Chapter 264 – One Person, One City, One Sword Blocks a Thousand Soldiers

The second day of the college entrance exam: simulated combat.

The simulated combat in the college entrance exam was quite similar to the simulated combat from the previous Three-School Joint Exam.

Both utilized holographic helmets to simulate a nearly realistic battlefield.

This not only ensured the students’ safety to the greatest extent but also allowed them to showcase their full potential without any worries.

It was truly a win-win situation.

However, unlike the Three-School Joint Exam, the simulated combat for the college entrance exam was conducted in individual classrooms.

Moreover, each examination hall had dedicated proctors to prevent any cheating.

Compared to the written exam on the first day, today’s simulated combat was the most crucial part for the majority of ordinary students.

This was because most candidates would not reach the ranking stage to compete for the Qingzhou Top Scorer title.

Hence, their college entrance exam results largely depended on today’s simulated combat performance.

If they underperformed and affected their original simulated combat scores, they would have no one to blame but themselves.

After all, cultivation high schools did not allow retakes.

Failure was final, with no second chances.

Therefore, most candidates today wore anxious expressions, their faces tense.

But for those outstanding candidates, this simulated combat was merely a formality, with nothing to worry about.

Lu Chen and Mu Xiaoye belonged to the latter category.

“Little Lu, I’ll head off first.”

“Mm.”

In the hallway of Luocheng High School, after bidding farewell to Mu Xiaoye, Lu Chen went straight to his assigned examination hall.

Looking at the holographic helmets arranged on each desk, Lu Chen’s gaze grew somewhat distant.

He couldn’t shake the feeling that these holographic helmets bore too many similarities to his mini-game, “True Immortal Cultivation.”

Not to mention, his “True Immortal Cultivation” allowed him to gain experience points even within the simulated world of the holographic helmet.

Lu Chen felt this was no coincidence but rather some kind of subtle hint from the universe.

At this thought, he felt as if he had grasped something, but after pondering for a moment, he still couldn’t pinpoint the key. In the end, he decided to let it go.

Whether there was a connection between the holographic helmets and “True Immortal Cultivation” wasn’t important for now.

At present, he just needed to focus all his energy on the college entrance exam.

Shortly after Lu Chen took his seat, the other candidates in the examination hall gradually arrived.

More than half of them were not students from Luocheng High School.

Although they weren’t from No. 1 High, they all knew about the two “monsters” who had scored perfect marks in yesterday’s “Cultivation Level and Aptitude” test.

One was a boy with unusual pupils, while the other was an exceptionally beautiful girl with an outstanding aura.

So, upon seeing Lu Chen’s lotus-like dual pupils, they immediately recognized his identity.

As a result, after taking their seats, they kept secretly observing Lu Chen.

Their eyes were filled with curiosity.

In fact, it wasn’t just them—even the proctor in the room was doing the same.

He had seen students who scored perfect marks in the tests before.

But he had never seen or even heard of anyone achieving perfection to the extent Lu Chen had.

Even those prodigies groomed since childhood by the Four Great Sacred Grounds or prominent cultivation Families rarely reached Foundation Establishment Perfection by the age of eighteen.This can no longer be explained by mere talent and hard work—this kid must have encountered some unknown extraordinary opportunity.

Though curious, the proctor refrained from any inappropriate actions.

After confirming all examinees had entered, he immediately announced the start of the simulated combat exam.

Lu Chen put on the holographic helmet and soon found himself in the simulated combat environment.

[Simulated Combat: Encounter with Foreign Tribes]

[Scenario Description: You are an ordinary cultivator in the border town of Yellow Sand Town. Your town happens to lie directly in the path of an invading foreign tribe.

Remote and isolated, Yellow Sand Town has only three thousand residents, with you as its sole Immortal Alliance Cultivator.

Though aware of the invasion, you chose not to flee alone. Instead, you remain to help resist the foreign army, buying time for the townspeople to evacuate.]

[Task Requirement: You must now role-play as an Immortal Alliance Cultivator stranded in Yellow Sand Town. Do everything possible to delay the foreign tribe—longer duration and more kills yield higher scores.]

[Task Hint: The value of life lies not in its length, but in its depth…]

[Time Limit: None]

After reading the task, Lu Chen immediately looked down at his hands.

They were calloused, with dry, cracked, and wrinkled skin bearing the marks of time.

Without a doubt, this wasn’t Lu Chen’s original body.

It belonged to that ancient cultivator who had stayed behind in Yellow Sand Town.

