The death warrior leader's voice carried terror he could barely conceal.
He had put everything into unleashing their five-man combined killing move, yet it had not even torn the corner of his opponent's clothes, let alone injured him.
The sight completely overturned everything he knew-even a Golden Core cultivator would have to give this attack a wide berth rather than take it head-on. How could a freshman in the Qi Refining Realm emerge completely unscathed?
Chen Fan paid no attention to his shock, his mind filled with the excitement of testing his traits.
Anger, Exceptional Talent, Diligence Can Make Up for Lack of Aptitude, plus the ultimate weapon, Same Moment Name Change-he had already tested most of his core combat traits. He could try the rest one by one.
With a thought, he activated [Gold and Jade Splendor] as well.
The name sounded as though it had nothing whatsoever to do with combat, and Chen Fan had always been curious about its effects.
The instant the trait lit up, he suddenly felt the Spiritual Qi around him grow especially docile and smooth, as though something had soothed it.
He instinctively circulated Fire Cloud True Fire. The previously violent flames instantly steadied considerably, and a faint layer of golden radiance formed along their edges. The troublesome, yin-corrosive death Qi sizzled upon touching that golden radiance and dissolved instantly.
"Hm? It has a purifying effect too?"
Chen Fan raised his eyebrows. As expected of Gold and Jade Splendor-graceful and grand, it could even restrain sinister powers.
Feeling playful, he tried triggering [Child of Destiny] too. This trait was passive and could not be precisely controlled; he could only leave its activation to chance.
Yet the moment that thought crossed his mind, one of the opposing Foundation Establishment Late Stage death warriors, who was preparing to attack, suddenly slipped-somehow, he had stepped on a loose pebble. He stumbled forward, his short blade veering a hundred and eight thousand miles off course and nearly striking the teammate beside him.
"What the hell are you doing?!"
His teammate cursed angrily and hurriedly twisted aside.
Chen Fan: "..."
Was it really that absurd?
[Child of Destiny] was a passive luck buff. Though he could not actively control it, it always produced miraculous effects at critical moments-a divine skill of the mystical variety.
In just a few minutes, he had tested most of the effects of several core traits.
[Diligence Can Make Up for Lack of Aptitude] plus [Heavenly Dao Rewards Diligence] provided a long-term growth buff: his proficiency soared in combat, and the more he fought, the stronger he became; [Exceptional Talent] amplified his comprehension and perception, maxing out his adaptability in battle; [Anger] boosted his burst power, making him fiercer the longer he fought; [Eight Bushels of Wealth] came with protection and purification; [Child of Destiny] handled mystical cheats; and then there was [Same Moment Name Change], the ultimate life-saving divine skill.
With this combination, never mind five Foundation Establishment cultivators-even if five more came, Chen Fan would dare fight them to the end.
"I've had enough fun."
Chen Fan flexed his wrist, his gaze turning utterly cold.
The testing was over. It was time to wrap things up.
He held nothing back now, pushing [Anger] to its limit. Fire Cloud True Fire surged with a roar, transforming into several fiery serpents that shot out.
After honing his skills over those last few dozen exchanges, his fire control had already advanced by leaps and bounds. The fiery serpents darted nimbly at cunning angles, slipping specifically into openings in the death warriors' moves.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Three dull impacts rang out in succession.
The three Foundation Establishment Late Stage death warriors had no time to react before the fiery serpents struck their shoulders. Their icy death Qi was instantly broken, and they flew backward, crashing heavily to the ground. True fire seared their meridians, instantly rendering them unable to fight.
The remaining death warrior was scared out of his wits and turned to flee. Chen Fan flicked a finger, sending a thread of fire straight into the center of his back. The man grunted and fell headfirst to the ground.
In no more than ten seconds, all four Foundation Establishment Late Stage cultivators had been taken down.
Only their leader, the Foundation Establishment Perfection death warrior, remained standing.
He looked at his subordinates wailing on the ground, then at the perfectly composed Chen Fan, and teetered on the verge of collapse.
How was this a Qi Refining Realm freshman? This was clearly a monster wearing a Qi Refining skin!
"Y-you... who exactly are you?" the death warrior leader asked hoarsely, even his blade hand trembling.
