One punch, another punch, and yet another punch. There were no moves, no magic tools, no True Essence to be seen, only strength and speed, what path was this?
It had to be known that Orthodox Academy wasn't like this in the past. The Orthodox Academy of the past, both teachers and students had a profound and profound understanding of the Dao, their actions were otherworldly and had the demeanour of a Daoist.
This year, Orthodox Academy's re-enrolment of new students, for many of the older members of the Orthodoxy, this signified many things. They had originally thought that the past decade or so was only a speck of dust in the endless passage of time, many things hadn't changed, as long as Orthodox Academy was revived, they could once again see its former glory, who could have guessed, the current Orthodox Academy was no longer the Orthodox Academy they had imagined. Although Xuan Yuan Po and Chen Chang Sheng had won consecutively, Orthodox Academy's former demeanour was no longer there. Thinking up to this point, the Li Palace clergyman and many of the examiners of the tower couldn't help but feel somewhat conflicted.
In the air above the Hall of Zhao Wen, a mirror of light floated, on the lower right corner of the mirror were several green leaves, what was displayed on the mirror was the scene within the Tower of Purging Dust. The people within the hall looked at Chen Chang Sheng's back as he walked out of the tower, looking at the door that was slowly closing, they couldn't help but feel the same.
Prince Chen Liu and Mo Yu, His Eminence, Archbishop Mei Li Sha, the headmasters and bishops of the Capital's Ivy League schools, Xue Xing Chuan and Xu Shi Ji who had come representing the military, His Excellency Zhou Tong who was sitting alone in a corner, and a few representatives from the Southern sects. At this moment, there were many important figures within the Hall of Zhao Wen, they were currently looking at Heavenly Academy's principal, Mao Qiu Yu. His student had just suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Chen Chang Sheng, some of them even recognised that oil paper umbrella, it was the magic tool that Mao Qiu Yu had used to traverse the continent in his youth, thinking to themselves that his current mood must be terrible. Yet, contrary to what they imagined, Mao Qiu Yu's face didn't have any signs of anger, his expression was as calm as usual.
People didn't see anything on Mao Qiu Yu's face. They subconsciously turned their heads to look at His Eminence, the Archbishop, only to find that this elderly Eminence still had his eyes closed, as if he was in a deep sleep. This was obviously a display of extreme confidence towards Chen Chang Sheng and the Tradition Academy. Previously, some people thought that this confidence would be a joke, but who would have thought that Chen Chang Sheng would actually obtain such a clean victory in the first match. They couldn't help but worry whether or not they would become a joke.
Whether it was the examiners within the tower or the VIPs within the Hall of Zhao Wen who were watching the match through a mirror, they were all stunned by Chen Chang Sheng's performance. They couldn't understand, this youth from Orthodox Academy had clearly only completed his Purification not too long ago, his True Essence amount was only average, how could he possess such astonishing strength?
"His power has nothing to do with the amount of zhen yuan. It should be because his purification is quite perfect, or he had some kind of adventure these days. That is pure, absolute power."
As the second ranked Divine General of the continent, Xue Xing Chuan had experienced hundreds of battles and had a deep understanding of power. Seeing the puzzled expressions of the crowd, he calmly said.
As he said those words, he glanced at His Eminence. A perfect Purification was extremely rare, if something like adventure was common, then it wouldn't be surprising. In his opinion, no matter what method Chen Chang Sheng had used to obtain such pure and absolute power, it must have been a fortuitous encounter bestowed by His Eminence, His Eminence.
But for Chen Chang Sheng to be able to accept it and digest it well, was also something that wasn't easy. Xue Xing Chuan looked towards the indifferent and silent Xu Shi Ji on his left, thinking to himself that such a son-in-law, although he couldn't compare to Qiu Shan Jun, he's still not bad. As the two most trusted Divine Generals of the military by the Divine Empress, he thought to himself, should he advise Xu Shi Ji when it's convenient?
Chen Chang Sheng's unexpected display of strength caused the Hall of Zhao Wen to become silent. After Xue Xing Chuan's words, no one spoke for a long time, until Mo Yu's cold voice broke the silence.
