Chapter 303: Jiang Chen’s Goal
“It looks like this freak with a boulder’s heart is finally going to get his comeuppance?” An organizer chuckled.
“Mm. It’s not necessarily a bad thing for a young genius to get a face full of dirt.”
“Things are a bit odd this time. He finished with the fifth level difficulty in less than fifteen minutes, but he’s been in the seventh level chamber for two days? Even if he is having a difficult time, it shouldn’t take him this long, should it?”
Indeed, it’d been two days since Jiang Chen had started his second challenge.
Meanwhile, the other practitioners had also started their challenges in these two days.
However, Jiang Chen had yet to emerge during this time.
The organizers even started to wonder if Jiang Chen was up to the challenge!
In truth, Jiang Chen hadn’t sunk into a difficult battle like the outside world had thought. On the contrary, he had made tremendous gains.
Through sparring with the golem, his comprehension of the ‘Obscure Seal of Life and Death’ had continued to increase and there were signs that he was about to break through from the great perfection stage.
“All life is encompassed within life and death. The seal of life and death embodies the mysteries of life and death. If I combine the mysteries of the Divine Aeons Fist, I wonder if it would mesh with the mysteries of the seal of life and death?”
Jiang Chen suddenly had an exceedingly fascinating thought.
The Divine Aeons Fist was indeed an incredible technique. He had often combined it with other techniques to obtain stunning results.
The mysteries of Divine Aeons Fist were greatly enhanced when combined with the Bewitching Lotus of Fire and Ice.
Jiang Chen had also added in the Divine Aeons Fist when practicing the “Moonshatter Flying Daggers”. When combined with the Divine Aeons Fist, the Flying Eagle Form and Pouncing Tiger Form had combined the rhythms of the wind and the wildness of water to thoroughly injure an earth spirit realm Silvermoon Monsterape in the Autumn Hunt.
It was apparent that the mysteries of this technique had the ability to make what was foul and rotten into rare and ethereal.
Jiang Chen had new gains every time he deepened his understanding of the cycles of blooming and wilting.
Thus, unexpectedly, marvelous effects once again appeared when he combined the Divine Aeons Fist with the Seal.
“Eat my seal!”
Jiang Chen extended his right hand and made a pushing motion as a seal rushed towards the golem with a severe, lethal wind.
His left hand drew a circle at the same time, forming another seal brimming with the mysteries of neverending life, completing the circle of life with the seal that his right hand had formed.
The power generated by the two seals instantly doubled. The enormous strength, seemingly capable of making the heavens and earth tremble, crashed down on the golem.
Bam!
The golem was struck directly and smashed into the wall, shattering into a million pieces and tinkling downwards.
Jiang Chen was overjoyed. Indeed, the power of the Seal after being combined with the mysteries of life and death caused it to break through great perfection in the span of a second, exceeding the limits of the “Obscure Seal of Life and Death” and reaching the legendary realm.
This blow was as if he’d truly triggered the powers of reincarnation, completely pulverizing the peak third level spirit realm golem!
The great door opened slowly.
Jiang Chen had completed the second challenge!
Only three days had passed.
This was to say that Jiang Chen still had seven days to challenge the tenth level. Of course, he’d also used two of his chances and had only one left.
After resting for half a day, he once again appeared in the Great Hall of the Netherworld.
As for the other practitioners, only a few of them had shown uncommon skill thus far. The organizers were all rather bored.
As organizers, their greatest joy was in discovering geniuses.
But so far, apart from the freak with the boulder’s heart who’d stunned them again and again, none of the remaining candidates had particularly delighted any of them, even when some were clearly ahead of the pack.
None even came close to the freak genius, much less be on par with him.
Therefore, when the bored organizers saw Jiang Chen again, delight crept across their faces.
The appearance of the freak with the boulder’s heart meant that the time for boredom had passed, and exciting thrills had arrived.
“Taking the challenge again?” The main organizer’s face was wreathed in smiles.
Jiang Chen nodded. Why else would he be here?
“What level do you plan on challenging this time?” The organizer’s eyes was full of expectation.
He’d been worried that Jiang Chen had jumped to too high a level in his first challenge, and he’d had actually wanted to convince him not to be impulsive. But now, he seemed rather concerned that Jiang Chen might go for something too low level.
Multiple pairs of eyes stared fixedly at Jiang Chen, full of anticipation.
He’d even completed the seventh level, so that meant he had to at least challenge the eighth level.
If he completed the eighth level challenge, that meant his strength was on par with the best of the sect geniuses. Not to mention the extraordinary potential of this candidate, together it meant that in the future he would absolutely soar on top of the sect geniuses and vault into the ranks of the most elite geniuses!
“Let’s raise the bar even higher this time. I plan on challenging the tenth level.” Jiang Chen said.
