Forge your destiny into a sword, slash your soul and ascend to immortality

Chapter 186 A Hundred Years of Sitting in Oblivion in the Coffin

The selection of the Imperial Academy is the most important examination for the Wuji Celestial Dynasty to select talented individuals. Passing it is like a fish leaping over the dragon gate, with the position of Grand Spirit Official within reach, and a direct entry into the ruling class.

If one fails to pass, one can only sink into the officialdom, accumulating resources and achievements from the grassroots level, and climbing up little by little.

And all the geniuses produced by the hundreds of billions of people in the entire Celestial Empire, sooner or later, will eventually come to this place, the Imperial College, to undergo trials and tribulations.

Therefore, of the thirty-six people present, thirty-five were extremely devout and attached great importance to the event.

Jing Qian, however, seemed somewhat out of place among these people.

Despite the presence of those around him, whose cultivation levels far surpassed his and whose bloodlines were also exceptional, he was not fooled.

However, a [Sequence God] who surpasses the [Eternal Demon] is mixed in with a group of [Zhong Shenxiu] and [Amazing World], and they are already beings from two completely different worlds.

Within the [Goddess of the Netherworld]'s ranking system for prodigies, she herself is merely a [Eternal Demon].

Over the years, every generation has produced a [Eternal Demon] who has reached the top of the ladder.

However, only a very few individuals, such as Xuanyuanzi, Shenxiaozi, Chunyangzi, and Lingbaozi, were truly able to break through everything and reach the rank of [Sequence God].

All other disciples of the Dao Ancestor lineage are unable to achieve such a supreme accomplishment due to insufficient combat power.

Whenever such a genius appears, it stirs up a huge uproar.

For Jing Qian, the selection of the "Prince of the State" was merely his first performance before the great powers of the heavens.

He calmly followed the other candidates into a hall.

Inside the hall, there were thirty-six iron coffins, neatly arranged.

The coffin lid had been fully opened, and the inside was lined with red silk and a white quilt.

The leader, Lu Fang, is the current Chancellor of the Imperial Academy and has already reached the second rank.

He just opened his mouth and said:
"All candidates, please wait inside the coffin. The Empress will then transmit the questions for this test into the coffin."

All the students are extremely familiar with the examination process. Even Jing Qian has read the relevant content from the "Ehuang Dadian".

So, they tacitly found a coffin, lay down inside, and began to wait silently.

Jing Qian carefully observed the coffin before him with his [Eye of Fleeting Eternity], disassembling its structure:
[Inspiration: The Coffin of Oblivion]

[Rank: First Grade]

【Type: Outer Moon】

This is a unique spiritual artifact wielded by Empress Tianxiang, capable of evolving a virtual reality that is even more realistic than an illusion.

In this virtual reality, most of the changes a cultivator undergoes can be perfectly inherited in the outside world, except for death.

It can be said that the virtual world connected by [Sitting in Oblivion Coffin] is the most advanced cultivation simulator.

The competition among the candidates for the title of "Prince" will also take place within this world within the coffin.

As a magical force descended from the sky, the thirty-six people in the coffins fell into a deep sleep one after another, which was not surprising even to Jing Qian.

This is the effect of [Spiritual Ability] and the Empress's magic.

When Jing Qian woke up, he was shocked to find himself in a dense tropical rainforest.

Looking down, he realized he was wearing nothing but a pair of white underwear.

Upon closer inspection, he discovered that his profound cultivation, as well as his destiny and spiritual energy, were completely sealed and could not be used at all.

This is an extremely unique time-based power seal that returned him to his past state before he entered the Dao.

Jing Qian felt that everything was so inexplicable. It took him a lot of effort to recall that he was participating in the selection of the Imperial Academy.

And it was this very memory that gave him a significant lead over his competitors!

Zooming out, the thirty-six candidates are scattered across a vast expanse of land.

This land is teeming with a thriving ecosystem and civilization.

This piece of land was randomly selected from one of the twelve major stars of [Tianjing].

The thirty-six candidates will have their memories and cultivation sealed and will be randomly assigned to different regions on the continent.

They will rejoin the Heavenly Dynasty in this land under the jurisdiction of the [Boundless Heavenly Dynasty], begin their cultivation, and slowly regain their cultivation and memories. In the end, they will compete and eliminate each other until only one person remains to win.

[Tianxiang] controls the power of [Time Sequence]. Within this virtual world, the flow of time is completely different from that of the outside world.

A year in the illusionary realm is at most equivalent to a day in the outside world.

