Countless vines swept in, blotting out the sky and covering the earth, weaving into a heavenly net determined to suppress Jiang Yan beneath it. The flower demon's strange pink eyes radiated a soul-stirring glow, while lips woven from stems and leaves opened and closed, producing rustling, eerie shrieks that pierced the ears like demonic sounds pouring into them.
Rustle!
Jiang Yan found the piercing shrieks increasingly irritating. Only after activating the Battle Saint Armor and raising all his attributes did he feel somewhat better.
"Abyssal Thunder Annihilation Slash!"
Jiang Yan leaped into the air, severing the incoming vines. Then, borrowing force from the air with his steps, he dove down like lightning, slashing toward the flower demon's true body.
The flower demon's true body swiftly retreated, releasing densely packed stems and leaves in an attempt to block Jiang Yan's path of attack.
How could Jiang Yan let her have her way?
Blinding thunderlight burst forth, brilliant as if a blazing sun had descended.
Terrifying saber qi, like a comet piercing the sun, struck the flower demon's true body head-on.
Boom!
The flower demon's true body was cleaved in two beneath that terrifying Blade Momentum.
Yet the battle was not over.
The flower demon's body, split in half, began wriggling across the ground. Before long, it stitched itself back together and was reborn.
Within the System Log, Jiang Yan's martial skill proficiency continued to rise, and his physique strengthened alongside it.
The Battle Saint Armor grew ever more fervent in battle. The golden cape behind him shone brilliantly, as if praising this interesting fight.
Jiang Yan stirred the aura within his body. The Geng Metal Qi he had absorbed upon breaking through to Xiantian formed a faint phantom around his body.
Suddenly, the phantom spread outward before condensing onto Jiang Yan's saber.
Blade Momentum made the alloy saber tremble faintly. Demon's Scale silently shifted his other attributes into strength, and Jiang Yan once again unleashed Abyssal Thunder Annihilation Slash.
System Log updated:
Your Abyssal Thunder Annihilation Slash proficiency has increased to Mastery.
Thunder burst outward, condensing into a terrifying mass of saber qi.
"You have triggered Dual Casting."
The saber shadows overlapped, and two weapons carrying destructive auras fused into one, hanging over the flower demon's head like judgment.
"Dual Casting. Fortune stands with me."
Jiang Yan murmured, swinging his saber with all his strength.
Saber qi capable of annihilating all things engulfed the entire Combat Space. All he could see was a blinding white, as though the world had returned to its beginning.
"You have slain the Thousand Vine Flower Demon. Congratulations, you have obtained the purple Trait Flower Language Amidst Thickets."
Flower Language Amidst Thickets: Your vitality is as tenacious as hardy grass amid thickets. Recovery speed after injury increases by 100%.
"You have slain the Thousand Vine Flower Demon. Heaven Rewards Diligence has triggered its guaranteed mechanism."
"Congratulations, you have obtained the white Trait Premonition."
Premonition: You can fall asleep immediately and will not be disturbed by the outside world.
In a sense, the odds of getting a white Trait were even lower than getting a purple one. Jiang Yan stared speechlessly at the Premonition Trait he had just acquired, unable to figure out what use the thing had.
Jiang Yan trained from morning until night every day. Only when he was truly exhausted did he consider taking a short nap, and he had never suffered from insomnia so far.
"Forget it. It was an extra Trait anyway, so I can't ask for too much."
"Combat Space has been updated. Do you wish to continue challenging?"
"No."
Jiang Yan exited the Combat Space and went to the Study Space to cultivate instead.
Host: Jiang Yan Talent: Battle Saint Armor (Awaiting Evolution) Realm: Xiantian Martial Skills: (Unranked) "Basic Saber Technique" — Perfection (Yellow Grade Low Rank) "Fierce Bull Strength" — Perfection (Yellow Grade High Rank) "Explosive Step" — Perfection (Mysterious Grade High Rank) "Nine Consecutive Steps" — Perfection (Heaven Grade High Rank) "Abyssal Thunder Annihilation Slash" — Mastery Traits: Heaven Rewards Diligence (Innate), Essence of Desperation (Blue), Swiftness (Blue), Wind Rider (Blue), Blade Bearer (Purple), Moment of Truth (Orange), Demon's Scale (Purple), Multiple Casting (Self-Selected Special), Flower Language Amidst Thickets (Purple), Premonition (White) Special: Blade Momentum (Can break through into Blade Intent), Geng Metal Mother Qi (Self-Named)
He wanted to study exactly what the Geng Metal Mother Qi inside his body was.
Jiang Yan sat cross-legged and closed his eyes in meditation. Within his Spiritual Sense, the pathways of his meridians emerged, like roots burrowing deep underground, while the meridians within his body intertwined in a tangled complexity.
Strands of golden aura flowed with his blood, participating in its circulation.
