Chapter 264: Willpower Assessment, Chen Yan's Choice

Yu Changsheng's pupils suddenly constricted; upon hearing that number, he looked toward the top with an extremely uneasy expression.

On that massive leaderboard, the name on the first line caught his eye.

【First Place Chen Yan: Thirty pieces】

Yu Changsheng's body trembled instantly.

Boom!

Inside his body, a crisp sound of blood and Qi exploding rang out; he looked carefully several times, and it was still thirty pieces.

In an instant, his expression froze.

At this moment, even he found it difficult to maintain his composure.

That surge of emotion was more intense than that of everyone else present.

It was like a person spending decades raising their score from ninety-eight to ninety-nine.

They feel satisfied, but still sigh that someone is better than them, someone who can score one hundred.

But this very feeling of wistfulness was instantly shattered because someone previously unknown suddenly scored one hundred and twenty.

It turned out the full score of the test was not one hundred at all, but one hundred and twenty.

Yu Changsheng sat like that for a long time.

Chen Yan.

This name was now deeply engraved in the bottom of his heart.

He had not expected that this bug who escaped the blockade of the Luo-Chen family would have even more courage than him.

He sat quietly, then at a certain moment closed his eyes.

At this moment, it was unknown what he was thinking.

All around, the noisy discussions also gradually ceased.

After all, the third stage of the Time Domain Phoenix had not yet begun.

Comprehending the Time Seed.

This was the greatest treasure among the several opportunities.

It creates an independent time domain that envelops the martial artist's body, with a flow rate sixty times faster than the outside world.

Each Time Seed can only create one hour of time domain.

But within the time domain, that is sixty hours.

Outstanding geniuses can generally obtain five pieces.

Five pieces means exchanging five hours for three hundred hours of cultivation time.

This is a treasure used during the College Entrance Examination.

The College Entrance Examination secret realm has abundant resources and immense competition.

The extra time created by one Time Seed might completely change a person's final ranking.

For top geniuses, Time Seeds are even more precious; they do not lack resources or aptitude, only time.

All around.

Outside the assessment space.

The various powerhouses of Xiaoyang City were also discussing it at this moment.

"The Time Seed assesses willpower; the geniuses of the Military Martial Guard have stronger willpower than ordinary people."

"Zhang Luobai is also not bad; although Zhang Luobai's courage assessment was poor, he was the one who obtained the most Time Seeds last year."

"And this Yu Changsheng, he is clearly extraordinary this year; is it true that he fought a Tier 6 Ancient God Beast for a year?"

"What I am most concerned about is still this Chen Yan; he is too brilliant. Those with high courage generally do not have poor willpower."

"Indeed, I am also optimistic about Chen Yan; Shen Yiwei has found an extremely strong genius."

…………

The crowd discussed.

Many eyes were locked onto Chen Yan.

Chen Yan's performance in every aspect indicated that such a heaven-gifted talent would not be lacking in willpower either.

Just like that.

Under the gaze of pairs of eyes.

Screech!

A high-pitched bird cry resounded through the heavens and earth.

The massive Divine Phoenix towering over the world lifted its head at this moment.

Inside the assessment space, streaks of brilliant white light emerged and descended.

Covering Chen Yan and everyone else completely.

Hum!

A dizzying sensation swirled within Chen Yan's mind.

Chen Yan opened his eyes and looked around.

The surrounding scenery had completely changed.

The earth was vast, and the whistling northern wind stirred up waves of dry, bloody stench.

Bones were piled high.

Countless bones were scattered across the land, long since dried and cracked; having endured for who knows how many years, they were like pale punctuation marks scattered like stars in a chessboard.

And high in the sky, a great blood-colored sword stood in the void.

Strands of blood-light, like coiling dragons, were intertwined on the sword body, incomparably shocking.

Hum, hum, hum!

Beams of light appeared beside Chen Yan.

Immediately after, the beams of light vanished, and the figures shrouded within them emerged.

They were none other than all the examinees who had entered the examination space.

"What is this?" someone asked in shock:

"Have we arrived in a new world?"

Beside them, a senior student explained:

"No, this is the third stage of the Time Domain Phoenix, the Will Examination.

However, rather than an examination, it is more of a legacy; as long as your will is affirmed by the Time Domain Phoenix, you can be rewarded with a Time Seed."

The senior student had already experienced it once and was unfazed by such a scene.

But the new students were filled with shock.

After all, the scenery within this world was so vivid.

Chen Yan looked around, and Shen Youning and the others nodded at Chen Yan.

A graceful figure had appeared beside Chen Yan without him noticing when.

When Chen Yan looked over in surprise, San Jin's body stiffened slightly for a moment, as if she were extremely nervous, and she looked straight ahead, not at Chen Yan.

Chen Yan looked at San Jin.

The other party had shown concern for him more than once.

"Do you have orders to protect me?" Chen Yan asked.

"No... no, I don't." San Jin spoke, her pair of pitch-black pupils flickering as she looked at Chen Yan.

Chen Yan sighed inwardly and said:

"Was it Minister Zong who ordered you?"

San Jin's expression became flustered:

"No... it wasn't."

Chen Yan stopped asking.

San Jin, however, looked at Chen Yan nervously:

"I... I didn't... lie to you."

Chen Yan was speechless, but he still said:

"I believe you."

San Jin was stunned, and at this moment, she actually felt a trace of apology.

It seemed she felt guilty about lying to Chen Yan.

San Jin.

Chen Yan remembered very clearly that the other party had been with Zong Heng from the very beginning.

Her aptitude was extremely outstanding, a dimensionality reduction strike compared to the second place.

Such a person should have her own life.

Chen Yan suddenly felt that he was lucky, and his gaze toward San Jin softened quite a bit.

