Chapter 288: What if, by some chance, he ascends the dragon for Great Xia?

Outside the College Entrance Examination Secret Realm.

Above the plaza where tens of thousands of examinees had originally gathered, a massive golden ranking board stood suspended within the void.

At this moment, the board was completely empty.

Immediately following, someone suddenly spoke up.

"There are rankings on the board."

"Five points, Xi Yuanzhi, which faction's heaven-gifted talent is that?"

"It's appearing again, Zhu Lili one hundred points, one thousand points, damn, thirty thousand already, so fast!"

"Qiu Changji has appeared too!"

On the massive ranking board, names began to appear one after another.

The Dao-Slaying points obtained by the examinees inside the College Entrance Examination Secret Realm were being displayed on the board in real-time.

Inside a building.

Two people from the Chen Clan's main lineage stood quietly before a massive floor-to-ceiling window.

Deacon Hu's expression was extremely grim:

"Chen Xiyuan, if what you have done is reported back to the clan, even the Second Elder cannot protect you!"

Deacon Hu had not expected that Chen Xiyuan would still be unwilling to let Chen Yan go.

Originally, he had already persuaded Chen Xiyuan to reconcile with Chen Yan and confess everything.

Unexpectedly, Chen Xiyuan had instead forcibly made Chen Yan contemplate that Seventh-Rank Fist Intent Stone.

After several hours of contemplation, even the best genius would have their mind affected by malice.

Afterward, Chen Xiyuan took back the Seventh-Rank Fist Intent Stone and gave Chen Yan a Ninth-Rank Fist Intent Stone.

This looked more like eliminating evidence.

The matter of harming Chen Yan was likely known only to him, Chen Xiyuan, and He Youtong.

That He Youtong would likely also be killed by Chen Xiyuan after stepping out of the College Entrance Examination Secret Realm.

What a cold-hearted woman.

To the side, Chen Xiyuan's expression was calm; she looked at Deacon Hu and bowed:

"Please, Deacon Hu, help me conceal this matter."

Deacon Hu narrowed his eyes.

Chen Xiyuan spoke:

"Deacon Hu, you also know that the Second Elder is my..."

"Are you using the Second Elder to pressure me?" Deacon Hu let out a low shout, clearly enraged.

"Yes." Chen Xiyuan spoke:

"If I were truly worried about you, Deacon Hu, I would not have told you about that night's events."

Deacon Hu's gaze turned dark.

Chen Xiyuan said with unbridled confidence:

"This concerns the struggle of the Five Clans; I cannot let this go on my side. If it succeeds, the Chen Clan will undergo a great change."

Deacon Hu's gaze shrank:

"Why are you telling me all this?"

"I have to tell you." Chen Xiyuan's lips curled into a smile:

"Chen Yan has aptitude and willpower, but he was born too late, far too late; the world hasn't had time to let his generation rule."

Therefore, it is better to let him play the role he is meant to play.

Chen Xiyuan brushed back her hair:

"He has no background; even if Great Xia intends to recruit him now, it is too late."

She shook her head.

She admitted she was a bad person, but who told Chen Yan to have no background and no support?

Shen Yiwei?

Chen Yan said it himself, Shen Yiwei harbors resentment toward him.

Great Xia?

Great Xia gave Chen Yan a Third-Rank General Star, but it was too late.

Even with the Third-Rank General Star, they did not give Chen Yan anything substantial.

No one cares about him.

Only she, Chen Xiyuan, cares about him.

Although, in the end, she is harming him, being polluted by malice for a few hours will not cause Chen Yan to completely lose his aptitude and spirit.

"Chen Yan's tragedy was destined from the start; without me, others would have done the same to him."

Chen Xiyuan murmured, and the last trace of guilt in her eyes slowly vanished.

"If I become extremely powerful, I will be good to him."

Deacon Hu remained silent, his peripheral vision sweeping across Chen Xiyuan's cheek, feeling extremely cold.

But in the end, he shook his head.

He chose silence.

Yet at this very moment.

Whoosh.

Outside the window, countless sounds of uproar erupted across the earth.

"Ten million, am I seeing this right?"

"Chen Yan, what's the situation?"

"This must be cheating, right? Huh?"

"How could one cheat in the College Entrance Examination Secret Realm?"

"But if this isn't cheating, then what is it?"

Waves of uproar interrupted the conversation between Chen Xiyuan and Deacon Hu.

