Qin You’s expression froze instantly. He was fully aware of how much trouble he was in now.
The runes approached even during this momentary loss of focus, their walls crushing in the space they occupied.
“What the hell are these things, senior brother Qin?” The white-haired cultivator was blindsided; his voice terrified. They had a reasonable breadth of experience as geniuses of a sacred land, but never had they witnessed so weird a sight before.
A regular formation couldn’t possibly move around, could it?
These approaching runes felt like one that could. Moreover, they were so powerful that the geniuses had no hope of escape.
Outside the entrapment of runes, Jiang Chen was perfectly relaxed. He had only wanted to do a little experiment, but the suspended runes turned out far more powerful than he expected.
They were significantly more flexible than formations to boot. Yes, they weren’t equally as strong, but their ease of use in combat meant that they were much more convenient and agile.
Gan Ning’s only remaining emotion was astonishment. The abilities that Jiang Chen were casually exhibiting were too incomprehensible for him. He could do nothing more than admire his senior brother’s exploits.
After a period of futile resistance, Qin You and the white-haired cultivator were utterly overwhelmed.
……
About an hour later, Jiang Chen collected forty-some orbs off of the other geniuses’ unconscious bodies. Gan Ning could only watch on, completely flabbergasted by what his senior brother was doing.
He now understood why Jiang Chen hadn’t cared for the orbs they found along the way. If he could do all this, was there even a point to fighting over the strays?
Jiang Chen generously gifted five of the orbs he won to Gan Ning.
“I… I can have these?” stammered the young genius.
Jiang Chen laughed. “Take it. A portion of their ill-gotten gains.”
“Ill-gotten gains?” Gan Ning was confused.
“These guys had six or seven orbs each. Given their abilities, how could they find so many in only a day or two? The fact that they were gathered together here means that the orb per head should be even fewer. The only explanation is that they banded together to rob others. Honestly, a much better deal than trying to find orbs themselves, I have to say.”
His analysis was quite reasonable.
“Oh, I see. These bastards!” Gan Ning cursed. “I’ve always heard that Flora, Polylore, and Void were secret allies. Seems those rumors were true. Regardless, these guys are pretty lucky to assemble in so short a period of time.”
“They have their ways of making that easier. There’s a bit of luck as well, I assume.” Jiang Chen waved a hand. “We need to hurry and find Wu You.”
Gan Ning was still mildly concerned. “Didn’t you find the lingering aura of the weeping tree around here, senior brother? I’m bothered that Wu You might have fallen prey to their surprise attack.”
“I don’t think so,” Jiang Chen shook his head. “Let’s look around a bit more. The trail’s not cold yet.”
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“Uh huh. We need to take care of ourselves. These temporary alliances are hard to defend against,” Gan Ning suggested discreetly.
Jiang Chen grinned at that. “I actually want to run into them more often. To pick up so many orbs so quickly and easily is a real blessing.”
Gan Ning blinked, then burst into laughter.
Senior brother Jiang Chen was right. He was strong enough to cut through even well-known geniuses such as Qin You like butter. They were as pliant as clay in his hands.
What else would he possibly be afraid of?
As long as his senior brother employed some common sense, he could do as he wished on this island. He and Wu You were lucky to be on the same team as him! If Jiang Chen acted independently, he might reap even greater rewards.
No more amazing opportunities arose as they traveled past. Clearly, Qin You and his fellows’ banditry had induced the other geniuses to steer a wide berth around this area.
This was another important reason that Qin You had wanted to leave this place.
But after all of what had transpired so far, there was still no news of Wu You whatsoever.
At first, Gan Ning was very anxious about his friend’s whereabouts. After a while though, he felt that it was probably alright even if Wu You didn’t show up until the end.
Senior brother Jiang Chen was harvesting orbs at an alarming rate. Even without Wu You’s contribution, he would lead the pack in the rankings. Their team would definitely be top three – or perhaps even the winning one.
Since it was forbidden to kill anyone in the trial, Wu You’s safety was assured.
There was still no trace of their missing third member at the second evening.
Last night’s experiences had taught Gan Ning not to mention keeping watch again. He really didn’t need to. Anyone blind enough to run into senior brother Jiang Chen was delivering their own orbs right into his hands.
As expected, two more would-be ambushers crept up on them in the night, thinking that they were stupid to be so defenseless in the trees.
Jiang Chen took care of the two excited criminals on the spot. They didn’t even see his face before being knocked out. Their orbs were duly confiscated, though the duo had only five among them.
Still, something was better than nothing.
Gan Ning was passed another orb from the spoils. Profit without working was a little embarrassing; he had made almost no contribution to the team’s efforts.
On the third day, Jiang Chen and Gan Ning noticed that the other teams were beginning to gather together. Many trios had already found each other.
The situation on the island shifted. Geniuses no longer roamed by themselves, but rather in teams instead.
This affected Jiang Chen’s movements somewhat.
Since Jiang Chen was so far above his teammates in terms of strength, his team had a very different dynamic compared to the ones where all three geniuses were evenly matched.