Whoever helps him, he helps them.

He was petty, but he was also clear about gratitude and grudges.

Suddenly, Chen Yan sensed a cold gaze, and when he looked over.

That Yu Changsheng had been watching Chen Yan, filled with suspicion and surprise.

At this moment, he did not hide it at all.

Yu Changsheng.

Chen Yan's expression was calm, but he was also pondering.

The other party was his enemy, but in the perception of his State of Speech, this Yu Changsheng had never held hostility toward him.

But there was killing intent.

To be precise, this person held killing intent toward everyone here.

This was the most terrifying part.

A person who does not kill out of hatred—Chen Yan absolutely did not believe such a person was an ordinary individual.

It was also at this moment.

A voice of extreme grandeur suddenly resounded throughout the vast world.

"Will is ethereal, yet as powerful as the heavens!"

Everyone looked, and the voice came from within that enormous blood-colored longsword.

"I am the Xia Clan Blood Sword Saint, hiding a sliver of my divine sense within the Time Domain Phoenix, using this as the third stage of the Time Domain Phoenix examination."

"This stage is an examination, and also a legacy; you examinees shall perceive the state of mind I had while exploring the Martial Dao, perceive my will, bear my will, and inherit my will."

"How far you can go depends on yourselves."

Hum!

Intense blood light overflowed from within the longsword that stood between heaven and earth.

"The heavens are unkind, the Martial Dao is unjust, the Great Xia is not at peace; we martial artists cultivate the Dao of the heavens and cultivate our own Dao.

Whether you can continue to walk forward depends entirely on you."

The voice slowly dissipated.

At this moment, all the examinees' expressions became solemn.

Quite a few people sighed with extreme complexity.

The vast majority of people, in truth, did not want to participate in any strife at all.

They were merely forced by the circumstances of the times.

The vast majority of people desired peace in their hearts, and were also willing to pay for it.

Will.

It is the yardstick that determines how far a person can go.

And it was at this very moment.

High above in the sky.

That blood sword drifted slowly toward the east.

"Follow, if we want to comprehend the will of the Blood Sword Saint, we must experience the various states of mind in the Blood Sword Saint's martial path."

"Last time, I walked two kilometers and couldn't go any further; this time I will break through myself."

"Good, good, good, this is an opportunity; if I can strengthen my own will, it will be of great benefit to my martial path."

As the crowd spoke, one figure after another took steps and chased after the blood sword.

Suddenly.

Among the departing crowd, someone looked back:

"Chen Yan, hurry up." Shao Hengyang looked at Chen Yan behind him, feeling greatly surprised.

Someone followed the sound and looked back, also frowning slightly.

Chen Yan had actually not taken a step.

"Chen Yan, the assessment of the Time Seed has a time limit, with your..." Shen Youning stopped mid-sentence, looked at Chen Yan, and her gaze lingered for a moment on San Jin beside Chen Yan.

Chen Yan smiled gently at Shen Youning, but did not step forward.

Shen Youning frowned slightly; she wanted to walk toward Chen Yan, but in the end, she turned around when she looked at San Jin and continued to follow the blood sword.

As for the other geniuses of the New Dragon Guard, they were also extremely puzzled.

But Chen Yan was different from them to begin with, so they found it difficult to advise him on anything.

At this moment.

Chen Yan stood still in place, his expression shifting.

Gazing from afar at the blood sword that had flown very far away, Chen Yan's eyes became firm in the next moment.

"Inherit the will of others?"

He whispered in his heart, finding it incomparably ridiculous himself.

Why would a master of will need to inherit the will of others?

Before the path of will appeared, the world's comprehension of will was extremely vague.

They knew will was incomparably important, but they could not define it.

They had no method of will, no technique of will.

The so-called inheritance of will was nothing more than, like the Heaven's Pride trial, passing through the experience of others' memories to savor the lives of others.

Chen Yan sat cross-legged.

"But this is your Dao, not my Dao."

Chen Yan whispered.

"It... it is, this... this is his... -his... 's..." San Jin's voice suddenly sounded from the side.

Chen Yan looked over; San Jin was standing right beside him.

"Why are you not following the blood sword?" Chen Yan asked in surprise.

"Because... because I... feel... you..."

"Because you feel I am right?" Chen Yan spoke.

"Mm!" San Jin nodded earnestly.

Afterwards, feeling that one 'Mm' was too casual, she 'Mm'ed again.

She would never tell Chen Yan that the so-called Blood Sword Saint was actually a dirty-footed old man who wore a ghost mask to scare her every day when she was a child.

And then, every time he played dirty at chess with Xia Hanzhou, he would be slapped away by Xia Hanzhou, only to hug Xia Hanzhou's thigh and say 'one more game'—that kind of Blood Sword Saint.

Upon seeing that they had to inherit the will of the Blood Sword Saint, San Jin's face turned green.

Fortunately, fortunately Chen Yan believed what she said.

A trace of satisfaction appeared in San Jin's eyes.

Sure enough, the expression with which Chen Yan looked at San Jin carried a trace of complexity.

"My Dao is not lonely." Chen Yan whispered, though his Realm of Words told him that San Jin was lying to him.

Chen Yan closed his eyes.

At this moment, he did not feel the influence of the blood sword on him, but instead comprehended the entire illusion.

He wanted to see what this so-called inheritance of will really was.

Time passed quietly.

Among the examinees heading toward the blood sword.

Yu Changsheng slowly turned his head to look at Chen Yan behind him, and immediately frowned.

"What are you doing?"

He discovered that he actually couldn't figure out what Chen Yan was doing.

A person who could condense thirty Dao-Severing Seeds during the courage assessment could not possibly have a weak will.