Ze Tian Ji (Way of Choices)

A breeze touching upon cliff stone, will naturally dissipate.

This was the feeling conveyed to others from the blow that struck upon Chen Chang Sheng’s shoulder.

Of course, it couldn’t have possibly been an actual breeze, and thus, his uniform ripped and dispersed, his body, that continued to leave behind afterimages, was stalled for but an instant.

It was only an instant.

His left foot landed upon the ground, the brand new boot predictably disintegrated into smithereens, and once again, cracks appeared upon the hard floor.

At almost the same time, several blows, hard to gauge the order at which they arrived, struck upon his body one after the other. His uniform was heavily damaged, fragments danced in the air, while on his body, there appeared several distinct imprints from punches that hadn’t penetrated too deeply.

From the image seen, it didn’t even seem like as if it were the blows striking upon him, but rather, it looked like as if he was intentionally charging into those powerful fist manifestations.

A whistling sound once again rose, Chen Chang Sheng turned into a blur and accompanied a horrifyingly ear piercing sound of clashing; the wind and rain that had been formed by tens of fists was forcibly smashed apart, disappearing without a trace.

Only a single disintegrated boot remained upon the fractured floor, akin to some flower blossoming from stone; fragments of his uniform slowly drifted down, akin to cotton floating downwards in the air.

The Hall of Zhao Wen could no longer maintain its calm and erupted to the sound of sliding chairs.

Mo Yu stood up, staring at the scene within the mirror, her striking eyes were filled with shock.

The principal of Star Seizer Academy was stunned speechless while the Bishop of Temple Seminary, that was next to him, couldn’t control their emotions and let out a cry of surprise.

Xu Shi Ji continued to remain expressionless, akin to stone, it couldn’t be seen as to what he was thinking.

The two Archbishops that had just arrived to the hall had a slight change to their expressions.

Xue Xing Chuan’s body once again leaned forwards, he stared at the mirror intently, his expression becoming unusually stern.

Even a Purification that was greater than perfection would not allow the cultivator’s body to reach this type of strength, even for the demon race it wouldn’t be able to.

Why was Chen Chang Sheng’s defence this incredibly frightening? No matter what type of extraordinary encounter he was to have, even if he was to refine all the rare herbs within the Hundred Herb Garden into pills and then consume them, it would not be enough to achieve this.

The personages within the hall were all knowledgeable people, while the two Archbishops were the same as Mei Li Sha, one of the six figureheads of the Orthodoxy, yet, they had never seen this type of thing before.

Chen Chang Sheng’s body was indeed strong beyond belief; it was completely beyond understanding.

This was why they were shocked.

Chen Chang Sheng’s defence was, of course, not absolute, it was unlikely to be able to defend against tools or attacks from sharp weaponry, but this type of basic ability was indeed a little dumbfounding.

Xue Xing Chuan had thought a little further, therefore his expression was sterner.

This was because he thought of a name that hadn’t been heard of for a long time.

Zhou Du Fu.

For the past thousand years, acknowledged upon the continent as to being the strongest.

Whether be it the Demon Lord that had sworn they would rule the entire continent, or His Royal Majesty, Emperor Taizong, who had dazzled akin to the Sun’s radiance; in terms of individual battle strength, they couldn’t compare to that person.

Even if one were to examine the period from whence the Heavenly Tomes descended, Zhou Du Fu would rank at least amongst the top three.

Many years ago, when Zhou Du Fu was still a youth, he was far from having a peerless strength, but at the time, he was already very famous upon the continent, for he possessed a defence that surpassed that of a perfect Purification.

Everyone knew that this was due to some extremely fortuitous circumstances, whereby which he had bathed in dragon’s blood when he was but a babe.

Yet, the continent had been peaceful for many years and the Dragon Tribe had already disappeared, for hundreds of years there had been no sighting of dragons, where would Chen Chang Sheng go to obtain a dragon’s essence blood?

Xue Xing Chuan didn’t ponder further, as that line of thinking was even more inexplicable than the body strength Chen Chang Sheng had displayed, the scene upon the mirror was also, once again, capturing his full attention – seeing Chen Chang Sheng rush towards Huo Guang like a blur he understood why Chen Chang Sheng hadn’t moved from the very start.

