Chapter 270: From Here, Ascend Straight Up, to Gallop East Toward the Great Sea

"Come again!"

Inside the illusion.

Chen Yan's physical body vanished and was resurrected once more.

Opposite him, the Blood Sword Saint's physical body was already tattered, staring fixedly at Chen Yan.

The Blood Sword Saint's gaze was solemn.

He was but a wisp of consciousness from the Blood Sword Saint's youth, possessing the arrogance the Blood Sword Saint had in his younger years.

He was unwilling to accept this.

And he was furious.

That person was looking down on his will.

"Die!"

The Blood Sword Saint roared, feeling the excruciating pain within his body, his face twisted in agony.

But he knew he could not admit defeat.

To admit defeat was to completely acknowledge that his own will was inferior to the opponent's.

Boom!

The two collided fist to fist.

Chen Yan let out a laugh, his flesh and blood trembling within.

At the very beginning, he had been killed by the Blood Sword Saint with crushing force thousands, even tens of thousands of times.

He would die before the intense pain could even strike.

But the destruction of his physical body within the illusion still brought Chen Yan a sense of arduous strain.

At this moment, the goal he was persisting for.

Was to completely eradicate this wisp of the Blood Sword Saint's consciousness.

Chen Yan felt his will teetering on the edge of collapse.

But the tempering of the will was the same principle as the tempering of the physical body.

The process of becoming stronger was not the process of training itself.

It was the process of the weakened will recovering on its own after the training.

…………

Outside Xiaoyang City.

Chen Xiyuan looked at He Youtong in silence:

"That Yu Changsheng is too powerful; I have already found an assistant who can help you."

He Youtong's expression shifted slightly:

"What about Chen Yan?"

"Chen Yan has decent aptitude, but he is still too far from Yu Changsheng's strength."

He Youtong shook her head.

By now, anyone could see that there was something fishy about Yu Changsheng.

His combat power, aptitude, courage, and even his will were all too formidable.

He must have obtained a great fortuitous encounter.

And such a person was the disciple of Chen Changyuan, aiming to retrieve the 【Youlan】 for Chen Changyuan.

With an opponent like that, thirty Chen Yans would not be enough.

"And Chen Yan..."

Chen Xiyuan frowned as she spoke:

"What exactly is he doing?"

Has he disappeared?

He hasn't even condensed a single Time Seed.

Originally, Deacon Hu had told Chen Xiyuan to be honest with Chen Yan, but for the past two days, Deacon Hu hadn't mentioned this matter either.

Chen Yan...

He was indeed outstanding, but he had too many problems.

He had great courage, but was great courage always a good thing?

Now, he was off doing who knows what again.

Shaking her head slightly, Chen Xiyuan said:

"The matter of the Youlan is of utmost importance; no matter what, you must obtain it."

He Youtong nodded.

Yet in her heart, she thought of Chen Yan.

Chen Yan had twice brought her to the brink of death.

She even felt that if Chen Yan had the chance, he would definitely kill her.

If Chen Yan's performance in the will assessment remained outstanding, she would be even more worried.

Fortunately.

Fortunately!

He Youtong let out a sigh of relief.

Beep, beep, beep.

The sound of a phone rang.

Chen Xiyuan picked up a mobile phone, from which the voice of Deacon Hu came.

"Where are you?"

Deacon Hu spoke.

"I am at the Wild Market, I discovered an ancient divine beast here, it is very strange," Chen Xiyuan said.

"An ancient divine beast?" Deacon Hu was surprised, but quickly changed his tone:

"Come and see the Chen Yan you selected."

"What happened to Chen Yan?" Chen Xiyuan's expression changed slightly.

Beside her, He Youtong also narrowed her eyes; she could naturally hear the sound from the phone.

Soon, Chen Xiyuan took the phone away from her ear.

She clicked to approve the video call request on the phone.

Immediately after, her eyes flickered, and when she saw what was there, she went quiet, leaving only the sound of heavy breathing.

Beside her, He Youtong looked over, first holding her breath, then immediately shouting in a sharp voice:

"Twenty-six Time Seeds!"

She blinked her eyes, feeling that she might have seen wrong.

At this moment, her expression even became somewhat unfocused.

