Chapter 349: Still, a Lone Man Sits Upon the Wall

In an instant.

Even though Chen Yan's courage assessment was ranked first.

At this moment, endless fear still bombarded his heart.

This fear came from the depths of the human heart.

Intertwined with malice, it was challenging Chen Yan's inner self.

At this moment, the threat Chen Yan encountered was far greater than that faced by San Jin and the others combined.

Because it is ignorance that grants a person so-called courage and arrogance.

Sometimes, knowing can instead bring a person the greatest fear.

Chen Yan raised his head, his complexion shifting slightly.

He walked slowly.

Even knowing that the existence beneath the water might be shifting its pupils to stare at him.

Perhaps, in the next moment, that existence would only need to take a deep breath to swallow Chen Yan and everyone else into its belly.

Behind Chen Yan, Cheng Zizhen had almost reached her limit.

She still did not know what Chen Yan was seeing; if she saw it, she would likely faint instantly.

San Jin was the same.

She struggled to walk like a walking corpse, having no chance to see anything clearly at all.

Ignorance ensured their final bit of courage was not destroyed.

Woo!

That low, deep sound that pierced the heart rang out once more.

To the ears of San Jin and the others, this sound was exactly the same as the previous times.

But to Chen Yan's ears, it was hundreds of times heavier.

This time, Chen Yan understood the meaning within the sound.

It was condescension, it was mockery, it was indifference.

He walked step by step.

This time, Chen Yan's will truly faced a challenge of its own.

He was too confident, having unprecedented ambition at a young age.

In many moments, Chen Yan was happy.

Because what a strong will brought to Chen Yan was the forgetting of hardship.

All tribulations became weak and insignificant before Chen Yan's will.

If ambition is not established, nothing in the world can be accomplished.

If ambition is established, then all things in the world are as light as the wind and as clear as the clouds.

But this time, it was different.

A powerful will allowed Chen Yan to glimpse things others could not see.

Chen Yan walked quietly, yet his steps became increasingly slow.

San Jin seemed to notice Chen Yan's abnormality.

At this moment, she tremblingly grabbed Chen Yan's hand.

Finally, at a certain moment.

Chen Yan's footsteps stopped, and he looked back.

Originally, there were dozens of villagers, but now only the last dozen or so remained.

Cheng Zizhen was shedding tears, her will reaching its limit, her whole body trembling.

She looked at Chen Yan, looking at him the entire time.

Chen Yan seemed to have become her only motivation to keep going.

"Why, we just want to survive, does it have to be so difficult?"

Someone spoke with a sob, looking at Chen Yan in bewilderment.

Chen Yan had no reply; he turned his head away again.

The massive gaze from beneath his feet almost pierced his body and mind.

At this moment, it seemed as if a voice sounded.

It wanted Chen Yan to lower his head and take a look downward.

Just one look.

Just one look would be enough.

Chen Yan closed his eyes, never lowering his head.

"Chen Yan, the direction must be... right, right?" Cheng Zizhen asked with a trembling voice.

The others all looked at Chen Yan.

If even the direction was wrong.

Then they would be too desperate.

Chen Yan did not answer.

Even now, he did not know who had made the voice that summoned him.

Who was it?

Why point this direction to him?

Chen Yan was somewhat lost.

If Treading the Ice River and Shattering the Sinking Dream were false.

Then what is the meaning of this trial being designed?

It was precisely because Chen Yan did not speak that Cheng Zizhen and the others became even more desperate.

All around, endless darkness.

No direction, no future.

San Jin pursed her lips, holding Chen Yan's hand tightly.

Silently saying something.

And it was at this moment.

Ahead, a block of ice suddenly floated over slowly.

An ice block about the size of a sofa.

Chen Yan walked closer with a dark expression; inside this huge ice block was a corpse.

This was a tall man with withered skin.

The man's mouth was open, and even though he was already dead, his eyes were wide open.

He was telling something.

He was making eye contact with Chen Yan.

He was...

Xue Qi!

After confirming that what he saw was not an illusion, Chen Yan fell silent.

"The direction is correct."

Chen Yan suddenly spoke; behind him, Cheng Zizhen and the others were stunned.

"The direction must be correct." Chen Yan suddenly laughed out loud, very nonchalantly.

