Chapter 269: Let Me Teach You What Willpower Is

The chill of autumn is deepening.

The bustling Xiaoyang City unfolds slowly upon the canvas of time like a vibrant oil painting.

In the streets and alleys, ginkgo leaves flutter down like golden butterflies, carpeting the earth in a velvet of gilded gold.

Today in Xiaoyang is just like any other.

High above, flying warships pass by one after another, and powerful martial artists tread through the air.

The Domain Phoenix of Time has vanished.

Only three days remain until the opening of the college entrance examination secret realm.

Of course, this has nothing to do with the residents of Xiaoyang City.

But on this perfectly ordinary afternoon.

Screech!

A high, piercing cry disperses into the clouds and mist, resounding throughout all of Xiaoyang City.

On the ground, eyes follow the sound, all becoming exceptionally astonished.

A brilliant, extreme light suddenly appears, as if tearing a rift through space and time.

The Divine Phoenix reappears!

Along with it comes the massive leaderboard that had vanished for several days.

Beneath this leaderboard, a handsome youth appears, dressed in a pitch-black General Star uniform with a Fifth-Rank General Star medal pinned to his shoulder.

He sits quietly in the lotus position within the assessment space that belongs solely to him, receiving the gaze of the entire world.

"What's going on? Is Chen Yan only just starting to condense a Time Seed?"

"What has he been doing all this time..."

Someone speaks up in surprise; everyone had assumed the Domain Phoenix of Time assessment was already over.

Yet Chen Yan has appeared, and he is still in the middle of the assessment.

On the street, a youth eating fried dumplings wears a bizarre expression:

"I thought this guy didn't care about the Time Seed at all."

As his voice falls, a citizen nearby recognizes him:

"You're a college entrance examinee too, right? Why is Chen Yan only appearing now?"

The youth eating fried dumplings shrugs:

"This guy didn't go to follow the Blood Sword from the start; he just stayed in place and stared blankly. I even thought he had given up on the Time Seed."

His eyes flicker:

"I don't know why he wasn't eliminated; perhaps it's a privilege of the General Star.

Chen Yan must have started following the Blood Sword again now."

He shrugs.

Buddy, why bother?

Everyone knows you have extraordinary courage; you don't need to be this eccentric.

Yet at this very moment.

With a *clatter*.

The plate of fried dumplings in the youth's hand suddenly falls to the ground, and the dumplings scatter everywhere.

"Damn it!"

He exclaims in shock, as if he cannot believe the scene unfolding before his eyes.

For there, amidst the astonished gazes, white light gathers and condenses before Chen Yan.

A Time Seed emerges.

Followed immediately by two!

Three!

Ten!

Ten Time Seeds form in an instant!

In an instant!

On the ground, the youth with dumpling sauce still on his lips is completely dumbstruck.

All around, the pupils of the people watching this scene also slowly shrink.

In a single moment, ten Time Seeds!

The citizens of Xiaoyang City have never seen such a spectacle.

In every annual Domain Phoenix of Time assessment, no matter how brilliant the examinees are, they condense them one by one.

"Am I seeing things?"

Someone asks with a tremble.

"It's starting again, the eleventh one!"

Someone cries out in horror, pointing to the sky.

At this moment, in Xiaoyang City, people busy with their lives stop what they are doing and all look toward the high sky.

Their mouths slowly hang open.

Boom!

Inside the illusion.

Chen Yan threw a punch, sending the Blood Sword Saint flying.

His physical body was covered in blood, his bones fractured.

Opposite him, the Blood Sword Saint, clad in tattered clothes, was also in a very poor state.

"Come, continue."

Chen Yan spoke:

"Let me teach you what willpower is."

He stretched out his arms, and even though he had reached his limit, he continued to throw punches.

Using the weak to oppose the strong!

Within the Saint-Breaking Realm, the fifty-third 【Skill】 Saint-Breaking Fruit was swallowed by Chen Yan.

Fifty-three!

This was Chen Yan's harvest over these past few days, and also the wool he had sheared from the Blood Sword Saint.

These fifty-three 【Skill】 Saint-Breaking Fruits contained the Blood Sword Saint's cognitive techniques regarding physical martial arts.

Profound, mysterious!

This was not the technique of any single martial skill or external martial art.

But it could improve all of Chen Yan's own martial arts techniques.

Why one must present such an angle when throwing a punch.

Why one must completely change the speed of one's own attack under such slight air currents.

Why the enemy's punch does not need to be blocked, and why that is better than blocking.

This was pure combat technique!

Simple punches and kicks contained incomparably vast mysteries!

In just a few short days of combat, Chen Yan's strength had increased by at least four times over!

