Chapter 278 : Unexpected Change
Chapter 278: Unexpected Change
Merit Hall, Second Floor.
After Chen Ming slaughtered all twenty Great Wei soldiers, a golden light flashed before his eyes, and he was once again transported to a new location.
As usual, he first concealed himself and took time to familiarize himself with the surroundings.
This was a small city ruined by war — rubble and collapsed walls were everywhere. The few walls still standing were charred black with burn marks.
Within the small city were around two hundred enemies, divided into ten squads identical to the one he had faced earlier.
“This second trial’s difficulty increased a bit too much, didn’t it?”
After surveying the area, Chen Ming found the situation troublesome.
There were simply too many of them. Even if they were only two hundred chickens, it would take quite some time to slaughter them all — let alone two hundred martial warriors.
Just killing those ten Third Grade captains would take some effort.
How could the difficulty scale like this?
The number of enemies had increased tenfold, but the difficulty had increased far more than that.
He had already discovered earlier that these soldiers were highly skilled in battle formations. Once they formed ranks and attacked in unison, their combined strength far exceeded their individual power.
If all two hundred soldiers formed a formation, their combined might would surpass even a First Grade expert.
There was a huge difference between the battlefield and the martial world — and that difference was precisely why armies existed in this world.
Back then, the Founding Emperor of Great Jin swept across the land with a hundred thousand iron cavalry, invincible in all directions. Even the Five Great Clans and the Nine Great Sects had no choice but to bow before him.
Therefore, this battle had to end swiftly. Chen Ming decided to take advantage of the terrain and engage in close-quarters alley fighting, preventing them from forming large-scale formations of a hundred men or more.
Having made up his mind, he wasted no more time and took action.
To capture the thief, capture the king first. His primary targets were the ten Third Grade captains — once they were dead, the remaining soldiers would be of no concern.
…
At this moment, inside Qianyuan Hall.
On the massive screen at the center, twenty names flickered in constant change, their merit scores rising rapidly — already surpassing a thousand in the blink of an eye.
The top three names were Wang Jinhu, Duan Sijue, and Ling Qingying, leading by a massive margin.
Their superiority over the rest was clear for all to see.
From time to time, sighs of frustration came from the seats below — they belonged to families whose descendants had already failed the trial.
The first floor of the Merit Hall had been simple; everyone had passed it easily.
But the difficulty of the second floor had increased drastically, and more and more were dying of exhaustion — meaning their trial had failed.
“Wait, that’s strange. They’ve already died quite some time ago. Why haven’t they been transported out?”
Before long, murmurs began to spread.
Normally, there was no danger in the Merit Hall trial. Once a participant “died,” they would be immediately teleported out.
Yet now, many had fallen, and not a single one had returned.
Finally, someone could no longer sit still. He stepped forward, knelt before the emperor, and said, “Your Majesty, this old minister’s grandson has been dead for half an hour. Why has he not yet been transmitted out?”
“Oh?”
The emperor, who had been focused on his wager with the empress and the princess royal, had not noticed this anomaly. He immediately said, “Do not panic, my loyal subject. I shall have it investigated at once. Someone, summon the Celestial Master!”
The Merit Hall had always been under the supervision of the Celestial Master Residence.
Naturally, the Night Banquet of the Ghost Festival was also personally overseen by the Celestial Master. However, the Celestial Master preferred solitude, and thus did not sit with the others, instead remaining in quiet meditation behind the hall.
Before long, the eunuch who had gone to summon him rushed back, panic on his face.
“Your Majesty, bad news — the Celestial Master… has entered Nirvana!”
“What?”
The entire hall erupted in shock.
The current Celestial Master was a Yang Spirit cultivator — one of the supreme experts in existence. How could he suddenly enter Nirvana without warning?
The emperor’s face paled; he realized the gravity of the situation.
If the Celestial Master had truly entered Nirvana, then what of those trapped within the Merit Hall?
They were over a hundred of the Great Jin Dynasty’s most outstanding young nobles and officials. If they all perished within, the consequences would be catastrophic.
The emperor was not the only one who understood this — the realization struck everyone present.
In an instant, Qianyuan Hall fell into chaos.
Their most promising heirs were still inside. How could they not panic?
“Silence!”
Suddenly, a commanding voice suppressed all the noise. Everyone froze instinctively.
It came from an old eunuch standing behind the emperor — frail and unremarkable, someone no one had paid any attention to before.
Yet with a single word, he seized control of the room.
The emperor spoke loudly, “My loyal subjects, do not panic. I shall immediately send men to the Celestial Master Residence to seek assistance!”
A few elderly ministers began to weep. “Your Majesty, that is this old servant’s only grandson — please, you must save him!”
“Your Majesty—”
“…”
The emperor was overwhelmed, forced to soothe them while anxiously awaiting word from the Celestial Master Residence.
…
At the Duke of Jingguo’s Residence seating area, Gu Haochuan narrowed his eyes and said gravely, “For such an incident to occur during the Merit Hall trial… I wonder if it will affect the allocation of places for the Immortal Estate.”
