Being stared down by an Origin Realm old monster — no matter the reason — was never a pleasant experience.
However, in this ancient ruins, however bold or domineering this Zhuiyang old monster might be, he probably wouldn't dare to make a move against
After all, three other grand ancestors were still around, and the Zhuiyang Grand Ancestor couldn't very well act on his own whim and incite the wrath of the other three great sects.
After three rounds of trials, out of roughly four hundred thousand mortal martial artists, fewer than twenty thousand remained.
Even twenty thousand was an astonishing number.
The fourth trial was a combat trial — and among all the stages, it was the one most likely to produce casualties.
The remaining twenty thousand martial artists were all survivors who had weathered the storms, every one of them brimming with energy, rubbing their fists and eager to show what they could do, their eyes burning with fervor and longing to make their mark in this fourth trial.
"This fourth trial tests a martial artist's actual combat ability," the chief examiner began. "It also tests your comprehension of martial techniques."
The examiner pointed into the distance at a smooth stone stele that stretched across several acres.
"Do you see that smooth stele?"
Twenty thousand martial artists, twenty thousand pairs of eyes, all turned in unison toward the gleaming stone.
"A moment from now, a martial technique called the 'Qingming Seal of Life and Death' will appear on that stele. The technique will be displayed in its entirety, word for word. You will have at most three days to study and comprehend it. Remember — study and comprehend. That means you can only simulate the technique in your mind. You cannot actually practice it. After three days, you will enter the Azure Nether Hall for the assessment, using this 'Qingming Seal of Life and Death.' Inside the Azure Nether Hall, there are countless mechanism chambers, each containing mechanical puppets of different difficulty levels. The puppets will also use only the 'Qingming Seal of Life and Death' to fight you. There are ten levels of chambers in total. You will each have three attempts to challenge them. In the end, the top eight thousand in ranking will advance to the next stage. Everyone else will be eliminated."
"You're probably wondering how the rankings are determined?"
"The ranking rules are based on the level of the chamber you challenge. The top eight thousand will be selected."
"There are ten levels of chambers in total. You're probably wondering — if two people challenge the same level, how do we distinguish who ranks higher and who ranks lower?"
The examiner chuckled and continued: "If two challengers face the same level of chamber, then the time taken to complete that chamber will determine the ranking order. For the same level, the less time you take, the higher you rank. If the time happens to be identical as well, then whoever completed the comprehension of the 'Qingming Seal of Life and Death' first will rank higher."
With only ten levels of chambers, there would inevitably be large numbers of people challenging the same level.
Using time taken to further differentiate rankings was only fair. The shorter the time, the stronger one's combat ability.
If the time was the same, then the one who grasped the technique first demonstrated greater comprehension ability. That, too, was perfectly reasonable.
With this refined system, rankings could be easily determined.
Of the twenty thousand martial artists who had made it this far, none had poor comprehension. They understood the rules immediately upon hearing them.
Many silently told themselves they needed to be razor-sharp. Twenty thousand competing in this stage, and only eight thousand would remain.
No one wanted to be eliminated. Everyone wanted to be among the eight thousand who advanced.
The rankings were determined not only by the level challenged, but also by the time taken — and even by how quickly one had grasped the martial technique.
The competition was truly everywhere.
In an instant, every martial artist felt a vague but palpable pressure.
Twenty thousand down to eight thousand — a cull rate of more than half. The intensity of the competition went without saying.
Jiang Chen sat cross-legged in the crowd, neither conspicuous nor outstanding, his eyes lowered, the picture of low profile.
"The Qingming Seal of Life and Death?" Jiang Chen searched his divine sense for any record of this technique. Unfortunately, his memories from his previous life contained nothing about it.
"This must be just an ordinary technique. It's perfectly normal that I have no memory of it," Jiang Chen thought with a calm inward smile.
Given the height of his martial understanding, whether he had encountered this technique in his previous life hardly mattered.
His comprehension from his past life was enough — just as it had been when he cultivated the Eastern Kingdom's supreme technique, the 'Purple Qi from the East,' back in the Eastern Kingdom. He had casually elevated both of its foundational martial arts — the 'Purple Cloud Palm' and the 'Eastern King Finger' — to legendary mastery.
That single feat had been enough to thoroughly conquer the proud Princess Gouyu.
Perhaps this 'Qingming Seal of Life and Death' was more advanced than the 'Purple Qi from the East,' but for Jiang Chen, it was all the same.
Just as Jiang Chen was mulling things over, the chief examiner issued the command: "Very well. From this moment on, the fourth trial begins."
On the smooth stele, line after line of text materialized.
The enormous stele displayed the characters with crystal clarity.
Jiang Chen looked up, reading line by line, committing every word of the technique to memory.
With the level of his mental fortitude, the strength of his divine sense, and the power of his memory, he was naturally far beyond what any mortal martial artist could match.
After a single reading, the ten-thousand-word martial technique was branded into his memory as if seared there — impossible to erase.
Having memorized it, Jiang Chen ceased his distractions, gathered his focus, and entered a state of meditation.
"The Qingming Seal of Life and Death — a martial technique of hand seals that simulates the myriad phenomena of all realms, condensing the hand seals of life and death. Between life and death, all things are contained..."
In Jiang Chen's mind, the meditation and simulation of this martial technique began.