Now that it was confirmed that Poison Consort Shi Qinglu and her group were behind this, Jiang Chen felt that bringing Gan Ning along would be too dangerous.
Jiang Chen himself naturally had nothing to fear, but with Gan Ning in tow, he couldn't guarantee with absolute certainty that he could protect the man.
So, he decided to settle Gan Ning down first.
Of course, given Gan Ning's strength, no matter how remote a location he found, safety couldn't be guaranteed. After all, many teams on this island had already banded together — with so many eyes and ears around, it would be easy for someone to discover Gan Ning.
For that reason, Jiang Chen decided to settle Gan Ning in a spot and then set up a defensive formation. With that formation in place, Gan Ning would basically be able to hold his own without issue.
Unless someone was the stubborn sort who insisted on grinding through every obstacle, no one would want to chew on such a hard bone. This was a trial, after all — nobody wanted to waste their time on something like this.
Taking a day or two to break through a formation simply wasn't worth the cost.
Everyone who had made it here was sharp enough to do that kind of calculation.
"Gan Ning, this formation — even a cultivator at the seventh level of the Heaven Rank would need a day or two to break through it. You should be safe staying here. Of course, if you can't sit still, you're free to look around the area. If you run into something you can't handle, just fall back into the formation and lay low."
Gan Ning was deeply grateful. He knew that without him and Wu You, Senior Brother Jiang Chen would probably have an easier time of it. Having the two of them around had only turned them into deadweight.
"I'm truly ashamed — I've been nothing but a burden to Senior Brother Jiang Chen this whole time."
Jiang Chen smiled. "We're fellow disciples. We're supposed to look out for each other. Now, be patient and wait for me. I'll bring Wu You over as well."
Gan Ning's gaze was filled with concern. "Senior Brother, if it really is Poison Consort Shi Qinglu, you must be extremely careful. That woman has never tasted defeat among the younger generation in the Abyssal Domain. The list of people who've suffered under her hands is practically endless. I'm worried she might have teamed up with Lu Mingye as well — that would make things even more troublesome."
"Heh — I wasn't afraid of Shi Xuan himself. You think I'd be afraid of his junior?" Jiang Chen said with an easy laugh. "Just focus on yourself. Give me a day or so, and I'll be back."
Watching Jiang Chen's retreating figure, Gan Ning knew there was no point trying to dissuade him. All he could do was silently wish him well. He understood that Senior Brother Jiang Chen was his lifeline on this island.
If Senior Brother Jiang Chen fell, Gan Ning would have absolutely no chance of surviving fifteen days here unscathed. The only option would be to hole up inside this formation from the very start and never leave.
Of course, if he did that now — just hiding in the formation without venturing out — he already had roughly ten Trial Orbs on hand. That was enough to meet the baseline requirement.
That result would be sufficient to keep his ranking near the top.
He knew that in trials like this, by the end, there would be a large crowd of people who hadn't obtained a single Trial Orb. Some would be eliminated the moment they entered. Trial Orbs would concentrate in the hands of a select few elites.
Once Jiang Chen had settled Gan Ning, he felt lighter and more unencumbered, ready to move freely.
Through the Gold-Munching Mouse's exceptional intelligence-gathering ability, he quickly locked onto the area in question. Sure enough, just as the mouse had observed, many spots across this zone had been fitted with poison formations.
If these poison formations were activated in full, they could seal off the entire area in an instant, reducing anyone who ventured inside to prey at the mercy of their master.
Jiang Chen circled the perimeter, examining the layout and techniques of these poison formations. From that, he gained a preliminary understanding of the capabilities of the mastermind pulling the strings behind them.
He had to admit it — the person who had set up these poison formations was remarkably skilled. At least, up to this point, Jiang Chen hadn't encountered a more formidable poison expert.
Back in the human territories, he had crossed paths with a few poison specialists, but none of them had been remotely worthy of his attention. Later, when the Xiahou clan from the Abyssal Domain dispatched a group to the human territories to establish the Wind and Cloud Sect, there had been some poison users among them too — but in Jiang Chen's eyes, they had been nothing more than child's play.