“What?”
“The tenth level? The highest level?”
“Going to the tenth level from the seventh? Isn’t… isn’t this too ridiculous?”
The organizer’s minds were once again struck dumb by Jiang Chen. They knew of his strength, none of them denied that now. They even looked forward to him challenging the eighth or ninth level.
However, they hadn’t dared to think of the tenth level.
One had to understand that the tenth level was equivalent to the peak of the fifth level spirit realm. With the fighting capabilities of an ordinary practitioner, even if one wasn’t limited to a single martial arts technique, challenging that kind of level was simply offering themselves up for torture!
There weren’t that many past the fifth level spirit realm amongst the twenty and thirty year old geniuses in the sects either.
Although this secular genius had amazed everyone time and time again, he was going for the top this time! The fifth level was a level reserved only for the preeminent sect geniuses.
Forget the tenth level, for a mundane practitioner to challenge the eighth level was already an absurd act.
The organizers stared at each other, dumbfounded. In the end, the main organizer was the first to find his voice. “The tenth level is equivalent to the peak of the fifth level. Young man, are you sure about this?”
Jiang Chen nodded his head resolutely. “Yes.”
Since he’d come to participate in the great selection, Jiang Chen had given no thought to reigning in his strength. Eternally striving to be number one on the path of martial dao, that was the notion all practitioners held in their hearts.
Most people could never be number one due to restrictions from their potential. But any practitioner with the slightest aspiration and ambition would never give up the fight to be first.
Once they lost that urge, they would also lose the motivation to move forward.
Only when a practitioner stands at the peak and looks down on all life at their feet could they experience the cruelty and joy of training.
One would only comprehend the true meaning of martial dao in the struggle between life and death.
The doors to the tenth level of difficulty opened as Jiang Chen’s upright figure strode slowly into the room.
Several of the organizers felt rather woozy in this moment, as if they were witnessing the birth of a legend and the descent of a genius.
In that instant, that lonely, proudly upright figure deeply imprinted itself on their minds.
And, they would likely find it difficult to erase this impression for the rest of their lives.
The secret chamber of the tenth level was much more spacious than all the others.
The golem that was equivalent to the peak of the fifth spirit realm brought with it an overpowering aura as it stood in the middle of the chamber. It seemed to be as though a butcher, showing not the slightest hint of human emotion as it awaited the next thing to lie across its chopping board.
Wham!
The golem immediately slapped out a seal burning with flames as it saw Jiang Chen, sending it hurtling towards Jiang Chen. This was one of the moves from the ‘Obscure Seal of Life and Death’.
Seal of Hellfire!
Jiang Chen didn’t dare treat this lightly as he circulated the power of his ice attribute and formed a “Seal of Frostchill” and dodged lightly to the side, flanking the golem.
The golem’s only flaw was that it didn’t possess human intelligence. Apart from their instinct to do battle, they lacked the ability to adapt to a situation.
Jiang Chen’s greatest advantage was the memories of his two lives and the intelligence of two lifetimes.
In terms of actual combat strength, Jiang Chen’s strength at third level spirit realm was obviously not up to directly facing off against the golem.
If he didn’t use any other methods, it would be exceedingly difficult for Jiang Chen to gain the upper hand using only the “Obscure Seal of Life and Death”.
The golem waved its arms without waiting for Jiang Chen to react, sending an infinite array of seals rushing towards Jiang Chen.
This kind of wild attack was an obvious attempt to seal all the space within the chamber and force its opponent into a corner with no retreat.
As long as it locked down all the space, then all that was left for the golem to do was torture its opponent!
Jiang Chen quickly saw through the golem’s fighting style but was still inwardly shocked. “This golem has an abundance of energy and would likely still not be exhausted after three days and nights of fighting. If it maintains such a crazed level of attack, the entire chamber will be sealed off by it sooner or later. Then, I’d become a sitting target!”
Jiang Chen’s rich battle experience t helped him react immediately.
However, the golem would never tire, and the ferocity of its seals grew in strength. Although Jiang Chen could react quickly, but no matter how quick his speed was, he was still only flesh and blood.
This back and forth sparring had continued for less than an hour before Jiang Chen knew that he wouldn’t be able to hold up for long if he continued to passively take this beating.
“I must restrict its movements so it can’t continue to act this wildly.” Jiang Chen’s thoughts spun furiously as he suddenly changed tactics, forming several seals in rapid succession. In an instant, he sent out dozens of elongated seals and formed a chain of spirit power.
The golem leered as it threw a vicious punch towards that spirit chain.
When he saw this, Jiang Chen immediately moved like a swimming fish and dodged behind the golem. His arms moved furiously as endless seals flurried out like a howling blizzard.
“Let’s see if the magnetic force can slow down this golem!”
