A Gathering of Heroes

"Brother Wen, I'll go on ahead. I want to rest at the pavilion up front, hehe. I can't make heads or tails of this stuff."

Chen Dai studied the corridor wall for a while before giving up. He truly could not see anything in it.

Chu Wen nodded. "Go on, then. I'm sure I'll run into you at some point. Don't push yourself too hard."

They had only passed seven pavilions so far—not even a tenth of the way.

Chen Dai strode forward.

Chu Wen continued to focus on studying every martial insight that resonated with him. The Primordial Origin Breathing Method, which had always progressed slowly, suddenly began advancing by leaps and bounds here.

New changes appeared on the panel as well.

Primordial Origin Breathing Method, Beginner (99.9%).

Being stuck at the very end was precisely when it was time to use potential points! The best value for the money!

Add points! Ten in a row!

[You cultivated the Primordial Origin Breathing Method for decades and reached the final threshold. Yet whenever you thought you could break through, you could never take that final step. Decades of time were wasted.]

Primordial Origin Breathing Method, Beginner (99.99%)

Twenty in a row!

[You did not give up and continued to painstakingly cultivate the Primordial Origin Breathing Method. You immersed yourself in it, forgetting everything else, wanting to take that final step. But the final bottleneck was truly terrifying; that thin layer of window paper could never be pierced.]

[Your bitter cultivation bore no fruit, so you decided to venture forth, hoping to break through amid life-and-death peril. Heaven never disappoints those with a will. During one life-and-death crisis, your blood boiled throughout your body and your spirit reached its limit. In an instant, you broke through every bottleneck, and the Primordial Origin Breathing Method reached Minor Mastery.]

Primordial Origin Breathing Method, Minor Mastery (1%)

At the instant it reached Minor Mastery, Chu Wen could clearly feel the blood throughout his body boiling. Even the beads of sweat on him became scorching hot, and he looked like a cooked crab.

Once those changes ended, his body felt incomparably light. The pressure that had once pressed in on him from every direction had now completely vanished!

His breathing became smooth as well, and the martial techniques before him—ones he could previously continue studying—suddenly held no secrets in his eyes.

"The grades are all mediocre, and none of them are complete. The Primordial Source Pearl can't record them..."

If he wanted the Primordial Source Pearl to record martial techniques and combat arts, he would probably have to reach the final hundred corridor pillars.

That was where complete martial techniques left behind by War God experts would be found!

Time passed little by little. In truth, the first ten pavilions of the Dragonspine Corridor alone could eliminate ninety percent of Xinhang's students.

Most geniuses had limited strength. Only a small handful could rise above the rest.

Chu Wen happened to be one of them.

As soon as Chen Dai reached the eleventh pavilion, he chose to end the trial.

His stamina had reached its limit. If he kept going, he probably would not even make it to the twelfth pavilion.

He had already achieved his goal. His original goal had merely been to reach the fifth pavilion, surpass the average level, and win some pride for Jiangnan Martial University.

He had never expected the Primordial Origin Breathing Method Brother Wen taught him to carry him to the eleventh pavilion. That was already an unexpected delight.

He knew when enough was enough, and when to quit while he was ahead.

His ranking also stopped at 561st.

Including some repeat-year veterans, there were 6,147 participants in total. Five hundred and sixty-first place put him in the top ten percent!

"Chen Dai has finished. Five hundred and sixty-first place."

"That's truly astonishing. Jiangnan Martial University really does have hidden dragons and crouching tigers."

"Haha, this time, some people's faces are going to be slapped swollen. He didn't merely surpass the average—he crushed the vast majority of elites outright."

"You have to know that the top two hundred are basically all specially recruited students. In other words, among regular students, he ranks in the top four hundred."

An academic affairs teacher spoke leisurely, thinking, This time, the martial university is really going to be shaken. Who knows how many teachers will be driven mad.

With this, any attempt to strangle the Jiangnan Society in the cradle would be declared bankrupt on the spot.

"Sigh, a few of us really were building a cart behind closed doors." Some teachers conceded, while others remained silent.

"Where is Chu Wen now? Has he already crossed halfway?"

"Yes, he's past halfway. He was moving very slowly a few days ago, but today alone he passed forty pavilions, and he's still getting faster."

