The strong command their fate.
The weak are commanded by fate.
Jiang Chen's heart was resolute—in this life, he would be a master of his own destiny, never again a pawn swept along by the currents of fate!
With that decision settled, the chief examiner's voice continued to ring in his ears.
"Alright, rest tonight. Adjust yourselves. Tomorrow morning, the Valley of Fading Light will open. You will face ten days of fortune trials."
At the chief examiner's order, all the remaining martial artists settled into rest.
Jiang Chen sat cross-legged and began consolidating his Spirit Realm, Fourth Level.
Breaking through on the eve of battle was an exceedingly dangerous move. Now that he had a night to recover, he naturally intended to solidify his realm.
After all, when he'd fought the mechanical puppet, though he'd been operating two techniques simultaneously, his Spirit Sea realm had not been fully stabilized.
This rest period was the perfect chance to lock it down.
The preliminary trials had five gates. He'd now passed four, and in each one his performance had been outstanding—far ahead of every other secular martial artist.
Jiang Chen was pleased, but he wasn't about to get cocky.
"Standing out among secular martial artists is nothing more than a warm-up. The real challenge of this grand selection lies in the semifinals. I must emerge from those to earn a spot in the final showdown. I'm curious to see what the top geniuses of the so-called Four Great Sects are actually made of!"
A surge of fearless ambition welled up in Jiang Chen's chest.
"In the world of martial arts, keeping a low profile and biding your time might protect you. But if you never show your edge, you'll be trampled on from every direction, suppressed at every turn. I, Jiang Chen, if I'm going to make a sound, it will shake the heavens. With my current strength, the Sixteen Kingdoms Alliance can no longer hold me back. Why should I keep hiding my fangs? Why keep my blade sheathed?"
He recalled the arrogance of those so-called sect disciples from the Purple Sun Sect back in the Eastern Kingdom, and how Long Juxue—his mortal enemy who had been on the verge of death at his hands—had been whisked away by those same disciples.
In the Tiangui Kingdom, Jiang Chen had obtained the Tian Gui Knight Order, but what of it? The people from the Treasure Tree Sect had provoked him again and again without the slightest restraint, oppressed him, even tried to place him in mortal danger. If not for Grand Tutor Ye Chonglou's protection, his situation would have been far worse.
Even here, in this ancient ruin, the Purple Sun Sect's ancestor had interrogated and oppressed him over the matter of the Magnetic Gold Mountain.
Each act of suppression had coiled inside Jiang Chen like a spring, building into an overwhelming pressure that demanded release.
A martial artist, regardless of strength, possessed martial dignity.
The tyranny aimed at him had not crushed that dignity—it had inflamed his pride and ignited his defiant spirit.
"What right does a mere Sixteen Kingdoms Alliance have to oppress me? What right to hem me in at every turn? What right to demand that I, Jiang Chen, grovel before these people?"
"The strong command their own fate. From this moment forward, within the Sixteen Kingdoms Alliance, I will not yield a single step. If others leave me alone, I leave them alone. If they come for me, I will pay them back tenfold!"
After a full night, Jiang Chen had thoroughly consolidated his Spirit Sea realm and purged the impurities from his body. His Spirit Sea was now sharper and more refined than ever.
It had to be said—the Spirit Sea forged by the Five Dragons Open Heaven Pill was truly superior. Jiang Chen could clearly feel that his Spirit Sea brimmed with latent potential, and as his realm continued to climb, that sense of limitless possibility only grew stronger.
"Perhaps this body's natural aptitude can never match that of a so-called Innate Constitution. But through my own effort, through defying heaven itself to reshape my fate, I believe my martial path will stretch farther than any Innate Constitution could reach! So what if you were born with an Innate Constitution? On the road of martial arts, talent only determines the height of your starting point—it does not determine how far you can go!"
Jiang Chen thought of Long Juxue, of all the old grudges between them.
"Long Juxue, I hope your precious Innate Constitution won't disappoint me when we meet again."
He opened his eyes. From the Heavenly Eye Divine Pupil shot a faint beam of golden light that pierced straight into the heavens, as if resonating with the rising sun in some ineffable way.
"Oh? I didn't expect that after entering the Earth Spirit Realm, the Heavenly Eye Divine Pupil would have improved so steadily as well. If that's the case, I can begin cultivating the remaining two techniques of the Moon-Shattering Flying Knife."
Jiang Chen rose to his feet in high spirits. The time for the fifth gate's trial was nearly upon them.
Eight thousand survivors gathered outside a valley.
"The fifth gate trial begins now. Let me emphasize one final time: this fortune gate does not actively eliminate anyone—but that does not mean no one will be eliminated. Remember, in this gate, there is only one way you can be eliminated: death."
"In this gate, some of you may walk a golden road, while others may descend into hell. What awaits you depends entirely on your own fate. There are no restrictions in this gate. Your only task is simple—do everything you can to stay alive."
No restrictions!
What did that mean? It meant that even if the candidates killed each other, schemed against one another in the shadows—the rules permitted it.
"Hmm? Does this rule encourage the candidates to slaughter one another?" Jiang Chen was quick on the uptake, immediately reading between the lines of the examiner's words.
Of course, Jiang Chen felt no fear.
"Hopefully everyone stays out of my way. If some fool decides to pick a fight with me, then he's just out of luck." Jiang Chen smiled coldly to himself.