Chapter 322: Anger

Jiang Yuan chuckled.

Chen Yan was at least a hundred miles away from him, but at their level of cultivation, their perception was powerful, so he naturally heard what was being said over on Chen Yan's side.

He narrowed his eyes; Chen Yan was leaving for a while, but what was he going to do?

Jiang Yuan pondered, yet on the surface, he continued to converse with those around him.

"Chen Yan's strength can rival Qiu Changji? Is that for real?"

Someone exclaimed in surprise; Jiang Yuan's previous statement was truly shocking and sensational, far too alarming.

On the other side of the lake, Qiu Changji also narrowed his eyes, staring fixedly at Jiang Yuan.

"It is true. There are fellows here who came from the Slaughter Forest, right?

Everyone saw Chen Yan evading the pursuit of the Snow Wife, so everyone has their own standard for judging whether his strength is powerful or not."

Jiang Yuan said to the crowd with a smile.

Suddenly, the examinees who had come from the Slaughter Forest all nodded in agreement.

They had seen with their own eyes Chen Yan constantly maneuvering against the Snow Wife, his strength formidable.

Many people marveled.

Among the Military Martial Guards, Zhou Yi and others who had originally intended to go to the Martial Suppression Division side suddenly hesitated.

Had Chen Yan's strength truly reached such a level?

"Do you all not believe me?" Jiang Yuan laughed:

"How long has Chen Yan been on the path of cultivation? No more than five months.

In just over five months, he was able to charge into the top ten of the College Entrance Exam Heaven's Pride Ranking.

After entering the College Entrance Exam Secret Realm, Chen Yan still had fifty Time Seeds; even if Chen Yan only used ten, that is six hundred hours. The gains these hours brought to Chen Yan must be astonishing!"

Jiang Yuan spoke with absolute certainty, and while many were shocked, they were also convinced.

Chen Yan narrowed his eyes; Jiang Yuan's research into him was truly not shallow.

Chen Yan currently had thirty-five Time Seeds, four Enlightenment Seeds, and fourteen Dao-Slashing Seeds remaining.

At this moment, there was also a Dao-Slashing Bamboo brewing, which had already absorbed twenty million Dao-Slashing points.

This Dao-Slashing Bamboo was something Chen Yan had obtained by killing an ancient beast when he first entered the Dream Abyss, and he had not yet had the chance to exchange it.

Inside the Slaughter Forest, what Chen Yan had primarily consumed were Dao-Slashing Seeds.

At this moment, beside Chen Yan, many Military Martial people were also incredibly shocked.

Especially teammates like Xu Di who had known Chen Yan for a long time; now, their eyes were trembling, and their hearts were incredibly conflicted.

They had watched Chen Yan walk his path step by step.

His current strength could be considered far beyond theirs.

"Chen Yan, you wouldn't really be this strong already, would you?" Li Qingyuan asked with a twitch of his brow and a sheepish smile.

"I don't know either." Chen Yan replied, not lying.

Whether he could rival Qiu Changji, the simplest and clearest way to prove it was to fight and see.

Before the fight, he would not care about these so-called flatteries.

The Military Martial Guards side was still trembling.

On the side of the Martial Suppression Division's Heaven's Prides, however, someone laughed out loud:

"Jiang Yuan, put away those little schemes of yours. You know yourself that you are no match for us, so you want to deliberately exaggerate Chen Yan's strength to make the Military Martial Guards share the pressure for you.

Do you really take us for fools?"

The person speaking was a Heaven's Pride of the Martial Suppression Division.

As his voice fell, many people realized what was happening.

That's right.

Before Chen Yan arrived, only Jiang Yuan and Qiu Changji were competing for the Dao-Slashing Holy Fruit.

Now that Chen Yan had arrived, it had become a three-way competition.

Seeing that the people on Chen Yan's side were about to defect to the Martial Suppression Division, Jiang Yuan had panicked.

Thus, he had to stand up and praise Chen Yan's combat power to preserve the strength of the Military Martial Guards.

After all, the Heaven's Prides of the Military Martial Guards rarely chose to help the Aristocratic Family Alliance.

The several hundred Military Martial Guard examinees currently on the side of the Aristocratic Family Alliance had also been won over only after Jiang Yuan spent a great deal of effort.

"I am telling the truth." Jiang Yuan laughed, appearing quite helpless.

"Hahaha, I know exactly what kind of person you, Jiang Yuan, are; you can talk the dead into living."

The Martial Suppression Division Heaven's Pride laughed, extremely disdainful.

Jiang Yuan shrugged and said no more.

On Chen Yan's side, Zhou Yi, who had originally intended to stay, spoke up:

"Everyone, I am going to the Martial Suppression Division side."