An even stronger defence would still be unable to withstand Regiment Shattering Fist’s endless impacts, even if he was able to endure it, he would definitely be injured, perhaps severely.

Like this, even if he was to defeat Huo Guang, he would be unable to continue achieving victory in the difficult battles to come.

Therefore, Chen Chang Sheng waited, he waited for his opponent to complete forming their Regiment Shattering Fist, waited for that storm which covered the entire floor of the tower to condense until it only covered the area metres away from him.

The fully formed Regiment Shattering Fist would be even fiercer in its power, but he only needed to break through a single layer in order to escape it in its entirety.

He needed to endure a number punches within a short period of time, in order to endeavour for time, so that he may reduce the overall number of punches he would receive in the match.

Xue Xing Chuan’s expression once again changed, thinking to himself that this was an extremely confident way of fighting.

Chen Chang Sheng was a figure of focus in the Grand Examination; including the two Archbishops of the Holy Church and many other important personages, they all focused upon him intently.

A lot of people, such as Mo Yu, for example, had thought that they had a grasp on all the methods or cards he could use, but in truth, no one knew what he possessed, this included His Eminence and even Luo Luo.

The scholar from Scholartree Manor, Huo Guang’s Regiment Shattering Fist was indeed fearsome and the timing of its usage was perfect.

If he was as everyone had remembered, even if it was to be the most optimistic estimation of his strength, facing against this type of strong and prepared opponent, the only assumption would be certain failure. Yet, no one could have guessed that his current strength, that the extraordinary encounter he had was even more absurd than the most fantastical of thoughts.

Even he himself, still wasn’t sure as to what he had experienced, he didn’t know that he had bathed in dragon’s blood, only being able to surmise a few things from his body’s transformation, but he did know that he was very strong.

His current self, had at least four ways to break out of the storm-like Regiment Shattering Fist.

He chose what seemed to be one of the most direct, yet most stupid methods.

Because no one would think of this method.

As with Tang Thirty-Six’s match against Liang Ban Hu, he couldn’t have possibly guessed that Gou Han Shi would have Liang Ban Hu fight so stupidly, nor could Tang Thirty-Six have ever expected that Liang Ban Hu would actually fight as such.

He could have used Discerning Steps to avoid his opponent’s Regiment Shattering Fist, that’s right, even if it had already been fully formed he would still be able to dodge it; even though the Discerning Steps he had mastered couldn’t be said to be complete, it wasn’t the one everyone had seen Luo Luo use at the Ivy League gathering; it was more complex and brilliant than what everyone was thinking of.

But he didn’t use it.

He also had the option of drawing the short sword at his waist, using the First Movement of Zhong Shan’s Sword of Wind and Rain, Rising Flurry, to directly fight against the fist manifestations that blanketed the area.

But he didn’t.

This was because they were only in the second round of the Duelling Stage, he had yet to go against those opponents that were actually strong, he couldn’t reveal his strongest methods and cards.

The scholar opposite, named Huo Guang, wasn’t worthy of making him use those methods.

In the blink of an eye, the Regiment Shattering Fist was broken through, the tides had turned.

Chen Chang Sheng became a blur, instantly arriving before Huo Guang.

Huo Guang was shocked, but his level was far above that disciple from Huang Shan Valley, not to mention, Scholartree Manor’s disciples were most focused on cultivating the heart and mind; suddenly coming across this type of development, he wasn’t even flustered, sending out a single punch.

He didn’t draw his sword, as Chen Chang Sheng had arrived too quickly, this punch was a continuation to the Regiment Breaking Fist, chaining manoeuvres was natural, thus, it was also the fastest move he could do.

This punch of his did not strike towards Chen Chang Sheng, but struck upon the ground, its fist manifestation was extremely brilliant.

Only a ringing sound could be heard resounding, the sand before his feet danced into the air, the fist manifestation quietly enshrouded within.

Borrowing the fist manifestation’s recoil, he quickly bounded backwards, his ochre coloured robe even left behind several trailing afterimages of his sleeves, it could be imagined as to how quickly he had retreated, how resolute.

At the same time as he bounded backwards, his right hand reached behind his shoulder, preparing to draw his sword.

He had been carrying a sword all this time.

The sword was very large and its form a little strange, its centre was actually curved.

