Sand left the floor, a miniature sandstorm forming as Chen Changsheng instantly vanished.

With a light crack, a clear sword slash appeared on the wall of the Hall of Washing Away Dust.

Chen Changsheng appeared once more, already two zhang away from his original position. It was nigh impossible to tell just how he had come to be there.

Chen Changsheng espied out of the corner of his eyes that the sword slash on the wall was about an inch deep, and the white stone beneath could be glimpsed.

This place was the Pope's Green Leaf World, in between the real and unreal. The buildings here were abnormally sturdy, and the Hall of Washing Away Dust had its own defensive array. Yet one casual wave of Zhuang Huanyu's sword had been able to leave such a deep slash in the wall. From this, one could imagine just how much harm this blow would have inflicted if it had struck his body.

Even though the defensive capabilities of his body had reached an unimaginable level, it still could not directly receive this technique.

Fortunately, he had never thought about breaking through this sword technique, nor had he thought about blocking it. From the very beginning, he had always intended to avoid it.

He had begun to move the instant Zhuang Huanyu had unsheathed his sword. When that fierce sword glow was flashing in his eyes, his right foot had already pressed against the sandy ground and then abruptly moved.

If the sand could reflect the true night sky, his original position was that of the 'Shen' constellation, and his present position was that of the 'Kang' constellation. (TN: Chinese astronomy divides the sky into four regions, each region holding seven constellations, also known as mansions. Shen and Kang are two of these constellations, Shen located in the Azure Dragon region and Kang located in the White Tiger region.)

He treated the sand as a snowstorm, borrowing the power of the storm to walk the path of the constellations, and his movements were strange and unfathomable. It was precisely the Yeshi Step.

"This is the Yeshi Step?"

Zhuang Huanyu calmly asked, clearly unmoved by the fact that his sword glow had been avoided. It was obvious that he was already completely aware of Chen Changsheng's performance in the last few rounds.

Chen Changsheng said nothing. His right hand tightly gripped his dagger and his gaze slightly dropped, falling on the sword held in Zhuang Huanyu's right hand.

Zhuang Huanyu took a step forward, flatly extending his longsword in front of him, his demeanor extremely calm.

Chen Changsheng could clearly see Zhuang Huanyu slightly tighten his right hand, his knuckles whitening. These were signs that Zhuang Huanyu was beginning his attack.

Several sword glows noiselessly crossed the ten-some zhang between them.

Chen Changsheng still managed to move before the sword glows arrived. His spiritual sense condensed into a line and his body abruptly gained speed. He seemed to take two steps to the west, but in these fluctuations, he had somehow taken a few steps back.

This was still the Yeshi Step, and this time, he had stepped upon the path of the seventh constellation of the east.

Zengzengzengzeng! Several distinct cutting sounds resounded from the stone wall to the right and behind him.

Stone fragments rustled down and four clear sword slashes appeared, sharp and fierce.

With a serene expression, Zhuang Huanyu took another step forward, closing the distance between him and Chen Changsheng by one more step.

Chen Changsheng stared at Zhuang Huanyu's sword, his expression grave.

Zhuang Huanyu's sword was too fast, too sharp. The match had just begun, and two waves of his sword had been enough to put Chen Changsheng under immense pressure.

An indistinct sigh of praise was heard from the second floor.

It was a sigh of praise aimed at Zhuang Huanyu.

In the previous rounds of the Grand Examination, Zhuang Huanyu had not met any strong opponents and had a very mediocre performance, carrying none of the bearing expected of the leader of the capital's younger generation. As a result, he had been looked down on by some people.

But he had once defeated Qi Jian, and then had spent all his time quietly cultivating in the Heavenly Dao Academy. As a result, his rank on the Proclamation of Azure Sky had hung about rank ten. This was because his goal was Qiushan Jun, and Qiushan Jun was not on the Proclamation of Azure Sky. In truth, he believed that he had the strength to enter the top three of the Proclamation of Azure Sky. Even if he were to fight against Zhexiu, he would be without fear.