His attacks became more perfect, more pure, and more terrifying.

Up until now, he could fight against this wisp of the Blood Sword Saint's consciousness from his youth for a long time.

"You..."

Above the vast earth, the shock surfacing in the eyes of the tattered-clothed Blood Sword Saint surged continuously.

Although he was a consciousness, he also had his own memories.

This examinee named Chen Yan had increased his combat power extremely rapidly over these past few days.

Rapid to a state that he found difficult to understand.

Boom!

A pitch-black afterimage suddenly struck.

Chen Yan threw a kick, the Blood Sword Saint hurriedly bent over to block, and at the same time, Chen Yan's other leg delivered a horizontal slash, booming toward the Blood Sword Saint's waist.

Bang!

The Blood Sword Saint arched his left arm, blocking at his waist.

But his body was sent flying under the force of Chen Yan's single leg.

His feet plowed a deep trench into the earth.

"Do not be surprised; surprise is too much of a waste of time."

A faint laugh rang out, and the young man named Chen Yan rushed over again, throwing a punch:

"Hurry up and drop the gold coins for me!"

Boom!

This punch slammed into the Blood Sword Saint's chin.

Following the vibration of the Blood Sword Saint's body.

In the outside world, a new Time Seed appeared!

The twelfth!

The Blood Sword Saint was unwilling to engage in a battle of willpower with Chen Yan.

From the very beginning, the Blood Sword Saint had wanted to suppress Chen Yan purely with his own techniques.

Therefore, this was unfair to Chen Yan.

But fairness is something only Chen Yan could help himself with.

That was to erase the gap in technique between himself and the Blood Sword Saint.

To make everything between himself and the Blood Sword Saint, excluding willpower, exist on the same level.

"Come, continue!"

Chen Yan spat out a mouthful of blood containing teeth, his smile cold and sharp.

Having been killed by the Blood Sword Saint thousands, tens of thousands of times in the illusion, he was full of rage.

Boom!

The Blood Sword Saint attacked instantly, stabbing a finger toward Chen Yan's neck.

At the same time, Chen Yan stepped back, his right middle finger also stabbing toward the Blood Sword Saint.

The two fingers collided suddenly, with the same quality of physical body and the same hardness.

Crack, crack, crack, crack!

Both fingers caved in and snapped simultaneously, followed by the shattering of their forearms.

Blood spilled out.

The two bodies were like cars colliding at high speed, shattering at the same time.

The Blood Sword Saint's gaze became exceptionally cold and sharp, yet behind that coldness, there remained a trace of astonishment.

Damn it.

How are the moves the same?

Why does it always feel like I am fighting against myself?

This feeling has persisted for a long time now.

That young man is learning from me; learning until now, he has almost learned all the combat techniques within this consciousness.

Damn!

He was incomparably furious.

Although Chen Yan's technique was still inferior to his own, the gap was now nowhere near what it had been before.

As Chen Yan said, they were currently engaged in a clash of wills.

The Blood Sword Saint took large steps backward, looking at the young man in front of him who was in an even more wretched state than himself, only to see the other party smile.

"Senior, tell me, just how powerful is your will?"

Chen Yan smiled with dashing ease.

He no longer needed to continue comprehending the 【Technique】 character fruit.

In fact, the production speed of the 【Technique】 character fruit was currently extremely slow.

Therefore, it was time to beat the Blood Sword Saint to a pulp.

…………

Outside.

The thirteenth Time Seed!

Fourteen Time Seeds!

Fifteen Time Seeds!

The speed at which Chen Yan obtained Time Seeds was extremely fast, fast to a degree that ordinary people could not comprehend.

Time Domain Phoenix third trial, the Time Seed assessment.

It requires the examinee to perceive the Blood Sword Saint's will and inherit the Blood Sword Saint's will.

When the Blood Sword Saint is satisfied, the examinee will obtain a Time Seed.

But at this moment, what no one would expect is this.

Chen Yan's method of obtaining Time Seeds is not inheritance at all, but beating them out!

Rude, straightforward, and unparalleled.

This is the suppression of other wills by a Master of Will!

…………

Inside a villa.

Deacon Hu sat on the sofa, and opposite him, An Yunan's expression was ugly:

"Deacon Hu, I must ask you to help me with this matter!"

An Yunan clenched his fists, feeling incomparable resentment.

He had actually fallen unconscious during the second trial of the Time Domain Phoenix, and then lost the opportunity to even enter the third trial, the will assessment.

Will was his strong suit!

This morning, other General Stars from other cities had even found An Yunan, demanding that An Yunan produce a Time Seed.

All the General Stars had agreed to each contribute one Time Seed to Chen Yan.

Damn it.