"His speed has already reached that of a high-rank Battle General. He's currently ranked fifty-sixth."

"On his first time through the Dragonspine Corridor, he made the top hundred..."

Some teachers wore bitter smiles.

Those two people from Jiangnan Martial University had truly ground the faces of all their opponents into the dirt.

Still, it was not that embarrassing. The one who had rejected Chu Wen in the first place was Principal Yang Tianlong. The principal was the first one to lose face.

Yang Tianlong stood at the end of the Dragonspine Corridor, watching the students along the path with a genial smile.

"Not bad. This year's batch is truly impressive. There's Xu Yunzhong and Pan Angyi, as well as Shi Chong... and now Chu Wen has emerged out of nowhere."

"Good. Let them slap some faces, hehe."

He wanted the younger generation to slap his face. Only then would humanity have a future, and only then would Xinhang Martial University have a future.

Otherwise, if old fellows like him occupied the high positions forever, there would sooner or later be a gap in succession.

Rox stood beside Yang Tianlong, his gaze resting indifferently in Chu Wen's direction. "This Chu Wen does have some ability, but it's still not enough."

Yang Tianlong smiled. "It's just asking you to take him to Netherworld Lake for some training. Why such hostility? You could have simply refused."

"Hmph. You want a War God like me to watch a warrior go on an outing?" Rox sneered. He had his own pride.

"This is part of the teacher evaluation too—teaching and nurturing people, you know?" Yang Tianlong stretched lazily. "Soon. Those little fellows should be about to reach the Hundred Corridor Pillars."

"I wonder whether first and second place will be able to enter this time."

Rox did not answer. He closed his eyes again to rest his mind. Proctoring was the most wearing kind of work, but it was also part of his mental cultivation.

As for paying attention to whether those people could enter the Hundred Corridor Pillars?

He was an eighteen-year-old War God, a super genius across the entire Blue Star Alliance! Such matters were beneath his notice.

Several days later.

The second-to-last pavilion of the Hundred Corridor Pillars, the ninety-ninth pavilion—Lanwang Pavilion.

Shi Chong sat within the pavilion, still unable to step out and continue onward.

"Damn it, again..."

It was always like this. Those two monsters had probably already reached the hundredth pavilion, while he was still stuck here.

Why was his martial intuition always just that tiny bit lacking?

Just as he was about to give up, a familiar figure appeared in the distance.

"Chu... Chu Wen?"

His heart began to waver, while Chu Wen's expression was tranquil as water, without the slightest sign of strain.

"You... you're not tired?"

Shi Chong even began to stammer.

Chu Wen nodded slightly. "I was a little tired before, but now it's basically no different from taking a stroll."

Chu Wen did not even rest at Lanwang Pavilion. He crossed it in a few steps and headed for the hundredth pavilion.

Shi Chong sat back down helplessly. Gritting his teeth, he forced himself to take one step. His entire body convulsed as though struck by lightning, and he immediately recoiled back into the pavilion. His face flushed crimson, saliva flying everywhere.

"Damn it, damn it!"

This eternal third-place finisher was going to become fourth this time!

Yet not long afterward, another beautiful figure approached outside the pavilion.

"Hello, you haven't given up yet? Am I the fourth to arrive?"

A smiling face appeared beside Shi Chong.

Martial universities had many male students and very few female ones. Among female powerhouses whose names were known, one hand was enough to count them all.

"You... you are... you're from the Lin Family? Lin Wei?"

"Oh? You actually know me. I only enrolled yesterday, so please take care of me."

Lin Wei wore a sunny smile. Dressed in a martial arts uniform, she nevertheless gave off the charm of a girl-next-door big sister.

She carefully pulled a piece of paper from her pocket and, in the blink of an eye, folded it into a paper crane. "This is for you."

"You're the fifth. The fourth just went through."

"Hm?" Lin Wei's expression abruptly changed. The smile on her face instantly turned into surging killing intent, and the paper crane she had just handed Shi Chong immediately crumbled into ash. "He dared steal my ranking! What gall!"

"What's his name?"

"Chu... Chu Wen."

Lin Wei spat on the ground, puffing out her cheeks. "Never heard of him."