In essence, it is completely different from the [Zhuoling Cave] that Jing Qian once visited.

Within the Longevity Fish Pond controlled by the Dragon Fisherman, cultivators obtain lifespan and vital energy squeezed from living beings by the Spiritual Mechanism, which are used to replenish themselves and enhance their origin.

Such miraculous powers are only effective for cultivators of the lower three ranks.

Within the [Coffin of Oblivion] of [Goddess Ego], cultivators experience a true illusion of time!
Each [Time Sequence] provides cultivators with entirely different kinds of power.

This is because each cultivator of the [Time Sequence] path, after obtaining the pass to comprehend the Great Dao of Time, has completely different manifestations in their [Destiny] and [Spiritual Energy] after comprehending it.

[Goddess Egao] has controlled the power of [Time Sequence] for many years, awakened the destiny of [Sitting in Oblivion], and even refined this set of thirty-six [Sitting in Oblivion Coffins] that combine first-grade spiritual coffins, which can easily influence the flow of time in these candidates.

This far surpasses Jing Qian's development of [Time Sequence]!
To him, the [Time Sequence] on his body is merely a high-level [Lifespan] destiny that can provide unlimited lifespan.

He has not yet formed a complete system of the Great Dao of Time and integrated it into his cultivation.

However, thanks to the [Time Sequence] within him, he managed to break free of a sliver of consciousness from the seal of the Empress's power.

While other candidates were still muddling through and going with the flow.

Jing Qian has rediscovered himself and has begun to try to understand and experience the "Sitting in Oblivion Coffin".

He could clearly feel that the [Time Sequence] within his body was gradually eroding the Empress's seal.

Even if he does nothing, he will rediscover all his strength through this process.

Now that he has a significant lead, he naturally won't let that advantage slip away.

Before coming to this [Coffin of Oblivion], he never imagined that he would have such an opportunity.

He sat cross-legged deep in the jungle, silently sensing and waiting for the power of [Time Sequence] within him to gather and break through the Empress's first seal.

This allows him to restore his cultivation to the [Destiny] level and regain the power of a [Fate Token].

Jing Qian raised his hand and pointed, and [The Other Shore is Unending] suddenly appeared in his sea of ​​consciousness, along with dozens of [White Fang Life Essence] that condensed at the same time.

Then, he transformed into a light streak of light, soaring into the sky and drifting away along the rainforest beneath his feet. Having lost all his cultivation, leaving only a single escape technique, the experience was quite peculiar.

Many offensive tactics have disappeared, so the impact is not so obvious.

Without the divine eye between his eyebrows and the destiny of the [Worldly Understanding], he seemed to have become a mindless blind man, his movements were somewhat restricted, and he was extremely unaccustomed to it.

Right now, what he needs to do is regain his cultivation level as soon as possible.

Besides the attrition of the power of [Time Sequence], [God of God] has prepared quite a few means to break the seal in advance.

These methods are all tests for the students.

Whether it's pursuing education, joining the military, or even doing business or practicing medicine, etc.

As long as students enter any industry and follow the pre-planned path of tasks to gradually improve, their luck will also change and slowly increase as their status changes.

Once the accumulated fortune exceeds a certain limit, the student's cultivation and memory will rapidly improve.

No matter what means are used, as long as they can increase one's own luck, they can weaken the power of the Empress's Time Seal.

Normally, the prodigies who participate in the selection of the "Imperial Sons" would have to struggle in this illusionary realm for twenty or thirty years before their magical power could be fully restored.

That will be the most intense stage of competition between them.

Those who are the first to break the seal will naturally accumulate a powerful advantage.

However, Jing Qian is not on the same level as his competitors. He has already used his cheat codes, so there is no need for him to compete.

The position of "Guozi" (Imperial Academy) was already destined to be his.

However, he was in no hurry to end this virtual reality session prematurely.

The illusion within the "Sitting in Oblivion Coffin" can be considered the essence of the Great Dao of Time personally demonstrated to him by the Empress.

He naturally wanted to make good use of this opportunity to carefully reflect on it.

Ideally, he should be able to fully grasp the basics and condense his own unique divine power of time!

Jing Qian drifted and staggered into a small county town. Using his escape technique, he robbed several wealthy ordinary families of their wealth and bought himself a comfortable set of clothes.

Then, he spent a lot of money to find a local tycoon with connections in both the legal and illegal worlds, bought a house and land there, and settled down.

Immediately afterwards, he managed to get a spot in the county school and, being very obedient, started attending school in an orderly manner!
Even though the [Worldly Understanding] skill was not yet unlocked, his extraordinary talent allowed him to quickly gain fame in the county school within a few days.

