Go on, you talk too much

Zhou Ming sat quietly in the space, head lowered, his face dark.

Time slowly passed.

No answer came for a long while.

Zhou Ming rose to his feet and barked, "What, no answer?"

"Sacrifice one person to save a hundred, to save a thousand."

"One side has three hundred, the other has three hundred and three. You choose! Let more than three hundred die so three may live."

Zhou Ming drew a deep breath and snapped, "Playing dead? Are you deaf or mute?"

He truly had not expected someone in this world to resort to moral blackmail.

That was one thing.

But it had even thrown in an upgraded version of the trolley problem.

Disgusting!

"If my death could save thousands upon thousands of Ganwu Dynasty citizens, I would be willing to die."

Under Zhou Ming's furious rebuke, that voice finally gave its answer.

"Heh."

Zhou Ming was so angry he laughed. "Then die. Why ask me whether I'd save you? You seriously sick in the head?"

In an instant, the space transformed.

Zhou Ming found himself suspended in midair, overlooking the entire Ganwu Dynasty.

Everything within his gaze entered his sight.

City after city, fortress after fortress, their defensive lines were breached. Exotic beasts ravaged the entire Ganwu Dynasty, leaving behind nothing but empty cities wherever they passed.

Time accelerated, and the scenes shifted.

Not a single person remained alive in the entire Ganwu Dynasty.

The exotic beasts scattered in every direction, retreating into a stretch of mist beyond the Ganwu Dynasty.

Like someone who had just finished watching a blockbuster, Zhou Ming asked curiously, "Where did they go in the end? What's outside the Ganwu Dynasty? Let me take a look."

"Congratulations. You have passed the Will Trial and successfully comprehended the Heaven-Splitting Divine Art."

An ethereal voice rang out in Zhou Ming's mind.

The space shifted.

Zhou Ming was once again within the pure white space.

After digesting the information about the Heaven-Splitting Divine Art in his mind, a gleam flashed in Zhou Ming's eyes.

The trial had been inexplicable.

But so long as he had achieved his goal, that was enough.

"Your will is resolute. You may continue comprehending the Martial Dao. Continue?"

Zhou Ming waved a hand and said, "Forget it, bro doesn't get greedy!"

He immediately continued, "If I'm not in a hurry to leave, how about we chat? Answer my earlier questions for me?"

Yet just as he said "forget it," a slender figure had already appeared behind him.

Zhou Ming noticed nothing.

"Off you go! You talk too much!"

The girl kicked Zhou Ming squarely in the ass.

The instant Zhou Ming heard her voice, his whole body pitched forward.

Meanwhile, outside the Martial Dao Stele.

Headmaster Zhao Xuchu and the Martial Academy instructors waited outside for the martial artists from the various provinces.

"The Martial Examination only comes once every ten years. The geniuses of the Thirty-Six Provinces have gathered, and the Empress has even opened the Martial Dao Stele on a broad scale. I wonder whether any lost martial techniques will appear?"

Zhao Xuchu spoke with great anticipation.

At this moment.

On the Martial Dao Stele, streak after streak of golden light continuously shot into the sky, each containing a martial artist.

Some golden lights extinguished soon after appearing.

Others grew increasingly dazzling.

"Huh!"

Everyone froze.

"Good, good, good!"

"As expected of the geniuses from the various provinces, their intentions point toward lost arts."

At that moment, a seven-colored glazed light pierced straight into the heavens.

The instant the seven-colored glazed radiance appeared.

Dong!

Dong! Dong!

Three bell tolls spread throughout the Imperial City.

In an instant, more than a dozen figures rose into the air from all corners of the Imperial City, their gazes fixed in the direction of the Martial Academy.

Before the Martial Dao Stele.

Zhao Xuchu cried out excitedly, "A War God Divine Ability!"

The very foundations of Yan, Zhao, and Chu Kingdoms were their Martial Dao Steles.

One stele per kingdom; each of their imperial cities had been built around its stele.

Across the Vast Sea Continent, the rise and fall of dynasties and kingdoms had unfolded beneath the witness of these three Martial Dao Steles.

In the six hundred years since the founding of Yan Kingdom, only a handful had obtained the inheritance of a Martial Dao divine ability.

The last inheritor had appeared one hundred and seventy years ago.

It was not as though the successive Yan emperors had never tried sending people into the Martial Dao Stele continuously to seize inheritances.

