Chapter 1301: The Slain Lin Huang
Lin Huang looked up at the side of the cliff and realized he could now sense the first level of Sword Dao true meaning.
Lin Huang could vaguely sense indistinct threats from every one of the sword marks, so different each from the other. Almost every mark emanated an impression that it might be fatal to him.
There were a total of 368 of these sword marks, many more than the Sword Dao within Level-6.
"Is this just the first level of Sword Dao? Nearly every sword mark is emanating death threats."
There were three levels of Martial Dao true meaning, the same as Sword Dao, Blade Dao, and Spear Dao.
The first level: True Martial Level.
Sword Dao true meaning that attained True Martial Level meant that one's Sword Dao technique had achieved an extreme breakthrough. Every sword stroke would be equivalent to the True God's God rule.
The second level: True Meaning Level.
The sword force produced by peak Sword Dao true meaning would be almost unstoppable when the wielder faced cultivators at a lower level of Martial Dao true meaning. Within attack range, it would seem as if the sword were everywhere at once. The magnitude of this was equivalent to the descent of a True God's God Territory; the effect could be doubled if it were unleashed within the True God's God Territory.
The third level: True Self Level.
Only when one's skills, concept, and self were unified would Martial Dao true meaning be fully complete. At this level, Martial Dao true meaning would evolve into Martial Dao true self. In theory, the Martial Dao true self would be immune to most attacks. Only those at the same level of Rule Bending Power or those who had achieved Martial Dao true meaning would be able to hurt those who had achieved Martial Dao true self (any Rule Bending Power below the power of ninth-rank True God would basically be free from harm).
If this were a normal battle, Lin Huang would never even consider touching those sword marks once he sensed the threat coming from them.
However, now that he had death immunity, his consciousness would not be scattered within the sword mark space but would be returned immediately to his physical body. This gave Lin Huang the perfect opportunity, as he had always wanted to explore Sword Dao true meaning.
This was not just a simple opportunity for observation but actual combat, which meant he could directly experience how powerful Sword Dao true meaning could be. There was no way Lin Huang wanted to miss out on this.
His gaze swept the surroundings. He could sense faint emanations from the sword marks. It took Lin Huang quite a while to finally settle on the sword mark he felt was least dangerous. This sword mark had actually been emanating deathly threats all this while, but it was just weaker compared to the others. After making his choice, Lin Huang contacted it with his Divine Telekinesis.
The very next moment, he found himself yet again within the sword mark space.
This time, the background was a green field.
Before his opponent materialized, a Swordfiend Abyss push notification popped up.
"As the participant has already passed the official trial, this round of True Martial Level will not be considered part of the official trial. As the participant has a lower Combat Strength, all battle tactics within normal rules are permissible in order for this trial to be fair. For this round of the checkpoint, all Sword Dao Combat Strength will be decreased to the Nine Rotation destiny-level (Nine Rotation Virtual God-level), and only Sword Dao technique is allowed."
Lin Huang could clearly feel parts of his body unseal the moment this push notification appeared. He sent his consciousness deep within him and realized that not only could he use his Sword Dao techniques, but also all his Monster Skills, Secret Skills, divine abilities, and divine skills. Even his telekinetic power was unsealed.
Aside from being unable to use any of his cards, Lin Huang's ability was released 100%.
Lin Huang also noticed that the sword in his hand had turned into a god battle sword relic. There were even god telekinetic weapon relics hidden in his sleeves.
"Once the participant is slain in this unofficial trial, his consciousness will return to his physical body and the participant will not be able to re-enter the sword mark space he has challenged."
Following the second appearance of the push notification, his opponent's body slowly began to materialize nearby.
Lin Huang immediately began observing his opponent.
It was a girl in green, petite and very skinny. She looked extremely delicate and fragile.
This was Lin Huang's first impression of her; he even doubted whether or not she was a sword cultivator.
However, as her form materialized completely, her Sword Dao manifested itself. Lin Huang could finally sense Sword Dao true meaning emanating from her.
The impression Lin Huang got was that his Sword Dao was nothing but a flowing river facing a vast, unfathomably deep ocean.
The girl in green soon turned her attention to Lin Huang. After a moment of eyeing him up and down, she could not help raising an eyebrow.
"You haven't even attained True Martial Level, and you want to challenge me?"
Lin Huang changed tactics and initiated an attack once the five-second safeguard was up.
His form split into hundreds of scattered shadows and charged at the girl in green from different angles.
A corner of the girl's lips curled up, as if in disdain. Only when Lin Huang's hundreds of scattered shadows reached her did she finally draw her sword. All she did was press her thumb against the hilt of her sword; a green light flashed and dissipated. She only drew out a tenth of her sword before returning it to its sheath.
A circle of green sword gleam glimmered in the space like a water ripple and suddenly spread out in all directions. Lin Huang's true form and his hundreds of scattered shadows were suddenly slowed down.
Before he knew it, each shadow quickly disintegrated and a bloody slash appeared on the neck of Lin Huang's true form.
It was as if Lin Huang could see the dark surface of a lake. A green droplet fell onto the lake's surface and the circle of green ripples slowly spread across it under the moonlight. At the same time, he felt a chilling sensation from his neck, and the next thing he knew, his consciousness had fallen into darkness.
The next second, Lin Huang's consciousness had returned to his physical body within the Swordfiend Abyss.
"Can't you even handle one swing from a sword?!"
Recalling the girl in green's attack, Lin Huang suddenly realized he could not even figure out one sword swing, no, make that one-tenth of her sword swing.
The girl was too fast. The circle of sword gleam might have looked like it was gradually spreading out, but in fact, it was happening at blinding speed.
In fact, Lin Huang had not managed to catch a glimpse of his opponent's sword swing nor the spreading of the sword gleam. It was just his Sword Dao sensing this picture, and that was all.
His body did not react fast enough and he was unable to avoid or deflect the attack. He did not even have the opportunity to face off against his opponent. He could only stand there helpless as he was killed.
"Is this really Sword Dao true meaning?! This is just the first level of the Sword Dao true meaning!" Lin Huang found the experience daunting with the mere memory of that swing of the sword.
He closed his eyes and went into deep thought for quite a while. Still, Lin Huang could not figure out any method of blocking that sword swing.
As far as the speed of his sword swing and his movements went, he was merely a slow-crawling snail in his opponent's eyes.
What Lin Huang did not know was that this first opponent he had faced was a wind attribute sword cultivator with exceptional sword speed.
He closed his eyes and ruminated for another ten minutes, but he still could not figure out any way to break down her method. For now, he was forced to let it lie temporarily, and he turned once again toward the wall of the cliff.