He stepped forward, bypassed Xue Qi's corpse, and continued walking toward the front.

His speed increased a little.

Ahead, more ice blocks floated over.

Inside this ice block, a corpse lay quietly, eyes wide with resentment in death.

He was...

Xue Qi.

Immediately after.

One ice block after another floated over.

As Chen Yan walked, more and more Xue Qi corpses appeared.

One by one.

Xue Qi after Xue Qi who had already died.

Chen Yan's eyes were dim, and at this moment he spoke quietly:

"The College Entrance Examination Secret Realm is an indigenous world; during the college entrance examination, the secret realm and the Great Xia will establish a spatial connection.

After the college entrance examination, the spatial connection is severed, the indigenous world continues to develop, and the flow of time accelerates."

Behind him, San Jin and the others listened quietly.

"I originally thought that no matter how fast the time flow of the indigenous world was, it wouldn't reach the level of one to one hundred or one to one thousand."

Chen Yan said quietly, a pair of eyes filled with endless emotion.

It was very obvious that he was wrong.

The indigenous world of the College Entrance Examination Secret Realm is a cycle!

The story of the white bear and the rabbit happens again and again, reappearing time after time.

If there were no Chen Yan.

Xue Qi would have crossed life and death, hidden within the stone palace, and one day Xue Qi would have killed the village chief to take revenge.

At that time, Xue Qi would have been even stronger.

He would have come to the second layer of the Dream Abyss and killed the Fei Yi.

He would have come to the third layer of the Dream Abyss and begun searching for the Ancient Dream Divine Beast.

He would have trodden across the Ice River, wanting to shatter this nightmare shrouding everyone in Slaughter Village.

Obviously, he failed.

Then, the world cycled again.

One Xue Qi after another appeared.

Hundreds, thousands of Xue Qi, having suffered countless pains.

Carrying a shattered heart, they arrived here.

And failed.

"The direction is not wrong."

Chen Yan's voice was resolute; at this moment, the huge creature in the river seemed to have been forgotten by him.

His voice carried sorrow.

"My fellow travelers have long since pointed out the path for me."

He walked, passing by corpse after corpse of Xue Qi.

If there were no Chen Yan, that Xue Qi who died on the second layer of the Dream Abyss would eventually have come here.

When he saw his own corpses one by one.

What would his state of mind be?

Chen Yan stopped speaking.

He kept walking.

On and on...

Until reaching a certain end.

Countless corpses were piled into a mountain, overflowing the icy river.

Looking up from below, this mountain of corpses seemed to reach the firmament.

It was a massive barrier blocking everyone from continuing forward.

Xue Qi, Xue Qi, Xue Qi, Xue Qi...

Countless Xue Qi!

Seeing this, Cheng Zizhen finally could not bear it and was about to faint.

One villager after another fell into complete despair.

Yet, it was also at this moment.

On the river surface, a small boat slowly rowed over.

On the small boat, that old man looked at Chen Yan and the others calmly, a hint of a smile seemingly in his eyes.

He stepped off the small boat and walked over.

Looking at Cheng Zizhen and the others, he said:

"The small boat is for you; keep rowing in that direction, and you will reach the shore."

Cheng Zizhen and the others were still stunned, unable to accept the sudden arrival of hope for a moment.

Many villagers began to dance with excitement.

They were endlessly grateful to Chen Yan, weeping bitterly.

"Chen Yan, I want to be with you."

Cheng Zizhen walked over; she looked at Chen Yan, her self-abasement mixed with a glimmer of expectation.

Chen Yan looked at her, a trace of a smile appearing in his eyes:

"We will meet again."

Cheng Zizhen was startled; she looked at Chen Yan, ripples flickering in her eyes.

"One day, I will definitely come to your side."

She whispered as if using all her strength, making this wish in her heart.

Afterwards, she was pulled by the villagers onto the small boat and left.

Chen Yan waved at them.

His feelings were very complex.

Cheng Zizhen, perhaps, would never know the truth.

This truth would completely shatter her.

Under the long-term erosion of malice, the entire village had no humans!

The golden feathers on the young girl's cheeks had long since explained her identity.

The small boat glided slowly, moving further and further away.

Yet, it was also at this moment.

Patter, patter.

The sound of hurried footsteps on water arrived.

