A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
No matter how long the path of cultivation might be, one had to start walking. Only by taking that first step was there any hope of charging toward the endless Great Dao.
The Moon-Shattering Flying Knife, along with its four accompanying Divine Abilities, could not be mastered overnight. But even absorbing a fraction — one ten-thousandth — of their profundity would grant Jiang Chen an enormous layer of protection at his current stage.
Of the four accompanying Divine Abilities, Seven Apertures Spiritual Resonance was out of the question for now. Until his seven apertures had been cultivated to generate spiritual sense, attempting this technique would be like climbing a tree to catch fish — utterly hopeless.
Heavenly Eye Divine Pupil, Wind-listening Ear, and Heart of Rock, however, could all be practiced immediately.
Jiang Chen threw himself into the comprehension and cultivation of these three Divine Abilities with ravenous hunger. Once any one of them reached even a modest level of attainment, his progress with the Moon-Shattering Flying Knife would be twice as effective with half the effort.
The art of the flying knife, when one's control reached its apex, ultimately came down to a contest of three things: eyesight, hearing, and willpower!
Over the following days, the sparring partners at Marquis Jianghan's estate were kept extremely busy.
To train his eyesight, Jiang Chen had the sparring partners release swarms of flies and mosquitoes, and he was tasked with locating a single marked insect among the chaos — tracking their flight speeds, trajectories, and behavioral patterns to find the specific one he was after.
It had to be said, this method of training bordered on madness.
In the beginning, Jiang Chen failed almost every single time. With several hundred flies whirling through the air, even staring intently left his eyes overwhelmed and unable to keep up.
But after persisting for two days, Jiang Chen's eyesight had improved enough that he could succeed roughly one time in ten.
With his hearing alone, he managed about one time in twenty.
Willpower was the hardest of all — his success rate was below one in fifty.
Three days passed, then four…
Jiang Chen's improvement was striking. By the fifth day, he could identify the marked insect using his eyesight alone with a fifty percent success rate.
His hearing-based judgment reached thirty percent.
His willpower judgment showed little improvement, but Jiang Chen was not discouraged. He knew that willpower training was the most difficult and the most demanding of patience. Eyesight and hearing could be ground out through sheer repetition, but willpower required stillness of mind, calm of breath, and unwavering persistence — without the slightest trace of haste or anxiety.
As his eyesight and hearing advanced by leaps and bounds, Jiang Chen's practice of the Moon-Shattering Flying Knife proceeded in steady, methodical fashion.
With powerful eyesight and hearing supporting him, Jiang Chen displayed astonishing talent and a state of near-perfection in his control of the flying knife. The opening stance of the Moon-Shattering Flying Knife was grasped by him virtually without difficulty, and he soon cultivated it to the realm of completion.
"Strong eyesight and hearing truly are the great guarantee for mastering the flying knife. And a powerful will can make the art respond to one's every whim."
Through the training of his eyesight and hearing, Jiang Chen had become sharp of eye and keen of ear. And though his willpower training progressed slowly, it tempered his entire bearing, making him steadier, more self-assured, more composed.
In less than half a month, another transformation had taken place in Jiang Chen. With each passing day of deepening cultivation, he could feel gratifying progress.
And as time flowed onward, the final examination of the Hidden Dragon Trials at last arrived.
On that day, in the great plaza before the gates of the Hidden Dragon arena, all one hundred and eight feudal lords' heirs had assembled.
Jiang Chen was no exception. He had made extensive preparations for this grand event and had no intention of missing such an occasion.
This could be said to be the first true challenge he had faced since his rebirth. The Hidden Dragon Trials were the first stage upon which Jiang Chen intended to prove himself. Jiang Chen did not want to lose.
The various heirs sized each other up with complicated gazes, their glances clashing and sparring across the plaza. In a setting like this, everyone wanted to seize the initiative; no one was willing to have their spirit dampened before the trials had even begun. Sharp, confrontational looks filled every corner of the venue.
Jiang Chen spotted Fatty Xuan and Hu Qiu Yue as well. Fatty Xuan's Six-Meridian True Qi had stabilized considerably. In his own words, breaking through to the Seven-Meridian True Qi would take at most another two months.
As for Hu Qiu Yue, he had already reached the Eight-Meridian True Qi. His appearance without suppressing his cultivation level caused quite a stir — after all, Eight-Meridian True Qi placed one firmly at the level of the Ten Great Marquises.
Jiang Chen, had he chosen to push for Eight-Meridian True Qi, would have had well over a ninety percent chance of success. But he had deliberately refrained from doing so. At this point, the difference between Seven-Meridian and Eight-Meridian True Qi had little practical impact on him.
Clearly, progress was not limited to their small circle. Everyone was advancing — friends and rivals alike. Every feudal lord's heir was making their final push in preparation for the Hidden Dragon Trials. When each one appeared, they had all improved to some degree or another.
Yan Yiming, heir of Marquis Yanmen — that unlucky soul who had been trounced by Jiang Chen twice — had apparently obtained some miraculous pill. He had not only recovered from his injuries but had broken through to the Seven-Meridian True Qi, advancing yet another level!
"Jiang Chen, you used underhanded tricks against me time and again. At these Hidden Dragon Trials, I, Yan Yiming, will settle the score. I've now entered the upper tiers of the True Qi Realm. Will your filthy little schemes still work on me?" Yan Yiming glared at Jiang Chen from across the plaza, making a silent, fervent vow in his heart to crush him utterly.