Chapter 57 - The Top Ten Geniuses
Qin Nan did not immediately accept the offer; he asked calmly, “Blue Dragon Badges? How do you know where they are located?”
Before the Trial of Versatility took place, the five elders only told the disciples that there would be thirty Blue Dragon Badges on the Island of Versatility—they did not mention the exact locations of these badges.
The Island of Versatility covered at least a thousand square miles—it was a very big island. How did Xiao Leng know where the badges were?
Xiao Leng said, “On this Island of Versatility, our seniors from the Mystic Spirit Sect left plenty of maps. These maps show where the precious resources could be found. At the same time, some of the maps would mark where the Blue Dragon Badges were. There were five of these maps, and each map contains two Blue Dragon Badges.”
Xiao Leng hesitated for a while before continuing, “Rumor says that when these five maps are combined together, the remaining twenty Blue Dragon Badges could then be found.”
Qin Nan was quite convinced after hearing the words.
He had only managed to find the Violet Flame Flowers with the help of his Eyes of the Divine Battle Spirit, while Lee Changyun on the other hand, found the flowers following the guidance of a map.
Qin Nan took some time to process his thoughts, and then said, “How do we do this?”
Even though Qin Nan’s current priority was to improve his cultivation, finding the Blue Dragon Badges was his goal too.
“I once possessed the map, but it was stolen by Wang Meng, who is ranked ninth among the top ten geniuses.” A cold flicker appeared in Xiao Leng’s eyes, as he said angrily, “If we cooperate, I will deal with this Wang Meng, but handling the other two seventh-layer Body Tempering Realm disciples who are his subordinates would be your job.”
After saying this, Xiao Leng glanced at Qin Nan immediately.
The truth was that, in his true thoughts, Xiao Leng was extremely unwilling to work together with Qin Nan. Apart from looking down on Qin Nan since they had met, he also offended so many disciples previously.
However, it was impossible to handle Wang Meng and his followers with his own strength; thus, he was forced to lower his status and team up with Qin Nan.
Qin Nan did not tell Xiao Leng his decision, but asked out of interest, “Who are the top ten geniuses?”
Since arriving at the Mystic Spirit Sect, Qin Nan had spent his time learning Martial Skills at the Skill Library, or cultivating. He was clueless as to what this meant.
“Among the new disciples, there exists two different rankings. The first one is referring to the top two super geniuses—Huang Long and Ling Zixiao. Behind them, are the top ten geniuses.” A smug expression appeared on Xiao Leng’s face. “All the top ten geniuses possess Martial Spirits with an eighth-grade Huang rank. They are ranked according to their cultivation base. For example, I am ranked tenth among the top ten geniuses.”
After finishing the sentence, Xiao Leng glanced at Qin Nan.
Normally, Qin Nan would be listed as one of the top ten geniuses, as he possessed an eighth-grade Huang ranked Martial Spirit.
However, since Qin Nan had offended Ling Zixiao and the other two hundred and twenty disciples, he was already considered a dead man—thus he was not included in the ranking.
“I see.” Qin Nan paused for a while, and then nodded, “Sure, I’ll team up with you.”
Qin Nan did not suspect anything fishy, even though he was not fond of Xiao Leng; he was more trustworthy when compared to the other disciples.
This was because Xiao Leng was Xiao Qingxue’s brother, and Xiao Qingxue had helped him out on many occasions.
“I still remember the way to the location on the map, we’ll move out immediately. Although there are some monsters guarding the map, they won’t last long facing Wang Meng and his group.” After Qin Nan accepted his offer, Xiao Leng immediately gathered his strength and sprang forward in a rush with his movement technique.
Qin Nan shook his head after seeing Xiao Leng’s reaction; he then followed behind him.
The two advanced forward among the wooden braches for a period, before stopping on a big tree.
Xiao Leng scanned the area before him while squinting his eyes, and said with a low tone, “Don’t make a sound, we’ll confront them after they finish killing the monsters.”
Qin Nan nodded his head and concealed his presence, while gazing forward.
Before them was a lake, and at the center of the lake was a platform made of stone. On top of the platform were two jade pendants. The pendants emitted a weak, but extraordinary blue light when the sunlight shone upon them.
These two pendants were the Blue Dragon Badges.
Qin Nan looked around, and found three young men with unleashed Martial Spirits battling against some monsters at the lakeside. The fights were intense, which caused the water of the lake to turn red slowly.