The pride of the Heavenly Dao Academy naturally had the right to be prideful.

For such a proud youth to begin using the supreme techniques of the Heavenly Dao Academy the moment he started his fight with Chen Changsheng indicated that he regarded Chen Changsheng rather highly, and also indicated that he did not want to give Chen Changsheng a single chance.

Chen Changsheng's movement technique was too fast, too strange and unfathomable. If he possessed an offensive ability to match this movement technique, then he really could threaten Zhuang Huanyu.

Consequently, Zhuang Huanyu did not give him a chance to attack, instead relying on his sharp and fierce sword intent to suppress him to the area around the stone wall.

This was the crushing power of an expert who held the absolute advantage in both cultivation and strength, just like how Luoluo had crushed that scholar from Scholartree Manor.

With another wave of the sword, several more sword glows flashed through the air.

Fierce howls continued without end.

The sand in the Hall of Washing Away Dust gradually stirred.

Sword glows flashed across it like bolts of lightning.

Sword slash after sword slash appeared on the wall, clear and deep as if some craftsman was engraving words on the wall.

Many footprints appeared on the sand, some to the west, some east, all of them seemingly without any rhyme or reason.

Squelch.

Chen Changsheng appeared someplace close to the wall, and a shallow wound appeared on his right arm.

Several dozen sword glows had come one after another, and he had narrowly avoided the majority of them, but when he was moving from the Liu constellation to the Jing constellation and then changed his destination to the Lou constellation, his flow of true essence had been slightly hindered, he had slowed for a second, and the sword glows had caught up.

Zhuang Huanyu held his sword slightly angled to the floor, appearing particularly elegant.

Unlike him, Chen Changsheng was covered in grains of sand, and even the shallowest of wounds was still a wound, so he looked rather battered.

However, his expression remained calm and he continued to stare at Zhuang Huanyu's right hand with great focus.

The Sword of Hithering Light was the supreme technique of the Heavenly Dao Academy and was incredibly taxing on one's true essence. A movement technique on the level of the Yeshi Step naturally consumed a great deal of true essence as well.

Zhuang Huanyu was confident that he could use sword techniques to suppress Chen Changsheng because he was a diligent cultivator, because he was very talented, because his Fated Star was very far away, because his quantity of true essence was at what could be considered the peak of his age group. Even with such a taxing method, he was still able to exhaust Chen Changsheng, and Chen Changsheng had no way of breaking past his techniques.

"Is this your best?"

He asked Chen Changsheng, his expression very serious. There was no scorn in his voice, only a hint of disappointment on his slightly exhausted face. In order to prepare for the Grand Examination, he had been cultivating incessantly since the start of the Ivy Festival. All his preparations had been for this match, and although Chen Changsheng's performance was quite good, it still did not satisfy him.

Chen Changsheng's breath was somewhat ragged. After using the Yeshi Step so many times and pushing his speed to its limit, the meager amount of true essence in his body had been completely exhausted. In calculating the positions of stars and how to move, his spiritual sense had also been greatly exhausted. Most vexing of all was that Zhuang Huanyu's sword was too fast and forceful. He barely managed to avoid its blows, but he had no means of counterattacking, so all that awaited him at the end was defeat.

He did not want to lose, so he had to attack.

Just as Zhuang Huanyu was asking his question, Chen Changsheng's right foot stamped on the sand in front of him. This time, however, he did not use the Yeshi Step, instead transferring all his strength into the sole of his foot. The strange and terrifying strength he had obtained after meeting the Black Dragon on that night instantly sent cracks through the ground and his body blurred as it howled through the air!

There was a whoosh. Zhuang Huanyu's sword made no noise, but the sound his sword glow made was exceptionally clear.

Chen Changsheng's current speed was nigh unimaginable, but right when it seemed like he was going to clash with the sword glow, he suddenly vanished!

He had hidden the Yeshi Step behind his charge!

