One does not strike a smiling man. Seeing Lan Huang's attitude so cordial,
"Senior Brother Jiang Chen, this junior is but a man of limited learning. I have long admired many of your brilliant exploits. In the future, there will surely be much I do not understand, and I will come to you for guidance. I humbly hope Senior Brother will be generous with your advice." Lan Huang's greatest trait was that no matter what he said, his eyes and tone always carried an air of utmost sincerity.
Had Jiang Chen not already formed a preconceived impression, he might well have taken a favorable view of Lan Huang's attitude — perhaps even a very favorable one.
"Heh heh, let us all learn from one another and exchange ideas freely." Jiang Chen was neither overly warm nor so cold as to shut the man out from a thousand miles away.
Seeing Jiang Chen's response, the Great Sacred Lord breathed a quiet sigh of relief. She had feared that Jiang Chen would treat Lan Huang with indifference, or worse, openly suppress him — that would have put her in a very difficult position.
Seeing that Jiang Chen was mindful of the bigger picture and had refrained from doing so, the Great Sacred Lord's heart settled.
Lan Huang, it seemed, was quite skilled at building relationships. Before long, he was chatting warmly with everyone else as well.
"Fellow Senior Brothers, what comes next is the Grand Competition of Geniuses. I shall be cheering you all on and watching with delight as you display your extraordinary talents!"
With the selection concluded, it was time to move on to the main event — the Grand Competition of Geniuses.
However, the rules for this particular Grand Competition were rather interesting. It was not a simple contest of martial prowess, nor was it a straightforward bracket-style elimination with one-on-one duels.
Clearly, everyone had grown somewhat weary of the format of rotating combat. Too much randomness was involved — if the strongest geniuses happened to meet early, the unfortunate early elimination of top-tier talent would be a regrettable outcome.
So this time, the rules were considerably more complex.
The Grand Competition was divided into two stages.
The first stage was a collective activity.
Each of the Ten Sacred Lands was permitted to send only six participants. Moreover, these six people had to be divided into two teams.
That meant a total of sixty people, forming twenty small squads.
"You may form your teams as you wish. Of course, each team must select a captain. In the first stage — the collective activity — the captain will earn a higher share of the points."
Each Sacred Land was sending six people, split into two teams, so forming squads was not exactly difficult.
If a Sacred Land had two geniuses of roughly equal caliber, the natural choice was for each to lead their own team.
If a Sacred Land had a single standout, the arrangement would be equally straightforward.
If, however, a Sacred Land had three geniuses of comparable ability, the team-building became considerably more headache-inducing. After all, with only two squads to fill, it took on an almost "two peaches, three warriors" quality — someone was bound to be left out.
As soon as these rules were announced, Wu You and Gan Ning both smiled and turned to look at Jiang Chen. Clearly, the idea of forming a team with him had already taken root in their minds.