"Twenty-six... twenty-seven!"

He Youtong spoke this number while harboring an indescribable feeling.

On that massive leaderboard, Chen Yan's ranking had stunningly reached first place.

The same score as He Yu Changsheng.

But the reason it was first was that the leaderboard deemed that Chen Yan could continue to condense Time Seeds.

Chen Xiyuan did not speak, but He Youtong's body began to tremble slightly.

For some reason, sweat began to seep out on her forehead and the tip of her nose.

At this moment, the fear Chen Yan brought her reached its peak.

If it were a few months ago, she certainly would not have imagined this.

That a Chen clan collateral member born from humble beginnings would develop to this point in such a short time.

Aptitude fourth in Qinzhou, courage first in Great Xia, and now his willpower was already first in Qinzhou.

…………

"Quick!"

"Stop eating, hurry up and go look!"

"It's twenty-seven, it's twenty-eight!"

"Holy crap, this is already the best result in Qinzhou in these past few decades!"

"The last time was Chief Lu, right? Thirty-two, he wouldn't break Chief Lu's record, would he?"

"How is that possible? How many years does it take to get one Lu Xunyang?"

Sounds of astonishment rang out one after another.

Xu Di, Shen Youning, and other geniuses of Yunmeng City were woken up while in seclusion.

They looked toward the high sky, shocked beyond measure.

Shen Youning suddenly heard sobbing beside her, turned her head to look, and asked in surprise:

"Sister Siwen, why are you here?"

Si Wenyi.

"I just got here, came to see you all." There were still tears in Si Wenyi's eyes, and her beautiful face looked even more radiant under the sunlight.

Within her line of sight, there was only that young man.

Tears flowed down, and she did not even notice.

Why was she crying?

She should be happy.

For so many years, it had been hard to finally like a boy younger than herself.

It was just that the other party was too brilliant.

She was satisfied, but also wanted to cry.

To cry incessantly.

Nearby, the various geniuses of the New Dragon Guard noticed Si Wenyi, and they fell silent.

The distance between themselves and Chen Yan was growing further and further.

…………

"You... are very strong."

Within the vast earth, the battered Blood Sword Saint lay on the ground; he raised his head, staring at Chen Yan at this moment:

"I acknowledge your willpower."

Opposite him, Chen Yan panted heavily, blood constantly spitting from his mouth.

His body was nearly collapsing.

"Are you in pain?" The Blood Sword Saint also spat out a mouthful of blood filled with organ fragments:

"You did not die, you did not resurrect, this is an illusion, but in the real world, a person only has one life.

The existence of willpower is not to let people die, but to let people live."

At this moment, he spoke his heartfelt words for the first time.

"Living is infinitely more difficult than dying."

Chen Yan felt slightly surprised, but the young man named Blood Sword Saint continued to speak:

"My will originates from the pain I have experienced; what does your will originate from?"

He asked quietly.

Opposite him, Chen Yan stared at the other.

The two were like close friends, battling and discussing at this moment.

The Blood Sword Saint could not continue to suppress and kill Chen Yan, and Chen Yan could not die.

This broken physical body was the last life Chen Yan had within the illusion.

Both were watching to see who would die first.

"Your will originates from pain; you were looked down upon by me, so you wanted to escape pain; you were born in humble circumstances, so you wanted to escape those humble circumstances."

The Blood Sword Saint laughed:

"You can possess such a will because you should thank all the pain you have experienced, just like me."

Opposite him, Chen Yan's smile was stern.

He simply stood up slowly and, with the speed of an ant, arrived beside the Blood Sword Saint.

He reached out one hand, his five fingers piercing into the Blood Sword Saint's chest.

Rip...

The sound of flesh tearing, the sound of bones shifting.

The Blood Sword Saint, covered in blood, looked at Chen Yan, his expression turning ferocious as he roared:

"Your will is stronger than mine!"

"Chen Yan!"

He seemed to shriek sharply:

"Your will is stronger than mine!"

"Your pain is greater than mine, greater than mine, hahahahaha!!!"

Snap!

Chen Yan grabbed the Blood Sword Saint's heart.

His expression became dazed.

In his mind, many things from the past surfaced.

