From Fanwu to Xinghai

Chapter 9 The Final Chapter of the Martial Arts Exam: A Battle of Dragons and Tigers

As the sun sets, golden and red rays of light bathe the entire Royal Martial Arts Arena of Cloud City.

The air was thick with the scorching heat of the collision of spiritual energies. The stands were packed with people, including nobles of the dynasty, military generals, and martial artists from all sides, all with their eyes fixed on the hundred-foot-tall stone platform in the center.

Today is the final day of the Dynasty Martial Arts Examination, the ultimate battle that will determine the top three and the future of countless people.

Lin Chen stood alone in the corner of the rest area, closing his eyes to regulate his breathing.

Only an hour had passed since the last fierce battle. This amount of time was far from enough for a martial artist to recover his energy. Fortunately, Uncle Chen secretly nourished him with his abundant spiritual power, which allowed him to barely stabilize his condition and prevent him from being unable to stand.

He slowly opened his eyes, his gaze passing over the noisy crowd and looking toward the stone platform.

The battle on the stage is nearing its end.

The two sides facing off are Tieshan, a reserve elite of the Thunder Legion, a peak ninth-level Body Tempering expert, and a military demon who has been fighting on the border for many years.

The other is Murong Xue, a direct descendant of the Murong family, a late-stage eighth-level Body Tempering cultivator, and a sword prodigy.

This duel was never in doubt from the very beginning.

The difference in their levels of understanding is like an insurmountable chasm.

Tieshan's fighting style was devoid of any frills, techniques, or feints; it consisted only of the purest, most ferocious, and deadliest power, speed, and efficiency. Every punch he threw carried the force to shatter metal and stone, as if to crush everything in its path; every step he took was as heavy as a drumbeat, causing the stone platform to tremble slightly.

Murong Xue's sword flashed, her sword net impenetrable, but before the overwhelming power, even the most exquisite swordsmanship was useless. She tried several times to launch a close-range attack, but was pushed back by Tie Shan's violent fist winds. On the huge stone platform, there was not even an inch of ground for her to stand on.

The battle lasted only twenty breaths.

In the twentieth breath, Tieshan shattered the countless sword shadows with a single punch, breaking through all defenses with overwhelming force. His massive fist stopped an inch in front of Murong Xue's throat, the strong wind cutting her skin painfully.

"You flatter me." Tieshan's voice was hoarse and low, devoid of any emotion.

Murong Xue's face was pale. She silently sheathed her sword, bowed, and retreated. She accepted her defeat wholeheartedly. It wasn't that her swordsmanship was insufficient, but rather that the difference between the ninth and eighth levels of Body Tempering was a transformative one, an irreversible gap that human power could not overcome.

Before the audience could recover from the overwhelming defeat, Tieshan slowly turned his head.

Those cold, still eyes, devoid of any emotion, suddenly pierced through the crowd and locked onto Lin Chen in the corner of the rest area.

The next moment, two cold voices echoed throughout the venue like thunderclaps.

"Lin Chen".

"Come up."

Those two short words instantly ignited the entire training ground!

"Tie Shan has called out Lin Chen's name!"

"Peak of the fourth level of Body Tempering...against the peak of the ninth level of Body Tempering?!"

"The final battle is such an absurdly lopsided affair!"

The uproar reached the sky, and everyone wore expressions of disbelief.

Who is Tieshan? He is the undisputed strongest in this year's martial arts exam, a ruthless man who has killed three second-tier demonic beasts on the border, and a peerless talent that even the legion's high command regards with special regard.

Lin Chen was just an unknown boy from a remote town. Even though he had unexpectedly defeated Bai Yutang, there was an insurmountable chasm between Bai Yutang and Tieshan.

To everyone else, this battle was nothing more than the final crushing blow before Tieshan reached the summit.

Murong Xue stepped down from the stone platform and paused slightly as she passed Lin Chen. She lowered her voice and warned, "Be careful. He is completely different from me. Every move he makes is a killing technique. There is not a single superfluous movement. His battlefield experience far surpasses yours and mine."

