Chapter 82 cleared, Death Forest!

"24 hours? As expected, the flow of time in the Secret Realm is much faster."

Chu Han had looked up detailed information about the previous years' Martial Arts Grand Examinations.

He knew that the Martial Arts Grand Examination was generally divided into two stages.

Passing through the Death Forest was merely the most basic test.

Those who could not pass would not even have the qualification to enter a martial arts university for study.

Chu Han looked at his bracelet; his current score was displayed as 0.

Beside the score was a constantly changing countdown, adding a touch of urgency.

"Let's set off."

Chu Han flickered into the forest, moving rapidly through the trees.

The gravity of the gravity suit on his body was set to 15 times, but his speed remained very fast.

After traveling for several miles, the rotting fallen leaves beneath his feet suddenly moved.

Accompanied by a rustling sound, a swarm of palm-sized black beetles crawled out from under the leaves.

The shells of these beetles gleamed with a metallic luster, and their huge mouthparts were like scissors; they were Unranked Rot Armor Beetles.

Upon seeing Chu Han, transparent thin wings suddenly unfolded from the back carapaces of these beetles, and they took flight.

They flew toward Chu Han in a cloud that blotted out the sky.

A burst of flames immediately rose from Chu Han's body, and the swarm of Rot Armor Beetles pouncing on him instantly turned into flying ash and vanished.

The Rot Armor Beetles had a strong desire to attack and could fly, but their lethality was quite average.

For some ill-prepared examinees, their flight in swarms was indeed terrifying.

But for Chu Han, it didn't even count as a drizzle.

After he dealt with these Rot Armor Beetles, the score on his bracelet changed, becoming 35 points.

Continuing forward, the exotic beasts he encountered were all Unranked existences.

After walking for about another hour, a large area of dense shrubs suddenly appeared ahead.

Countless dark green vines were entwined within the shrubs, and the vines were covered with sharp barbs.

These vines reminded Chu Han of the Bloodthirsty Vine seed he had obtained.

As soon as he approached, those vines seemed to come to life, suddenly coiling toward him.

The barbs on the vines glinted with a cold light; once entangled, one would surely have their skin and flesh torn open.

Chu Han didn't bother to dodge and didn't want to take a detour, so he directly erupted the Star-Burning Flame within his body.

Everywhere the red flames reached, these vines instantly ignited.

Soon, the fire spread to the entire area.

In the soaring flames, burning vines could be seen struggling frantically everywhere, but they all soon turned to ash.

The score on Chu Han's bracelet grew rapidly, exceeding 100 points all at once.

Clearly, the points for these vines were higher.

He passed through the fire zone, and a swamp appeared ahead.

Green plants floated on the swamp, which looked very peaceful.

But under Chu Han's Mental Energy detection, he immediately sensed hundreds of three-meter-long venomous snakes hidden underwater, waiting for prey to approach.

“They are Rank 1 Water Venom Snakes; their toxicity is very strong.”

Although this was a specially opened Secret Realm, the exotic beasts within were no different from those in reality.

Chu Han recognized them instantly.

With so many Rank 1 venomous snakes gathered beneath the swamp, it was clearly intended to make examinees avoid the danger here.

Only some powerful examinees would consider crossing the swamp directly.

Whether taking a detour or choosing to match wits and courage with the venomous snakes, this swamp would consume a lot of the examinees' time.

Finally encountering Rank 1 exotic beasts, Chu Han was still somewhat excited.

Because killing Rank 1 exotic beasts would earn a higher score.

Thus, he unhesitatingly leaped into the swamp.

The next moment, ripples suddenly rose on the water's surface, and several arrow-like figures lunged at him from all sides.

Suddenly, a burst of thunder light erupted from Chu Han's body.

As the lightning jumped, the Water Venom Snakes attacking from all around were instantly electrocuted into charcoal, falling twitching into the water.

“Such powerful might; as expected of a Thunder Attribute attack.”

The attack that just killed several Water Venom Snakes was merely an external release of Qi, yet its power pleasantly surprised him.

It was Chu Han's first time using the Thunder Attribute in actual combat, and he suddenly felt playful.

He stomped hard on the water's surface, channeling a large amount of Thunder Attribute Qi into the water.

Immediately, the entire swamp began to boil, and a large number of Water Venom Snakes, stimulated by the lightning, shot out of the water one after another.

This was exactly the scene Chu Han wanted to see.

His fists were enveloped in lightning, and at the same time, he performed the movement technique Thunder Movement, his figure turning into a bolt of electric light as he rapidly wove between the Water Venom Snakes.

Simultaneously, his fists struck out rapidly, each punch carrying the power of lightning.

This was precisely the C-Rank Martial Skill he had learned two days ago: Flashing Current Shadow Fist.

This Martial Skill focused on punching as fast as lightning; one was only considered to have reached the entry level if they could strike at least dozens of punches per second.