Shang Yunwu looked over coldly, but Zhou Yi just shrugged:

"It is just a struggle for treasures; there is no need to pin a label on me for betraying my teammates. I just want the benefits so that I can better serve the military."

As he spoke, he pointed to the Aristocratic Family Alliance and the Martial Suppression Division sides, where many Military Martial Guard examinees had not come over at all.

Zhou Yi continued, looking at the many Military Martial Guard Heaven's Prides, and said earnestly:

"Really, there is no need to fight for military dignity at a time like this. If there are benefits, take them; it is that simple!

Everyone needs to recognize the reality: here, we Military Martial Guards are the weakest, and our numbers are too few.

Chen Yan..."

He did not finish talking about Chen Yan; he knew Chen Yan's strength was great, and he also knew about the matter of him killing Lü Guiwen.

But Qiu Changji is third on the Heaven's Pride Ranking, the strongest genius only behind the twin heroes Zhang Luobai and Yu Changsheng.

Chen Yan is progressing quickly, but to reach Qiu Changji's level, he truly still needs time.

As for Jiang Yuan's words, not many people believe them.

Thousands of Military Martial examinees listened, and many fell silent.

Following Zhou Yi's departure, dozens of Military Martial examinees also followed him away.

The vast majority of the Military Martial examinees were still very indignant; they felt that no matter what they did, they had to embody the glory of the Military Martial.

They felt great disdain for the actions of Zhou Tian and Zhou Yi.

On the side of the Martial Suppression Division, Qiu Changji listened quietly.

Behind him, a Martial Suppression Division examinee with a buzz cut spoke up:

"Brother Qiu, more people from the Military Martial Guard have come over. Once we obtain the Dao-Slaying Sacred Fruit, are we really going to share the points with the Military Martial Guard?"

Qiu Changji swept a faint glance over the crowd and transmitted his voice:

"First, let them help us pull the Dao-Slaying Sacred Bamboo to our side. You send people to intercept the Military Martial Guard examinees who have defected to us; don't give them a single point."

After he finished his voice transmission, a smile appeared on the corner of the buzz-cut examinee's mouth, and he nodded hurriedly:

"Understood!"

He was extremely satisfied; the Military Martial Guard usually looked down on them, the Martial Suppression Division examinees, entirely.

Why should they share the points obtained this time with them?

You came over to help us, that was your own choice, not something we begged you to do.

Qiu Changji's gaze was indifferent as he said quietly:

"Our main enemy is still the Aristocratic Family Alliance. The Military Martial Guard people are too weak and too few in number; we don't need to care about them.

It's just this Jiang Yuan, he is very cunning; it seems he has never truly unleashed his full strength.

Luobai has also said that Jiang Yuan might be a genius as terrifying as Yu Changsheng."

On the opposite lakeshore, Jiang Yuan seemed to notice Qiu Changji's gaze and waved with a smile.

Qiu Changji did not speak.

Chen Yan sensed the emotions all around.

He looked at Shang Yunwu and the others and said:

"I should go. If I haven't returned in a day and a half, you don't need to continue guarding this Dao-Slaying Lock."

Shang Yunwu raised his eyebrows slightly:

"Do you need help?"

"No need." Chen Yan smiled. As a Fourth-Rank General Star, Shang Yunwu was very strong, but now, to defeat Shang Yunwu, one move would be enough.

Shang Yunwu nodded and said earnestly:

"Then take care of yourself."

Shen Youning walked over, looking at Chen Yan with a gentle gaze:

"Don't push yourself too hard. If there is danger, just press the withdrawal button; one college entrance exam doesn't matter."

She knew Chen Yan's personality; whatever Chen Yan wanted to do, he would definitely choose the more difficult and dangerous way.

"Mm, thank you." Chen Yan smiled.

Afterward, he greeted everyone and left directly.

After Chen Yan left, a Martial Suppression Division Heaven's Pride asked with a smile:

"Chen Yan, what is he going to do? Did he just give up?"

"Give up your mother's ass. You didn't dare to say that when Chen Yan was here, but you dare to now? There's no way to be more shameful than this," Shang Yunwu cursed loudly.

Only the Military Martial Guard Heaven's Prides who came from the side of the Slaughter Forest knew best what Chen Yan's strength was.

Leading Xue Qi, he slaughtered tens of thousands of ancient beasts.

Chen Yan might truly have the strength to rival Qiu Changji.

The person who spoke snorted coldly but did not speak again.

Jiang Yuan, however, watched quietly and suddenly stood up:

"I'm going to take a leak."

He spoke bluntly, and the people beside him almost didn't react before Jiang Yuan had already disappeared from where he stood.