His gaze swept across the wall. The sword mark he had previously chosen no longer emanated any signals. He could only sense 367 sword marks, compared to the previous 368.
"I only have three days here. If I want to explore all the Sword Dao within True Martial level, I would only have less than 12 minutes for each battle to reference and observe. I won't be able to crack any of the sword fighting methods in such a short time and it won't help my Sword Dao to achieve any upgrades. I can't waste any time. I need to focus my observations on a battle that would really help me level up my Sword Dao!"
After spending some time doing a bit of simple planning, Lin Huang quickly chose his second sword mark and used his Divine Telekinesis to make the connection.
Chapter 1302: Celestial Guest
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Lin Huang's opponent in the second sword mark space was a man with a cold look on his face.
This man had noticed that Lin Huang was nowhere near approaching the level of Sword Dao true meaning. When the five-second safeguard was up, the man did not even bother to draw his sword. All he did was raise his sheathed weapon expressionlessly and step back slightly within the space.
Lin Huang thought he saw a snow-white sword gleam flare like a lone star in the night sky. The next moment, his brain exploded and all was left on the ground was a headless corpse.
When his consciousness returned to his physical body, Lin Huang closed his eyes and tried to recall the entire battle.
After taking a few minutes to mentally replay the battle over ten times, Lin Huang realized that he could not have avoided that sword slash. No matter how he tried to dodge it or deflect it, the sword always ended up at his head.
"I knew it. Sword Dao true meaning and Sword Dao are just worlds apart." Lin Huang slowly opened his eyes.
Even though he was slain in an instant in both matches, he did not feel defeated at all. Instead, it gave him much more to think about.
"Attacks with Sword Dao true meaning have the same Rule Bending Power as god rule. If I don't master the same rule at the same level of power, it makes sense that I wouldn't be able to defend against it. I wouldn't be able to do much just by using Sword Dao or other skills."
"I've earned the moniker of Godslayer though, and I do have the God-slaying Power within me, which is also considered a type of God Rule Power. If I can better utilize this power, it should be enough to go up against Sword Dao true meaning."
Lin Huang had obtained this God-slaying Power when he had slain the projection of the God Bless organization's Master God. He had not had the opportunity to use this power since then.
"I'll set a short-term goal for myself. For subsequent trials, I'll do everything I can to use my God-slaying Power to counter Sword Dao true meaning!"
Lin Huang closed his eyes to sense the God-slaying Power within him and tried to make adjustments to it. He was delighted to find that the power was usable and took another few minutes to familiarize himself with it. It was only when he could command it with ease that Lin Huang looked up again towards the cliff.
Lin Huang once again reached out with his Divine Telekinesis after choosing his third sword mark.
When he got into the sword mark space, Lin Huang started adjusting his God-slaying power. He did not even have time to check out what his opponent looked like.
After the five-second safeguard was up, the battle sword in Lin Huang's hand was charged with God-slaying Power. He attacked in a flash.
The very next moment, a sword gleam flashed from the sky with blinding speed and sliced Lin Huang in half at the waist.
He was still slain within seconds in his third battle despite using God-slaying Power.
Lin Huang was slightly speechless when his consciousness returned to his body. This time, his opponent did not even bother to give him a chance.
However, Lin Huang refused to admit defeat. He simulated the third battle in his mind numerous times, trying to figure out different strategies to fight back.
When the fourth battle began, Lin Huang chose to attack from a distance using God-slaying Power.
Before Lin Huang's attack could even touch his opponent however, Lin Huang was sliced in half vertically from the head down. His opponent, being of an obsessive-compulsive nature, had cut him into two perfect halves.
Lin Huang became bolder and bolder in his subsequent battles. After every battle, he still took the effort to strategize for his next fight, but he kept being slain immediately the moment he initiated an attack.
Lin Huang was completely overpowered by his opponents in terms of speed, agility, reflexes, and battle consciousness…
Even though his God-slaying Power was no less powerful than Sword Dao true meaning, he could barely even touch the hem of his opponents' garments.
More than 50 battles continued in this manner. Lin Huang was slain almost immediately in different ways over 50 times.
On his 58th match, Lin Huang was adjusting his God-slaying Power when he sensed a frightening aura coming from opposite him.
The aura emanated from a red-haired man. The bloodlust emanating from him was so intense it was almost tangible. He just stood where he was, his aura like a limitless sea of blood that might break into monstrous waves and crush Lin Huang at any moment.
"This man has a terrifying aura, and his sword force, however indistinct, is already materializing. I'm worried he's already halfway to attaining True Meaning Level." Lin Huang's eyes revealed his fear and hesitation. This red-haired fellow might be the strongest opponent he had ever faced in his life. He probably did not even need to use his sword force—just a look and he could slay Lin Huang easily.
When the red-haired man's physical body was fully materialized, he kept his eyes closed, as if he had not noticed Lin Huang at all.
Even after the five-second safeguard was up, it seemed he had no intention of opening his eyes.
Lin Huang did not hesitate and initiated an attack despite his opponent's arrogance.
God-slaying Power engulfed his sword and the blood-red sword gleam cleaved the air apart as it slashed straight toward its target.
The sword gleam had enough force to slay a True God, but it suddenly melted from the red-haired man's sight at a distance of not more than ten meters.
Yes, it did not vanish but melted like snow instantly.
"Hmm?"
The red-haired man, whose eyes were still closed, seemed to sense something. He suddenly opened his eyes and looked toward the place where the sword gleam had been.
"God-slaying Power?"
He finally lifted his gaze in Lin Huang's direction.
Lin Huang did not hesitate at all as he swung his sword again. Thousands of sword gleams flew through the air towards the red-haired man.
Just like the first sword gleam, all of the sword gleams completely melted the moment they came into a particular area in front of the man, just like snow that could never go near the sun.
"Little brat, that isn't how you use God-slaying Power," the red-haired man said unexpectedly to Lin Huang instead of launching a counterattack.
Lin Huang immediately halted his attack and sheathed his sword when he heard those words.
"Senior, you know about God-slaying Power?"
"Of course, I've crossed boundaries and slain Heavenly Gods," the red-haired man said, extending his left hand. Red energy glowed in the middle of his palm and swiftly condensed into a little red bead.
A terrifying aura filled the entire sword mark space.
This was God-slaying Power, but immensely stronger than what Lin Huang possessed. It was on a different level from the God-slaying Power within Lin Huang, almost like comparing a firefly with the bright moon.