"Relying solely on strength won't be able to go far."
The Hall of Zhao Wen once again fell silent, everyone knew that her words weren't wrong – without the support of a stage, without a sufficient amount of True Essence, no matter how strong one's strength was, it would only be able to display its might in a battle of a lower stage. Once it encountered an opponent of a higher stage, it would be directly crushed. If Chen Chang Sheng didn't have any other methods, then he definitely wouldn't be able to make it to the end in this duel, it was even highly likely that he would lose in the next round.
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That mournful howl spread out from the tower.
The examinees' expressions suddenly changed, not knowing what had happened within the tower. Gou Han Shi and Tian Hai Sheng Xue's expressions became grave, it was obvious that these two young experts that had already achieved Ethereal Opening had a much clearer perception.
It didn't take long for the doors of the tower to open once again and Chen Chang Sheng walked out. His right foot was bare, it was unknown where his boot had gone, making him look a little ragged, but apart from that, no traces of an intense battle could be seen on his body, it was as if he had only entered the tower for a stroll.
Outside of the tower was a scene of silence, not a single examinee spoke, their emotions were complex, their gazes followed him as he walked down the stone steps, all the way to the woodlands.
"Not bad!" Tang Thirty Six extended his hand and patted him on the shoulder, praising him.
Xuan Yuan Po looked at him without saying a word, his eyes filled with admiration.
Su Mo Yu thought to himself, though that student from Heavenly Academy had an average stage and wasn't considered strong, if he had been the one fighting him, he would have been able to easily win, but it would have been difficult for him to be as fast as Chen Chang Sheng. It seems that the speculations of his fellow students prior to the Grand Examination were correct, he had indeed been hiding his strength.
Luo Luo happily laughed, her laughter was as clear and melodious as a silver bell.
The young girl wanted to help Chen Chang Sheng wipe away his sweat, but discovered that he wasn't sweating at all, this made her feel even more proud, thinking to herself that her teacher was indeed not a normal person, just as she had thought a few months ago.
She really wanted to know how Chen Chang Sheng had defeated his opponent, so she asked. Chen Chang Sheng gave a simple recount of what had happened earlier, without explaining too much.
Xuan Yuan Po placed the two top-quality crystals in front of Chen Chang Sheng, Chen Chang Sheng shook his head, indicating that he didn't need it, he hadn't used any True Essence in the previous match, he didn't need to replenish it.
The examinees' gazes remained on Chen Chang Sheng. Not long ago, Chen Chang Sheng had been a beginner at cultivation who couldn't even complete his Purification, yet today, he had easily defeated the personal disciple of Heavenly Academy's Principal. Logically, they should have been more surprised, but from the Ivy League gathering to the update of the Proclamation of Azure Clouds, to the Archbishop's announcement on Chen Chang Sheng's behalf, Chen Chang Sheng had already been pushed to a very high position. Though they didn't have any evidence, they felt that he definitely had some sort of hidden strength, they had some sort of mental preparation or anticipation, therefore, they were indeed very surprised, but not to the extent of losing themselves.
What they were more concerned about was his true level of strength, as well as what method he had used to defeat that Heavenly Academy student in such a short period of time. It should be known that a young cultivator with keen eyes like Gou Han Shi had already seen that the umbrella was a very powerful Magic Tool.
At this point, Chen Chang Sheng was very thankful that the first round of the duelling today was a closed door examination, the loser would be directly sent out of the Education Palace, unable to report the details of the match to their fellow students, the methods used by the victor would remain unknown, this was extremely beneficial for him in keeping his secrets and methods.
The Grand Examination continued, examinee number 62 had no choice but to choose Su Mo Yu, the next examinee chose Tang Thirty Six; these two matches proceeded without any surprises, nothing unexpected occurred, Su Mo Yu and Tang Thirty Six were the final victors.
The examinees outside the building could only faintly hear the second defeated examinee angrily shouting that it was unfair. They had clearly performed well in the Martial Trial, placing in the first half, but they had encountered young geniuses like Su Mo Yu and Tang Thirty Six, it was indeed hard to say that it was fair, it could only be said that these two examinees had bad luck to a certain extent.