In less than half a year, he had built up connections throughout the county, successfully passed the county examination, and obtained the title of a child scholar.

He thus broke the seal on his destiny once again and retrieved the Worldly Solution.

From then on, his academic journey took off like a rocket.

This path of pursuing education through the imperial examinations was simply a way for him to accumulate good fortune, chosen casually according to the normal rules of the game.

For other candidates, if they study and take exams along the way, and succeed in the imperial examination, they can naturally gather a huge amount of luck and break the seal on the empress.

However, after having their cultivation and memories sealed, it is not an easy task to truly master their skills.

For Jing Qian, crushing through all levels and achieving the highest honors in the imperial examinations was a piece of cake!
He remained hidden behind his identity as a student, steadily advancing his career.

But his entire focus had already been on his true cultivation.

The illusion within the [Coffin of Oblivion] blends with the real world, and his cultivation here can also be inherited by the outside world.

Time flows at an unusual rate here; a day outside is equivalent to a year inside.

This is an aura personally bestowed by the Empress to accelerate cultivation.

For the other students, trapped within the Time Seal, by the time they recover their cultivation, the entire selection process will be almost over.

But what Jingqian lacked most was the accumulation of time!

During his cultivation at the lower three ranks, he was fortunate enough to receive a hundred years' worth of lifespan from the Longevity Fish Pond in the Cleansing Spirit Cave, along with a massive amount of vital energy, which saved him a great deal of cultivation time.

At this moment, while cultivating at the middle level, he unexpectedly obtained an opportunity with the same effect.

He even wanted to stay inside that "Coffin of Oblivion" and never come out!
Even though there was no [Fire of Fiends] to condense within this illusion, his magical power cultivation almost stagnated.

But the amount of spiritual practice he owes is simply too much!
He wouldn't waste a single second of the decades of free time he could cultivate, and he could make the most of his time!
And so, while the other candidates were fighting with all their might for the position of [Guozi] (Imperial Academy).

Jingqian, on the other hand, devoted himself to reading and spiritual practice, ignoring everything else outside his window.

Three years have passed in the blink of an eye, and none of the thirty-five candidates have yet successfully entered the Dao.

But Jingqian had already become the top scholar in the imperial examination and had completely lifted the Empress's seal on time.

Furthermore, during this period, he became engrossed in the Life Stele Space, which eroded the divine soul avatar of the Nine-Headed Second-Rank Insect Demon, comprehended the 192nd level of the [Sea of ​​Primordial Qi], and greatly increased the quality of his own [Golden Immortal Spiritual Qi].

Five years later, Jing Qian's term as a probationary official came to an end. However, he gave up all his future prospects in officialdom, resolutely resigned and went into seclusion. He returned to that small border town and established an academy.

During these five years, he relentlessly exploited his lifespan, driving the [Sculpting of Wisdom] to refine the [Spiritual Mechanism].

His own [Yanfu Heaven] spiritual energy directly entered the second rank, causing Jing Qian's [Yanfu Dao] cultivation to increase dramatically.

In the years that followed, Jingqian stayed at his academy, teaching, writing books, and cultivating himself in secret, achieving great success.

In just twenty years, he had students all over the world, published numerous works, and become a great Confucian scholar, winning extremely high personal prestige in this illusory world.

During this period, both the [Qi Li Divine Seal] and the [Array Nail] also advanced directly to the second rank.

Qili has been by his side for many years, making great contributions. His cultivation level had already fallen behind and he was gradually being marginalized. This time, he has made a huge leap forward, and his status has risen significantly. He is about to be on par with [Good Corn].

At this stage, candidates for the [Imperial Son] have gradually awakened their memories and cultivation.

Competition among them is gradually intensifying.

With Jing Qian being such an eye-catching target, it was inevitable that someone would come knocking on his door to test his abilities.

Over the course of twenty years, he easily eliminated three rivals, removing them from the illusion.

But at this moment, he was already completely absorbed in his cultivation and couldn't be bothered with these trivial matters.

He began to conceal his whereabouts even more thoroughly.

With his cultivation and supernatural abilities, if he really wanted to hide it, even if others dug three feet into the ground, they would not be able to find it.

And so, he hid in the shadows, cultivating his spiritual energy, comprehending primordial energy, and refining his time every day, finding great joy in it.

When he had completed all his spiritual practice to perfection, he looked back and realized that a hundred years had passed!

(End of this chapter)