Chapter 228: Lin Chen

Lin Chen, who had fallen to the back, was now not far from Ye Feng.

"Lin Shixiong?"

Ye Feng looked at Lin Chen, completely bewildered. It was normal for him to be pushed here by the giant waves; he had been anxious at first, but upon seeing that Shen Ze and the others had also been pushed to roughly the same position as him, he instantly stopped worrying.

He wasn't afraid of being weak; he was only afraid of his brothers being stronger than him.

Shen Ze and the others were similar in strength to him, but Lin Shixiong was different. How could Lin Shixiong also be pushed here by the giant waves?

Lin Chen nodded toward Ye Feng but did not speak. He already understood why the Dean had told him not to circulate his Qi and blood, but to rely purely on his physical strength to resist the giant waves.

Although it hurt when the giant waves struck his body and pushed him backward, he could feel his body beginning to heat up after each wave passed.

The giant waves contained a certain energy that seeped into his body.

If he had circulated his Qi and blood to resist, although he would have blocked the waves, he would also have blocked the energy within them from seeping into his body.

And the reason the Dean did not tell the other disciples about this matter...

Lin Chen glanced at Ye Feng beside him. If the others didn't circulate their Qi and blood, he feared they would be washed off the martial arts arena after just two waves.

The giant waves came from the depths of the mountain range and vanished at the edge of the martial arts arena; it was truly miraculous!

Lin Chen didn't have much time to think, as the fifth wave was already upon them.

Boom!

Lin Chen was pushed back another ten zhang.

The sixth wave...

The seventh wave...

The eighth wave...

The ninth wave...

At this moment, Lin Chen had reached the edge of the martial arts arena. Many people on the scene saw this, and their expressions were very complex.

Meanwhile, Xiao Yaojin and the others had also retreated to the center of the martial arts arena.

"After today, Lin Chen will be considered fallen."

"Invincible in the Acupuncture Stage, yet it's a pity he is addicted to female beauty, ruining himself."

Many sighed, but the instructors still standing in front of the martial arts arena had glowing eyes as they looked at Lin Chen.

With their discernment, they could naturally see that Lin Chen was not circulating his Qi and blood, but was relying on his physical strength to persist until now.

Just how strong must this physical body be?

The few Vice Deans looked at Hua Qianwu with eyes filled with naked jealousy and dissatisfaction!

If they had known Lin Chen's physical body was this formidable, even if they were facing Senior Brother Hua, they would not have accepted the fact that Senior Brother Hua was teaching Lin Chen so easily; they would have definitely fought for it.

The supervising Elder from Liang Guo also had a look of contemplation in his old eyes, not knowing what he was thinking.

Xiao Yaojin also turned his head to glance at Lin Chen's location, a look of disappointment on his face.

He hoped this failure would allow Lin Shixiong to wake up. The Acupuncture Stage was only a small realm of the Martial Way; the road of the Martial Way was long, and to go far, one must have a Martial Way heart that constantly climbs.

At this moment, the tenth wave fell. Xiao Yaojin collected his thoughts and stopped thinking about Lin Chen. Lin Chen was destined to be eliminated in the next wave; he had to devote himself entirely to resisting the waves.

The giant wave dissipated, and Xiao Yaojin staggered back a zhang. Just as he steadied his footing, he heard sounds of shock coming from all around. Just as he was puzzled about where the shock came from, the eleventh wave was already upon them.

The giant waves were becoming more ferocious one after another, and each one lasted longer than the last.

The eleventh wave, the twelfth wave...

By the time the fifteenth wave arrived, Xiao Yaojin could no longer hold on and was also pushed off the martial arts arena.

At this moment, the giant waves were completely non-stop, and the martial arts arena was thoroughly shrouded in the water mist splashed up by the waves.

"What a pity, if only I could have held on for two more waves."

A youth beside him looked regretful. Xiao Yaojin understood what the other meant; holding on for two more waves would not only mean more points, but more importantly, becoming the number one among the new students.

After the fourteenth wave, only two people were left beside him; everyone else had been eliminated.

And all three of them were pushed out during the fifteenth wave. Although they had held on until the end, two people were sharing this achievement with him.

As a genius, what one wants is to stand out from the crowd, not to share first place with others.

"Why does Fang Shidi need to care? Being able to hold on until now is already quite good. It's still better than someone who was so dazzling before the test, only to be eliminated early."

"I would rather he not be eliminated. To defeat him, I gave up on Lingxiao Academy. This result makes me very disappointed."

Fang Zhan spoke coldly, his gaze beginning to search the crowd behind him, but to his confusion, he did not find Lin Chen's figure.

"Perhaps he felt embarrassed to stay here and left early."

Luo Han, standing to the side, laughed contemptuously. Xiao Yaojin frowned upon hearing Luo Han's words. He could accept Lin Shixiong being eliminated, but he could not accept Lin Shixiong leaving early because he felt ashamed.

