Chapter 256: Without aptitude, one can still struggle

The blood-colored rice grains appeared before Chen Yan just like that.

The Dao-Slaying Seed, containing a powerful Morning Star-level secret technique fragment, was condensed by Chen Yan.

Inside the independent space created by the Time Domain Phoenix, everyone looked toward Chen Yan.

There was shock, there was horror, there was confusion.

Chen Yan.

The number one of the Yunmeng City Heaven's Pride Trial, a Fifth-Rank Heaven-Piercing General Star.

But among this year's newcomers, Chen Yan was not the most brilliant one.

Above him was Zhu Lili, a Third-Rank General Star and the strongest among the newcomers.

There was also An Yunnan, who had broken the limits of his realm.

Placed among all the high school examinees, Chen Yan was even less outstanding.

The only thing that was shocking was the shortness of Chen Yan's time since entering the Dao.

But now, this Fifth-Rank General Star from Yunmeng City had made everyone remember him.

Zhu Lili took a deep look at Chen Yan, then immediately closed her eyes:

"You are indeed brilliant, but I am not inferior."

She had no dissatisfaction with Chen Yan at the beginning, but Zong Heng wanted her to sacrifice herself to team up with Chen Yan and protect him.

This made her angry.

She was not inferior; she was a Heaven's Pride, and she had her own pride.

It was just that, seeing at this moment that Chen Yan was the first person to condense a Dao-Slaying Seed, Zhu Lili's body had become somewhat stiff.

In the distance.

Yu Changsheng swept a quiet glance at Chen Yan, without any emotion:

"It has been more than thirty years since my last high school entrance exam; this time, I would like to see if my heart has ever changed."

He whispered in his heart and closed his eyes.

He was an Invincible Child; in terms of courage, he was never weaker than anyone.

The only pity was that the number of Dao-Slaying Seeds he had obtained that time was only twenty-five, two fewer than Lu Xunyang in the highest record.

…………

"Why would the first trial be Chen Xiyuan?"

Chen Yan looked at the Dao-Slaying Seed in front of him and whispered in his heart.

"Chen Xiyuan has never been an object of my fear; what I have done is merely wait for an opportunity to kill the other party."

Chen Yan closed his eyes, his whole body condensed with red light.

This red light exhaled by the Time Domain Phoenix could seep into a martial artist's mind and create terrifying illusions within the martial artist's heart.

Within Chen Yan's mind, Chen Xiyuan's corpse slowly dissipated.

A slender male figure appeared, and the other party was looking at Chen Yan indifferently:

"I did not expect that a small collateral branch member I never cared about at all would actually grow to this extent."

Chen Changyuan's expression was cold, and he pointed a single finger at Chen Yan; a terrifying might condensed between his fingers, as if he would completely annihilate Chen Yan in the next instant.

Annihilating Chen Yan was no different from annihilating a bug.

Chen Yan's eyes were calm; facing this powerful enemy he was destined to encounter from the very beginning, he slowly took a step forward.

"This assessment is too simple."

Chen Yan threw a punch, the fist light wrapped in golden Gang Qi, instantly exploding Chen Changyuan's body.

"These have never been things that make me afraid."

Chen Yan whispered.

At the same time.

Outside.

In front of the sitting Chen Yan, red light surged, and blood-colored rice grains emerged one by one.

As if condensing the last intense trace of the setting sun, countless secret texts seemed to surge within the blood-colored rice grains, containing profound mysteries.

At the same time.

Above the heads of Chen Yan and the others, beneath the golden divine phoenix covering the sky, the text on that ranking list changed.

【First Place Chen Yan: 7 grains】

【Second Place Yu Changsheng: 7 grains】

【Third Place Wangu Luo: 4 grains】

【Fifth Place Zhu Lili: 3 grains】

【Sixth Place Shao Hengyang: 3 grains】

…………

Outside the assessment space, everyone in the entire Xiaoyang City looked at the changes on the ranking list.

"The first and second places are almost crushing everyone else by a landslide!"

"Yu Changsheng has surpassed Chen Yan, it's eight grains!"

"Chen Yan is also at eight grains, nine grains now!"

"The criteria for this Dao-Slaying Seed assessment are too strange; Chen Yan and Yu Changsheng are actually leaving everyone else in the dust."

"The courage of these two is on par; it is truly terrifying!"

"Strange, in the last Dao-Slaying Seed assessment, Yu Changsheng was not this brilliant."

One after another, discussions rang out.

Yet, upon the ranking board.

The names of Chen Yan and Yu Changsheng alternated back and forth, like two strongmen in a tug-of-war, constantly snatching the title of first place.