"Thank you." Lin Chen nodded slightly, his expression calm.

He stepped onto the stage, the sunset glow casting a long shadow on his slender figure.

He knew better than anyone what he was about to face.

Tieshan, a peak ninth-level Body Tempering cultivator, had accumulated numerous military exploits during three years of border battles. His strength, speed, stamina, and combat instincts were overwhelming in every aspect. A head-on confrontation would be certain death; time slowing could only be used once at most, after which he would be exhausted; predictive abilities? They were almost ineffective against a warrior like Tieshan who had no set tactics and only knew how to kill.

His attacks were flawless because killing techniques themselves don't need flaws.

"The gap is too big," Lin Chen muttered to himself, standing in the center of the stone platform, three zhang away from Tieshan.

"Do you know how big the gap is?" Tie Shan said indifferently. "Body Tempering Level 4 to 9 are four major realms, representing countless physical temperings and the experience accumulated from hundreds of life-and-death battles. The move you used to defeat Bai Yutang is useless against me."

He slowly raised his fist, his spiritual energy subtly surging: "My fist has no set pattern, no set rule, it's only for killing. Your predictions reveal no trajectory; your time-slowing won't last three breaths. Even if you did slow down, do you think you could touch me?"

Before the words were even finished, Tieshan moved.

Without charging up, without warning, without any extra movements, the figure flashed away in the rosy light and appeared in front of Lin Chen in the next second. The huge fist, accompanied by a whistling sound, slammed straight into Lin Chen's chest!

fast!

Extremely fast!

It's several times faster than Bai Yutang's speed!

Lin Chen's heart skipped a beat, and his time imprint started running wildly, instantly "seeing" the opponent's attack trajectory—straight, crisp, without any feints, a pure, straight-line killing move.

He suddenly dodged to the side.

But Tieshan's fist seemed to have eyes; the instant he dodged, it suddenly changed direction and locked onto his chest again. There was no way to avoid it!

Lin Chen didn't have time to think, and crossed his arms tightly to protect his chest.

boom--

A terrifying force crashed down, instantly numbing his arms and sending a sharp pain through his mind. He was thrown back three zhang like a kite with a broken string, his feet leaving two deep marks on the stone platform.

"Such immense power!"

Lin Chen was shocked. This was the true strength of the peak of the ninth level of Body Tempering. With just one punch, he almost lost all feeling in his arms.

"Not bad reaction, but how many more punches can you block?"

Tieshan pressed his advantage relentlessly, charging forward again and unleashing a barrage of punches like a storm, leaving no room for respite. Lin Chen was forced into a retreat, desperately trying to protect his vitals, utterly powerless to retaliate.

The excruciating pain continued to spread, and his arms gradually went numb. If this continued, he would be severely injured within ten punches and fall off the stone platform.

"All you do is take hits?" Tie Shan continued his offensive, taunting him sharply, "Where's your prediction? Where's your time slowing? Use it! Let me see your true abilities!"

Lin Chen gritted his teeth and endured it.

He understood that Tieshan was telling the truth. Prediction was useless against this kind of killing move where each punch was independent and unrelated; there were only two chances left to slow down time, but even if he used it, with Tieshan's strength and experience, a single breath was not enough to find an opening.

What should I do?

What should I do?!

Lin Chen was forced to the edge of the stone platform, his back already hanging in the air. If he took another step back, he would be defeated.

A cold glint flashed in Tie Shan's eyes. Seizing this fatal opportunity, he threw a punch at Lin Chen's face. This punch was a true killing move!

There's no way to retreat!

"Time slows down!"

Lin Chen roared wildly in his heart, and the mark between his eyebrows suddenly burst out with brilliant golden light. Centered on him, the flow of time around him dropped sharply.

Tieshan's fist instantly slowed down, as if stuck in quagmire, making every inch of movement extremely difficult. But Tieshan was, after all, a seasoned veteran, and the moment the time slowdown was triggered, he immediately sensed the abnormality.