"Senior, you have the God-slaying Power as well! How do I utilize it?" Lin Huang quickly asked for pointers as he realized that his opponent meant to provide guidance.
"At the end of the day, the God-slaying Power is a type of God Rule Power. Even though it can be considered distinctive, in fact, it's not too different from other god rules in terms of basics. Do you know what's the difference between God Rule Power and Divine Power?" the red-haired man said slowly.
"God Rule Power can only be utilized only after a true god is enlightened about god rule. That's what I heard about it, but I don't really understand what that means. I don't even know the difference in basic qualities between God Rule Power and Divine Power," Lin Huang answered honestly.
"You said yourself that God Rule Power is a type of Rule Bending Power. What's so difficult to understand about that?" The red-haired man waved his left hand as he finished speaking.
Above his head, his sword force gathered like dark clouds, shifting suddenly. Lightning the color of blood flashed within the clouds; a moment later, bloody rain poured from the skies, which then turned into snowflakes that slowly drifted down…
In a few short moments, there were multiple transformations.
"Rule Bending Power means that lightning will flash if I want it to flash. It will rain if I want it to rain, and it will snow when I want it to snow…my will is the rule." The red-haired man looked at Lin Huang after he finished speaking, and continued, "Wherever my will is, that's where the rule will take effect. No matter how agile one is, or how quick their sword, they will never be faster than my will. This is the root of all power possessed by those on the god-order level."
"My will is the rule…where the will is, that's where the rule will take effect…" Lin Huang mumbled this repeatedly. What the red-haired man said had finally allowed him to understand the meaning of god rule.
"But what should I do to achieve this?" Lin Huang could not help asking.
"Think about it. Why are those at god-order level (True God) able to control the power of god rule with mere willpower?" The red-haired man did not answer Lin Huang's question but countered it with another question.
"Is it because their willpower and god rule have been integrated into one?" Lin Huang answered uncertainly after giving it some thought. He could not think of any other answers.
"You're not that dumb after all," the red-haired man nodded slightly.
"If that's the case, the right way to use this would be to integrate my willpower with the God-slaying Power?" Lin Huang continued with his questions.
"You're showing promise!" The red-haired man broke into a rare smile.
"Allow me to add on a little. Sword Dao true meaning is basically a god rule of Sword Dao."
"This means I just need to fuse my willpower with Sword Dao to achieve a breakthrough to True Meaning Level!" Lin Huang had not expected his opponent to hand him two such generous gifts.
"Thank you for your pointers!" Lin Huang kowtowed to his opponent respectfully.
The red-haired man nodded slightly, "I've already taught you this in theory. Now, let me conduct a practical session with you."
Lin Huang was elated to hear this.
His previous opponents had been too powerful and had not bothered to use him to practice, slaying him the moment he attacked. Now that the red-haired man had offered to practice with him, it was a great opportunity for him to level up.
Lin Huang did not hold back at all, directing wave after wave of attacks toward his opponent.
The red-haired man reduced his menacing aura and held back his abilities in order to show Lin Huang some moves.
He even took the trouble to use sword skills that Lin Huang had been utilizing. This helped Lin Huang to discover his shortcomings by observing how his opponent used those same moves.
With every swing of his sword, Lin Huang was slowly able to improve his control over the God-slaying Power.
It was not just flowing with and utilizing the God-slaying power on the surface, but a deeper level of control over his will. His God-slaying Power slowly began to display its terrifying capabilities.
Level-6 Sword Dao was a Deity level. He had already integrated with his Sword Dao to a certain point, but was still quite a way from achieving a breakthrough.
This round of battle had greatly enhanced that fusion.
Red Hair practiced with him for three full days and three nights.
Lin Huang only set his sword aside when the time limit within the sword mark space had expired and Red Hair's body started to slowly dissipate.
"Senior, can I know your name?" Lin Huang could not help asking right before Red Hair disappeared.
"My name is Celestial Guest. What's your name, little brat?" Red Hair told Lin Huang his name and asked for his in return.
"I'm Lin Huang," Lin Huang replied, giving his real name.
"Lin Huang, remember what I've taught you and claim the inheritance of that old fool, Great Heaven! Even if I won't have the chance to see it happening, I'll still be very happy about it! Hahahaha…" Celestial Guest slowly vanished while still laughing robustly.
With that, Lin Huang's consciousness was pushed out by the sword mark and he returned to his physical body once again.
Chapter 1303: The End Of The Trial
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Lin Huang's abilities had been enhanced greatly after three days and three nights of practical combat under the tutelage of Celestial Guest.
When his consciousness returned to his body, Lin Huang immediately closed his eyes to absorb what he had obtained over the past few days.
This time, he used more than three hours to assimilate all of Celestial Guest's teachings.
Lin Huang's consciousness went deep into his body as he sensed the changes going through him after this battle.
The preliminary step in integrating his will and the God-slaying Power was complete. Although this integration was but a small victory and he still had a long way to go to achieve Sword Dao true meaning, but the power of his Sword Dao was now at a different level than before.
"Celestial Guest restrained his true power to an extreme degree to practice with me and prevent me from being slain instantly. I wonder if I would be able to fight back if I face other powerful opponents at True Martial Level."
Lin Huang lifted his head to look at the cliff. He could no longer sense anything from the sword mark left by Celestial Guest. Lin Huang's gaze paused there momentarily before turning towards the other sword marks. He quickly used his Divine Telekinesis to make contact with the 59th sword mark he had chosen.
His opponent materialized rapidly within the sword mark space.
This time, his opponent was a man with long hair that reached his waist. He was quite handsome and was clad in a big, loose robe. His appearance was androgynous, making it hard to tell if he was a man or a woman.
Lin Huang glanced at him and immediately focused all his attention on his own sword.
He attacked first after the five-second safeguard was up.
He merely moved his sword a little; his killing intent was resolute, surging forth.
In a flash, hundreds of sword gleams congregated in the void and flew towards their target, driven by the integration of terrifying Sword Dao and God-slaying Power.
The long-haired man raised his eyebrows slightly. "Interesting."
He clapped his sheath with his right hand and swiftly dodged the attack in a ring of white light.
Lin Huang's hundreds of sword gleams evaporated where the white light had touched them.
However, white light continued surging towards Lin Huang like a monstrous wave.
"I can clearly see his attack!"
Lin Huang was elated. Even though his consciousness could sense his opponent's attack coming at him like a gigantic wave, he was not afraid at all.
He angled his sword slightly and rushed headlong toward the wave.
Almost simultaneously, a gigantic sword long enough to hold up the sky appeared under the prompting of his will. It slashed through the monstrous wave in one wild swing with the combined forces of God-slaying Power and Sword Dao.
