When Jiang Chen sat back down, he felt unified attention from several fronts concentrate on House Yan once more. The factions that hadn’t thought much of the house were considering it with wary eyes a second time.

The Jade Lake Sect had proceeded at its own pace before, but its members were clearly troubled now. They glanced in House Yan’s direction with some regularity from time to time.

Jiang Chen knew that laying low earlier had earned him a brief reprieve. It wasn’t going to be easy to fool their opponents any more. Now that House Yan had thirty points, the other factions would view it as a rival to surpass regardless of his efforts.

Still, it wasn’t a worrying development. As long as they proceeded according to plan at a decent tempo, things would remain under control.

As the dark horse of the competition, House Yan unavoidably became the focus of attention. Without Jiang Chen’s active participation, they had no advantage in the proceeding questions.

Because he wanted to contain their momentum,...