With the sword grasped firmly, the confusion in my heart vanished. So what if the sword is resisted by this Epoch? With my sword in hand, I fear nothing. If the supreme Dao upon the sword does not exist, then I shall use my sword to cleave forth the supreme Dao of the sword itself. Very well, then face me seriously.

Tensing his grip on the long sword, Lu Yuan gazed up at the sky filled with thunder dragons, realizing with a terrible sense of misfortune that they were all targeting him. It was truly agonizingly unlucky—how could this happen! With no other option presenting itself, he unleashed the long sword in his grasp, confronting the endless torrent of thunder dragons.

In truth, Lu Yuan was unaware that he had already attained the body of the Sword Emperor. The sword belongs to the Five Metals. And the Sword Emperor is even more so. Metal naturally attracts lightning. Lu Yuan’s Sword Emperor body drew in an uncountable amount of lightning. The thundering dragons, the coiling thunder jiaos, the thunder phoenixes, and the thunder spirits all descended upon Lu Yuan. This time, Lu Yuan’s resolve was crystal clear; his belief strengthened, and his Sword Dao advanced further. Yet, human strength has its limits. Facing such a multitude of thunder dragons, jiaos, phoenixes, and spirits, he could no longer hold out. A single sword slash cleaved through the void; Lu Yuan fought on ceaselessly.

At Lu Yuan’s location, practically the largest mass of thunder had coalesced around him, with lightning continually striking down. The others secretly lamented his terrible luck; so many thunder dragons converging upon him! Naturally, they kept a safe distance, watching Lu Yuan take the punishment. Lu Yuan displayed the full extent of his swordsmanship, managing to sever one thunder jiao, but immediately, a sharp pain struck him as a thunder dragon behind him unleashed a roar-cannon blast.

Finally, with a sharp crack, he tumbled downwards. This time, the result wasn't terrible; he fell at the 850th drop mark, ranking 350th.

……

Next came the environment simulation of the Central Celestial Dynasty's mountain ranges. This setting contained no monstrous beasts whatsoever, and each participant was spatially separated by a significant distance. Each person was confined to an area barely an inch square, unable to move much at all. Immediately following this containment, continuous mountain ranges began to descend in cycles, smashing down upon them.

Was this an assessment of one’s endurance against mountain ranges? Lu Yuan raised his hand, drew his sword, and struck with his magical power. One clean slice went forth, but just how solid was this mountain range? Its sheer density surpassed that of ordinary external mountains by over a hundred times, and its weight was likewise more than a hundred times heavier. Was this truly the mountain range of the Central Celestial Dynasty?

In an instant, Lu Yuan shifted his strategy. Instead of cleaving the mountain range apart, he aimed to redirect its trajectory, preventing it from crushing him. To split a peak that was over a hundred times stronger than a normal mountain required an immense amount of vital energy, far more than he could sustain. Just as he finished altering the position of that mountain range, another one immediately descended.

It was mountain range after mountain range! This was purely testing one's raw strength and magical power endurance; even the most exquisite sword techniques were becoming somewhat useless. It seemed this stage would not be easy to pass, Lu Yuan inwardly groaned.

Compounding the difficulty, Lu Yuan's weakest attribute was his magical power, roughly equivalent to a cultivator at the Sixth Stage of the Great Dao Realm, and even falling slightly short of late-stage or peak Sixth Stage cultivators. Facing the relentless assault of these enormous Central Celestial Dynasty mountains smashing down, despite exerting his full power, the colossal peaks kept plummeting one after another.

Another one! Lu Yuan no longer bothered with transformation; his magical power manifested as great hands, seeking the weakest point to block the impact. But with a resounding bang, what struck above him wasn't a single peak, but a Seven-Peak Cascade—seven mountains layered atop one another, crashing down. The immense forces compounded one upon the other, and Lu Yuan finally could not sustain the pressure, falling from the trial.

This time, the result was neither good nor bad: the 970th drop, placing him 230th.

……

The final item in the environmental assessment was adaptation to the Central Celestial Dynasty's oceans. In the Central Celestial Dynasty, once one ventured outside the civilized sect's established strongholds, the scenery was eternally mutable; an ocean could spontaneously manifest at any moment.

Immediately, all twelve hundred geniuses felt themselves submerged in ocean water. The Central Celestial Dynasty’s ocean seemed devoid of any monsters in its depths, and the water pressure was only ten times that of ordinary regional oceans. As the geniuses contemplated this, one suddenly muttered, "Eh, that's an Immortal Sword, an Immortal Sword! The one I've dreamed of." However, few heard his mumbling as most had already slipped into their own personal illusions.

Lu Yuan found himself seemingly reborn, transported back to his youth when he first arrived at Mount Hua in his early teens. Back then, his Master, Li Yuanbai, was still alive, and harmony reigned within Mount Hua. His days consisted only of sleeping, drinking, and practicing the sword. No worries plagued him; life was effortless and free. Wait, this is an illusion! Master is long dead, and Mount Hua has undergone several dynastic changes. He thought this internally, yet the illusion felt unbearably real. "I am the Sword Emperor! All evils, depart!" Lu Yuan roared, instantly snapping back to sobriety. He realized he was still in the ocean, but a second wave of illusion immediately struck. This was the sea of the Central Celestial Dynasty; the seawater inherently generated illusions, and even if one repelled one layer, a new one instantly formed, attacking relentlessly, layer upon layer, like a great tide.

