No matter how much the people around him mocked and prodded him, Lu Chao kept his mouth shut. He stood there like an enlightened monk, ignoring them completely.
He knew that the more he reacted, the more they would gloat and taunt him, and the more humiliated he would be.
So the best thing he could do now was keep quiet and not respond.
Seeing this, the people around them gradually lost interest. After all, teasing a stone wasn't much fun. Some of them suddenly thought of Xia Ping.
If they could ask the person involved—the dark horse himself—they would surely get plenty of inside information.
Just then, someone spotted Xia Ping standing in the middle of the plaza.
Since Xia Ping's photo was included in the information posted above, it only took a quick check for the people around him to recognize what he looked like.
"Hey, kid, are you Xia Ping?"
Someone noticed Xia Ping nearby and asked skeptically, "According to the rankings, you got first place and over ten thousand points with only a seventh-stage Martial Master cultivation. How did you manage that?"
He sized Xia Ping up, unable to see how this kid could be so formidable as to take down so many experts.
"Yeah, it does seem fishy. Do you have some incredibly powerful backer?" someone else speculated maliciously, suggesting that Xia Ping's backers had pulled strings behind the scenes.
That was why Lu Chao had supposedly thrown the match on purpose, handing Xia Ping a huge number of points so he could advance past the preliminary round.
It wasn't impossible.
Similar incidents had occurred in previous Genius Tournaments, but they'd all been uncovered and dealt with harshly. The offenders were banned for life. By now, no one dared to do anything so stupid.
After