Chapter 620: Everything I Did Was Wrong

Time ticked away, bit by bit.

One hour.

Two hours later.

Only one final hour remained before this trial ended.

The still lake was like a spread of emerald jade, with green mountains and trees reflected within it.

Lu Jianxia appeared once more upon the surface of the lake, walking across the water, breaking the stillness and sending ripples spreading out in circles.

She held nothing in her hands, simply walking calmly toward where Chen Yan was.

Chen Yan opened his eyes:

"I thought you had gone to find a weapon."

Lu Jianxia shook her head slightly:

"I prepared a few, but my greatest advantage now is my physical technique; holding a weapon would actually cause my strength to decline."

Chen Yan's eyes were as calm as an ancient well:

"You could also have waited until the three hours were nearly up, forced me to have to come find you, and then walked into your trap."

Lu Jianxia shook her head again:

"Senior, as a master of all Six Paths, you are knowledgeable and experienced; you could defeat the Heavenly Steel Imperial Body relying solely on your own physical technique.

If I were to crudely craft a trap, it would only make you laugh at me."

She sighed softly; in normal times, with her powerful strength approaching the eighth rank, she could absolutely have defeated this master of all Six Paths.

But now, her martial arts strength had been sealed.

Lu Jianxia pondered for a long time.

Suddenly, she realized she was not without advantages.

She still possessed a powerful will.

Chen Yan, however, smiled:

"You think of me as too powerful; isn't this just a restriction you've set for yourself?

If one trap won't work, could it be that a second, a third, or a fourth wouldn't work either?"

Lu Jianxia was startled, and a hint of a smile appeared on her beautiful face, which was wrapped in black mist:

"Senior is broad-minded; even now, you are still offering me guidance.

In that case, it would not be right for me to do anything underhanded."

She arrived ten meters in front of Chen Yan, showing no signs of distress, but rather a sense of relief.

Perhaps she was truly going to die.

During the first trial, what tempted her most was not the method of eternal life, but the severing of the seven emotions and six desires.

She was in great pain; if she could sever her seven emotions and six desires, perhaps she would not be in such agony.

But if she severed her seven emotions and six desires, how would she be any different from a corpse?

In other words, Lu Jianxia did not value her own life all that much.

Now, facing death with equanimity would actually be better.

The next moment, seeing that Chen Yan had already stood up.

She moved.

Tap, tap, tap!

She dashed across the surface of the water, splashing up sprays of water.

Lu Jianxia closed to within three steps of Chen Yan, suddenly changed direction, and swept her right leg at Chen Yan's lower stance.

Chen Yan retreated half a step, braced one hand against the ground to pivot and dodge, then countered with an elbow strike aimed straight at Lu Jianxia's throat.

Whoosh!

This elbow strike was extremely swift; the moment it arrived, Lu Jianxia's pupils constricted.

She suddenly tilted her head back to dodge, the elbow strike brushing past her taut jawline with a gust of wind.

And at that very same moment.

Lu Jianxia seized the gap in Chen Yan's momentum, pressed in close, hooked his wrist with her left hand, and her long right leg seemed to sweep out a phantom image in the void.

Her right knee slammed into Chen Yan's abdomen.

Chen Yan let out a muffled grunt, tensing his muscles to take the hit, while simultaneously forming his right hand into a claw and hooking toward Lu Jianxia's shoulder blade.

Sss...

A sliver of force pierced from the five fingers of Chen Yan's right hand into Lu Jianxia's shoulder.

Lu Jianxia felt the pain, and a sense of shock and suspicion arose in her heart.

Such strong control of power.

She found she could no longer exert any strength.

The next instant, Chen Yan flung her away.

Lu Jianxia flew out, twisting her waist as her body touched the water, kicking her toes against the surface and carving out a spray of waves.

Just as she had managed to steady her body.

A massive fist was already striking head-on; Lu Jianxia's breathing was already chaotic, and she hurriedly arched her body.

She kicked up a spray of water with her toes to block Chen Yan's line of sight.

This was the opportunity she had worked so hard to create.

Immediately, she thrust out a hand-blade.

Splash!

A hand-blade slashed through the spray, striking Chen Yan directly in the chest.

A crack!

The sound of a bone fracturing rang out.

Lu Jianxia's expression tightened slightly; she had actually managed to land a hit.

With the opponent's sternum fractured, their combat power would be reduced by half.

It was at this very moment.

Chen Yan's right hand precisely clamped onto Lu Jianxia's wrist, while his left palm, like a blade, thrust straight at her heart.

Lu Jianxia hurriedly dodged, and the instant she evaded Chen Yan's left palm, her other hand instantly chopped down toward Chen Yan's neck.

A crack!

The sound of bone and flesh colliding rang out.

Chen Yan's neck caved in, and he kicked Lu Jianxia away.

The two of them flew back over ten meters, skimming the surface of the lake.

Lu Jianxia steadied her body, her gaze suddenly shrinking.

She saw that the Six-Paths All-Rounder, whose body had seemingly already flown backward, was suddenly carving a path across the water and speeding toward her.

So fast!

So fast!

His sternum and neck were both severely injured, so how could he still be this fast?

Lu Jianxia was shocked.

But the next moment, she charged forward to meet him.

The next instant, the two closed in.

Lu Jianxia threw a punch, but the fist grazed Chen Yan's temple and missed.

Lu Jianxia hurriedly lifted her leg, but the moment her right leg was raised, it was met head-on by Chen Yan's downward-striking fist.