The next second, the gigantic sword was completely pulverized by the monstrous wave, and Lin Huang's form was completely swallowed up as well. His consciousness returned to his physical body once again.
He still could not deflect a single attack.
However, Lin Huang's eyes gleamed brightly as he quickly summarized his experience in this battle.
"My method was correct, but my Sword Dao and God-slaying Power were too weak. It's like using a normal sword to go up against a divine army with invincible weapons. Naturally, I'm the loser.
"What I should do next is to enhance my Sword Dao and God-slaying Power, as well as try to avoid a close encounter when making my attack."
What Lin Huang did not know was that this battle was sheer bad luck for him—the long-haired man's ability was equivalent to that of Celestial Guest.
After a few minutes of assimilating what he had simulated in his mind, Lin Huang quickly decided on the next sword mark and started a new round of battle.
Within the 60th sword mark space, Lin Huang finally met an opponent who was of a normal standard.
This time, it took his opponent four moves to slay him.
When he got to the 61st battle, his opponent took six moves to dispatch him and Lin Huang almost managed to leave a slash on him.
Over the next few battles, Lin Huang came to realize that the long-haired man's abilities were at a much higher level than his previous opponents.
Subsequently, his time in the sword mark spaces extended and it took his opponents more moves to deal with him. Lin Huang's confidence kept increasing as well.
The integration of his will, his Sword Dao and his God-slaying Power were becoming more and more seamless over time.
In his 128th sword mark space, Lin Huang's sword finally managed to come into contact with his opponent. Even though he only managed to nick a corner of his opponent's garment, it still gave Lin Huang an immense sense of excitement.
During subsequent battles, Lin Huang was very careful with his moves. He finally managed to land a bloody wound on his opponent for the first time in his 213th sword mark space.
He achieved a breakthrough in his 286th sword mark space, spending more than an hour fighting his opponent.
Lin Huang finally managed to cut off his opponent's attack in the 337th sword mark space, even though it took him more than one move.
In the last sword mark space, which was the 368th one, Lin Huang managed to cut off his opponent's arm!
Lin Huang's will to fight increased by leaps and bounds after more than 300 rounds of all-out duels and dying more than 300 times.
Even after more than 300 rounds of battle, Lin Huang could still feel his determination strengthen as he closed his eyes to calm himself after his consciousness returned to his body. His will, his Sword Dao, and his God-slaying Power were now integrating even more seamlessly than before.
As he had decreased his reflection time considerably after every battle in order to finish all 368 levels, he managed to complete every level with three hours remaining from his three-day limit in the Swordfiend Abyss.
Lin Huang closed his eyes and sat where he was for all three hours, assimilating everything he had received from his 300-plus battles.
His will to fight kept increasing while his will, his Sword Dao and his God-slaying Power continued to integrate rapidly.
Lin Huang did not open his eyes until his time in the Swordfiend Abyss was complete.
Just as the Swordfiend Abyss was about to forcefully interrupt Lin Huang and eject him from the space, a directive suddenly emerged from the void.
The entire Swordfiend Abyss went silent and Lin Huang was left alone to meditate.
Lin Huang sat there for three whole days.
In those three days, he assimilated all the basics to be found within the Swordfiend Abyss.
His strength of will had attained the level of a True God while the integration of his will and his God-slaying Power had attained perfection. However, the integration of his will and his Sword Dao still needed some work to be fully complete.
Only now was he finally on the path to achieving Sword Dao true meaning.
Lin Huang had to admit that his achievements within these few short days in the Swordfiend Abyss were equivalent to one year of hard training. Not only that, but it was also training that he had undergone utilizing a cheat code.
"My sword should be powerful enough now to slaughter elementary level True Gods. My will and my God-slaying Power have completely integrated. Now I can easily use the Rule Bending Power of my God-slaying Power. Even though my Sword Dao hasn't achieved a breakthrough yet, I'm halfway to achieving True Martial Level. By combining it with my God-slaying Power, my attacks won't be any weaker than those of an ordinary True Martial Level opponent."
"My biggest weakness is that my combat strength is still too low. My abilities in body and soul are limited by my combat strength, so they're comparatively weak. Strong opponents at True Martial Level need only one move to kill me, but I might need more than three moves to kill them."
"Besides that, the strength of my God-slaying Power is also continuously increasing, but I need to slay a True God. My Sword Dao has also not achieved breakthrough mainly because there's not enough accumulated experience. Compared to other powerhouses who have achieved Sword Dao true meaning, my sword skills are still sorely lacking…"
Lin Huang slowly opened his eyes after concluding his summary.
At that moment, a push notification finally appeared in front of his eyes.
[Do you want to move on to the second stage of the Great Heaven inheritance?]
"Yes!"
Lin Huang made his choice without hesitation.
Chapter 1304: Demon Sword Tomb
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Lin Huang's vision blurred for a moment, and he found himself in an environment completely different from before.
In place of the ten-thousand-foot cliff was an expanse of flatland, which stretched as far as the eye could see.
Although neither trees nor grass grew on the dry, fissured ground, swords of varying shapes and sizes were planted upright in the earth.
As Lin Huang was wondering what trials he would face at this level, a push notification appeared before him.
"Second Stage: Demon Sword Tomb."
"All swords within the Demon Sword Tomb are demon swords that are possessed. Each demon sword craves to be near living beings in order to possess their physical bodies. These possessed beings then become servants to the swords, bringing them out of the Demon Sword Tomb and thus releasing them."
"Use of all flying and teleportation skills is prohibited at this level. The participant must walk through the Demon Sword Tomb and reach the tomb's exit in order to pass this level."
"Note 1: As the participant's combat skill level is limited, only demon swords that have not achieved Sword Dao true meaning are allowed to challenge the participant."
"Note 2: The participant will be attacked by demon swords if he steps onto or walks past any territory belonging to said swords. If he steps onto or walks past territory that belongs to more than one demon sword, he will be attacked at the same time by all the demon swords."
"Note 3: Every demon sword possesses the sword skills of their previous owners; each sword has also inherited the gift and ability of their most powerful owner."
Lin Huang lifted his eyes and gazed into the distance after reading all the push notifications.
The swords had all been scattered randomly across the ground with no discernible pattern in the way they were situated. The nearest distance between two swords was only about two to three meters while the farthest was about ten to twenty meters. There was no distance greater than that. A bird's eye view of the area would reveal that the swords were spread densely across the ground.