The figure in the sand shimmered and Chen Changsheng abruptly appeared in front of Zhuang Huanyu!

This was his first time in this battle that he was so close to Zhuang Huanyu, close enough that he could finally attack.

His left hand gripped the sheath and his right hand gripped his dagger as he prepared to unsheathe the dagger

Zhuang Huanyu's straight eyebrows slightly rose, a look of pity in his eyes as he threw a punch at Chen Changsheng.

His right hand gripped his sword, but his left hand been hanging at his side the entire time, slowly accumulating true essence.

This seemingly casual punch had actually been accumulating power for a very long time.

There was a dull boom like the sound of a bell.

A vigorous strength struck the air along with his fist, sending waves of Qi rippling in all directions.

Chen Changsheng was sent flying, tumbling in the air like a stone until he finally landed on the distant ground.

With a thump, he landed against the ground, but he did not fall. His bare feet had hit the sand first. His knees half-bent, but he managed to stand steady.

He was holding the dagger in front of his eyes. It had probably been this dagger that had blocked Zhuang Huanyu's patiently waiting fist.

The hands holding the two ends of the dagger were slightly trembling. No matter how strong he was, he had still suffered some loss against the quantity of true essence stored up in this explosive punch.

"Is this your best?"

Zhuang Huanyu walked over to him, repeating his question, and then adding, "This truly makes me rather disappointed."

Seeing Chen Changsheng's level was one of his most important reasons for participating in the Grand Examination.

When he saw Luoluo and Chen Changsheng together outside the Li Palace, inside the Hall of Shining Words, by the banks of the Qu River, and at the forest's edge outside the Hall of Washing Away Dust, he became angry, and then calm. The angrier he was, the calmer he became.

Chen Changsheng stood up and replied, "Knock me down and then say that."

After saying this, he disappeared once more.

The sand within the Hall of Washing Away Dust erupted, seeming just like a snowstorm.

He squeezed out all of his remaining true essence and his spiritual sense calculated coordinates with an unimaginable speed.

His body flickered in and out of the snowstorm of sand, a moment east, and then a moment west.

In an instant, the ground was covered in a dense cover of footprints, akin to the multitudinous stars in the night sky.

He walked according to the coordinates of the constellations, with movements that were extremely strange and difficult to grasp. It seemed like he could appear in front of Zhuang Huanyu at any moment and deliver a fatal blow.

No matter how fast and how sharp the Sword of Hithering Light was, it was impossible for it to keep up with Chen Changsheng in these circumstances.

He did not look at Zhuang Huanyu's sword, nor did he pay attention to the surrounding environment. He only cared about his procession using the Yeshi Step.

The Yeshi Step strode with the stars, its tracks covered by the snowstorm. There would eventually come a moment when he appeared in front of Zhuang Huanyu.

This appeared like a very exquisite response.

Whenever the arcing sword glows were about to cut at Chen Changsheng's body, they would end up barely brushing past him.

Zhuang Huanyu became slightly stern, but not at all nervous.

He could not clearly make out Chen Changsheng's position and could not calculate where Chen Changsheng might appear next.

Thus, he closed his eyes.

He was not using spiritual sense to perceive Chen Changsheng's position, because even if he could, his sword would not reach that place in time.

The Sword of Hithering Light dropped from his hand and plunged into the sand, slightly trembling.

He spread apart his hands, his black hair madly danced, and his true essence exploded.

The trembling of the Sword of Hithering Light instantly became much more intense!

Whooshwhooshwhooshwhoosh!

Several hundred sword silhouettes flew out from the sword, instantly filling up all the space within the Hall of Washing Away Dust.

Immediately after, several sword silhouettes in the northwest part of the hall seemed to freeze.

Chen Changsheng was cut down by these sword silhouettes, his body sent crashing into the stone wall. He descended down the wall and thumped to the ground, sending dust flying.

Blood seeped out of three wounds on his body.

"Now, I have knocked you down."

Zhuang Huanyu opened his eyes and calmly said to him.