He had completely lost the courage to fight. All five of them together had failed to inflict so much as a scratch. With only him left, attacking would be no different from throwing his life away.
"I'm just a passing... man."
Chen Fan glanced at him indifferently, still pondering whether to use the fellow to test how long Same Moment Name Change lasted.
"Take another hit from me!"
Yet just then, a vicious glint suddenly flashed through the death warrior leader's eyes.
Knowing he could not escape, he gritted his teeth, and the spiritual power throughout his body began raging wildly. He actually intended to detonate his Foundation Establishment pill and take Chen Fan down with him.
"You dared ruin the Holy See's grand plans! You'll join me in the grave-!"
Violent fluctuations of spiritual power spread instantly. Yin-corrosive power churned, and every tree in the grove began trembling and rustling.
Chen Fan's expression shifted slightly. A Foundation Establishment Perfection cultivator's self-detonation was no trivial matter. Even with Same Moment Name Change transferring the damage, the shock waves would probably still give him more than he could handle.
Just as he was about to retreat, an exceedingly soft, cold snort suddenly sounded beside him.
It was quiet, yet it was like a basin of ice water poured into a boiling pan of oil.
That violent spiritual power gathering for the self-detonation abruptly stalled in midair, like a duck seized by the neck.
The death warrior leader's eyes widened, his entire body rigid. An invisible force forcibly pressed the rampaging spiritual power back inside him, leaving him unable to move so much as a muscle.
Jiang Qingyuan had finally made her move.
She stepped out from behind Chen Fan, her expression calm, without even a flutter of her skirt.
She merely gave the death warrior an indifferent glance, and he dropped to his knees with a thud as though pinned beneath an invisible mountain. Blood flowed from his seven orifices, and his gaze rapidly lost focus.
Even a sliver of a Mahayana Realm cultivator's pressure was beyond what a Foundation Establishment cultivator could withstand.
"All cleaned up," Jiang Qingyuan said casually, flicking a wisp of pale blue flame from her fingertip onto the five death warriors. The flames vanished in an instant, leaving not even a trace of ash on the ground, as though the five had never appeared.
Chen Fan rubbed his nose. Professor Jiang certainly handled things cleanly and decisively.
"Your practical combat experience is sorely lacking, and your moves have too many openings." Jiang Qingyuan turned toward him, offering her assessment calmly. "But your adaptability was good. You knew to use your opponents for practice, and you're certainly bold enough."
Chen Fan chuckled. "Well, you were right beside me. I knew I had someone to count on."
He did not explain the traits in detail, merely saying that his special constitution could withstand sinister powers.
Jiang Qingyuan did not press him either. Everyone had their own secrets. Having lived so many years, she knew that much about respecting boundaries.
Meanwhile, in the principal's office in the administration building.
Zhou Xuantong had just finished approving a document and raised his teacup for a drink when he suddenly felt another faint tingle in the spot on his back that had itched earlier. It was even milder than before, almost negligible.
Principal Zhou set down his teacup, his brow furrowing a little more deeply.
He raised a hand and formed a Method Formula. His divine sense instantly swept across all of Handong University, checking it inside and out.
Everything was calm. He detected not the slightest trace of Evil Qi, let alone anyone attacking him.
"How strange."
Zhou Xuantong rubbed his chin, unable to make sense of it no matter how he pondered. With his Mahayana Realm cultivation, no one could possibly injure him in secret without being discovered.
Could his skin have gotten dry from sitting too much lately?
The woodland path grew quiet again. The evening breeze swept past once more, carrying the fragrance of spirit flowers, as though the fierce battle had never occurred.
The two continued walking and soon reached the entrance to the villa district on the back mountain.
"The Holy See won't let this rest. Be more careful from now on," Jiang Qingyuan reminded him, stopping in her tracks. "I'll have someone deliver the project approval documents to your club tomorrow. Choose the personnel yourself and report the list to me once you're done."
"Understood. Thank you, Professor Jiang." Chen Fan nodded.
After saying goodbye and returning to his dorm, Chen Fan closed the door and immediately sat on his bed, reviewing the day's trait tests and their results and recording them.
Then he took a deep breath to suppress his excitement. His most pressing task was still to get the sword Dao quantification project underway. He would show the entire Immortal Palace what scientific cultivation meant.