…………

Chen Yan had already left the location of the lake.

He moved at extreme speed, bypassing the lake and continuing to fly toward the depths of the Dream Abyss.

As for the Dao-Slaying Sacred Bamboo side, he could not give the Military Martial Guard Heaven's Prides a definitive answer; if he couldn't return, those people would have waited in vain.

Therefore, Chen Yan said directly that he would be away for a day and a half, so they could prepare themselves mentally.

Flying forward continuously for almost five full hours.

Chen Yan stopped in a huge valley.

"It's here." Xue Qi's voice sounded.

Chen Yan descended into the valley.

Here, the place was covered with human-trees laden with human-tree fruit, pitch-black and eerie, as if the Slaughter Forest had reappeared.

Chen Yan walked to the center of the valley.

Here, a huge stone stele, five meters high and one meter wide, pitch-black all over, stood quietly.

Countless pitch-black tentacles constantly emerged from the stele and then faded back into it.

In front of the stele, there was also an old man with tattered clothes and a withered body kneeling, kowtowing incessantly, muttering something in his mouth:

"Great Fei Yi, you are the incarnation of the Heavenly Lord, the light that saves Zhan Tu..."

The old man chanted, incomparably devout.

The moment he saw Chen Yan arrive, he turned his head, his eyes brimming with endless hostility:

"Kneel down quickly, tiny insect, you are not worthy of standing!"

Chen Yan looked over indifferently, and Xue Qi's voice rang out in Chen Yan's mind:

"Fei Yi cannot leave the second layer of the Dream Abyss, so it needs someone to relay messages to the ancient beasts on the first layer of the Dream Abyss."

His voice trembled:

"There is no need to kill him; this world will never lack people who have lost their dignity due to fear."

Chen Yan did not speak; following Xue Qi's instructions, he walked straight to the stone stele.

The moment he walked into the stone stele, a sense of extreme coldness struck him abruptly.

This was not a chill originating from elements, but a malice that was pure to the extreme.

It blurred one's sanity and drove one to madness.

Even Chen Yan, a master of will, could not instantly obliterate this malice the moment he was eroded by it.

In his mind, fantasies inevitably arose.

It felt as if countless pitch-black tentacles had bound Chen Yan's head, as if they were forcibly extracting Chen Yan's brain.

Countless murmurs rang out.

On that huge stone stele, pitch-black tentacles shot out, surrounding Chen Yan.

"Hahahaha!!!"

The scantily clad old man laughed out loud, shrieking miserably:

"Stupid insect, before the glory of my Lord, all your self-esteem and strength are like ash."

But just as the old man was shrieking miserably, faint golden light flowed around Chen Yan, as if he were clad in golden armor, and he kicked out with a boom.

Boom!

The huge roar caused the entire valley to tremble violently.

Crack, crack, crack...

Earth fissures spread crazily in all directions with the stone stele as the center.

The old man's expression suddenly became incomparably miserable, as if he had seen the most terrifying thing.

Boom!

Chen Yan kicked out again.

Boom, boom, boom!

Golden light erupted, the Word Realm erupted!

Under the bombardment of five times his physical combat power, the entire valley seemed to have turned into a huge upward-facing bell, continuously bursting with low, deep roars.

"Audacious, audacious, audacious!"

The old man shrieked, but his body was fiercely pushed away by the shockwave of the force, smashing and breaking pitch-black human trees.

On the stone stele, the pitch-black tentacles reaching toward Chen Yan all trembled, retracting into the stone stele as if scalded.

The stone stele began to squirm; Chen Yan, following what Xue Qi had said, stretched out both hands and hooked his ten fingers onto the stone stele.

Terrifying force poured crazily into his ten fingers, tearing outward.

Ssh!

The huge stone stele was torn open by Chen Yan, pitch-black mucus flowed out from the cracks in the stele, and countless pitch-black tentacles jumped wildly within the wound of the stele as if startled.

Chen Yan burrowed into the stone stele, his whole body touched and bound by tentacles, but his limbs possessed boundless force, tearing apart the tentacles that tried to hold him.

Outside the stone stele, the old man was still grinning hideously:

"You will surely die, you..."

Boom!

A golden light smashed out from within the stone stele, the old man's head instantly exploded, and his corpse slumped down.

Xue Qi fell silent.

Chen Yan did not speak; Xue Qi was Xue Qi, and he was he.

Chen Yan continued to move forward through the black tide of tentacles, but the stone stele behind him began to heal, like flesh, closing off the last glimmer of light leading to the outside world.

Jiang Yuan's figure appeared outside the stone stele, his brows furrowed:

"He went straight to the second layer; is he going to save San Jin who is trapped on the third layer?"