The sword was called Righteous Thought and is one of the seven swords that could be conveyed to disciples of Scholartree Manor; it was extremely sharp, containing a profundity within, though it couldn’t be listed upon the Banner of Divine Armaments, it was no ordinary item.

He firmly believed that all he needed was this sword in hand and no matter how fearsome Chen Chang Sheng’s defence was, he would still be no match for himself.

He felt a bit regretful; previously, when they had entered the tower, if he was to immediately draw Righteous Thought, ignoring that clergyman’s suggestion, he wouldn’t be retreating in such a humiliating way.

Before the Sword of Righteousness and Knowledge, all fiends must avert themselves; all he needed was but a single move and he could cleave Chen Chang Sheng into defeat.

While thinking this, his right hand had already grasped onto the sword’s hilt, needing but a moment to draw the sword from its sheathe.

The motion for drawing a sword is really simplistic, something he had practised countless times; the time needed was short to the point where it could be considered non-existent.

Alas, time was an eternal existence that couldn’t be destroyed.

No matter how short, it still needed time.

Huo Guang’s pupils suddenly shrunk.

Chen Chang Sheng didn’t give him that short period of time.

From outside of the tower, Huo Guang had received a message from Li Palace clergy, coming to know that Chen Chang Sheng had displayed an astonishing speed in the first round. For this, he had prepared himself, giving it sufficient consideration in his planning, yet, he couldn’t have expected that Chen Chang Sheng’s so-called “astonishing speed”… was this astonishing.

Chen Chang Sheng was too fast, to the point that his hand had only just touched upon his sword’s hilt and yet, Chen Chang Sheng had already arrived before him.

By the time the Sword of Righteous Thought had left its sheathe by half a foot, Chen Chang Sheng’s fist was only half a foot away from his chest.

Huo Guang knew that he wouldn’t make it in time, his faced instantly paled; his True Essence wildly exploded outwards, forming a shrill hiss, bursting from his lips.

At the same time, his right foot lightly stepped towards the ground.

That’s right, it didn’t heavily land, but lightly.

Even in such a tense situation, his steps still remained light, akin to stepping onto a cloud.

Previously, his fist had hollowly struck upon the ground, the sand that had scattered up before him, looked akin to a cloud.

His right foot, lightly stepped upon the cloud of sand.

Very softly, very lithely, very miraculously.

It was as if he had also become a floating cloud, drifting upwards.

“A superb Unfettered Cloud.”

A sound of praise could be heard from the Hall of Zhao Wen.

Unknown as to if it was the Bishop of Temple Seminary or someone else, they had actually started cheering for a student of the South’s Scholartree Manor; it could be seen how much pressure Chen Chang Sheng’s participation in the examination and that declaration, had brought upon these people.

As for those three teacher representatives for the Southern Sects that were seated upon the guest seating, their expressions were full of content, stroking their beards silently.

Huo Guang’s performance was indeed worthy of praise.

A young cultivator that had yet to complete their Ethereal Opening could actually utilise Scholartree Manor’s motion technique, Unfettered Cloud, so perfectly; under such a tense situation, he could still display such a tranquil aura, it had to be said, the training of disciples for Scholartree Manor was indeed impressive.

More importantly, this manoeuvre of the motion technique, Unfettered Cloud, could possibly bring a big reversal to this battle.

Chen Chang Sheng was very fast, hence, he couldn’t stop. His fist was very strong, hence, it couldn’t turn.

For something travelling straight, when it wants to change its direction, the faster it’s travelling, the greater the amount of force required, or perhaps some tremendously high level skill for controlling True Essence.

That type of skill was very rare, searching across all the academies and sects on the continent, it wouldn’t number more than three.

Within the Capital, there wasn’t a single academy with that type of skill; within the line of White Emperor City, there also wasn’t this type of manoeuvre.

Even if Chen Chang Sheng wanted to learn this, he wouldn’t know where to seek it.

Therefore, his fist could only encounter empty air.

While Huo Guang continued rising with the clouds.

The two were about to enter a vantage of high and low; Huo Guang held the Sword of Righteous Thought within his hand.

This match’s winner was perhaps about to change.

Yet, at the next moment, the hands of those few Southern sect representatives suddenly stiffened.

One of the elders even ripped off a few strands from his white beard.

Within the Hall of Zhao Wen, sounds of exclamation rang out.