Some examinees failed to dodge and were torn to shreds on the spot, dissolving into white light.

"Fuck!"

"I don’t want to get eliminated by the aftershock! That’s so damn embarrassing!"

"The Stone Peak is only so big! Where are we supposed to run?!"

The entire Stone Peak was trembling as if it could collapse at any moment.

Countless examinees were screaming and cursing their heads off.

"Did a world war just start?"

"Who are those two fighting?"

On the other Stone Peaks, examinees who heard the commotion couldn’t help but turn to look.

Even those still fighting on their own platforms couldn’t help but stop and watch from afar.

"It must be Hua Feng and Ye Zhihan..."

Huo Zhenguo, third on the Celestial Ranking, gazed into the distance. "Besides those two, no one else could possibly fight a battle of this magnitude!"

Zong Yudao secretly wiped away a bead of cold sweat.

’Thank goodness I wasn’t assigned to that Stone Peak. It would’ve been mortifying to die in the aftershock.’

"Go!"

Hua Feng slashed out his sword, and a vast wave of Sword Qi shot across the void, spanning hundreds of feet. It nearly split the entire Stone Peak platform in two, and the sheer power of his strike shredded the swirling dust and rubble to pieces!

"Sever!"

Chen Che stood firm. Taking a step forward, he met the attack head-on, cleaving down on the Sword Qi that stretched across the sky.

The Sword Qi shattered and dissipated.

"Again!"

Chen Che thrust his sword forward, his body following its path as he charged his opponent.

A sharp light glinted in Hua Feng’s eyes. With his sword in his right hand, he made a pinching motion in the air with his left. The surrounding clouds shattered, reforming into streams of glinting Flying Swords that surged toward Chen Che. Finally, they coalesced into a massive Sword Dragon that completely encircled him!

"Even the battles between the chosen of the era before the Calamity of Heaven’s Fall were probably only like this!"

Watching Hua Feng’s mountain-splitting sword strike and finger-sealing technique, a Nascent Soul proctor couldn’t help but comment.

He was a Cultivator from before the Calamity of Heaven’s Fall. Back when he served as a Steward in a Sect, he had seen disciples fight for the position of True Inheritance. Both sides then were at the Foundation Establishment Realm, but how could they have possibly displayed such power?

"ROAR—"

In less than three seconds, the Sword Dragon was torn apart. Chen Che burst through the cloud of shattered swords and charged forward once more.

At that moment, Hua Feng finally felt that this was becoming troublesome. He had thought that being two minor realms ahead of Chen Che would grant him an easy victory, but his opponent’s strength far exceeded his imagination.

"Your physical body and True Essence are both strong, but what about your Divine Sense?"

Watching the approaching Chen Che, a brilliant light erupted in Hua Feng’s eyes. His Divine Sense surged forward with the force of a tsunami.

SHIMMER!

This immense Divine Sense actually affected reality. A visible ripple spread through the air, like heat haze on a road under the scorching sun. It even distorted and blurred the vision of the onlookers.

Not only were his True Essence and Qi and Blood immense, but his Divine Sense had also shockingly reached the Foundation Establishment Seventh Layer!

"Why don’t you find out for yourself!"

Faced with this immense Divine Sense, Chen Che’s will flared, and he met it head-on without hesitation.

BOOM!

The two invisible streams of Divine Sense collided in mid-air.

A colossal boom resounded on the spiritual plane. The examinees on the Stone Peak felt their minds jolt, instantly losing consciousness and dissolving into white light. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"How is this possible? Your Divine Sense...?"

In the instant of collision, Hua Feng had already sensed his opponent’s Divine Sense, and his eyes filled with a mixture of shock, anger, and disbelief.

He never would have imagined that Chen Che’s Divine Sense could also be so immense.

But it was too late to retract his Divine Sense. He felt his sea of consciousness get struck by lightning, as if someone had smashed it with a heavy hammer. He grew dizzy, his ears rang, and he even lost his five senses. His vision flickered between light and dark, unable to see the world clearly.

"You’re one of those students with a natural gift for Divine Sense!"

Hua Feng roared as he retreated.

He had once heard that there was a type of student with average aptitude in all other areas, but whose Divine Sense was far beyond ordinary people. It was like how some normal people were born with a keen sixth sense.

"Good guess!"

Amidst the sound of howling wind, the rapidly retreating Hua Feng heard Chen Che’s indifferent voice.

WHOOSH!

Erupting with True Essence, Chen Che gave chase relentlessly. He closed the distance in a single step and swung his Pure Jun Sword in a slow, deliberate arc, bringing it down on Hua Feng from above.

Hua Feng raised his sword to block.

CLANG!

The swing seemed casual, but it descended with the force of a toppling Tai Mountain, as if the very heavens were collapsing!