He, An Yunan, did not have a single one!

"Deacon Hu, I am a genius who has broken the limits of the realm; a Time Seed can allow me to obtain an opportunity for development within the college entrance examination secret realm.

A genius like me actually needs time the most!"

An Yunan's attitude became sincere.

Although he had previously had an indifferent attitude toward Deacon Hu.

But at this moment, he was, after all, asking Deacon Hu to do him a favor.

"Your father is the Chief of the Desolate City Martial Suppression Division; why don't you ask your father to go buy someone else's Time Seed privately?"

Deacon Hu raised his eyebrows slightly.

He actually didn't like An Yunan much; ever since this kid broke the limits of his realm, he had been walking around with his nose in the air every day.

This failure in the Time Domain Phoenix could be considered a good thing for An Yunan.

Who told you to act so arrogant before.

"My father..., how could my father have more influence than the Chen family of the Five Clans?" An Yunan spoke up:

"If the Xia clan truly cared about me, they wouldn't have given me a mere sixth-rank General Star title, and that Chen Yan from Yunmeng is even..."

Deacon Hu opened his eyes:

"Chen Yan from Yunmeng City is no less talented than you."

An Yunan's expression trembled.

Chen Yan is no less talented than him?

Chen Yan was indeed brilliant and talented, but he was a heaven-gifted genius who had broken the limits of the realm!

How many geniuses like this could there be in the world?

Aside from him and Bing Yi, the last one was Lu Xunyang!

An Yunan felt furious in his heart; the will assessment, where he should have been able to best display his natural talent, had been missed by him.

Damn it!

Damn it!

He clenched his fists.

Yet he suddenly discovered that Deacon Hu had vanished.

"Deacon Hu?"

An Yunan spoke in surprise, his expression turning even uglier:

"Deacon Hu!"

He was the one requesting a favor from the other party; could the other party not show him some face?

"Come up!"

Suddenly, Deacon Hu's voice rang out.

An Yunan only felt himself being pulled by a force, instantly appearing high above in the sky.

"Deacon Hu, you..." An Yuan spoke in a low voice.

"Look." Deacon Hu spoke, his voice actually carrying a trace of trembling at this moment.

An Yunan narrowed his eyes, his peripheral vision catching a wisp of golden radiance, and he looked far away toward the place where the golden radiance was overflowing.

The next moment, he became stunned.

…………

The twentieth Time Seed!

In front of Chen Yan, brilliant white light converged, and at this moment, it impressively displayed a full twenty Time Seeds.

On the leaderboard.

Chen Yan's ranking rapidly soared to fourth place.

He was only one Time Seed away from the third-place Zhu Lili.

Boom!

Between heaven and earth, a wisp of blood-colored wind surged.

Zhu Lili, who wore long red hair, appeared high in the sky, and together with the dozen or so General Stars behind her, they all looked toward where Chen Yan was.

"So fast!"

Zhu Lili's voice trembled slightly.

In the next moment, her pupils suddenly constricted.

Chen Yan had condensed a twenty-first Time Seed, matching the number of Time Seeds Zhu Lili had condensed.

All the General Stars looked at the ranking on that massive leaderboard, their hearts filled with shock.

If it were just twenty-one, that would be one thing.

But, it was too fast.

The time they spent comprehending Time Seeds all lasted for several, or even over a dozen, hours.

This Chen Yan had only taken a few minutes from starting to condense to condensing twenty-one.

Moreover, looking at this momentum, he was actually going to continue condensing.

Zhu Lili's breathing became rapid.

Was her willpower weaker than Chen Yan's?

How much weaker?

She was only seventeen years old, a Third-Rank General Star, famous throughout Qinzhou.

Her willpower was not weak.

But the next moment.

Hum!

Within the distant assessment space.

In front of Chen Yan, the twenty-second Time Seed appeared.

Surpassing Zhu Lili.

On that pretty face of Zhu Lili's, her expression froze.

How did Chen Yan manage to do it?

He clearly had walked in the wrong direction from the very beginning.

Why, after such a long period of silence, could he still achieve a better result than her?

The other party had only entered the Dao for a few months.

Behind her, someone spoke:

"Chen Yan, it's always like this; you all will get used to it later."

The one speaking was a youth named Shao Hengyang.

The crowd looked on in a daze, but that Shao Hengyang merely shrugged, indicating he did not care at all.

Shao Hengyang chuckled.

Normal.

It's all normal.

You all don't know how much of a blow I've suffered watching Chen Yan rise all the way.

I originally thought that once Chen Yan reached the center of all Qinzhou, his own radiance would be obscured by the other geniuses.

As it turned out.

"It's still the same damn thing!" Shao Hengyang roared inwardly.