"After Xiantian, I need to absorb the qi of heaven and earth to strengthen myself. I heard some experts created Breathing Techniques that can assist Qi Absorption cultivation. I have nothing right now, so I can only cultivate slowly."
Jiang Yan carefully communicated with the "qi" that shared the same origin as the Geng Metal Mother Qi within him, attempting to draw it into his body.
As though receiving Jiang Yan's command, the Geng Metal Mother Qi began emitting gentle, delicate rays of light, spreading outward and drawing in external aura of the same origin.
A faint glow spread over his body.
The System Log updated.
"You are undergoing Qi Absorption. Your Qi Absorption speed has increased slightly."
"You are undergoing Qi Absorption. Your Qi Absorption speed has increased slightly."
Jiang Yan gradually entered a state of perfect focus.
"Sharpness..."
"Resilience..."
Jiang Yan seemed to understand the core of the Geng Metal Mother Qi.
Simply put, it could attack and defend alike: sharpness faced outward, while resilience turned inward.
Time passed second by second.
The Second Round Exam gradually approached its end.
Ding ding ding...
"The Second Round Exam has ended."
"Candidates who completed their tasks and successfully evacuated will begin the final round of the exam in three hours."
"Candidates who failed to evacuate successfully will be transported out of the Alternate Space."
Once the results of the second round were announced, some rejoiced while others grieved.
Some had been unlucky enough to have their Marked Items snatched away, losing their chance to enter the next round.
Others had been lucky enough to find two Marked Items and successfully lay low until evacuation.
But more than anything else, it came down to strength.
Those with great strength would always have opportunities to obtain enough Marked Items. Take He Xiao, for example. Although Jiang Yan had robbed him clean at the beginning and had nearly crippled his right hand, his strength at the peak of rank two was there for all to see. Later, he still managed to complete the task and evacuate by robbing others.
It could only be said that luck might affect success or failure, but strength would most likely forge victory.
The officials began releasing the points rankings from the first two rounds.
First place: 9527 Jiang Yan, 1000 points.
Second place: 1 Shang Xingren, 800 points.
Third place: 36 Xiao Ziming, 800 points.
Fourth place: 13 Lin Li, 800 points.
Fifth place: Yang Hanyue, 800 points.
Among the top hundred, everyone except Jiang Yan had exactly 800 points.
The ranking points from the first and second rounds totaled four hundred points, while every extra Marked Item in the Second Round Exam was worth fifty points, adding up to another four hundred.
Everyone in the top hundred had cleared the exams perfectly. Only Jiang Yan's first-place ranking points allowed him to suppress them by a single point.
After the hundredth place, however, the candidates' strength declined, and the scores became uneven.
But overall, the current score gaps were not large. Those candidates with low scores still had every chance to overtake the people above them.
Such neatly aligned scores were naturally unsuitable for universities selecting talent, so experts outside speculated that the final round would create the greatest score gap.
Names such as "Jiang Yan," "Shang Xingren," and "Lin Li" were also drawn into popular discussion.
No one had expected that someone from a small place could suppress the Two Capitals Prodigies and occupy the most dazzling position on the rankings.
One had to know that in previous years, the top ten had always been monopolized by candidates from Modu and the capital. Now, an outsider had suddenly emerged, truly slapping the faces of people from those two places.
Their battle footage was edited and analyzed frame by frame as people guessed who had the greatest chance of becoming the College Entrance Exam Top Scholar.
Even Jiang Yan's battle with He Xiao was dug up.
Jiang Yan's saber strikes had seemed casual at the time, but many observant people still noticed something unusual.
"Don't you think Jiang Yan feels strange when he holds a saber?"
"Strange? What's strange about it? I think Jiang Yan looks incredibly cool holding a saber. His strikes are clean and decisive, with extraordinary bearing."
"No, it's that when he strikes, it gives people a kind of... that kind of... I can't describe it."
Just as the discussion grew heated, a comment suddenly appeared:
"Jiang Yan has mastered Blade Momentum. He simply didn't display it in battle."
"Blade Momentum? Am I crazy, or is the person upstairs crazy? Is Blade Momentum something a College Entrance Exam candidate should even be considering at this age?"
"Hiss—now that you mention it, I previously watched a saber grandmaster who had mastered Blade Momentum demonstrate saber techniques several times. The bearing really does resemble Jiang Yan's somewhat."
Afterward, someone compared footage of that saber grandmaster practicing with footage of Jiang Yan fighting.
And sure enough, after comparing them, they truly saw in Jiang Yan that bearing of man and saber becoming one in perfect harmony.
A startling thought immediately arose in their minds. That was—
Jiang Yan had truly mastered Blade Momentum!
In reality, Shen Donglin put away his phone, hiding his achievement and fame deep within.
Jiang Yan was from their Southeast Province, after all. Using him to show off was perfectly justified.
He boasted to an old friend, "I have a bit of friendship with that youngster Jiang Yan."
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