He stroked his chin, his eyes flickering:

"Tsk tsk, he's got guts."

He shook his head, not intending to enter the stone stele, and turned back directly.

Chen Yan continued to travel through the black tide of tentacles.

He did not know how much time had passed.

The tentacles gradually disappeared, and he emerged from the other side of the stone stele.

But the world before his eyes was a hazy red.

Red!

Red!

Endless red.

It was as if his eyes were covered by a piece of red gauze.

Dilapidated houses stood quietly in the red mist.

This was not the wooden hut of Slaughter Forest, but rather a building more akin to the houses in Great Xia cities.

It was just a bit dilapidated.

Throughout the second layer of the Dream Abyss, one could see pitch-black, sausage-like objects everywhere, connecting the earth to the high sky, with pitch-black tentacles drifting upon these sausages.

On the ground were pitch-black bricks imprinted with human faces; these faces had their eyes wide open, as if silently screaming.

Chen Yan took a step out, walking in the low sky.

Countless blurred shouts resounded in his mind; it was these countless human-faced stone bricks paved on the ground screaming at him.

It was very noisy, filled with malice.

Sss, sss, sss...

Black smoke began to rise from Chen Yan's physical body.

The red mist drifting in the air could actually corrode even his physical body.

Boom!

【Heaven Patrol】, activate!

Chen Yan surged with power throughout his body, beginning to resist the corrosion of these red mists.

Chen Yan flew slowly.

Passing in front of a dilapidated hair salon, he stopped his pace, as if something had pierced through his body; it was a very strange feeling.

Through the filthy glass door, Chen Yan saw a little girl sitting on a worn-out leather chair in the salon, her body bound by tentacles, struggling incessantly.

Behind the chair, an Ancient God Beast with a humanoid body, a pig's head, and hands that were two meat-cleaver shears was grinning hideously.

The pig-headed Ancient God Beast laughed, baring a pig's mouth, with flesh and blood stuck between its teeth, drooling red saliva.

With a boom.

Chen Yan waved one hand, and an ice spear pierced through the pig's head.

With a flash of Chen Yan's intent, a Path-Slashing Bamboo that had already grown five segments appeared behind him.

It began to absorb the millions of Path-Slashing Points brought by killing this fourth-rank Ancient God Beast.

Chen Yan walked to the little girl's side and pinched off the tentacles binding her body.

"Woo... doo... woo..."

The little girl struggled to jump down from the chair, saying some words Chen Yan could not understand in an incoherent manner.

The other party could not speak at all, nor could she even walk; at this moment, she crawled on the ground, one hand pulling at Chen Yan's trouser leg, while one finger pointed toward the back door of the hair salon.

Chen Yan sensed her emotions, feeling urgency from the depths of the little girl's heart.

He followed the crawling little girl into the back door of the hair salon.

Walking through a corridor covered in flesh and blood, a fishy stench wafted over.

Chen Yan frowned; what came into view was actually a massive pig-rearing shed.

Inside the shed, hundreds of humans had their necks bound by tentacles; some were humming low, others were eating the filthy food in the pig pens.

They could not speak, looking strangely at Chen Yan, a fellow of their kind who could tread on air and wore clothes.

"Woo... doo... woo!"

The little girl crawling on the ground howled out.

Immediately after, inside the pig pens, hundreds of people all raised their heads in unison.

"Woo!!!"

They howled, excited.

Boom!

Chen Yan thrust out a finger, and an ice dragon surged forth, obliterating the tentacles binding them and opening the pig pen gates.

Chen Yan left the hair salon with a heavy heart.

He did not want to know the origin of these people.

Xue Qi also did not make a sound.

Only, after he walked out of the hair salon, hundreds of people crawled, following closely behind him.

Chen Yan frowned, but his trouser leg was tugged.

He looked down; the little girl he had saved, whose body was somewhat deformed, was crawling on the ground, looking up at him.

She was filthy all over, but those eyes were as clear as gemstones, weeping, pleading.

In the depths of those clear pupils, a handsome and peerless man's face was reflected.

He was tall and slender, wearing a pitch-black General Star uniform, the Mountain-Soothing General Star medal on his shoulder particularly eye-catching.

The little girl looked at Chen Yan with eager eyes, not wanting Chen Yan to abandon them.

"Woo!"

Hundreds of people howled, pairs of eyes looking at Chen Yan.

Anger surfaced in Chen Yan's eyes.

He did not know who it was directed at.

Was it toward Great Xia?

Or toward the Ancient God Beasts?

Or perhaps toward those so-called heaven's prides in the first layer of the Dream Abyss, who were still scheming and fighting to seize the Path-Slashing Holy Fruit?