Cheng Zizhen, who had already left, ran back; she looked at Chen Yan, her eyes full of expectation:

"I thought about it, you are right in front of me, and I don't want to leave."

She puffed out her chest and said with extreme seriousness:

"If you don't dislike me, I will stay close to you; if you dislike me, I will stay far away from you."

Chen Yan did not speak; he looked at Cheng Zizhen, and after a long silence, he smiled:

"I will take you to the Great Xia."

At this moment, Cheng Zizhen raised her head, revealing an incomparably brilliant smile.

Behind Chen Yan, San Jin watched quietly and nodded at Cheng Zizhen.

Yet, it was also at this moment.

An ill-timed cough sounded.

Chen Yan and the others looked over; the old man who brought the small boat had somehow already walked onto the mountain of corpses piled up by the Xue Qi.

He sat there tightly, one leg bent and the other dangling.

That pair of murky eyes stared quietly at Chen Yan.

"Still the lone man sits upon the wall, hating the cold within my flesh and bone."

The old man's voice was weathered, carrying complexity.

"Xue Qi almost hated me to the core, but his life was a tragedy."

The old man spread his arms and smiled.

Chen Yan's gaze turned cold.

Still the lone man sits upon the wall.

This mountain of corpses piled up by the Xue Qi had become a massive corpse-wall blocking his final path.

The old man sitting on the corpse-wall was smiling now, as if he were riding the crest of success.

This is the final end.

The ultimate conclusion belonging to Xue Qi.

"Do you know who I am?"

The old man looked at Chen Yan, stroking his chin with one hand.

"I know."

Chen Yan spoke, incomparably calm.

"Oh?" The old man smiled:

"Tell me."

Chen Yan's gaze was like a deep pool, meeting the old man's eyes:

"You are the Lone Man."

The old man's expression instantly turned cold.

Yet Chen Yan continued:

"And you are my fellow traveler on the Dao."

As Chen Yan's voice fell, a smile appeared on the old man's face; he spread his arms and laughed loudly:

"I destroyed the future, I created the future!"

His gaze was incomparably sharp:

"I am the founding sovereign of Great Xia!

I am the progenitor father of Qi-Blood!

I am the master of the Hard-Refining Martial Dao!

I am the everything of everything, the supreme of the supreme!"

He laughed out loud, looking at Chen Yan:

"I!

Am your fellow traveler on the Dao!"

PS: The College Entrance Examination Secret Realm is about to end, and what follows will be a series of gratifying plot points.

To be honest, today's story is one I had planned out last month.

But the story of the Dream Abyss actually caused me pain.

Because I never changed all the story nodes, but the minor plot points required careful thought.

Originally, in my conception, the third layer of the Dream Abyss would be similar to hell, with a huge spatial membrane between each layer.

After the protagonist fell to a layer, he could clearly see his own body from the layer above, incomparably huge.

Falling again, he would see his own body from the layer above once more, stepping on the firmament, incomparably huge.

Then, the flow of time in each layer would become faster and faster.

That was the design, but it was too difficult.

I spent a week thinking about the design, and even took a day off to continue designing.

When the second day came and I had to write, I erased all these conceptions.

Sigh, I don't know which of the two stories is better, but I always feel it's a pity.

My own ability hasn't reached that point yet.

Moreover, sometimes one's thinking becomes lazy; the laziness of the mind is the true laziness.

The process of me writing this book is actually also the process of experiencing this book.

"Heaven rewards diligence" does not actually exist.

Placing the expectation of a diligent future upon the Heavenly Dao is a choice that will cause one pain.

Pain is the internal enemy.

The Heavenly Dao is luck, it is the right time and place, but the more one expects from it, the more one will only suffer internal friction.

Therefore, the "Heaven rewards diligence" of this book is actually "Humanity rewards diligence."

Man is his own Heavenly Dao.

Therefore, the protagonist is his own Heavenly Dao, his own master of the Martial Dao.

The great power of Heaven and Earth returns to oneself.

As for the external Heavenly Dao, perhaps it exists, but I will never expect anything from it.

This is the true meaning of the path of will in this book, and it is also how I understand it.

To outsiders, it seems extremely foolish, but I feel it is something that can be done.

Still, I feel a pity for that story I discarded.

Hahaha.

I will try my best to write better, ha; I am still growing stronger.