The eldest young lady, Gu Yuyong, frowned. “Seventh Brother’s life and death are still unknown, yet Fifth Uncle only worries about the Immortal Estate quota. That seems… improper.”
Realizing his slip, Gu Haochuan quickly replied, “Don’t worry. That kid’s a slippery one — even if everyone else dies, he’ll still find a way to survive.”
“Let’s hope so.”
Gu Yuyong turned back toward the glowing screen.
As the eldest daughter of the Duke’s Residence, her honor was bound with that of the entire house. With Gu Xianyu’s displayed talent, he was sure to make the family proud and bring glory to them all.
Naturally, she placed great importance on her newly risen seventh brother and had no desire to see him die in this trial.
…
“He… he’ll be fine, won’t he?”
No one worried more about Gu Xianyu than Xia Mudan. When the incident occurred, her face turned deathly pale.
Her eyes stayed fixed on the screen showing Gu Xianyu battling the Great Wei soldiers, filled with tension and dread.
This situation was far too strange — in five hundred years, the Merit Hall had never once malfunctioned.
And now, even the Celestial Master had entered Nirvana.
What kind of person was the Celestial Master? Among cultivators, he was a supreme being. How could someone like that die without cause? And in the very heart of the imperial palace, no less.
Everything about this felt as though an unseen hand was manipulating events — orchestrating some vast and sinister scheme.
And those taking part in the Merit Hall trial were nothing more than sacrificial pawns.
The more Xia Mudan thought about it, the more terrified she became — her heart clenched painfully for Gu Xianyu still trapped within.
…
Chen Ming, unaware of the chaos outside, was busy killing.
No — not killing people.
When his Taiyue Sword struck those soldiers, the sensation was not that of flesh and blood — but rather like cutting through the spectral souls of Qingwei Heaven.
These Great Wei soldiers weren’t living men, yet they weren’t mere illusions either — for each one he slew, he received experience points.
That meant they could only be some form of restless spirits.
It had to be said, the Founding Emperor of Great Jin was ruthless indeed — to have sealed the souls of so many Great Wei soldiers within the so-called Merit Hall, forcing them to linger for five hundred years without reincarnation.
It was said that the Founding Emperor harbored immense hatred for Great Wei and had purged its officials and soldiers with brutal ferocity. That much, it seemed, was no exaggeration.
After some time, Chen Ming finally released the spirits of the two hundred Great Wei soldiers.
To die by his sword meant true release — a final liberation for them.
The soldiers fought fearlessly to the very end, not a single one attempting to flee.
Perhaps their souls, bound by the Merit Hall, had no will of their own anymore.
Then, golden light shone once more.
Chen Ming was transported to the third level.
…
“Two thousand men? Isn’t this a bit ridiculous?”
After exploring the area, Chen Ming discovered that the number of soldiers had increased tenfold again — now numbering two thousand, or one hundred squads of twenty men each.
Though there were no Second Grade commanders to lead them in forming thousand-man battle formations, the sheer number was absurd. Cutting through all of them would probably leave his arms sore.
“Why are you so slow?”
A slightly familiar voice came from nearby.
Chen Ming turned and saw a familiar figure — Ling Qingying. He blinked in surprise. “Why are you here?”
There wasn’t a trace of blood on Ling Qingying’s body. She gave him a sideways glance and said, “Nonsense. This third level requires multiple participants to pass. Seems like it’s just the two of us.”
Apparently, the Merit Hall had judged their strength high enough for the two of them alone to challenge this floor.
Chen Ming thought that was acceptable — with two people, splitting the workload in half sounded fair.
“Just don’t drag me down,” Ling Qingying said, then suddenly leaped forward, charging alone into the nearby military camp.
Wait, what?
A solo charge?
Has she always been this reckless?
Chen Ming could only shake his head helplessly. Forget it — everyone had their own rhythm. Since she didn’t want to cooperate, he’d just do his part.
Ling Qingying plunged into the camp, cutting down dozens in mere moments.
But these Great Wei soldiers were no pushovers. They quickly formed several hundred-man formations, stabilizing their lines.
Though Ling Qingying was strong, clashing head-on against such formations consumed too much energy. Soon, she found herself bogged down in prolonged combat.
Moments later, one of the formations suddenly collapsed.
Her pressure lessened, and she immediately withdrew from the encirclement.
Then she saw Chen Ming cutting into the ranks like a phantom — one sword, one kill, slicing through Third Grades as though they were nothing. In the blink of an eye, several formations had disintegrated.
“What terrifying footwork!”
Ling Qingying’s pupils contracted. Witnessing his technique firsthand, she had to admit this man was indeed worthy of standing as her equal.
“Leave some for me.”
She charged back into the fray.
If she waited any longer, Chen Ming would kill them all — and every head meant merit points.
Once the Third Grade captains were slain, the soldiers were left leaderless and utterly defenseless, corpses soon covering the ground.