The young man on the hospital bed shouted at his father:

"Dad, I don't... I don't want to be like this anymore."

The shout from that night was now faintly heard by himself.

He simply did not want to be like that anymore.

Rustle.

Inside the pitch-black Saint-Breaking Realm.

The thousands of leaves on that sky-piercing ancient tree were moving without wind.

Blood dripped from Chen Yan's physical body.

He just slowly shook his head.

"You are wrong; singing praises to pain will make me never be able to leave pain behind.

Pain is never worth praising."

The Blood Sword Saint's eyes narrowed, his consciousness collapsing.

Crack!

The heart was crushed by Chen Yan.

By his ear, he faintly heard the young man's whisper.

"Will is not pain.

Will is the whisper in the heart, the shallow pool in the deepest part of one's own world, the initial light that shatters delusion."

The Blood Sword Saint's eyes were dazed, his figure slowly dissipating.

The entire vast expanse also became illusory, turning into countless specks of dust, as if about to drift away with the wind.

The light was changing.

The world changed.

It was brand new.

Rumble!

Space folded, twisted, and reorganized.

That blood sword disappeared, and the vast earth also disappeared.

What appeared at this moment was...

A medical clinic, a patch of farmland, a dilapidated courtyard, a locust tree covered in white flowers.

A green mountain.

A small town.

A Yunmeng City.

This was the second Green Mountain Town in the world, the second Yunmeng City.

This was the place where Chen Yan grew up.

Screech!

A high-pitched screech resounded.

The Time Domain Phoenix looked up to the sky and let out a long cry.

Far away, inside the great hall of Jin Province.

The young State Overseer Xia Qi looked at the changes transmitted on the screen in astonishment, momentarily losing his composure.

Pointing at the screen, he asked:

"Grandpa Hanzhou, this... what is this?"

Beside him, Xia Hanzhou opened his mouth, and the next moment, his voice sounded somewhat strange:

"The third trial of the Time Domain Phoenix has changed."

Xia Hanzhou took a deep breath:

"Compared to the Blood Sword Saint, the Time Domain Phoenix recognizes Chen Yan's will more; from now on, the examiner of the third trial will be a wisp of Chen Yan's consciousness."

Xia Qi was silent, a strange sense of being moved suddenly surfacing in his heart.

Starting from next year.

Every high school examinee in the Great Xia who enters the third trial of the Time Domain Phoenix will no longer see the Blood Sword Saint.

Instead, it will be Chen Yan!

"Bring me a pen!" Xia Qi shouted.

Beside him, the woman in the green dress was stunned, only now reacting:

"Is the State Overseer going to promote him to a General Star?"

"Yes."

Xia Qi laughed heartily, his mood suddenly feeling inexplicably light.

He had once asked himself, was it worth it to beg for Chen Yan's life once?

It was worth it!

"What rank?" the woman in the green dress asked with a trembling voice.

"First Rank!"

Xia Qi laughed:

"With a will that reaches the heavens and a heart of pure sincerity, it must be First Rank!"

The woman was astonished.

First Rank, holding no military power.

But their status is equivalent to that of a Provincial Governor!

This is a future Divine General of the nation!

This...

"That won't do, even Governor Lu is only..."

"There is nothing that won't do!" Xia Qi laughed:

"I don't have many days left to live; what must be done, I will do, and I must see it before I die!"

His voice was heavy, and a sense of majesty instantly spread outward:

"Do not stop me!"

Beside him, the body of the woman in the green dress stiffened.

Xia Qi was serious.

Xia Hanzhou's eyelids twitched; he looked at Xia Qi and hurriedly spoke:

"No..."

"Do not stop me, Grandpa Hanzhou. He needs to grow, so he should come directly to Jin Province; I will nurture him!"

Xia Hanzhou felt a toothache.

How could the path of a Martial Dao Master be like this?

Chen Yan needs to grow; his strength must grow, and his own philosophy and cognition must also grow.

His path is to walk among the people.

Not to walk among the powerful and noble.

Surrounded by a pile of resources in Jin Province and a mountain of flattery, Chen Yan would never be able to grow.

But Xia Qi was serious...

"How about this, after the college entrance exam, announce that he is a First Rank General Star!" Xia Hanzhou said:

"Listen to me, after the college entrance exam, you will still be alive."