The Immortal Alliance likely designed the exam this way not because they couldn’t use the examinees’ own appearances, but to ensure later generations remember this resolute elderly cultivator.

Lost in thought, Lu Chen silently walked to the edge of the city wall.

He stood atop an aged frontier fortification.

Unlike the hundred-meter-high walls common in Immortal Alliance territories, Yellow Sand Town’s ramparts stood a mere thirty meters tall.

Such height couldn’t possibly stop foreign tribes at the Foundation Establishment Stage—even Qi Condonation Stage seventh or eighth-level creatures could easily scale it.

Attempting to defend against a foreign army with these walls was nothing short of delusional.

However, considering the Immortal Alliance selected this historical event for the simulated combat exam,

the initial stages of the battle probably wouldn’t be overwhelmingly intense.

Likely, only the vanguard of the foreign army would appear first.

Then, as combat intensity escalated, subsequent waves would grow stronger.

Understanding the exam’s mechanics, Lu Chen began waiting on the wall.

He could sense it—just beyond the rolling sands at the horizon,

a small scouting party of foreign tribes was approaching.

Under the blazing sun, swirling sands danced across the desert.

Five mummy-like creatures wrapped in bandages rode brown sandworms toward Yellow Sand Town.

These were the denizens of the Desert of Death west of town… the Underworld Tribe.

[Underworld Scout]

[Cultivation: Qi Condensation Stage Level 3]

[Traits: Corpse-like appearance, pain immunity, basic sand manipulation]

[Quicksand Worm]

[Rank: Qi Condensation Stage Level 1]

[Traits: Powerful digestive system, sand-burrowing capability]

Five Underworld Scouts, accompanied by five Quicksand Worms.For the vast majority of current examinees, dealing with such a squad wouldn’t be particularly difficult.

Because this scout squad’s overall strength was rather weak.

Moreover, their mission was to conduct preliminary reconnaissance for the main army.

Therefore, they were certain to enter Yellow Sand Town.

Under normal examination procedures, the approach would be to wait until these scouts entered the town, then use the complex urban environment to eliminate them one by one.

This way, they could delay the Underworld army’s receipt of intelligence, indirectly slowing the main force’s advance.

But this was the standard examination procedure.

From the very beginning, Lu Chen had no intention of following this approach.

After all, in the face of absolute power, all fancy tricks… become utterly meaningless.

Thus, just as this Underworld scout squad reached a position one hundred meters outside Yellow Sand Town, a streak of Sword Qi suddenly descended from the sky.

The Sword Qi appeared abruptly and moved with astonishing speed – so fast that the five Underworld scouts couldn’t react in time.

Swoosh!

In that instant, four of the five Underworld scouts were bisected by the Sword Qi, their bodies falling to the ground in two pieces.

Witnessing his four companions instantly killed, the scout at the rear of the squad froze in shock.

But after a moment of stunned disbelief, he immediately turned and fled toward the rear without hesitation.

It seemed that if he ran even slightly slower, that invisible Sword Qi would catch up and cut him down.

Fortunately, even after he had ridden his sandworm a full kilometer away, that strange Sword Qi never reappeared.

Only then did he slightly relax, gaining enough composure to observe the situation at the Immortal Alliance town.

There, on the low frontier wall, stood a solitary ‘white-haired elder’.

Without doubt, that sudden Sword Qi had come from this white-haired elder on the wall.

Upon realizing this intelligence, the Underworld scout didn’t linger, immediately fleeing toward more distant territory.

His escape direction pointed precisely toward where the main Underworld army was stationed.

Though he didn’t understand why that Immortal Alliance elder had spared him, none of that mattered now.

Because their Underworld clan’s main army would soon flatten this place, sounding the horn for their assault on the Immortal Alliance.

Facing such a massive army, he didn’t believe a mere Immortal Alliance Cultivator at the Foundation Establishment Perfection stage could accomplish anything.

At most, he would just become another corpse.

Meanwhile, after watching the sole surviving Underworld scout depart, Lu Chen calmly stroked the long sword in his hand.

It was the most common standard-issue long sword within the Immortal Alliance, utterly ordinary.

Yet this standard-issue sword had been meticulously maintained.

Not only was the blade smooth and completely free of tarnish, even the Sword Box containing it emitted a distinct tung oil fragrance.

This clearly demonstrated how much importance the sword’s owner placed on this weapon.

Naturally, this sword didn’t belong to Lu Chen – it was the possession of his current body’s original owner.