"These swords are so close to each other. It's either that the demon swords have a limited sensing range, or they were purposely arranged this way so they could attack participants en masse. From the way the previous participant peed on himself, the latter's more likely."
While Lin Huang was observing the demon swords' scattered placement, another push notification suddenly appeared before him.
"As the participant has stayed three extra days in the previous level, those three days will be deducted one by one in subsequent levels."
"The total length of time assigned for completion of this level is three days. One day will be deducted from the total. The participant must complete the level within two days, otherwise it will be counted as a failure."
"If the participant uses less than two days to finish this level, the extra time can be used to offset the extra days used in the previous level."
"This means that if I only use a day to pass this level, the extra two days can be used to offset the days I owe. That will leave me owing just one day, right? If I finish this level in half a day, does that mean I can use the remaining time to offset two and a half days?" Lin Huang asked hurriedly.
"The time owed will be calculated in hours. The participant owes a total of 72 hours."
Lin Huang nodded with a smile. "Understood. Let's begin!"
Lin Huang took the first step forward as soon as he finished speaking.
He did not break into a run; he merely wanted to test how strong these demon swords were.
Lin Huang's step was reminiscent of him prodding a wasp's nest. Hundreds of demon swords around him began quivering. Some even flew out of the ground, coming straight toward him.
Lin Huang raised his brows as he sensed the Sword Dao within the demon swords. "You're only at level-1 Sword Dao and you dare to challenge me. You're really brash."
He did not even bother to draw his sword. He glared at the few battle swords flying through the air and a flash of sword gleam appeared in his eyes.
The next moment, the furiously approaching swords swiftly retreated, as if seriously injured by something, and immediately shot back to their original places.
At the same time, these swords that had been forced to retreat each released a tiny glimmer of starlight, all of which flew slowly towards Lin Huang.
"This…is the Sword Dao Inheritance?!"
Lin Huang was rather startled. "So, if I suppress these demon swords, they will return the Sword Dao Inheritance of the participant?"
"This is not a mere suppression, it is the demon swords submitting."
A push notification appeared again with a line of text.
This was something that had not been previously mentioned in the trial rules.
From the push notification, Lin Huang deduced the corresponding information. "This means that a basic retreat wouldn't give me such benefits. Obtaining the Sword Dao Inheritance from these demon swords is much harder than completing this level. That was why there were no related hints about this in the trial rules. It's only after achieving this requirement that I was given a corresponding hint."
"My biggest weakness right now is the accumulation of sword skills. If I can gather large amounts of Sword Dao Inheritance from this level, it would help me attainment Sword Dao true meaning much faster."
The more Lin Huang thought about it, the more excited he felt.
He took another step forward and immediately provoked the reactions of more demon swords.
This time, a wave of 23 battle swords attacked at once. Lin Huang still did not use his sword. All he did was fix them all with a single stare. All 23 battle swords trembled almost simultaneously and returned to their places with amazing speed.
23 glimmers of starlight rose from the demon swords that had retreated, slowly floating towards Lin Huang and vanishing into his body.
"Their levels are just so-so…" Lin Huang roughly glanced through the contents of the Inheritances and raised an eyebrow as he gave his critique. Now that he was moving towards Sword Dao true meaning, he was aware that his standards were more exacting than before. Naturally, he was inclined to look down on some Inheritances.
"However, this is only level-1 Sword Dao for now. The levels should get higher the further I go and the Inheritances will be more powerful. At the very least, the Inheritance of a level-6 Sword Dao would be greatly beneficial to me," Lin Huang consoled himself.
Lin Huang was not in a rush as he had made up his mind to plunder the Inheritances for himself. He took one step at a time and glanced through the field of demon swords.
He retained all the Sword Dao Inheritances along the way.
After a number of steps, he managed to determine that the Demon Sword Tomb distributed the demon swords from the lowest Sword Dao to the strongest. Every time he moved, he would stride a few hundred meters and provoke thousands of demon swords into attacking him.
He would never have done this before integrating his will and his Sword Dao.
These demon swords would not submit as they were doing now were they not faced with the threat of suppression from a powerful will. Some had even attempted to attack continuously and tenaciously, unwilling to give up.
If Lin Huang had followed the common path of a practitioner and repelled these demon swords by the book with Sword Dao every swing he made, he would have exhausted the Divine Power within him.
Now, all he had to do was to stare at them and his will, along with his Sword Dao, would suppress them. The demon swords would then try to make a wild escape, much like how a rat might try to run away from a cat, and would not dare to challenge his authority.
After all the demon swords had returned to their places, without exception, they willingly offered their Sword Dao Inheritances.
In only ten steps or so, Lin Huang had harvested more than a million Sword Dao Inheritances in less than ten seconds.
These Sword Dao Inheritances ranged from level-1 to level-5. None of the demon swords dared to go against his will.
Even Lin Huang was surprised by his collection at this level.
However, Lin Huang soon slowed down. He had sensed that the level-6 demon sword territory was just ahead of him.
Having half-attained Sword Dao true meaning might have massive effects on demon swords lower than level-6, but that might not be true of Level-6 Sword Dao. After all, he had not truly attained Sword Dao true meaning yet.
He took a deep breath to calm himself, gripped the sword hilt at his waist, and stepped forward…
Chapter 1305: Battle Of The Demon Swords
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
At Lin Huang's step forward, many Level-6 Demon Swords responded immediately in the Demon Sword Tomb and began quivering violently.
They quivered with excitement as they detected the aura of a living soul.
Deprived of their freedom, the presence of a living soul in their territory sent these Demon Swords into a frenzy. Once they managed to possess the intruder's body, they would be able to turn them into a sword slave who could remove the Demon Swords from this tomb in which they had been sealed away for hundreds and thousands of years. From then on, they would be free to go around the world.
The next instant, countless Demon Swords fought each other to break free from the earth, slicing through the air and hurling themselves at Lin Huang with terrifying levels of Sword Dao. Some of their Sword Dao even materialized as faint, malevolent golems in the void.
Lin Huang could not afford to be overconfident when facing level-6 Demon Swords.
His will, strong as a True God's, carried his half-step Sword Dao true meaning along in its tide and engulfed him; his terrifying aura blazed like the sun on a scorching day.
The Demon Swords detected Lin Huang's Sword Dao and froze in the midst of their frenzied attack.
Yet, the Demon Sword auras that faded away triggered more Demon Sword senses.
In the distance, around a dozen Demon Swords started quivering violently, anxious and yet faintly hesitant as they struggled to free themselves from the earth to fight Lin Huang.