Combined with the special effects of Thunder Attribute Qi, it could deliver ultra-high-speed strikes to the target.

Countless fist shadows quickly covered the surrounding Water Venom Snakes; wherever they passed, the snakes exploded into a mist of blood, and the water surface was soon dyed red by their blood.

By the time he crossed the swamp, his score had already exceeded 500 points.

Next, Chu Han killed a Rank 3 Thousand-Year-Old Pagoda Tree that had become a spirit.

He wiped out a group of bloodthirsty Rank 2 Piranha Flowers.

Finally, he eliminated a swarm of Rank 1 Spotted Giant Scutigeras.

Only then could he be considered to have successfully broken through all the core areas of the Death Forest.

When he reached the end of the Death Forest and passed the first stage of the examination, his score had already exceeded 1,000 points.

And the time he took to cross the Death Forest was only 3 hours.

A notification that he had passed the examination also appeared on his bracelet.

“Clearance time: 3 hours, 5 minutes, 13 seconds. Score obtained: 1,373.”

Clicking the return-and-wait button on the bracelet, a teleportation gate appeared in front of him.

Entering the teleportation gate, he arrived in a new space.

Before the second stage of the exam began, he needed to wait for the other examinees.

The flow of time in this new space would slow down, becoming the same as reality.

Therefore, Chu Han would not have to wait for too long.

Outside, in a huge room on the top floor of the Provincial Martial Arts Association.

This was both the data center for real-time monitoring of examinee information across the province,

and the only room in Tianyuan Province capable of controlling the Grand Examination Secret Realm.

The Martial Arts Grand Examination was a top-tier event in the Dragon Summer Federation, so every time the Secret Realm opened, many powerful experts would be stationed here to oversee it.

And the true overseer among these experts was the Chu Tianxiong Chu Tianxiong, an existence whose footstep could shake the entire province.

Although the president of the Tianyuan Provincial Martial Arts Association was also here, he was very polite in the face of Chu Tianxiong.

Chu Tianxiong would come out of seclusion every year during the Grand Examination to oversee the examination center.

At the same time, he would also pay close attention to the Genius examinees of Tianyuan Province.

He looked at the examination time on the screen and smiled, “Three hours have passed in the Death Forest; some of the impressive little fellows should have already broken through the middle swamp area.”

Immediately, a middle-aged man said, “Elder Chu, we have quite a few good prospects in our Tianyuan Province this year; I just don't know if anyone can break the records of the Seniors.”

“Oh, everyone speak up. I've been in seclusion for a long time and don't know much about this year's geniuses yet,” Chu Tianxiong suddenly became interested.

Upon hearing this, the others in the room began to voice their opinions.

“I guess the person with the fastest progress is Li Tianhe from the Provincial Experimental High School. His S-Rank talent, Hurricane Evil, allows him to quickly pass through that swamp. As long as he doesn't fight the underwater creatures and doesn't get greedy for points, he will surely be first in the first stage.”

“Not necessarily. Don't forget Li Tianhe's classmate Lin Shuya. Her talent is an A-Rank space-type talent; she should be even better at dealing with the environment of the Death Forest.”

“Ling Ying of the Ling Family in J City is also not to be underestimated; her martial arts Rank is said to have reached Rank 3.”

“And there's Bai E from the First High School. I heard he awakened a rare A-Rank Shadow Attribute talent; in terms of talent, he's even higher than his cousin Bai Xiao.”

Speaking of the Bai family, everyone fell silent for a moment.

The matter of Bai Xiao had already reached the provincial capital and was no secret among the martial arts high-level of Tianyuan Province.

“Pity that Lan Yu, the Genius with dual talents from Jiang City, was wiped out along with the Lan Family; otherwise, he would have been the greatest rival for Li Tianhe and the others.”

“Don't forget, Jiang City also has a member of the Zhao family; Zhao Feiyu's strength is also not to be underestimated.”

“True, Jiang City has indeed produced some geniuses in the past two years; it's just a pity that this year's Genius fell so quickly.”

Everyone was talking about the most potential examinees in the province; mentioning Lan Yu, everyone couldn't help but feel it was a pity.

“I heard that Chu Han from Jiang City is also participating in the Grand Examination. If the rumors about him defeating Bai Xiao are true, then his strength is the strongest among all examinees.”

Suddenly, someone mentioned Chu Han.

“I heard Chu Han is quite the restless character. I wonder what kind of waves he will stir up in the Martial Arts Grand Examination.”

“His strength is just a rumor spread by the people of Jiang City; it might not be true. I heard he doesn't even have a talent and was kicked out by the school.”

They had not seen Chu Han take action, so they still had doubts about his strength.

At this moment, an information pop-up suddenly appeared on the large screen monitoring the examination information.

Everyone looked together, and all were shocked.

“Chu Han, he has already passed through the Death Forest!”