Advanced age, ordinary cultivation level, unremarkable Dao tradition.

Although Lu Chen had just begun the examination,

The Immortal Alliance had provided complete information about this body’s original owner in the examination materials.

Yue Haishan – this was the name of the elder who had chosen to remain alone in Yellow Sand Town as a rearguard.

His identity was the Immortal Alliance’s appointed mayor of Yellow Sand Town, with cultivation only at the first layer of Foundation Establishment.

But simulation remained simulation.

Though the original Yue Haishan had only possessed first-layer Foundation Establishment cultivation, that didn’t mean Lu Chen was limited to the same level now.Even with the functional limitations of the holographic helmet, Lu Chen could currently only exert the cultivation level of Foundation Establishment Perfection.

Yet even so, this was more than enough for him.

Thus, while he appeared to be impersonating Yue Haishan, in reality, he merely possessed an identical appearance to Yue Haishan.

Everything else—whether it was his cultivation, innate divine abilities, or anything else—remained entirely Lu Chen’s own.

As for why Lu Chen allowed a Netherworld scout to escape, it was naturally a deliberate choice.

Rather than waiting for the Netherworld Alien Race to probe step by step, he preferred to let them bring their full force to bear.

Not only would this greatly save his examination time,

but it would also allow him to gain more experience points.

Recklessness?

This was merely a basic judgment made after comparing the enemy’s and his own strengths.

Lu Chen did not have to wait long. About an hour after that Netherworld scout departed,

countless black dots began to appear on the distant horizon of the yellow sand.

These black dots drew nearer and nearer, eventually covering the originally golden desert.

The yellow sand in the distance gradually turned into a stretch of “black sand.”

What had usurped the color of the yellow sand were the Netherworld Alien Race—each one wrapped in bandages, their bodies like desiccated corpses.

At a rough glance, Lu Chen estimated the Netherworld army numbered a mere three thousand.

Moreover, there were no Golden Core Stage Netherworld aliens among them.

Perhaps after receiving the scout’s intelligence, they had judged that a force of three thousand was sufficient to capture Lu Chen.

But they would soon realize how foolish their assumption was.

They would soon learn that even within the same Foundation Establishment Stage, there were still… disparities.

When this army of three thousand aliens reached a distance of three hundred meters outside Yellow Sand Town, Lu Chen finally rose to his feet.

He slowly raised the ordinary sword in his hand, and a vast, condensed yet un-dissipated Sword Qi began to gather on the blade.

Because Lu Chen’s Sword Qi did not leak out in the slightest, the distant Netherworld army sensed no danger at all.

It seemed as though this sword strike was nothing more than an ordinary attack.

But as Lu Chen casually swung his sword downward,

a terrifying, diagonally slashing crescent-shaped Sword Qi burst forth instantly.

Though the Sword Qi was slanted, its height already surpassed the thirty-meter-high frontier wall beneath him.

The moment this Sword Qi appeared, the entire Netherworld army halted abruptly.

They stared at the immense Sword Qi, their pupils contracting, their hearts seizing.

An indescribable sense of mortal danger surged through them in an instant.

The instinct for survival urged them to evade this terrifying Sword Qi,

but the fear in their hearts seemed to freeze their minds, leaving them rooted to the spot, unmoving.

In a flash, the Sword Qi plunged into the Netherworld army.

The Netherworld aliens’ proud, iron-hard bodies were as fragile as paper before this Sword Qi, utterly useless.

Swoosh!

Wherever the Sword Qi passed, Netherworld aliens fell like wheat.

Moments later, a scene akin to a living hell unfolded.

Lu Chen’s single sword strike had not only effortlessly slain over half of the Netherworld aliens

but had also left a hundred-meter-long scar upon the ground.

One sword strike had decimated a thousand troops.

One sword strike had reached a limit unimaginable to ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators.

As for the devastation he had wrought, Lu Chen’s expression remained unchanged, as if he had merely done something trivial.Without giving the Netherworld Alien Race time to react, Lu Chen raised his hand once more.

The same condensed Sword Qi, the same ordinary and seemingly unthreatening motion as before.

Yet this time, the remaining Netherworld Alien Race members reacted completely differently.

Run, they must run!

Watching Lu Chen raise his hand again in the distance, the remaining mobile Netherworld Alien Race members… scattered in retreat.

But no matter how fast they fled, they could never outrun Lu Chen’s sword.

“Slash.”

As Lu Chen’s calm utterance fell.

That massive Sword Qi manifested once again.

(End of Chapter)