Both looked into the distance, and both were stunned.

【First Place Chen Yan: 10,000,000】!

"How is that possible?" Chen Xiyuan frowned deeply, unable to process it for a moment.

Deacon Hu's breathing also faltered.

How long had it been since they entered the College Entrance Examination Secret Realm?

Yet Chen Yan already had 10,000,000 points.

Did he solve some hidden mission?

But that was still too fast.

His heart was in turmoil.

"Have you ever thought..." Deacon Hu suddenly spoke:

"If Chen Yan becomes the top scholar of the College Entrance Examination and ascends to prominence, your plot to harm him will be impossible to cover up?"

Chen Xiyuan was instantly startled:

"How is that possible?"

A trace of panic appeared in her eyes, then she laughed sheepishly:

"Even if he is number one in Qinzhou, still..."

Deacon Hu sighed softly:

"Dao-Slashing points are the universal standard of comparison across the entire Great Xia. I mean, what if Chen Yan is directly number one in the Great Xia?"

Chen Xiyuan's pupils shrank, and she suddenly acted as if she had heard a joke:

"How is that possible..."

She laughed out loud; even in Qinzhou, there was still Zhang Luobai, there was Yu Changsheng, and there was Qiu Changji.

To be ranked first in the entire Great Xia?

This...

How could that be possible.

"But look at how little time has passed, and he already has 10,000,000 Dao-Slashing points," Deacon Hu said gloomily:

"How long has it even been since the start?

Once he shows such astonishing talent, the Great Elder might end his seclusion and bring the clan's experts to meet him.

You should know the Great Elder.

He can tell whether there is malice in Chen Yan's heart."

Fear appeared in Chen Xiyuan's eyes, and she suddenly hissed:

"Impossible!"

10,000,000 Dao-Slashing points.

Chen Yan raised his eyebrows slightly and waved a hand, causing a blood-red grain of rice that looked like glazed glass to appear.

Dao-Slashing Seed.

The reward for the courage assessment within the Domain of Time Phoenix.

Aside from the Enlightenment Seed and the Time Seed, which candidates can use at will.

Every candidate enters the College Entrance Examination Secret Realm specifically to cultivate the Dao-Slashing Seed into a Dao-Slashing Bamboo.

For every segment the Dao-Slashing Bamboo grows, the more rewards the candidate can redeem.

It is not a lie that the Dao-Slashing Seed can obtain Morning Star-level secret techniques; as long as the Dao-Slashing Seed is cultivated until the sixth segment grows, one can redeem a Morning Star-level secret technique.

At the same time, the Dao-Slashing Seed in Chen Yan's hand suddenly trembled, as if it had received a summons.

The Dao-Slashing Seed began to expand, and a new blood-red sprout broke through the skin, shooting out a bamboo shoot as blood-red as glazed glass.

Immediately after.

Crack, crack, crack...

Visible to the naked eye, new bamboo segments grew one by one, growing until it reached just past the fifth segment before stopping.

10,000,000 Dao-Slashing points caused Chen Yan's first Dao-Slashing Seed to grow to the fifth segment.

Chen Yan's expression was calm; as he touched the Dao-Slashing Bamboo with one hand, streams of information appeared deep in his mind.

Azure Vault-level Grade D external tempering martial art 【Puppet Heaven】.

Azure Vault-level Grade D blood-energy martial technique 【Silent Kill Thousand Feet】.

Morning Star-level Grade D external tempering precious medicine 【Kui Fruit Fire Flame】.

Morning Star-level Grade D blood-energy spiritual medicine 【Luo Chen Yuan Series Blood-Energy Potion】.

Azure Vault-level Grade A healing spiritual medicine...

These were the lists of treasures that this Dao-Slashing Bamboo could be redeemed for.

Chen Yan pondered; if he were to exchange for precious medicine, he could fully exchange for Morning Star-grade precious medicine.

However, for martial arts, whether it be hard-body training or the blood-Qi path, he could only exchange for Azure Vault-grade ones.

As for martial arts, he was not lacking.

Decisively, Chen Yan pondered for a long while and exchanged for a Morning Star-grade, D-tier hard-body precious medicine: 【Heaven-Patrolling Secret Medicine】.

Looking at the name, Chen Yan knew it was likely specifically meant to be used in conjunction with 【Heaven-Patrolling】.