With Lin Shixiong's strength, he was capable of withstanding the giant waves; being eliminated was because he was harmed by female beauty. As long as he could learn from this lesson and focus on Martial Way cultivation, it would be fine.

But if he left here, that would be a big problem!

A martial artist can fail, but they must have the courage to face failure.

Escapism is the behavior of a coward.

On the martial arts arena, the rumbling sound of the giant waves was still pouring in.

"The test is over, why hasn't it stopped yet?"

Fang Zhan was a bit puzzled. Their batch of new disciples had all been eliminated; shouldn't it be over?

"Maybe the time isn't up yet. These giant waves come from the deep mountains; we were just eliminated, there should be a few more residual waves behind."

Luo Han's words made Fang Zhan nod in agreement; this explanation did indeed make sense.

However, thirty breaths passed, and the giant waves were still surging in. The smile on Luo Han's face could no longer be maintained.

Pfft!

Not far away, Ye Feng suddenly burst into loud laughter.

"It's hilarious. Pointing out the country here for half a day, yet not knowing what happened at all."

From the moment Luo Han began to mock Lin Chen, Ye Feng had been very dissatisfied. From the moment Lin Chen slapped him away, he had been Lin Chen's most loyal supporter.

The reason he didn't refute him from the start was intentional.

The more harshly this person mocked Lin Shixiong, the harder the face-slapping would be in a moment.

Time turned back to the eleventh wave. The moment he was pushed off the martial arts arena by the giant wave, Ye Feng's first reaction was to look in the direction of Lin Shixiong.

It didn't matter if he was eliminated; he didn't want Lin Shixiong to be eliminated.

What made him breathe a sigh of relief was that he didn't see Lin Shixiong's figure, which meant Lin Shixiong had not been eliminated.

And following the uproar and the discussions of the people around him, his gaze subconsciously looked to the front left.

Lin Shixiong, who had been pushed backward by the giant waves, did not retreat when the eleventh wave fell; instead, he moved against the wave, advancing a full three zhang.

It was precisely because Lin Shixiong moved against the wave that he caused such shock among the crowd.

"I have never seen anyone able to move against the waves in the Canglan sea!"

"Don't talk about seeing it, I haven't even heard of it." Had any disciples from previous years at Canglan Academy done it?

If someone had done it, why had the instructors never mentioned it?

Hearing the discussions and shocked expressions of the senior brothers from the previous two years, Ye Feng felt even more excited and inspired than if he had moved against the waves on the arena himself.

He knew Lin Shixiong couldn't possibly be eliminated!

And after that, every time a giant wave fell, there would be sounds of shock from the surroundings, all because Lin Shixiong had advanced again.

Until later, when the waves came one after another and the water mist completely blocked the martial arts arena, making it impossible for everyone to see Lin Shixiong's figure, the sounds of shock disappeared, but the discussions never stopped.

"What did you say?"

Luo Han stared coldly at Ye Feng, but Ye Feng was not afraid. He had Shen Ze and the others beside him, and this Luo Han was all alone.

"I said your own strength is lacking, so you thought others were as weak as you. Why isn't Lin Shixiong off the arena? Naturally, it's because Lin Shixiong is still inside the martial arts arena."

Ye Feng curled his lips. The words he spoke left Luo Han unable to even be angry, because he was shocked by the second half of Ye Feng's sentence.

Lin Chen was still inside the martial arts arena?

How could this be possible? He had clearly seen Lin Chen pushed to the edge of the arena earlier; he should have been eliminated with just one more wave.

However, when Luo Han scanned the others and saw that no one refuted Ye Feng's words, he knew what Ye Feng said was true.

"Moving against the waves?"

A strong fighting spirit erupted in Fang Zhan's eyes: "Lin Chen, you really didn't disappoint me!"

"Still didn't disappoint you? What's the point of putting on an act? To cover up your inner embarrassment?"

Ye Feng's words directly pierced Fang Zhan's thoughts. Fang Zhan's face turned red; the meaning behind his words was indeed to resolve his own embarrassment.

This person's mouth... is truly annoying!

"Lin Shixiong's strength is superb, why did he deliberately pretend to be unable to withstand it at the beginning?"

Murong Yan spoke faintly. Her yellow dress was soaked, but she didn't use her Qi and blood to steam the clothes dry, leaving her beautiful figure fully exposed.

Once this question was asked, many people had looks of contemplation on their faces. Why did Lin Chen pretend to be weak at the beginning?

If this were a duel, pretending to be weak to the enemy could be explained, but this was just a test, and Lin Chen had come with the glory of being named on Mount Wudao seven times; there was absolutely no need for this.

"Lin Shixiong... was afraid of hurting our self-esteem."