"Impressive ability!" A hint of surprise flashed in Tie Shan's eyes, quickly replaced by intense fighting spirit. "But do you think you can defeat me like this?"

His power erupted, and even with the speed reduction, his fist continued to slowly approach. One inch, two inches, three inches... getting closer and closer to Lin Chen's chest.

Lin Chen's expression changed drastically.

The effect of time slowing down on Tieshan was far less than on Bai Yutang! It wasn't that Tieshan had stronger resistance, but rather that his power was too terrifying, enough to break through the constraints of time slowing down.

With the fist only an inch away and the time slowdown about to run out, Lin Chen suddenly remembered a sentence that Uncle Chen had once said.

"A martial artist's power comes from the body, but a true strongman's power comes from the heart."

Strength comes from the heart!

A sharp light suddenly flashed in Lin Chen's eyes, and he instantly understood.

He's been wrong all along!

The essence of time slowing down is never to slow down the enemy, but to speed up one's own thinking! While external time slows down, his thoughts, judgments, and consciousness remain at a normal flow!

That's his real advantage!

In the final moments of deceleration, Lin Chen made an extremely crazy decision—instead of dodging, he charged straight towards Tieshan!

The flow rate of time has returned to normal.

Tieshan's fist swept past Lin Chen from behind, while Lin Chen's figure had already appeared beside Tieshan, delivering a precise punch to the opponent's dantian area.

"Crushing Fist!"

Lin Chen roared.

This was the only flaw he had precisely calculated during the deceleration—when Tieshan threw each punch, there was always a half-breath gap between the exhaustion of old force and the generation of new force, and this moment was precisely that instant!

Tieshan's pupils suddenly contracted, and his body tensed instinctively, but he was still knocked back two steps by the punch, and a sharp pain shot through his abdomen.

This punch wasn't particularly powerful, but its placement was extremely tricky, hitting the vital point in the dantian. If it were an ordinary martial artist, they would have already lost their fighting ability.

"Good!" Tieshan roared, a serious look appearing in his eyes for the first time. "You really are capable!"

He took a deep breath, and his aura suddenly surged, his already terrifying presence rising even higher. Lin Chen's heart sank. Tie Shan... had actually held back?

"This is my ultimate move on the battlefield. To die by this move is your honor." Tie Shan's voice was icy, and his spiritual power surged violently around him. "Thunder Fist - Sky-Splittering!"

With a flash of afterimage, Tieshan completely disappeared from the spot.

Lin Chen had no time to react. His time imprint was running wildly, but it still couldn't keep up with the opponent's speed. In this critical moment, he activated time slowing down again. This time, he didn't look at the attack trajectory, but directly locked onto Tie Shan's location.

As his vision slowed, Tieshan circled around to his back.

Lin Chen turned around abruptly, just as the time was up.

Tieshan's fist slammed down!

Lin Chen neither dodged nor evaded, and once again took the hit head-on with both arms.

boom--

He was blasted into the air, spitting out a mouthful of blood, but there was no fear in his eyes, only a resolute look.

This is the moment he's been waiting for!

After Tieshan throws a punch, he loses his balance and will inevitably have a momentary opening!

"Broken tendon!"

Lin Chen roared in mid-air, flicked his wrist, and the long sword flew out of his hand instantly. The blade did not attack the torso, but went straight for Tie Shan's ankle!

This is a vicious move specifically targeting tendons; it is unexpected and impossible to defend against.

Tieshan's expression changed drastically. He hurriedly jumped back to dodge, but he had already lost his balance. His movement was only half completed when his ankle was lightly grazed by the blade. A sharp pain came, and his attack rhythm was instantly interrupted.

"hateful!"

Tieshan roared, his eyes blazing with murderous intent. This young man was too cunning; he avoided direct confrontation but always managed to find a way out of desperate situations, much like the most troublesome veterans on the border.

