Chapter 296: Trait Combination

“Congratulations, you have cleared the instance: Sharp Ruler Tiger’s Hunting Ground.”

“Now distributing Self-Selected Trait.”

[Word Spirit Secret Art]: You have mastered the power of words.

[Sky-Pulling Secret Art]: You can forcibly increase your Combat Power by 20%. The longer the duration, the weaker you become after the effect ends.

[Shackling Secret Art]: You forcibly compress your own Realm. The longer you suppress it, the greater the temporary Realm boost after the burst.

Jiang Yan didn’t hesitate at all: “I choose [Word Spirit Secret Art].”

Now distributing random Advanced Trait.

[Phenomenon Resonance] (Purple-Gold): When you combine two different Combat Power systems, an unknown resonance state will occur.

[System Log Updated]

“You have cleared the instance: Sharp Ruler Tiger’s Hunting Ground, triggered [Heaven Rewards Diligence] to guarantee the random trait [Cold Weapon Enthusiast].”

[Cold Weapon Enthusiast] (Orange): When you use cold weapons, you gain a 50% damage bonus.

“It really is ‘cold’ weapons.” Jiang Yan muttered a complaint before starting to test his new traits.

First was the Self-Selected Trait [Word Spirit Secret Art].

Jiang Yan closed his eyes, and in the depths of his consciousness, characters resonated with his mind one by one.

They were no longer merely names, but connections—connections that Jiang Yan could manipulate to achieve astonishing feats.

“Slash.”

Jiang Yan’s lips parted slightly, uttering a single word.

Ahead, a slashing attack shot forth, leaving an extremely fast white streak in the air.

“It’s significantly stronger than Yan Thunder Destruction Slash, but considerably weaker than Sky-Severing Slash.”

“Then, let’s try using words to connect with the Divine Ability Sky-Severing Slash and test the combined power of [Word Spirit Secret Art] and [Phenomenon Resonance].”

Although [Word Spirit Secret Art] is a trait, the words spoken belong to the word system.

Disordered Sky-Severing Slash belongs to the Law Divine Ability system, which is a different Combat Power system from [Word Spirit Secret Art].

And [Phenomenon Resonance] combines two different Combat Power systems to produce an unknown resonance power.

In his mind, Jiang Yan separated the different Combat Power systems, carefully sensing them as he slowly chanted:

“Disordered. Sky-Severing Slash!”

An invisible saber light cut through the daylight, disappearing before Jiang Yan could even react.

It caused no major disturbance, not even a trace of its power remained. Yet, precisely because of this, Jiang Yan was especially astonished.

“So fast!”

Fast, incredibly fast. So fast that even his true Spirit Eye, awakened after his Ninth Rank Breakthrough, couldn’t discern any trajectory.

If this slash struck the Extreme Domain Demon, it probably wouldn’t even have time to react.

Because Jiang Yan, as the caster, couldn’t react either.

“Combined with [True Word Leveling Method], [Peerless Realm], [Blade Bearer], [Cold Weapon Enthusiast], [Dual Casting], and [Above the Saber Saint], my killing moves can practically fear no opponent in the Four Directions Realm.”

“So…” Jiang Yan frowned in contemplation.

After a long while, he finally said happily, “Does that mean I can mess around for a while again?”

Just as he was about to leave the Battle Space to settle accounts.

[System Log Updated]

“A new instance is ready.”

Jiang Yan raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised, and murmured, “It’s actually this fast this time?”

Jiang Yan wasn’t in a hurry to leave anymore. Instead, he entered the instance gate.

Instance: Battle of the Prodigies—Galaxy Chapter

Instance Description: Here, you will successively challenge the ten strongest prodigies in the Galactic Domain over tens of millions of years, with their Realms suppressed to a maximum of the Tenth Rank.

The Instance will adopt fair one-on-one duels. When the Host defeats all ten prodigies, they will successfully clear this Instance.

Note: No resurrection attempts.

“The Instance has turned into a solo challenge again. The Divine Martial Space is quite honorable.”