Ye Feng spoke directly: "If Lin Shixiong had gone all out from the start, how would we people have faced ourselves? Especially you few who think highly of yourselves; to save face, you would probably rather die than retreat, and you would have ended up hurting your bodies. Lin Shixiong just didn't want you to get hurt. This is Lin Shixiong's kindness."

Listening to Ye Feng's explanation, some were enlightened, while others were puzzled.

This explanation sounded a bit awkward, and one always felt there were parts that didn't make sense, but it seemed there was no other reason besides this.

On the scene, the only one who could guess the truth was Jiang Qing. At this moment, Jiang Qing was draped in a white silk windbreaker, her beautiful eyes blinking slightly. Lin Shidi had said that the special training the Dean arranged for him did not allow the circulation of Qi and blood, so Lin Shidi was pushed away by the giant waves earlier because he didn't circulate his Qi and blood.

"When Lin Shidi was in Yanshan County, he was very considerate of the feelings of other junior brothers and sisters in the martial hall. Later, when he arrived at Raozhou Prefecture, he was honored as the Senior Brother by all the martial hall disciples in Raozhou Prefecture, not only because of Lin Shidi's strength, but also because of his character."

With Jiang Qing's words, no one on the scene had any more doubts.

Jiang Qing was not afraid of the truth being discovered. Even if these people knew that Lin Chen was pushed by the giant waves because he didn't circulate his Qi and blood, it could still be explained using the words of the male disciple earlier.

"Elder Murong, Lin Chen should be able to get an A-grade, right?"

Hua Qianwu smiled and looked at Murong Jun, who had come from Yan Guo. As a supervising Elder, what he supervised was not only the entrance assessment of the Academy, but also the performance of the Academy's disciples in the Academy.

The Academy's resources were allocated by the nine countries to the Joint Elder Seat, which set the assessment requirements for the Academy's disciples and gave more resource rewards based on assessment results.

The supervising Elder was responsible for supervising whether the results were true.

"Canglan Academy has recruited a good disciple."

Murong Jun sighed. He had originally been puzzled as to why the Princess would choose to come to the Daliang Canglan Academy. Now it seemed the Princess had a better eye; just based on some information on paper, she dared to be certain that this Lin Chen would be the pillar of Daliang's future.

Yan Guo and Daliang were not adjacent, separated by Han Guo. There was no grievance between the two countries. For Murong Jun, Daliang producing a genius would not affect Yan Guo.

Yan Guo was the smallest of the nine countries. From Yan Guo's perspective, it was a good thing if Daliang had more strong people, as this would make Han Guo wary of Daliang and put more focus on Yan Guo.

Hua Qianwu did not miss Murong Jun's expression and could guess Murong Jun's thoughts.

Only by confirming that Murong Jun was not wary of Lin Chen's potential could he arrange the next step of the plan.

The time of one incense stick passed.

The giant waves finally stopped, and Lin Chen's figure began to appear.

When they saw Lin Chen standing in his original position, a burst of cheers erupted on the scene again.

Among them, Ye Feng was the loudest.

Hua Qianwu stroked his beard and smiled, his gaze sweeping over the crowd: "The entrance ceremony ends here. You all follow your respective instructors back."

Regarding the results of this test, Hua Qianwu was not surprised at all. Although Xiao Yaojin, Fang Zhan, and Luo Han were also rare geniuses in Daliang, they still had a gap compared to Lin Chen.

The advantage of these three was that when they began to condense their Martial Way will at the perfection of Organ Cultivation, relying on family-inherited techniques, their Martial Way will would far exceed ordinary people.

Hua Qianwu left, and Lin Chen did not stay on the martial arts arena to accept the worshipful gazes of many junior brothers. His training for today was not yet finished; he still had to go to the Hall of Hard Training once more.

Night fell. When Lin Chen dragged his exhausted body back to his residence on Canglan Peak, he discovered that there were lights on in a nearby residence.

"The Dean lives here?"

This thought popped into Lin Chen's mind, but he immediately dismissed it.

Although Canglan Peak belonged to the Dean, he hadn't seen the Dean living there in the few days he had been on Canglan Peak.

Did the Dean take in another disciple?

Returning to his residence, Lin Chen lit an oil lamp and went to the shower room to wash his body. Just as he came out of the shower room and prepared to continue his cultivation, there was a knock on the courtyard door.

"Is Lin Shixiong there?"

"Junior Brother Xiao, just come straight in."

Lin Chen didn't go to open the door; he knew who it was just by the voice.

Soon, the courtyard door was pushed open, and Xiao Yaojin walked into the courtyard.

"Xiao Shidi, is something the matter?"

Xiao Yaojin looked Lin Chen up and down before speaking after a long while: "Lin Shixiong, I want to spar with you."

However, before Lin Chen could answer, another voice came from the courtyard entrance: "Is Lin Shixiong there?"

Outside the ajar courtyard door, Fang Zhan's figure appeared there.

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(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 229 =====