The Demon Swords that were already attacking did not retreat immediately. When they sensed Lin Huang's Sword Dao, they hesitated only for a brief moment before their frenzied auras increased—the opposite of the responses from those Demon Swords below Level-6.
Lin Huang was not surprised.
If his half-step Sword Dao true meaning could be compared to the ruler of a powerful country, then those with Sword Dao below Level-6 could be said to be his ministers. As ministers, being subjected to Lin Huang's rule was a given. However, these Level-6 Demon Swords were different. Using the same analogy, they could be compared to rulers of smaller countries around Lin Huang's empire. Therefore, their refusal to be subjugated did not strike Lin Huang as surprising. Some of them had set their greedy sights on the empire; some had even thought about launching an assault and taking over the empire.
In the air, the six Demon Swords hesitated for a split second before a blood-red Demon Sword initiated an attack.
The Sword Dao manifested as a golem in the form of a blood-red Buddha statue. It extended its claws through the air, targeting the Sword Dao apparition on top of Lin Huang's head.
With the Blood-red Demon Sword setting an example, the other five Demon Swords did not want to be left out either. Five other golems started attacking too.
Above Lin Huang, the Blood-red Vairocana apparition manifested by his Sword Dao suddenly shook violently. Countless spheres of red flame surged forth in succession.
Red fire swept over the bodies of the six golems in an instant. The lead golem—the blood-red one in the form of a Buddha statue—was the first to erupt in flames, followed by the five golems, all of which were set ablaze.
Once the golems had been engulfed by the red flames, they kept burning like ignited gasoline that could not be extinguished. The six golems struggled violently, to no avail. The flames burned brighter with every passing second, showing no signs of abating.
The second round of flames swallowed the six golems whole.
No longer could the golems be seen in the void, only six massive burning creatures dancing in a frenzy.
At the third cycle of flame, the frenziedly dancing, burning figures exploded one after the other, the noise of the explosion even louder than crashing thunder.
After the explosion died down, the giant burning creatures disintegrated into nothingness.
In the void, six Demon Swords trembled and immediately retreated to their original places, still trembling the whole time.
This time, they were not trembling in anticipation—they were terrified.
Noticing the six differently colored starbursts flying toward him, the corners of Lin Huang's lips twisted up in a smirk.
"Seems like I don't need my sword yet."
After defeating the first wave of Demon Swords, Lin Huang took another step forward.
This time around, a total of eleven Demon Swords attacked him.
They flew at Lin Huang fearlessly like moths flying into flames, as though they were welcoming the Blood-red Vairocana apparition.
Next, Lin Huang took his third step and his fourth step…
His Vairocana apparition shook in the void and all the golems shattered into pieces.
Lin Huang held onto his battle sword. With every step he took, he harvested Sword Dao Inheritance wave by wave. Yet, the need to unsheathe his sword never arose.
That is until he took his twelfth step.
In the void, nine spheres of flame erupted from his Blood-red Vairocana and shattered eight golems. However, one black golem remained standing.
The golem was covered in cracks but it did not disintegrate in the end.
The golem's real form was a pure black Demon Sword.
The Demon Sword was surrounded by black fog, emanating monstrous malice.
"This sword…it seems like its malice has exceeded its Sword Dao…"
Upon seeing the inky-black one-eyed golem extend its hand once more, Lin Huang could not bear it any longer and unsheathed his sword.
It was a merciless slash.
His will to fight, along with his half-step Sword Dao true meaning and his God-slaying Power, was unleashed in full.
Within the void, the Blood-red Vairocana instantly transformed into a great shaft of Sword Energy that cleaved through heaven and hell.
A blood-red sword gleam impaled the one-eyed golem's body. A blood-red ray of light appeared on the golem's forehead and sliced downward to the golem's feet.
Instantly the golem's movements froze.
The blood-red ray from the sword gleam unleashed a red glow that seemed endless.
In the blink of an eye, the golem that was previously engulfed in pure black fog raised its head toward the sky and let out an anguished roar before being completely swallowed up by the red glow.
The black Demon Sword shot backward and clattered onto the ground, still trembling from the impact.
There was fear, but there was unwillingness too.
Despite that, it still transformed its Sword Dao Inheritance into starlight and presented it to Lin Huang.
After Lin Huang's encounter with the black Demon Sword, every subsequent step in the Demon Sword Tomb became increasingly difficult.
On his thirteenth step, there were two black Demon Swords instead of one.
On his fourteenth step, Demon Swords that remained intact after receiving a blow from his Blood-red Vairocana increased to four.
On his fifteenth step, twelve Demon Sword attacked him at the same time. Only three Demon Swords were successfully intimidated.
On his sixteenth step, the Blood-red Vairocana lost all of its intimidation abilities. Lin Huang needed eleven continuous slashes of his sword before he managed to suppress all the Demon Swords.
On his seventeenth step, ten Demon Swords attacked him simultaneously. It took Lin Huang thirty slashes of his sword before he managed to suppress them.
On his eighteenth step, nine Demon Swords teamed up to attack him and each Demon Sword was at least ten times stronger than the black Demon Sword. Lin Huang used a total of a hundred and eight slashes before he could suppress them.
"I've only taken eighteen steps, and the level of difficulty is already at this stage…" Lin Huang raised his head to look at the Demon Sword Tomb which seemed to stretch on endlessly. Suddenly, he realized that he could not detect the Sword Dao of the Demon Swords in front of him anymore.
It was at this moment that a push notification reappeared in front of him.
"Congratulations, participant! You have passed the Great Heaven inheritance's second test!"
"Total time used for this test was 58 minutes."
"After deducting the time owed from the first test, your current time debt is 58 minutes."
The push notification did not mention anything about remaining at this level after the test. After contemplating it for a while, Lin Huang understood why he could not continue his challenge after the test ended.
The first stage had been a battle on the level of consciousness, while this stage presented real clashes between Sword Dao.
Even if he died in the first test, his consciousness would just return to his body.
However, at this level, all Demon Swords beyond Level-6 were of True Martial Level. If he failed in his fight with the Demon Swords, he could die for real. Even if he did not die, his Sword Dao would be completely smashed and unable to regroup in time for a second fight.
The price of reviving himself or attempting to recover his damaged Sword Dao would be much greater than the first stage.
Great Heaven designed these checkpoints to select his heir. If the participants died, they died. Great Heaven would rather wait for the next participant and therefore, did not need to waste too many resources on them.
However, the next line that showed up in the push notification struck Lin Huang dumb.
"As the participant accessed Great Heaven Palace in a non-competitive state on his own, a Competitive Trial has now been initiated! The Competitive Trial is initiated to determine if the participant is able to fulfill the only qualification needed to initiate the last trial."
