Zi Che Min had been observing Jiang Chen for a long time. Dealing with Jiang Chen was something he had given considerable thought to. In the beginning, the young man had been genuinely indifferent to his invitation. That kind of rejection was absolutely not the kind where someone plays hard to get.
Zi Che Min had lived long enough to have a decent eye for people.
If this young man had been plotting to join the Eternal Sacred Land, he could have accepted during the first invitation. There would have been no need to play coy.
Moreover, the second invitation had only been possible because Zi Che Min had exploited the rift that had appeared between Jiang Chen and the Yan family, seizing the opportunity to swoop in.
Zi Che Min was certain that this young man would mean no harm to the Eternal Sacred Land.
Zi Che Min spoke with conviction, but someone sneered, "Elder Zi Che, when all is said and done, this is merely your personal assurance. It's hardly convincing, is it?"
Zi Che Min smiled indifferently. "In your opinion, what should be done? Show this Shao Yuan the door and throw him out of the Eternal Sacred Land?"
"I'm not saying kick him out, but at the very least we should be on our guard. Investigating everything thoroughly never hurts."
"Some of the Yan family's higher-ups thought the same way. And how did that turn out?" Zi Che Min sneered.
"What is the Yan family anyway? How can they even compare to our Eternal Sacred Land?" the other person shot back.
"The same principle applies. With a talent like this, I refuse to believe any of the Ten Great Divine Kingdoms would be blind enough to let such a genius slip through their fingers."
Zi Che Min's tone turned cold. "If any of them did, it would only mean they had lost their minds."
The Grand Sovereign watched his subordinates bickering and didn't stop them. He smiled languidly and said, "Enough. There's no need to argue about this. Whether this Shao Yuan has ulterior motives or not, time will reveal a person's true heart."
Zi Che Min said, "He does have certain aspirations, and he has mentioned them to me. However, I told him that until he demonstrates absolute talent and potential, his aspirations will not receive the Sacred Land's support."
"Oh? What aspirations does he have?" the Grand Sovereign asked with interest.
Having aspirations was not frightening. What was truly frightening was having aspirations that others knew nothing about — that was what kept people on edge.
Zi Che Min sighed lightly. "Grand Sovereign, allow me to report the details of this matter to you at a later time."
The Grand Sovereign considered for a moment, then nodded. "Very well. This Shao Yuan's talent is already known to all. I will warn everyone once more: all disputes concerning him are to cease. If this young man truly proves problematic, I will deal with him personally. If he proves to be no problem, I do not wish to hear any more idle chatter. The Yan family lost this young man precisely because a pack of mediocrities were consumed by jealousy. We are the Eternal Sacred Land, and I will not tolerate that kind of mediocrity here. Is that understood?"
The elders who had been arguing with Zi Che Min fell completely silent. They could all hear the warning in the Grand Sovereign's tone.
He was putting them in their place — telling them to be sensible and not try to make things difficult for Shao Yuan, let alone attempt to obstruct him.
"Good. This matter is settled. Let us wait and see whether this genius can create a miracle and break a record that has never been surpassed in the entire history of the Nine-Bend Cloud Caverns."
--- Jiang Chen, meanwhile, was locked in a bitter struggle. Without using the Enchantment Puppets, relying solely on his many conventional methods, the battle was genuinely exhausting.
However, Jiang Chen was enjoying every moment of it.
This was the perfect opportunity to sharpen his combat abilities. The more challenging the situation, the more it honed his state of readiness in the heat of battle, and Jiang Chen relished this kind of training.
He felt that this kind of training represented an enormous improvement for himself.
Such opportunities were rare and could not be sought out.
And at moments like these, Jiang Chen's versatility was put on full display. If not for the fact that flight was impossible inside the Ninth Cavern, Jiang Chen believed his speed alone might have been enough to break through the giant serpent's defenses.
Unfortunately, the restrictions within the Nine-Bend Cloud Caverns were far too severe.
For now, Jiang Chen could only rely on his movement techniques and his array of methods to hold his own against the serpent spirit.
Jiang Chen's advantages lay in his mobility, his diverse arsenal of techniques, and his inexhaustible supply of medicinal pills.
The serpent spirit was enormous. As the battle dragged on, it would grow fatigued. Most critically, a creature of that size required enormous amounts of energy to replenish itself.
And the serpent spirit was no alchemist — it had no steady supply of pills to restore its energy.
This was the only opening Jiang Chen could exploit at this stage. So in the heat of battle, he was as disruptive as possible, using every trick in the book.
His objective was clear: even if he couldn't wound the massive serpent spirit, he would wear it down relentlessly, draining its stamina until it was too exhausted to move.
Jiang Chen's strategy was being executed with great effectiveness. This serpent spirit's body was simply too massive — a classic case of a tail too large to wag.
Its enormous frame brought tremendous crushing power to its attacks and devastating destructive force. But at the same time, it carried certain disadvantages.
It consumed energy quickly and in vast quantities, and replenishing that energy was no easy task.
This was precisely why many races with massive bodies had slowly withered away from the ancient era to the primordial age, and from the primordial age to the present.
A massive body meant constant inconvenience.
And the human race, though physically weak and with mediocre bloodline power, compensated with extraordinary reproductive capacity, exceptional bloodline compatibility, and a compact stature.
These differences might seem insignificant over the span of a day or two, but as era after era passed and the world transformed through countless cycles of change, it became clear that these details were the key to whether a race could endure — the very measure of a people's resilience.