Eventually, at some unknown point, Lu Yuan succumbed to this illusionary onslaught. When he awoke again, he had fallen onto the cold, hard floor of the grand hall. "Lu Yuan, not bad this time; you ranked fifth. Only four others remain holding out behind you." Lu Yuan looked up. In the void above, only Gu Qiushui, Fu Ying, Xiao Fengxiong, and Li Qiuhuan were still enduring. "Meaning his resistance to illusions is decent, but everything else is far worse," Mo Zihe sneered proudly from the side. He had seen Lu Yuan's scores for the other five tests: Little Primordial Era environment, 1200th place; Central Celestial Dynasty Fire, 900th place; Central Celestial Dynasty Lightning, 350th place; Central Celestial Dynasty Mountains, 230th place; and Central Celestial Dynasty Illusion, 5th place. So, only his illusion defense showed any real strength. His rankings in other areas were inferior to Mo Zihe, Young Master Mo. His overall rank was also below Young Master Mo. Lu Yuan secretly cursed his rotten luck.

Indeed, it was rotten luck! In the Little Primordial Era environment, he was suppressed by the setting; the higher his Sword Dao attainment, the worse off he was. In the Central Celestial Dynasty Fire trial, he had been distracted and had used the Water Emperor Sword Dao to attract the siege of fire phoenixes. The Lightning trial was due to his Sword Emperor realm drawing the lightning. The Central Celestial Dynasty Mountain trial was due to his comparatively weak magical power. Finally, only the Illusion trial showcased some of his actual strength. Now, his comprehensive ranking was likely quite low, possibly behind 400th place. And 400th place would not secure entry into the Central Celestial Dynasty. Although there was a second round of assessment later, the current situation was already perilous. Lu Yuan took a deep breath. With his actual strength, he shouldn't rank this low. Was this the suppression power of the Epoch? But it didn't matter; he had long since clarified his inner self. If the Epoch suppressed him, he would shatter the Epoch, pursuing that supreme eternity and realizing his own ultimate Dao of the Sword. His heart settled; what were a few final difficulties compared to that? My heart holds no regret! The early attempts stumbled, but he would strive harder in the later stages.

……

Zhou Zhongyong stood with his hands clasped behind his back: "Excellent. It seems you have completed the first phase of the assessment. Your individual rankings for the first phase have been determined. Now, I shall announce the rankings for the first assessment: First place, Fu Ying; second, Xiao Fengxiong; third, Gu Qiushui; fourth, Li Qiuhuan; fifth, Yin Wuji... thirty-second, Shi Feixian... eighty-first, Mo Zihe... four hundred sixty-seventh, Lu Yuan... one thousand seventh, Yue Nv Xiaoqing... two thousandth, Fang Tieshi."

The first set of rankings was finally revealed. As expected, he placed beyond the 400th mark. Lu Yuan took another deep breath. Since that was the case, there was no alternative but to double his efforts moving forward.

Zhou Zhongyong spoke from the stage: "Next, an important announcement. Due to reasons from above"—he gestured upwards with his finger, then continued—"the five sections of the environmental assessment will now be worth twenty points in total, instead of the originally stipulated fifty points. The subsequent combat portions will account for eighty points."

This immediately stirred up an uproar among the crowd. Those ranked higher, within the top 400, began to incite trouble. "Why? We were told it was fifty points initially." "Yes, changing it during the assessment!" a group shouted, clearly furious. "Good change! Environmental adaptation is nothing; real fighting is what matters. We want genuine, blades-drawn combat!" This was clearly voiced by those ranked below 400, cheering the change. There were those cheering and those complaining, for a simple reason: if it were fifty points, those who earned more points early on benefited overall; with the points restructured to twenty, those who scored highly in the initial stages clearly lost out. Thus, those who had scored highly early on were immediately depressed, while those ranked below 400 cheered loudly.

Of course, the only ones unconcerned were those at the very top of the rankings, such as the top one hundred. Everyone there had absolute confidence in their eventual victory, so they cared little whether the previous assessment or the upcoming combat assessment carried more weight. These individuals were certain of their entry into the Central Celestial Dynasty regardless.

But what use was this noise? Because this was an order from above. 'Above' represented the Central Celestial Dynasty! An edict from the Central Celestial Dynasty was absolute unless they themselves rescinded it.

Zhuo Lingyun, the Third Ruler of the Chaos Realm of the Great Yong Kingdom, transmitted a message to Zhou Zhongyong: "Is this truly an order from above?" Zhou Zhongyong smiled faintly: "In a way, yes. In another way, no." "What do you mean?" Zhuo Lingyun looked puzzled. "Because the change from fifty points to twenty for the environment test was always part of the trial itself. Adaptive ability is inherently less important than actual combat prowess; this is quite evident. The initial plan was always twenty points versus eighty points. Deliberately stating fifty versus fifty at the start was also meant to test a person’s psychological tolerance and capacity for self-regulation." "Those who scored high initially lost a significant portion of potential gains with this change. If they can regulate their minds now and perform well later, they can certainly enter the Central Celestial Dynasty." "But if they cannot adjust mentally and remain fixated on that slight loss, suppressing their full strength during combat, then they are not worthy of entering the Central Celestial Dynasty anyway. The Central Celestial Dynasty seeks true geniuses, not fragile ones." "This is the underlying principle of the Central Celestial Dynasty’s selection process." "A premeditated adjustment."