But divine abilities were not martial techniques. The trials each person experienced were entirely different.

More importantly, there was the Heart-Knocking Trial. Those who could pass it were rarer still.

Furthermore, comprehending the Martial Dao Stele consumed a kingdom's Martial Fortune. Unrestricted comprehension would diminish a kingdom's Martial Fortune, gradually worsening the talents of the younger generation.

"Does anyone know that person's identity?"

The man standing beside Zhao Xuchu closed the fan in his hand and asked.

The moment those words were spoken, the atmosphere around them immediately grew several degrees heavier.

Among the twelve, the woman with red cords binding her hair said coldly, "A commoner?"

"What's wrong with a commoner? Did he eat your family's premium flesh?"

"I can't stand the way you all want to swallow everything whole and wipe your mouths clean."

"Martial Dao resources are scarce. It's not as though you don't know that! Why are you still making a fuss?"

"You have no sense of the greater picture!"

Seeing everyone arguing.

The man holding a jade flute was just about to speak when the qin player beside him gently tugged his sleeve.

Seeing the qin player shake her head at him, the man sighed and remained silent.

At this moment.

Zhao Xuchu's blood energy erupted.

An oppressive force swept directly toward the crowd.

The few who had spoken in the argument instantly wore bitter expressions, beads of sweat the size of soybeans seeping across their foreheads.

The man holding the folded fan flicked it once.

The pressure enveloping those people instantly vanished.

The man smiled. "Headmaster, there is no need to be angry. I merely asked in passing."

A bald man wiped the sweat from his forehead and said unhappily, "Headmaster, whose side are you on? You even came after me!"

Zhao Xuchu cast him a glance and said indifferently, "Huang Sheng, say one more word and see what happens."

Huang Sheng's heart jolted.

Whenever the headmaster called someone by their full name, it meant he was truly angry.

This was the common understanding throughout the entire Imperial City Martial Academy.

He rubbed his bald head and took two steps back.

Zhao Xuchu gazed at the seven-colored glazed light shooting into the sky.

"This is the person the Empress has been waiting for. If you show even the slightest trace of dissatisfaction later, and that little fellow notices it, you'll suffer for it."

"Celestial Beings, Celestial Beings—do you spend all day thinking your measly Second Grade is so impressive?"

"The strength of an entire kingdom, three conditions—you should weigh for yourselves just how heavy those carry!"

Zhao Xuchu ignored everyone no longer and tore through the air toward the imperial palace.

This time, no one continued arguing.

They silently looked toward the Martial Dao Stele.

Indeed!

The strength of an entire kingdom, three conditions.

The weight of those was beyond imagination.

Though they were Second-Rank Celestials, compared to the power of an entire kingdom, they were like ants beneath an elephant.

A moment later.

The qin player saw that the man holding the folded fan had kept his gaze fixed on the seven-colored glazed pillar of light.

She smiled. "Feng Anyu, that little fellow has an identity jade token for the Martial Examination hanging at his waist. What, do you want to first test the mettle of the Sky Patrol?"

Feng Anyu withdrew his gaze, his expression solemn. "Dong Yun, do not jest."

Huang Sheng, standing nearby, looked around and said, "Did the Sky Patrol not come, or have they become even better at hiding?"

Everyone turned to look at him.

Huang Sheng rubbed his bald head, smacked his lips, and said, "I misspoke."

At that moment, a figure silently threw an arm around his shoulders.

Huang Sheng shuddered, and the vast blood energy within his body instantly erupted.

The newcomer punched him in the stomach, and the blood energy that had been about to erupt immediately collapsed.

"Little Yellow, we of the Sky Patrol have always been here. You simply can't see us—how can you say we're hiding? Isn't that right?"

As the newcomer spoke, Huang Sheng felt as if he were about to be strangled to death.

He frantically slapped at the newcomer's arm.

"Puff, puff, puff!"

Huang Sheng gulped down air frantically.

Seeing his appearance, the newcomer said coldly, "Little Yellow, isn't that right?"

Huang Sheng's hairs stood on end as he hurriedly replied, "Yes, yes, yes! Elder Mo's lesson is correct. It was I who could not see."

Looking at the little old man before him!

Huang Sheng roared inwardly: Damn it, I'm a dignified Second-Rank Celestial, and I was nearly strangled to death!