Xia Qi was silent, then nodded.

Xia Hanzhou sighed.

Chen Yan was destined to be extraordinary.

It was not just this First Rank General Star.

Just the fact that in next year's college entrance exam, all examinees entering the third trial of the Time Domain Phoenix would see Chen Yan, not the Blood Sword Saint.

By then, everyone who should understand would understand.

This is something the current Chen Yan cannot bear.

…………

"Is that so?"

Looking at the familiar scene around him, Chen Yan whispered.

The Blood Sword Saint's will is very strong, but the foundation of his will is wrong.

His will originated from pain, and it also grew from pain.

The Time Domain Phoenix approved more of Chen Yan's understanding of will, so the examiner for the subsequent third trial of will became Chen Yan.

"This is fine, too."

Chen Yan chuckled.

Heaven and earth are unkind, the world is unjust, and people are lost and miserable.

Yet he is the most brilliant torch.

As his consciousness returned, thirty Time Seeds had already condensed in front of Chen Yan.

But this was not the final result.

Amidst gazes of shock.

The thirty-first appeared.

The thirty-second appeared.

At this moment, Chen Yan was clearly sensing his own will.

The reward of Time Seeds no longer came from slaying the Blood Sword Saint.

It was instead the Time Domain Phoenix's own evaluation of Chen Yan.

"Thirty-two, thirty-two!"

"This is the achievement of Chief Lu!"

"Holy crap, he's about to surpass Chief Lu!"

All around, sounds of shock rang out.

As the white light in front of Chen Yan flooded out once more, everyone's hearts hung high.

"The thirty-third!"

Someone shouted this number, nearly crazed.

Boom!

In the far distance.

A beam of white light shot into the high heavens.

Yu Changsheng soared into the air, surrounded by a group of prodigies from the Aristocratic Family Alliance, and then even his gaze became astonished.

"The thirty-fourth!"

Someone shouted again.

They were shocked, somewhat numb, and somewhat doubting the world.

"The thirty-fifth!"

"Hahahaha!"

A burst of loud laughter resounded.

Beams of blood-colored light shot into the sky.

"This is the prodigy of our Military Martial Guard!"

Zong Heng laughed loudly, his entire body's Qi and blood vibrating; beside him, powerful figures dressed in military uniforms appeared.

"The Patrol Heaven Path, this Chen Yan is the successor of Chief Lu!"

"The student has surpassed the master!"

"Hahahaha, good, good, good! Today, our Military Martial Guard makes its name known to the world!"

Bursts of loud laughter resounded.

The world looked on in horror; some Military Martial Guard elders who never emerged had also appeared at this moment.

Pairs of eyes looked at Chen Yan as if they were looking at a peerless treasure.

"Thirty-five?"

Inside the assessment space, Chen Yan slowly stood up.

Thirty-five was his current limit, but it was not his limit for tomorrow, nor his limit for the future.

He was breaking his limits day by day, and he had never stopped.

He slowly took a step and left the assessment space.

Roar!

A giant tiger condensed from Qi and blood appeared, baring its fangs and brandishing its claws, staring at the world.

Chen Yan looked over in surprise; Zong Heng was smiling at him with satisfaction.

Chen Yan nodded and stepped onto the blood tiger.

Roar!

The heaven-shaking tiger roar intimidated the morning sun.

The humble prodigy who rose from Qingshan Town was about to scatter the ashes, reveal his profound brilliance, and even the blue sky would have to bear his scorching glory.

From here on, he would go straight up and head east toward the great sea.

PS: The College Entrance Examination Secret Realm will be the second dungeon of this book; it should be a good plot.

I thought about it for quite a while.

There will be some equally exciting plot points.

I really do like writing dungeon worlds.

Sometimes I even think about writing an Infinite Flow story for my new book.

With this, the second volume of this book ends.

Volume Title: 【Words of Breaking the Lock】.

Volume One, "A Wisp of Green in the Vastness," tells the story of the protagonist growing like a green sprout on the vast earth.

Volume Two, "Words of Breaking the Lock," has a literal meaning; on one hand, it refers to the protagonist himself, and on the other, it points to the words of heaven and earth.