Before everyone’s shocked eyes, Chen Che’s strike slammed Hua Feng from mid-air straight into the ground. With a deafening BOOM, a corner of the Stone Peak collapsed, and countless cracks spiderwebbed out from under Hua Feng’s feet.

"Argh!"

Hua Feng cried out in pain as blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. The bones and tendons throughout his body let out a series of crackling pops.

Even Chen Che was rather surprised that the battle had reached this point.

His opponent’s strength had also far surpassed his imagination. But Hua Feng was no ordinary Foundation Establishment Cultivator; he was one of the strongest among the thousands of students in this cohort, and the Immortal Sect media had even rated him as the only student who could contend with Ye Zhihan.

Even Huo Zhenguo, third on the Celestial Ranking, was considered a notch below him.

His opponent had honed his Realm, Qi and Blood, and Divine Sense to the absolute peak! Had he been born before the Calamity of Heaven’s Fall, he would have undoubtedly become an expert who defined an entire era!

However, instead of being alarmed, Chen Che was delighted.

’As a Cultivator, who wouldn’t want to use a prodigy as a stepping stone to become the strongest of their generation?’

"Again!"

Chen Che slashed out once more. He didn’t use any particular Swordsmanship, just a slow, deliberate swing. It was as if the Pure Jun Sword in his hand now weighed ten thousand pounds. Before the blade even fell, the ground beneath Hua Feng’s feet began to shatter inch by inch.

Clearly, Chen Che had now activated his True Essence and Qi and Blood to their absolute limit.

Having just recovered his five senses, Hua Feng’s face was grim, his expression more serious than ever before. He had a premonition that this was Chen Che’s final strike, one that concentrated all his True Essence and Qi and Blood.

’Block this, and I win.’

’Fail, and I lose!’

"Fine!"

Hua Feng’s eyes narrowed. Instead of retreating, he advanced. He condensed all his True Qi to its peak; his sleeves billowed, and his long hair whipped about like crazed pythons. The longsword in his hand also seemed to transform into a Tai Mountain as he swung it slowly to meet the incoming strike!

BOOM!

As the two swords collided, an unprecedented explosion erupted on the Stone Peak, sounding like hundreds of thunderclaps detonating at once.

With the two of them at the epicenter, the entire Stone Peak began to tremble violently, as if in an earthquake. A terrifying wave of energy burst forth from them, instantly expanding outward. It swept across the entire stone platform, obliterating rocks, rubble, stones, and plants in its path!

CRACK!

Everyone looked over at the same time and witnessed an unbelievable sight.

The Stone Peak, unable to bear the load, began to collapse amidst a deafening, destructive roar! It plummeted toward the ground as if the world were ending, crashing onto the earth below and kicking up a monstrous cloud of dust!

Countless people were dumbfounded.

They destroyed the examination site during the exam? This was simply unheard of!

"Are these guys really high school students?"

It was unknown how many people were muttering this to themselves.

"Who won?"

But more people were concerned with the outcome.

"It has to be Hua Feng! After all, he’s second on the Celestial Ranking and has been in Cultivation since he was a child. The depth of his foundation is something Chen Che simply can’t compare to!"

"It could also be Chen Che!"

Everyone stared intently at the remains of the Stone Peak, desperate to know the result.

However, in most people’s eyes, Hua Feng’s chances of winning were higher. After all, he was the only student in this cohort who could be compared to Ye Zhihan. How could Chen Che possibly defeat such a person?

Even many Golden Core Cultivators thought the same.

"As expected, Hua Feng won!"

"What a pity..."

A moment later, the storm subsided and the dust slowly settled, revealing the scene on the broken Stone Peak:

Chen Che was half-kneeling on the ground, a trickle of blood dripping from the corner of his mouth onto the earth like a vibrant rose. His Pure Jun Sword was covered in cracks; with a final CRACK, it disintegrated into countless motes of dust and vanished with the wind.

"Still, there’s honor in his defeat!"

"Yeah... To be able to fight Hua Feng to this extent, I wonder if the Four Great Daoist Schools will make an exception and admit him?"

Li Xiaoshuang closed his eyes in disappointment, sighing inwardly.

’He is my student, after all.’

No matter what, he was still rooting for Chen Che.

Just as everyone was lamenting, the dust between heaven and earth finally cleared completely. The vast stone platform beneath his feet was now less than thirty feet across. And on that entire platform, besides Chen Che, there was no one else.

...

「Year 517 of the Heaven’s Fall Era, the seventh day of the tenth month.」

In the Immortal Sect competition, Chen Che defeated Hua Feng, the second-ranked on the Celestial Ranking! From this day forward, he took his place, his name now ranked alongside Ye Zhihan’s!