The first round of the duelling had finally reached its final moment, the last examinee looked at the Li Palace clergyman in charge of the examination and said: "Your Highness's ranking will not be included in the final score, how will this be counted?"
This examinee had a dejected expression, causing others to feel pity for him.
The clergyman said expressionlessly: "That is not something you need to consider."
The examinee had no choice, he turned towards Luo Luo, bowed and said: "Please enlighten me, Your Highness."
Applause erupted from the crowd, at this moment, facing an opponent like Luo Luo, this examinee didn't immediately give up, didn't admit defeat, this was indeed worthy of applause.
Regrettably, whether it was worthy of sympathy or applause, it had no way of influencing the outcome.
A loud explosion resounded within the tower, as if a mountain had collapsed.
In the next moment, Luo Luo walked out from the tower, she walked in front of Chen Chang Sheng, her small face was filled with happiness, saying: "Sir, I also only used one punch."
She wasn't feeling proud – second on the Proclamation of Azure Clouds, amongst the younger generation of cultivators, she was already at the peak, defeating a normal examinee wasn't something to be proud of. She was happy because she had used the same method as Chen Chang Sheng to end this match.
Xuan Yuan Po, Chen Chang Sheng and Luo Luo had each only used one punch, ending their respective duels. The examinees outside the tower heard three sounds: thunder, a dragon's roar and a falling mountain.
Tang Thirty Six didn't use his fist, he had directly used the most powerful form of the Three Forms of Wen Shui. At that time, the examinees outside the tower had heard the sound of swords coming from within, they had thought that the river had overflowed its banks.
"Is there a need for this?" Guan Fei Bai looked at the three youths and the young girl by the woodlands, raising his eyebrows and saying.
If he and the other three fellow disciples from Li Shan Sword Sect had needed to enter the arena to compete, they would have naturally been able to end their duels as quickly as the group from Orthodox Academy, or even faster, creating a bigger commotion. But, it was as he had said, was there a need to create such a commotion for a normal duel?
Regardless of how one felt about it, or what one's thoughts were, the four from Orthodox Academy had all passed the first round of the Duelling Phase. Now, the 64 examinees that had entered the second round had all been selected.
Some examinees were very confident in their results in the academic phase, after considering it all, they should be able to enter the top 43. Their goal of entering the Three Grades of the Grand Examination had been accomplished, they naturally relaxed, a happy smile appearing on their faces. Some examinees thought that their results in the academic phase were average, they became even more silent and nervous, even a little anxious. If they wanted to enter the Three Grades of the Grand Examination, they needed to obtain a better result in the duelling phase, they needed to at least win one more round before they had any hope. Yet, duelling was similar to cultivation, the further one progressed, the stronger the opponent, the harder it would be to advance.
After the first round of duelling ended, there was a short rest period. The examinees sat on the ground outside of the tower, eating the rations they had brought with them, some of the examinees seized the time to meditate and recover their True Essence.
Official Li brought a number of servant girls to the front of the tower, laid out a tablecloth and laid out a variety of delicacies. They had originally been living with Luo Luo in the Education Palace, perhaps it was because of this that no clergymen stopped them.
Was this the Grand Examination or a picnic? Looking at the scene by the woodlands, the examinees felt the taste of the rations in their mouths becoming more and more bland, giving rise to a lot of envy, especially when they saw Her Highness, Luo Luo, half kneeling by Chen Chang Sheng's side, using ebony chopsticks to feed him roasted meat, this envy naturally rose to jealousy.
Guan Fei Bai looked towards that direction, feeling deeply moved and said: "That fellow Chen Chang Sheng must have saved the entire human world in his past life."
Gou Han Shi smiled and said: "Then he must have saved White Emperor City first."
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(What did everyone do in their past lives? I originally wanted to say that I don't know what evil things I did in my past life … I turned to look at the leader, spread out my hands, and took back those words. Today is just a chapter.)
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