Chapter 1306: Competitive Trial!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
"Competitive Trial?"
The sudden push notification struck Lin Huang dumb.
"Great Heaven Palace will pick 2999 competitors from among the Sword Dao cultivators (below True God level) according to the Inheritance requirements set down by the Great Heaven Territory, to compete together with Trial participants in the Competitive Trial.
"Other than that, Great Heaven Palace will release three hundred Sword Servants to participate, all of whom possess True God combat strength. However, in this trial, their combat strength, flesh, and soul will all be capped at Rank-9 Virtual God-level."
"Since the participants who initiated this competitive trial have yet to achieve the true meaning of Sword Dao, all competitors and Sword Servants' Sword Dao will be restricted to below Sword Dao true meaning."
"The rules of the competitive trial are as follows:"
"1. Every time a competitor is defeated or eliminated, the participant obtains 1 cumulative foundation point and gains all of their opponents' accumulated points."
"2. 100 cumulative points are awarded with every defeat of a Sword Servant. Upon defeat, Sword Servants will be directly teleported out of the trial. No points will be awarded when Sword Servants defeat or eliminate any participants or competitors."
"3. Participants and competitors may choose to surrender willingly during combat. However, choosing to surrender is equivalent to forfeiting the trial. Therefore, whosoever chooses to surrender will be directly teleported out of the trial and will forfeit all their cumulative points."
"4. All cumulative points are non-transferrable and indivisible."
"5. The Competitive Trial will last for a maximum of ten days. If the participants or competitors manage to take out all the other 999 people within ten days, the trial will end ahead of time."
"6. After the trial, the participant with the highest cumulative points will obtain the right to access Great Heaven Palace and enter the final round of the trial. If a competitor obtains higher cumulative points than the participants, thus becoming the champion, said competitor will earn the right to officially participate in the trials and will be teleported to Swordfiend Abyss for their first trial. After overcoming the trials at Swordfiend Abyss and Demon Sword Tomb, they may access Great Heaven Palace and participate in the final trial."
"7. During the Competitive Trial, all participants may utilize any skills or methods that they possess, including skills or methods other than Sword Dao."
"8. To ensure the fairness of the Competitive Trial, all weapons or items that can harm a Rank-1 True God are banned. All defensive armor or other defensive measures above Rank-1 True God are banned. (Energy paraphernalia conjured up by one's own abilities, as well as divine, magic, and arcane powers etcetera are excluded.)"
…
After reading the rules of the Competitive Trial, a sudden wave of realization hit Lin Huang. The obstacle for this level was no longer Sword Dao facility—it was survival.
Lin Huang did not find it hard to see why such a trial existed. It was obvious that Great Heaven hoped the future heir to the inheritance would not die so easily.
Therefore, for this time's Competitive Trial, the rules gave all participants a great deal of leeway, except for some banned items. Both participants and competitors could fully showcase the maximum range of their abilities.
"All three hundred Sword Servants are originally Heavenly Gods. Therefore whether it be combat strength, flesh, or Sword Dao—even after their abilities have been capped—it's imperative not to underestimate them. That's also why 100 cumulative points are awarded just by defeating a Sword Servant—that's 100 times the foundation points awarded for eliminating a competitor. Also, they only mention defeating, not eliminating.
"Other than that, only 2999 sword cultivating competitors will be chosen from the entire Great Heaven Territory. These 2999 ought to be the creme de la creme of sword cultivators in the Great Heaven Territory; there are sure to be quite a number of participants from the God Territory among them as well. The 300 Trial participants from the God Territory are definitely experts from various organizations. Even if we take out non-sword-based cultivators, there should still be a few hundred who qualify as competitors.
"Meanwhile, among the participants, there's a chance that members from the same organizations might appear together so it's possible that team-ups might occur during the Competitive Trial. A single person's abilities might not be enough to eliminate a Sword Servant. However, if all the powerhouses combine their efforts in a free-for-all which encompasses any method of choice, the chances of defeating a Sword Servant go from impossible to possible.
"The greatest advantage I have is that as an initiator of the Trial, I should be the first to understand the evaluation rules, and the rules I know should be the most comprehensive. Therefore, I have more time to plan.
"Apart from this, it's good news that we can use telepathy and imperial monsters. It's just not certain yet if we can use God's Figurine's Combat Soul because while God's Figurine is considered an item, even if it's been integrated into Combat Soul, we don't know for sure which category it falls into. That said, we're not sure if Xiao Hei's multi-function card can be used either…"
Regardless of whether the multi-function card was permissible in the Trial or not, Lin Huang had prepared himself for the worst.
"Speaking of items, all god rule relics are banned. We can only use weapons and armors of god relic level; we can only use god telekinesis weapon relics as well." Lin Huang had few objections to this. If his opponent utilized a high-level god rule relic for defense along with divine crystals and elixirs that could replenish their Divine Powers, Lin Huang might not be able to break through his opponent's defenses even in a day. That, too, was not something he desired.
If everyone used god relics for weapons and defense, it would truly be much fairer for the real powerhouses.
"Participants, please wait for a moment. Competitors are currently entering the Trial grounds."
"After all competitors are confirmed, participants will be teleported simultaneously to the Trial grounds."
Lin Huang thought for a moment, then asked, "Didn't I owe 58 minutes previously? Can I make up for it now? I can enter the space 58 minutes later than the other competitors."
There were two reasons behind Lin Huang's request—one, the first hour after entering the Trial space was usually for everyone to familiarize themselves with their surroundings. The real competition would not have started then, therefore, his coming in late would not have much effect on the Trial.
The second reason—which was also his main reason—was that after the Competitive Trial, there would be a final trial.
Logically, the difficulty level of the final trial would be the highest of all the other trials. Although he did not know what the trials would involve, he knew very well that if he were deprived of 58 minutes, there was a high possibility of it affecting his performance. Therefore, Lin Huang would rather settle his 58-minute debt in this stage of the Competitive Trial than delay it until the final trial. That difference of several minutes could cause him to lose.
It did not matter if he was ultimately being number one or not in the Competitive Trial; the important thing was to move on to the next step. Lin Huang felt like he should still make the necessary preparations for what was coming up next before anything else.
…
At the same time, outside the Great Heaven inheritance space, almost all the sword cultivators selected by Great Heaven received a push notification simultaneously.
"Congratulations! You have been chosen by the Great Heaven inheritance to be a competitor in the Competitive Trial. Do you accept this invitation?"
"Notification from the Great Heaven inheritance?"