Boom!

Chen Yan's fist smashed into the surface of Lu Jianxia's rounded thigh, while his left palm had already flipped outward and upward, slamming into Lu Jianxia's jaw.

Slap!

A sharp pain radiated from Lu Jianxia's jaw, and the force surged deep into her brain, actually causing her consciousness to flicker with a hint of faintness.

Her body flew backward, and just as she was about to twist her body, she saw that the Six-Paths All-Rounder had already rushed beneath her, a fist smashing toward the back of her head.

I'm going to die!

Lu Jianxia's eyes trembled.

She could not dodge this strike.

The opponent clearly possessed a mortal body just like her, yet the power he unleashed was greater than hers, and the speed he displayed was faster than hers.

The techniques he employed were more ruthless than hers.

Even the previous injury was merely a means for the opponent to test her techniques.

She suddenly realized.

Her own body techniques were all learned from the 【Heavenly Steel Body-Guard】.

Yet the opponent had been using his own skills to defeat the 【Heavenly Steel Body-Guard】 all along.

From the very beginning, she had no chance of winning.

I'm going to die.

Lu Jianxia gritted her teeth.

Willpower surged!

Her body twisted desperately, her long legs smashing downward.

But the next moment.

She missed.

Lu Jianxia's eyes shrank.

With a slap.

She landed on the water, her consciousness flickering for a split second.

She hurriedly stood up, only to see that the Six-Paths All-Rounder, who had been about to kill her, had for some reason not delivered the fatal blow, but had instead flashed to the side.

"You..."

Lu Jianxia stood up:

"You let me go?"

She was somewhat confused; the palpitation from that moment of life and death still lingered in her heart.

"I believe this trial shouldn't be solved this way."

Chen Yan smiled:

"If you and I slaughter each other, what if the one who emerges victorious not only receives no reward but ends up dying instead?"

Lu Jianxia was speechless for a moment:

"Senior, you..."

She did not know what to say; her feelings at this moment were incredibly complex.

It was clear that the Master of Elements had already stated it very plainly.

In this trial, there could only be one survivor.

She saw that the other party had already turned around, actually exposing his own opening directly before her eyes.

Lu Jianxia was taken aback.

This person, she could not understand at all.

"Do you still want to live?" Chen Yan suddenly spoke.

Lu Jianxia was taken aback; the other party asking this had clearly overstepped the boundary between them.

Logically speaking, she should not have replied.

But the other party had not killed her just now.

"Naturally," Lu Jianxia said.

"If I didn't want to live, I wouldn't have come this far."

"That is good."

Chen Yan said quietly, then stepped forward, preparing to leave.

Behind him.

Lu Jianxia looked at his figure and spoke abruptly:

"Is it you?"

"Who?" Chen Yan asked in surprise.

"Is it you?" Lu Jianxia's voice suddenly turned cold:

"It is you."

Chen Yan raised his brows slightly:

"I have lived in seclusion all along and have never had any grievances with your ancestors; you must have mistaken me for..."

"It is you!"

Lu Jianxia's eyes were extremely complex:

"I cannot think of anyone besides my elder brother..."

In an instant.

A sharp pain struck.

When she uttered the two words 'elder brother', it involved revealing outside information, and she was punished by the rules of the Ancient War Palace.

Lu Jianxia's body swayed, but she could not leave this place at the moment, so she continued to speak:

"Besides my elder brother, who else would do this much for me?

We are both of mortal flesh, but the power you displayed just now surpassed that of a mortal.

Your will is stronger than mine!"

She shouted out:

"What on earth are you trying to do? If you don't kill me, we will both die.

Even if we survive, in the future, I will still turn my blade against you!"

Beneath the black mist, Lu Jianxia's eyes trembled, tears appeared on her eyelids, and her expression was complex to the extreme.

"I will kill you, wipe out Great Xia, and go after your younger sister!"

Her voice trembled, yet carried endless coldness.

Chen Yan narrowed his eyes and said calmly:

"I know you are dissatisfied with me, but if you stand in my shoes, I have never done anything wrong."

Lu Jianxia was actually seeking death.

Chen Yan's voice faded, and the place fell silent.

Lu Jianxia looked at Chen Yan in a daze.

It really was him.

She had only been testing him.

She had only been testing him with a trace of surprise.

She had not expected it to truly be Chen Yan.

She had always thought she was merely a pawn in Chen Yan's hand that could be discarded at any time.

But now, the other party had not killed her.

Wrapped in the black mist.

Her eyes instantly welled up with moisture, her eyelashes trembling slightly, as if veiled by a thin mist.

The corners of her mouth lifted slightly, unconsciously, before she suppressed it.

Just like that, she looked at Chen Yan, her dimples hiding emotions that were left unsaid.

She did not know how to speak, or how to face Chen Yan.

The moment she knew Chen Yan was the All-Talent of the Six Paths, everything became incomparably complex.

She suddenly remembered that scene when she first met Chen Yan in Yixian City that day.

She suddenly remembered the icy intent that told her on Ten Thousand Phases Island that he would bring her a new world.

She suddenly remembered that kiss.

Everything about her seemed to have been consumed by the other party.

Her happiness, her confusion, her anger, her affection.

Forever rudely taken away by one person.

This place was silent.

Everything, everything, dissolved at this moment.

Today, between the two of them, one must die.

She gazed at the other person in silence.

"But if you were to stand in my position and think."

Her red lips parted, and tears flowed down uncontrollably:

"Everything I have done was wrong."