Among them, the smug-looking one wearing a golden robe caught Qin Nan’s attention immediately.
Behind him floated an eighth-grade Huang ranked Martial Spirit—his Martial Spirit was a sword. The sword was covered in ice, and—as if it was made of dark ice aged over a thousand years—a frosty aura could be felt from it.
Besides this, this young lad had reached the Minor Success Stage of One with the Sword; every slash of the sword was accompanied by countless frosty Sword Intent, which caused a part of the lake to freeze, killing a monster equivalent to the strength of a seventh-layer Body Tempering Realm cultivator.
“This guy must be Wang Meng; with the Minor Success Stage of One with the Sword, together with a cultivation base of the seventh-layer Body Tempering Realm and his Martial Spirit, he could easily kill cultivators of the eighth-layer Body Tempering Realm. Pretty impressive for the ninth rank among the top ten geniuses.” Qin Nan was slightly astonished, but a frosty murderous intent appeared in his eyes.
Although Qin Nan was not familiar with this Wang Meng, Qin Nan could still remember him to be one of the two hundred and twenty disciples who had teamed up with Ling Zixiao.
Meanwhile, the number of monsters was getting lesser under the massacre from Wang Meng and his group. After a brief period, every single monster guarding the lake had been eliminated, including a powerful eighth-layer Body Tempering Realm monster.
After killing all the monsters, Wang Meng and his followers looked pleased.
The two disciples standing beside Wang Meng immediately sucked up to him, “Congratulations Senior Brother, as the monsters are gone now, the two Blue Dragon Badges will be yours, increasing your rank to the top ten.”
Wang Meng wore a smug expression as he gave the two disciples a complimentary glance and said, “I have now obtained these two Blue Dragon Badges thanks to you two. Without your help, I wouldn’t have been able to get the map from that idiot Xiao Leng. I will keep in mind your contributions, and I’ll make sure you two get rewarded when I succeed.”
The two disciples were immediately joyful.
However, Xiao Leng—who was hiding on the tree—ran out of patience after hearing these words and yelled furiously, “Wang Meng, you stole my map, and dare to curse my name; I’ll make you pay with your life now!”
At the same time, while surrounded by a murderous aura, Xiao Leng sprang at his enemy as a Martial Spirit was unleashed behind him; it appeared to be a sword, which had an archaic appearance, as if it was a weapon from ancient times.
Xiao Leng immediately executed his strongest ability after showing himself; he grabbed the ancient sword in his hand and gathered his Sword Intent, aiming for Wang Meng’s head.
The sudden danger had caused the three to briefly lose their thoughts.
As Wang Meng recognized who the attacker was, he laughed disdainfully and said, “Look who’s here, isn’t this my vanquished foe? You dare to come back after I spared your life? If death is what you hope for, I’ll make sure to grant you your wish!”
Wang Meng had no place for Xiao Leng in his eyes; he let out a cold humph and gathered a frosty aura, unleashing his Sword Intent slashing at the approaching Xiao Leng.
BANG!
The two streams of Sword Intent collided each other, causing a forceful explosion.
Wang Meng was ranked ninth among the ten geniuses, which was one rank higher than Xiao Leng. Even though the two were matched with each other in terms of cultivation base, it seemed like Wang Meng was more experienced in utilizing Sword Arts.
As a result, the sudden offense from Xiao Leng had been negated by Wang Meng with ease.
Xiao Leng’s expression remained unchanged as he locked his gaze onto Wang Meng and said, “Wang Meng, you only managed to steal the map from me with the help of your companions. If you’re a real man, fight me fairly one-on-one.”
“One-on-one?” Wang Meng said with a mocking expression, “Who would want to do that? Let me tell you something; bullying by taking advantage of a greater number of people would always be my intention.”
After saying this, Wang Meng did not hesitate to give his commands, “Let’s attack together, and give this guy a thorough end to his life right now.”
The other two disciples immediately let out evil grins; they then gathered their might and sprang forward at Xiao Leng, together with Wang Meng.
Upon seeing this, Qin Nan who remained hidden on top of the big tree decided to show himself. He leapt down from the tree and said calmly, “It’s not fair for you three to bully Xiao Leng, who’s alone. If that’s the case, I will team up with Xiao Leng and challenge you three to a duel.”
At that instant, Wang Meng and his group came to a sudden stop, with twisted expressions appearing on their faces.
Did Xiao Leng manage to find help?