Soon, Chen Yan had condensed fourteen Dao-Slashing Seeds, while Yu Changsheng had condensed thirteen.

But in the blink of an eye, Yu Changsheng also condensed his fourteenth Dao-Slashing Seed.

As for third place, it had become Zhu Lili, though she only had seven.

High in the sky outside Xiaoyang City.

Zong Heng and Shen Yiwei stood together, watching from afar everything happening within the city.

"Tell me, why watch from outside the city? Are you truly afraid of Zhang Ting?" Zong Heng looked at Shen Yiwei with a rather speechless expression.

"I'm not going in." Shen Yiwei shook his head:

"Zhang Ting is watching me very closely."

Zong Heng's eyes turned sharp, but the next moment he slowly shook his head and looked at that massive ranking board:

"Is this Chen Yan really that bold?"

"He is quite bold." Shen Yiwei gave a strange smile.

Daring to enter the Chu family base alone, daring to go and slaughter the Gong family alone.

How could this courage not be great?

Great courage is not necessarily a good thing, but it is definitely not a bad thing.

Why does the Great Xia College Entrance Exam place such importance on courage?

Why does the Time Domain Phoenix even rank courage alongside willpower and aptitude as the three great trials?

Because this world was once filled with darkness and chaos.

It was that first group of people who raised their heads in the face of terrifying alien existences.

It was the Xia Sovereign and the Five Clans who stood up to carve out the heavens and earth and establish Great Xia.

If not for that initial sliver of courage, there would be no Great Xia, and there would be no prosperous human civilization of today.

Without aptitude, one can still struggle.

But without courage, one will fall forever into the Avici Hell.

Aptitude is the beginning of the Martial Dao.

Courage is the choice of the Martial Dao.

Willpower is the continuation of the Martial Dao.

This is what the Great Xia College Entrance Exam truly values.

This is what the Time Domain Phoenix tests.

The Dao-Slaughter Forest, Dream Abyss, and Seeking Sun Tower in the entrance exam secret realm also test these.

This is the foundation of a person!

"Good heavens, with just this courage, the entire Qin Province has underestimated this Chen Yan!" Zong Heng sighed with emotion:

"Could it be... could it be that he will surpass Chief Inspector Lu?"

Just after he finished this sentence, he paused, his expression becoming strange.

Lu Xunyang, that is a God of Slaughter.

If Chen Yan were to obtain more Dao-Slashing Seeds than Lu Xunyang...

Damn?

Suddenly, Zong Heng's expression became somewhat unnatural.

"I am not surprised that Chen Yan can be this brilliant, it's just this Yu Changsheng..."

To the side, Shen Yiwei narrowed his eyes; Yu Changsheng's performance was somewhat abnormal.

"Right!" Zong Heng nodded:

"You noticed it too."

Shen Yiwei frowned:

"Yu Changsheng wasn't this brilliant last year, and it is extremely difficult to hone one's courage to this extent in just one year.

But Chen Changyuan entered the college entrance exam two sessions after me; I remember him, his test results for the Dao-Slashing Seeds were excellent."

In an instant, Zong Heng's eyes turned sharp:

"Impossible, the Time Domain Phoenix is a divine artifact; if Chen Changyuan were to possess Yu Changsheng, it would definitely be detected."

Shen Yiwei's gaze was gloomy: "What if it were a super-grade possession technique?"

"That is even more impossible; there are only a few people in the entire world who have mastered that level of possession technique." Zong Heng spoke:

"You are overthinking it."

Shen Yiwei nodded: "Indeed, it is not very reasonable."

…………

"Damn it, you lot are disturbing me!"

A low roar sounded from within the assessment space.

Li Guo, who had previously killed a prodigy of the Aristocratic Family Alliance, stood up, holding his blade and angrily berating a black-clad youth not far away.

The black-clad youth sneered but did not speak at all; after condensing two Dao-Slashing Seeds, he was unable to continue condensing them, so he simply began to interfere with Li Guo.

There were quite a few others from the Aristocratic Family Alliance who thought as he did.

"Li Guo, come to my side."

In the distance, a Fifth-Rank General Star spoke.

Li Guo coldly glanced at the black-clad youth, then fled toward that side.

…………

【First Place Chen Yan: seventeen pieces】

【Second Place Yu Changsheng: seventeen pieces】

【Third Place Zhu Lili: nine pieces】

【Fifth Place San Jin: eight pieces】

……

On the ranking list, the rankings of the top few kept changing, but the top two, Chen Yan and Yu Changsheng, had never changed.

Following one exclamation after another ringing out.

Chen Yan's ranking changed to second, Yu Changsheng surpassed Chen Yan.