In truth, the honey trap was obviously of no use to Jiang Chen whatsoever. As for the holy maidens and noble young ladies who had earned a spot among the Sixteen Beauties, most of them had at least some regard for their reputation. Apart from a rare few who were born with an irresistibly seductive air, the majority were simply too proud to deliberately throw themselves at Jiang Chen.
Two or three of them tried various enchantment techniques to draw close to him, but Jiang Chen remained consistently lukewarm in his responses, leaving them with the maddening sensation of having all their strength but nowhere to direct it.
Though they were all remarkably persistent, they could never find an opening in his defenses.
Of course, Jiang Chen bore in mind the agreement he had made with the Sacred Land. He had been consistently generous, maintaining a cordial attitude toward everyone and never shutting anyone out. On the contrary, he kept a measure of warmth in his demeanor throughout, which earned him no small amount of goodwill during this period.
After all, among the younger generation, when it came to sheer reputation, no one currently surpassed him.
As for Jiang Chen's martial cultivation talent, the outside world had always been left guessing. Some said he was only at the initial stage of the Celestial realm, while others believed he had already reached the middle stage.
Because Jiang Chen had always been reserved and unassuming, with no hint of arrogance or overbearing force radiating from him, the true extent of his cultivation remained a mystery.
However, the Ten Great Sacred Lands never lacked for top-tier geniuses.
Several of them in particular did not fully acknowledge Jiang Chen's cultivation level. According to their intelligence, Jiang Chen had helped the Eternal Sacred Land turn the tide — even helped the True Martial Sacred Land stage a comeback — but those victories had relied on strategy and his True Spirit guardians. This genius competition, of course, would not allow the use of True Spirit guardians, so those top-tier geniuses did not consider themselves necessarily inferior to Jiang Chen.
Some even felt that Jiang Chen's meteoric rise had spanned only a few years at most, and however impressive he might be, there had to be a limit. Judging from his past confrontation with Xiahou Zong, Jiang Chen's cultivation should be at around the middle stage of the Celestial realm. Even accounting for considerable progress over the past two years, he could be at the fifth or sixth level at most, couldn't he?
Quite a few people measured Jiang Chen's strength in this way.
After all, while the rumors painted a fearsome picture, many believed those stories were nothing more than the Eternal Sacred Land's campaign to build up Jiang Chen's image — exaggerations meant to generate hype.
This genius competition would settle the matter once and for all. The capable would reveal themselves, and the pretenders would be exposed.
As the various factions continued to arrive, the genius competition did not rush to begin.
In the first few days, the leaders of every faction gathered together to study the rules of the competition. Everyone wanted to establish a set of rules that was as fair as possible, ones that all parties could broadly accept.
The young geniuses, meanwhile, would use this opportunity to size each other up, probe one another's strength, and even form alliances and small cliques.
Of course, the Ten Great Sacred Lands remained the dominant faction among all forces — the benchmark that every other faction measured itself against. Because Jiang Chen had once come to the aid of the True Martial Sacred Land, its relationship with the Eternal Sacred Land was particularly close, and the young cultivators of True Martial were quite friendly toward him.
Beyond True Martial, the Nine Abyss Divine Kingdom also maintained a relatively close relationship with the Eternal Divine Kingdom.
These three sacred lands clearly shared bonds that ran deeper than ordinary alliance.
Broadly speaking, the Ten Great Sacred Lands had split into four factions.
Jiang Chen had quietly made inquiries and now had a rough picture of the landscape. Some of the Ten Great Sacred Lands harbored few expectations for this competition, while others were determined to win.
Those determined factions regarded Jiang Chen with obvious wariness. Even when the young geniuses occasionally exchanged words, it was always measured — polite on the surface, cautious underneath.
As for the second- and third-rate forces, they had come to the genius competition, frankly speaking, to make a scene — to make their presence felt and to fight for a chance to catch the attention of the Ten Great Sacred Lands.