Originally,
But after his thoughts had cleared, he secretly rejoiced instead, realizing he had stumbled upon a perfect opportunity. This was his best chance to leave Winterend Island as things stood.
Without this opportunity arising, heaven only knew how long he would have to wait before finding a way off the island.
"Who would be best to impersonate?" Jiang Chen sank into deep thought. Impersonating
Xue Feng's Netherfire source had already been absorbed by Jiang Chen. As for that Evil Spirit Possession Divine Ability, mimicking it would pose no great challenge for someone of his caliber.
The Giant Sword Arm was an even easier Divine Ability to replicate.
Xuan Rui, on the other hand, was not much harder either. Xuan Rui's greatest strengths were his eye techniques and archery — both areas in which Jiang Chen was thoroughly versed.
Moreover, having fought Xuan Rui directly, Jiang Chen was fairly familiar with his aura and combat patterns. For a moment, he found himself caught in a dilemma of choice.
However, Jiang Chen quickly made his decision. He would impersonate Xuan Rui.
Compared to Xue Feng, Xuan Rui's style was far more cold and ruthless — clearly a deeply brooding individual. Such a person would naturally be a loner by nature.
The more antisocial, the easier to imitate. Someone like that likely had no friends to speak of.
Fewer friends meant fewer chances of his cover being blown.
Xuan Rui's appearance and build were nothing that Jiang Chen's Disguise Divine Ability couldn't handle.
As for that frigid, intimidating air — to put it plainly, it was just a matter of playing cold, staying taciturn, and wearing an expression of ice. None of that posed any real difficulty for Jiang Chen.
Before long, he had transformed himself completely into Xuan Rui's likeness. There was just one problem — he was missing a gray cloak.
When Jiang Chen had killed Xuan Rui before, he hadn't thought to take that detail. A minor oversight.
"Looks like I'll need to get my hands on a gray cloak," Jiang Chen mused. He already possessed all of Xuan Rui's tokens and insignia, as well as the spoils taken from both Xuan Rui and Xue Feng. For the purposes of the Eight Great Houses' trial, these would be more than sufficient to account for himself.
If he could take out one more of the Eight Great Houses' geniuses and claim their spoils as well, his haul would unquestionably befit Xuan Rui's standing.
These were all details that Jiang Chen had studied carefully, and he felt none of them could be overlooked.
Neglecting such details could very well expose his disguise.
Though he didn't have a gray cloak in the same style as Xuan Rui's, he had plenty of cloaks on hand. He picked one out at random and made do for the time being.
After a few minor adjustments, he vanished from the spot like a specter.
From this moment on, his identity was complete — transformed from the prey of the Eight Great Houses into the hunter. Though his quarry was not the other trial-takers on Winterend Island, but rather the geniuses of the Eight Great Houses themselves.
If Jiang Chen were truly determined to go on the hunt, for those geniuses it would be nothing short of a nightmare.
Fortunately, after sorting through his thoughts, Jiang Chen still prioritized leaving Winterend Island above all else. Had he acted on his earlier fury and gone on a rampage, it would have plunged the Eight Great Houses' prodigies into an absolute nightmare.
The outer perimeter of the Black Nightmare Mountain Range — a radius of sixteen hundred li — constituted the activity zone for their trial. Within such an expansive area, hunting down the Eight Great Houses' scions was a task of moderate difficulty: not impossibly hard, but far from easy.
Jiang Chen's hunt, however, had clear parameters.
Only targets wearing gray cloaks would do.
Those who deviated from that profile, he would not touch, so as to avoid alerting his prey.
With Jiang Chen no longer focusing his efforts on gathering Spiritual Medicine and instead devoting himself entirely to the hunt, his efficiency was remarkably high.
Along the way, he witnessed numerous instances of the Eight Great Houses' geniuses slaughtering Winterend Island's trial-takers. He did not intervene in any of them.
In the martial world, the strong devoured the weak. Jiang Chen didn't know any of these trial-takers and had no intention of playing savior.
He now had a meticulous plan in place, and every step had to be executed according to it exactly, or things could spiral out of control.
The only problem was that none of the Eight Great Houses' hunters wore a gray cloak, which left Jiang Chen mildly frustrated.
"The Eight Great Houses, twenty-four geniuses. That means three from each house. I've already taken out Xuan Rui, so the Xuan family should still have two geniuses somewhere in this mountain range. Perhaps gray is the Xuan family's exclusive cloak color?"
After observing for several days, Jiang Chen discovered that the Eight Great Houses' geniuses all wore cloaks of the same design — the only difference was the color.
These color distinctions were most likely the markers that differentiated one house from another.
With that realization, Jiang Chen felt a touch of urgency. After all, his remaining prey might number only two.
Across the vast expanse of the Black Nightmare Mountain Range, finding those two targets in a short span of time would be no easy feat.
One day, as Jiang Chen was making his way through the wilderness, his footsteps suddenly halted. He sensed a vague hostility ahead.
"Who's there?" Jiang Chen mimicked Xuan Rui's gloomy voice.
"Heh heh, Xuan Rui?" A strange laugh drifted from the thicket, and then a figure draped in a brown cloak flickered into view, appearing directly before Jiang Chen.