Jiang Yan muttered to himself as he slowly stepped into the first stage—the tenth strongest prodigy in the Galactic Domain throughout history.

Name: Heavenly Net Venerable

Realm: Martial God, Fifth Heavenly Layer

Two simple lines of text, and Jiang Yan saw nothing unusual about them.

“Fifth Heavenly Layer… that’s the same Rank as Sky Demon. But since he’s ranked tenth in history, he must be far stronger than Sky Demon.”

Jiang Yan’s expression grew serious, not daring to be the slightest bit careless.

Ordinary cross-Realm challenges were simple, but fighting a peerless genius while being a full major Realm and five minor Realms lower? Jiang Yan wasn’t arrogant enough to think he could do it effortlessly.

“Begin the challenge.”

Today, he would test just how strong this historical tenth truly was!

As the challenge began, Jiang Yan wasted no time and unleashed a Law Divine Ability enhanced with all his Traits:

Chaos: Sky-Severing Slash

Two saber marks descended.

But at that moment, the imposing-looking Heavenly Net Venerable suddenly roared, his Aura surging layer by layer.

Fifth Heavenly Layer

Sixth Heavenly Layer

Seventh Heavenly Layer

Eighth Heavenly Layer!

Jiang Yan: Holy crap! (((o(ﾟ▽ﾟ)o)))

That robust body, akin to a Vajra Arhat, transformed Qi and Blood into Dharma Patterns, breaking through to the Eighth Heavenly Layer in an unimaginable way. He immediately swatted away the saber marks Jiang Yan had unleashed.

Boom!

Heavenly Net Venerable threw a punch.

Countless streams of Qi and Blood converged like rainbows, gathered like dragons, and rained down like fists.

Jiang Yan was pummeled into a whistle.

The gap of an Eighth Heavenly Layer and a full major Realm was nearly insurmountable, something even the [Instant Kill Law] couldn’t shake.

Jiang Yan exited the Battle Space with a look of frustration.

“Forget it, let’s go rob someone.”

Jiang Yan’s frustration transformed into a bright smile.

Just then, a meteor came crashing toward him, its trajectory unerring.

Jiang Yan calmly sidestepped, and the meteor plunged into the ground, raising clouds of dust.

“Naked… is this that guy from Tianyuan Star, Hong Luo?”

Jiang Yan was about to leave but reconsidered.

“I haven’t robbed anyone yet. I can’t leave now.”

So he pulled Hong Luo out of the ground and, under Hong Luo’s grateful gaze, held out his hand.

Hong Luo, his Aura feeble, placed his hand on Jiang Yan’s in confusion.

Jiang Yan impatiently slapped it away and reminded him, “Assistance fee.”

Hong Luo was speechless, having thought he’d encountered a good Samaritan. “Y-young man, I thought you were a good person.”

Jiang Yan smiled. “Don’t try to get chummy. Tell me, why are those people chasing you?”

Hong Luo’s breath hitched, realizing he’d just escaped wolves only to fall into a tiger’s den.

The other’s smile filled him with immense unease.

At that moment, the surrounding area was already tightly encircled by the pursuing Martial Gods.

“Hong Luo, stop struggling. You’re injured by Dharma Patterns and won’t last much longer. Just obediently tell us about the Heavenly Net Legacy, and we’ll leave your corpse intact.”

“That’s right! Rather than dying while clinging to the Heavenly Net Legacy, why not reveal the secret techniques and let the Heavenly Net Legacy flourish!”

“The path to the eleventh realm has been severed. It is said that the Heavenly Net Venerable vanished within the Galactic Domain—there must be a way to achieve a breakthrough to that realm. If you obediently reveal what you know, we naturally will not make things difficult for you.”

“Hahahaha! You bunch of scum, ambushing me while I was fighting the Demon Race, and now trying to seize my legacy—do you truly think I am easy to bully?”

“Let me tell you, the legacy is right here on me. Come and take it if you dare!”

Hong Luo mustered a final surge of Qi and loudly rebuked the group of Martial Gods.