eternalâs reputation.â
Sui Chen cast the first stone to cover up his mortification.
Wu You frowned. âYou shouldnât be spreading rumors, senior brother Sui Chen. If you have something to say, say it outright. Donât make insinuations. We all know who embarrassed Eternal and damaged its reputation in the competition. Do you need me to set the record straight?â
Sui Chen had always been jealous of Jiang Chen. He scoffed when Wu You and Gan Ning jumped to defend Jiang Chen without being told, like good little slaves.
âYou rank second among the Five Great Gentlemen, Wu You. Have you stooped so low that you have to wag your tail at Jiang Chen like a little dog?â Sui Chenâs tone dripped with venom.
Wu Youâs face clouded. âYouâre just asking for humiliation, Sui Chen. Need I remind you how you tried to flirt with the holy girls but ended up captured for your rudeness? Should I advertise how senior brother Jiang Chen accepted their challenges and won your release? How you claim that the holy girls took all the orbs so that you can take all of your teammatesâ orbs?ân/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
His words were cutting. Sui Chenâs face turned a dark red.
âBullshit! I didnât need your help! They wouldnât have hurt me even if you had done nothing! Murder is explicitly prohibited. They could at most ground me by ganging up on me. They couldnât have killed me. I didnât need saving!â Sui Chen blatantly twisted the truth.
Wei Yong lowered his head, shamefaced. He couldnât believe the person in front of him was the senior brother heâd always admired.
Sui Chen had been the one telling him to seek out Jiang Chen for help. How could he deny the facts and even cast the blame on Jiang Chen? That just crossed a line!
Jiang Chen had saved Sui Chen and helped him regain freedom. Otherwise, the two holy girls couldâve made him suffer greatly.
The first prime looked at Jiang Chen, then at Sui Chen. âMembers of the same faction should support each other, Sui Chen. Only a petty man mocks his peers. Besides, you should be grateful if it was Jiang Chen who saved you. Itâs unbecoming of you to twist the truth.â
She was still a fair and just leader, and she was clever enough to piece together what had happened thanks to the expressions of Wei Yong and the others.
âHow many orbs do you have, Sui Chen?â she asked. âBe honest.â
âNone. The two holy girls took all of them.â Sui Chen seemed determined to stick to his story.
Jiang Chen paused. Is it true that Sui Chen doesnât have any orbs? Had the two holy girls lied to him?
His instincts told him that this wasnât the case. Sui Chen wasnât giving a false statement.
Nonetheless, Sui Chen wouldnât have said he had no orbs if he had any. After all, that would determine the teamâs score and his personal score.
Perhaps Jiang Chenâs original speculations were right. Sui Chen had lost his orbs in the last three days. They had been taken by someone other than the two holy girls after he left the valley.
Wei Yong couldnât believe his ears. âMany of the orbs were ours, senior brother Sui Chen!â he blurted out. âHow did you lose them? Please tell us so that I know how I lost.â
He didnât know what to believe, but he was beginning to suspect Sui Chen.
The two holy girls really didnât seem like liars. If theyâd wanted the orbs, they couldâve kept Sui Chen captive until the end of the competition. Then his orbs would automatically be theirs.
It didnât make any sense for them to let him go and then take his orbs.
Sui Chen shot Wei Yong a glare. âYou donât believe me?â
Wei Yong pursed his lips. âThis isnât right, senior brother. I put in a lot of effort to get the orbs too. I bled and sweat for them. If someone took them from you, you should tell me the truth. As far as I know, the two holy girls didnât take any of our orbs. Who did you lose them to?â
âItâs them!â Sui Chen lied blatantly. âThe two girls lied to you! Theyâre ambitious and want first place!â
Their conversation was interrupted by a burst of laughter from the Floraâs group. âItâs Sui Chen, isnât it? Thank you for the generous offer of thirty orbs in the last two days. Iâll remember your contribution if I manage to get first place.â
It was Lu Mingye.
After Shi Qinglu suffered her defeat and gave up on winning the competition, Lu Mingye rose to the top and became Floraâs strongest contestant.
Over the past few days, heâd accumulated a good number of orbs through coercion and every trick one could think of. He too wanted first place.
In his opinion, Shi Qinglu was no longer a threat. If he became the champion, he would lead Flora in the future.
That was why he stepped in when he noticed Sui Chen arguing with his peers at Eternal. This was too good an opportunity to pass up. He mocked and provoked Sui Chen, thus humiliating Eternal and escalating its infighting.
Sui Chenâs face flushed red with mortification.
After all the accusations heâd levied at the two holy girls, Lu Mingye had exposed his lies with a simple sentence. It was a stab to his chest and a slap to his face.
He couldnât be more humiliated.