The moment the thought of exchanging surfaced in Chen Yan's mind.

Sss, sss, sss.

The newly grown Dao-Slaying Bamboo in front of Chen Yan instantly turned into fine powder and dissipated, and a jade box appeared in Chen Yan's hand.

Chen Yan opened it; inside was a mass of purple-gold paste-like substance.

He stored this jade box into his space ring.

Chen Yan's first Dao-Slaying Seed exchange was complete.

There were twenty-nine left.

This was the benefit of having many Dao-Slaying Seeds.

Some people only had one or two Dao-Slaying Seeds, so it was impossible for them to use them like Chen Yan.

Because once exchanged, the Dao-Slaying Bamboo would disappear, reducing one's number of exchange opportunities.

Immediately following.

Chen Yan began to look around the entire wooden house.

The dim lamplight flickered, appearing desolate and mysterious.

The furniture inside the room all appeared dilapidated.

The patterns on the chair backs had been worn blurry by the passage of time, and the table was incomplete, as if it had been gnawed by some sharp teeth.

The curtains of the bed were worn out, and the cabinet doors were teetering on the verge of collapse.

And there was that old man who had been kicked flying by Chen Yan, currently leaning against the wall with his head lowered, not daring to speak.

Chen Yan noticed the murals on the walls of the wooden house.

The murals were very crude, and even eroded by time to the point of being unrecognizable.

One could only vaguely see figures like white bears and rabbits.

"What is this?"

Chen Yan pointed at the mural; having entered the College Entrance Exam Secret Realm, he felt he could not let a single clue slip by.

After all, just a moment ago, he had obtained ten million Dao-Slaying Points because of a small discovery.

"It's a painting."

The wretched old man spoke miserably, but after meeting Chen Yan's pair of cold eyes, he hurriedly added:

"It's a story; the white bear liked to eat rabbits, and the rabbits wailed day and night; they were terrified."

As the old man spoke, his pair of turbid eyes looked exceptionally dark under the lamplight:

"One day, the mother white bear died, her soul ascended to the heavens, and the rabbits saw it and were stunned."

The old man smiled:

"A clever rabbit said, we may die, but our souls need not perish.

It studied for a long time and finally researched a method for the soul to fly out of the physical body.

The rabbits were overjoyed, thinking they would no longer have to die.

Then, the white bear came; it grabbed a rabbit, and that rabbit's soul instantly floated out of its body.

Just when all the rabbits were extremely happy, the white bear swallowed the soul of that rabbit in one gulp, and then said one sentence."

The old man's laughter was eerie, and his voice was trembling:

"Ah~"

He let out a sharp moan, as if in pain, as if in enjoyment.

"It's delicious."

Chen Yan narrowed his eyes, using the Realm of Speech to investigate the old man's current emotions.

Madness, despair, and incomparable distortion.

Subsequently, Chen Yan came to the door and looked at the pitch-black secret scripts on the door surface.

These secret scripts could only be described as scribbles.

But the pitch-black powder used to write the secret scripts gave Chen Yan a strange feeling.

"What is this?"

Chen Yan dipped a finger into a bit of the powder and asked.

"You!!!"

The old man suddenly shrieked, then shook his head and said:

"I don't know."

Chen Yan frowned, and the next instant, he threw a punch with a 'Boom'.

The space rippled violently, and the entire room was instantly thrown into chaos.

"I don't know!!!"

The old man screamed.

Chen Yan stopped, frowning.

He had just asked a simple question, and he hadn't expected that asking it seemed to have touched upon some secret.

This old man would not say what the black powder on the door was, even if he were to die.

Chen Yan pondered for a moment and searched the wooden hut for a while; after discovering no clues worth investigating, Chen Yan opened the back door of the hut.

Inside the back door was a cramped, dim corridor made of wooden planks.

Chen Yan went deeper inside.

At the end of the corridor was another wooden door.

Creak.

Chen Yan opened the wooden door.

The scene outside came into view.

It was still a purple-red sky.

The earth, however, was swallowed by endless darkness, pitch-black like ink.

One's vision seemed to be obscured by a layer of gray gauze, and everything seen was permeated with a sense of gloom.

In the air, gray substances like feathers drifted by.

It was as if the entire world had been scorched by a fire.

This was the world behind the Giant Black Light Wall.

It was also the first trial within the College Entrance Examination Secret Realm.

Slaughter Forest.