"Boom!" The ground caved in.

Everything happened in an instant. Many candidates had not even fully recovered from the shock.

Fang Zhengzhi himself was rather doubtful of what just happened. He was still quite lost, unsure if what he was seeing now was real or fake.

Moments ago.

He had been eliminated and told to advance at the same time.

Was this collapse the same as before? Try again after the world had collapsed?

In actual fact, Fang Zhengzhi's choice may have seen random, but it was actually based on hints gotten from the previous two barriers.

The first was the Broken Bridge.

The second was the Twin Stone Tablets.

They had already revealed the rules of the World of the Sage.

Blurry.

One in the light, one in the dark.

Since that was the case, a choice between four should not appear.

One in the light, one in the dark, and blurry.

Fang Zhengzhi had no idea if he had guessed correctly. That being said, he felt that if he had to make a choice, the door behind him would give him the highest chance.

It did not seem very logical, and there was no way of proving that this was the correct method.

That being said, pa.s.sing the stone house required luck.

Then...

He did not need to go off much logic or sense.

He was just trying his luck.

Inside the Imperial Academy, King Duan and Han Zhangfeng grew increasingly unsettled.

A king and a Chief Examiner should never have such expressions, but they had it. Even the Ninth Prince dropped his cup of tea.

The three of them had the same reaction. Even the messenger who rushed over was incredibly fl.u.s.tered.

The screen in front of them had completely blanked out.

That meant that the World of the Sage was out of control.

This was something that was rare, even in the annals of history. A pocket dimension rarely went out of control.

The only way that could happen was that the pocket dimension grew a consciousness. However, Sagely Battle G.o.d Meng Tian had died a long time ago.

How could his pocket dimension have a consciousness?

That was impossible.

Unless...

King Duan and Han Zhangfeng looked at each other. There was only one possibility, one reason to explain what was happening.

"Meng Tian left a shred of his consciousness in the pocket dimension before his death?"

The two of them spoke at the same time, stunned by what they were suggesting.

If Meng Tian had left a shred of consciousness in there, why hasn't anyone found it all these years? Why hasn't anyone come into contact with it?

Is it possible that he left it...

"In that sword?!"

Han Zhangfeng thought of it first.

That was something that existed only in legends. No one had seen it or found it before.

They could not even be sure that it exists.

However, everyone knew that he had made his name whilst using a sword. He had also killed the Demon Lord with a sword.

But...

No one saw that sword after he dispatched the Demon lord.

Meng Tian left the world and left behind the World of the sage. However, he did not take the sword with him. As a result, everyone naturally guessed that the sword was in the World of the Sage.

King Duan's gaze was icy. He was fully aware of the implications of losing control over the World of the Sage during the Imperial Examinations.

"Ninth Brother, you and I have the responsibility of being invigilators of this edition of the examinations. Now that the World of the Sage is out of control and unpredictable, I have to stay with Official Han to deal with it. Please brave the rain and report this to the Emperor!"

"Sure!" The Ninth Prince did not hesitate to agree.

Then, he turned and left.

After the Ninth Prince had walked out, King Duan looked at Han Zhangfeng.

"Official Han, how do you propose we resolve this?"

"Go and see if the doorway into the World of the Sage is pa.s.sable, then, report back to me immediately." Han Zhangfeng ordered one of the messengers.

"Yes sir!" The messenger ran out upon receiving the orders.

"Now that the World of the Sage is out of control, what do you think are Fang Zhengzhi's chances of coming out alive?" King Duan smiled.

"I think they are slim!" Han Zhangfeng replied softly. However, his expression was slightly pained.

As the Chief Imperial Messenger of the Imperial Academy, Han Zhangfeng has presided over many imperial examinations. He never wanted to see the elite talents stuck in a pocket dimension.

But...

This was Meng Tian's pocket dimension. In order to break it down by force, one needed to be at least three or four times more powerful.

Even if it was possible, it could cause the World of the Sage to crumble.

This was why Han Zhangfeng thought the chances were slim.

In the World of the Sage, Ping Yang grabbed Fang Zhengzhi's arm tightly. Her eyes were filled with awe, her jaw dropped as she gasped.

Fang Zhengzhi did not like the fact that she held his arm in a death grip.

However, he decided against throwing her off when he saw what was unfolding in front of his eyes.

The sword...

The sword that Fang Zhengzhi had wanted to find.

This was a sword that many people, not just Fang Zhengzhi, had wanted to find. However, for the past few centuries, no one had even laid eyes on it.

And now, there were many swords.

Heavy ones, light ones, long ones, short ones...

Countless swords were stabbed into the rocks on the ground. In the middle of it all, there was an exquisite sword which glowed with a golden light. A golden dragon wrapped itself around the sword hilt, and here was a golden pearl at the tip of the sword.

However, that sword was chained up.

Black chains locked the hilt in place, and they were tied in all four directions to large black rocks.

"That sword... could it be?!"

"That must be Meng Tian's sword!"

"My gosh, this sword really exists?!"

There were only about 30 students left in the World of the Sage.

All of the candidates cl.u.s.tered together, including Xing Qingsui and Nangong Mu, who had advanced to the fourth round.

No one bothered about why there was a sea of swords after the World of the Sage crumbled. They were all looking at that sword.

Yan Xiu was staring at it too. He did not move, turning to look at Fang Zhengzhi instead.

Fang Zhengzhi stared at that sword.

He could feel that the sword was immensely powerful. It glowed as brightly as the sun amongst the sea of swords. It was clearly the king of all the blades here.