He no longer held back any of his strength, unleashing his power, speed, and reaction to the extreme. Lin Chen was instantly and completely suppressed, without even a chance to catch his breath.

Time slows down; only one last time remains.

If you use it, you will be exhausted; if you don't use it, you will surely be defeated.

One last gamble!

Lin Chen took a deep breath, concentrating all his spiritual power and mental energy on the mark between his eyebrows, and roared with all his might.

"Time...stop!"

He cannot actually stop time, but he can slow it down to an extreme degree within a very small range.

A burst of golden light erupted, and terrifying time fluctuations swept across the entire area.

Tieshan froze abruptly, his face showing unprecedented shock. He felt as if he were being crushed by an invisible mountain, unable to move even a finger.

Lin Chen moved.

During the extremely slowed period, he had ample time to think. With a quick glance, he spotted three weaknesses in Tieshan's body: his left shoulder was drooping, indicating that his old strength had been exhausted; his right foot was turned outward, indicating that his center of gravity was unstable; and his breathing had stopped, indicating that he was about to breathe.

Three flaws appeared simultaneously!

But his body was already exhausted, and he could only deliver one last blow.

One strike decides the outcome!

He "saw" a punch from Tieshan aimed at his head, a certain death sentence. But at that moment, the fist moved extremely slowly, giving him a fleeting opportunity.

A resolute glint flashed in Lin Chen's eyes, and his body suddenly tilted to the side.

Tieshan's fist swept past his right side with a thunderous roar.

The next second, Lin Chen appeared in front of Tie Shan, without a knife or a fist, only a finger, which was firmly placed on Tie Shan's throat.

You lost.

The soft voice carried clearly to every corner of the training ground, where it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Time has returned to normal.

Tieshan's pupils contracted sharply. He looked down at the fingers pressed against his throat and froze.

If he had gone just one inch further, he would have died.

"I...lost?"

Tie Shan was utterly bewildered and incredulous. He, a peak ninth level of Body Tempering, an elite member of the Thunder Legion, a warrior from the border battlefield, had actually been defeated by a mere fourth-level Body Tempering youth?

"Impossible! You've been hiding your cultivation level!" Tieshan roared.

Lin Chen did not answer, but slowly withdrew his finger. He was completely exhausted, his vision went black, and he collapsed to the ground.

By continuously using his time-manipulation abilities, both his mind and body had been pushed to their limits.

"Lin Chen!"

Chen Bo flashed forward and rushed onto the stone platform, gently lifting the unconscious Lin Chen into his arms.

Tieshan stood there, looking at Lin Chen's pale face, his expression changing several times before finally letting out a long sigh.

"Good lad..."

"Let's fight again next time."

The training ground was deathly silent for ten breaths.

The next moment, a deafening cheer erupted, soaring into the sky.

"Lin Chen won!"

"A fourth-level Body Forging expert defeating a ninth-level Body Forging expert! This is a miracle!"

"In the three-hundred-year history of martial arts examinations, there has never been such an incredible comeback!"

"Lin Chen! Lin Chen! Lin Chen!"

Countless people roared this name wildly. This boy from a remote border town made an incredible comeback and reached the top, leaving his mark on history.

On the high platform, Zhao Wuji held the jade slip in his hand, his hands trembling violently, and his voice was shaking.

"Resonance response... Level 3!"

"The fragment of the River of Time on Lin Chen's body is level three! Even higher than that young master of the Dark Blade Pavilion!"

"We must report this to the sect leader immediately! This child... will surely change the fate of the entire dynasty!"

Zhao Wuji suddenly stood up, his spiritual energy surging, his eyes filled with shock and fear.

Lin Chen lay in Uncle Chen's arms, his consciousness hazy. All he could hear were cheers, but he was too tired and just wanted to fall into a deep sleep.

Before he was completely plunged into darkness, Chen Bowen's gentle and solemn voice softly rang in his ears.

"Well done, son."

"You proved yourself."

"Now, it's time for you to see the real world."

"The secrets within the ruins..."

"It's time to reveal the truth."