A tall lady with short red hair suddenly slowed down in the midst of a pursuit. The man whom she was hunting down put on speed and fled, vanishing without a trace.
The red-haired lady did not seem to mind. In a short skirt that revealed her slender tanned thighs, she was virtually flawless except for one thing—she was flat-chested.
"What the f*ck does 'competitor' mean?"
An impeccably handsome young man dressed in green had a bar hostess on each arm. His drunkenness dissipated in a flash. He even turned a deaf ear to the girls' voices as they encouraged him to drink.
"This situation…is it because someone initiated a trial?"
Somewhere in a library, a young lady with two heads suddenly focused her attention on the push notification that popped up before her. The eyes of her left head squinted.
"The message says, 'to be a competitor'. Seems like we're not the only ones who received this," the young lady's right head said, cocking to one side.
"But this is good news. We finally have a lead on the Great Heaven inheritance that's vanished without a trace for at least a hundred thousand years," said both her heads as they smiled at each other.
Chapter 1307: Ten Thousand Level Tower
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Dim light flickered in the room. The dome of the round pendant lamp was encircled by carvings of an older style, the faint mottling on its surface indicative of some age.
Under the lamp's dim light, the cream-colored wallpaper added a touch of warmth to the atmosphere.
A small bed was neatly placed in the middle of this medium-sized room. The bed's size indicated that it was probably not meant for an adult.
To the right side of the small bed was a medium-sized wooden bedside cupboard, somewhat crudely made.
To the left of the bed was a small antique wardrobe.
The doors of the wardrobe were half-open. A few pieces of clothing hung limply within. Again, the size of the clothes hinted that they belonged to a child of around ten years old.
"This is the trial space?" Fallen Star scanned her surroundings somewhat skeptically.
After ascertaining that there was nothing wrong with the room, she promptly settled down and began sensing her own body status.
"Most abilities have not been restricted. Only the probing range of divine telekinesis is restricted—the probing radius has been reduced to within 1000 meters."
After extinguishing the pendant lamp, Fallen Star concealed herself in the darkness before inching sideways to the front of the window. Carefully, she poked her head out to take a peek.
A sea of red lanterns dotted the entire landscape everywhere she looked.
The entire sky was bathed in red from the light of these myriad lanterns.
Red lanterns hung from blocks of small residential buildings. Most of the buildings were around two to five stories high, none of them over five stories. The roof of each building was covered in red tiles that slanted downward.
It was disturbing to note that some buildings were oriented so some of the roofs faced left or right, and some simply faced downward. No one could see past the layered stacks of residential buildings to know if there were buildings other than residences, neither could they catch a glimpse of the sky nor the surface of the ground.
Not a single alley could be seen between the cramped buildings. The only things that resembled alleyways were wooden or metal planks or stairs that connected each small building to the next; these planks or stairs looked as if they were quite old.
Without exception, red lanterns glimmered at every corner of the residential buildings.
"What a strange trial space." Despite having previously participated in plenty of other trials and having considerable experience entering various secret zones and ruins, this was the first time Fallen Star had encountered a trial space that was so strangely put together.
Right after she completed the initial scan of her surroundings, a push notification popped up in front of her eyes again.
"Trial Space: Ten Thousand Level Tower"
"Number of Competitors: 3000"
"Number of Trial BOSS: 300"
"General Rules of Competitive Trial are as follows:"
"1. You will be awarded 1 cumulative foundation point for each competitor you eliminate or defeat, and will gain all of your opponent's accumulated points."
"2. You will be awarded 100 cumulative points for each Trial BOSS you defeat.
"Defeated Trial BOSSes will be teleported out of the trial space immediately after being defeated. No cumulative points will be awarded if the Trial BOSS defeats or eliminates a competitor."
"3. A competitor may choose to surrender willingly during combat. However, choosing to surrender is equivalent to forfeiting the trial. Therefore, whosoever chooses to surrender will be directly teleported out of the trial and forfeit of all their cumulative points."
"4. All cumulative points are non-transferrable and indivisible."
"5. The Competitive Trial will last for a maximum of ten days. If there is only one competitor left in the trial within ten days, the trial will end ahead of time."
"6. After the trial, the competitor who obtains the highest accumulated points will be awarded the right to participate in an actual trial. After passing all official trials, the competitor will be able to claim the Great Heaven inheritance."
"7. Competitors' maximum combat strength is restricted to Rank-9 Virtual God."
"8. All competitors' Sword Dao is restricted to below Sword Dao true meaning."
"9. During the Competitive Trial, all competitors can utilize any skills or methods that they possess, including skills and methods other than Sword Dao."
"10. To ensure the fairness of the Competitive Trial, all weapons or items that can harm a Rank-1 True God are banned. All defensive armor or other defensive measures above Rank-1 True God are banned. (Energy paraphernalia conjured up by one's own abilities, as well as divine, magic, and arcane powers etcetera are excluded.)"
"11. All methods of communication are banned in the trial space."
"12.Read latest chapters at NovelFull
…
After reading the rules of the trial, a brooding expression settled on Fallen Star's face.
'There are a total of 3000 competitors. I've been teleported into the trial space, which means screening for the competitors in this trial is non-discriminatory. Even participants from the God Territory are eligible to participate.
'If my guess is right, the first condition in the screening is that the person must be a sword cultivator; secondly, considering how there's a restriction on combat strength, the next condition should be that the sword cultivator is below True God and eligible to obtain Sword Dao Inheritance. As for the third condition, it's most likely that after conducting a preliminary ranking of all qualified sword cultivators, they chose 3000 people based on ability ranking. Assuming that this is the screening method used, Xie Lin, Twin, and Destiny should be all here too.
'Thanks to Master Buried Heaven's great insight, all four of us from Death Sickle who've been sent to the Great Heaven Territory this time are sword cultivators.'
When Fallen Star thought about the number of sword cultivators sent into the Territory by other organizations, her lips involuntarily curved into a smile.
As there had been no news at all about the Great Heaven inheritance for the entire year, most organizations in the God Territory had treated the Great Heaven Territory as a typical trial venue. Among the dozens of cultivators sent in from some of the Grade-7 organizations, there might be only one sword cultivator.
'Hmm, but if my assumptions are correct, that fellow from Combat God Temple must have been teleported here too…" A face suddenly flashed through Fallen Star's mind and her expression became grave.
'That fellow' whom she mentioned was the number one Virtual God powerhouse in Combat God Temple—Shen Wushuang, who was also the number one super Genius on the Virtual God ranking list in the God Territory.
As a fellow sword cultivator, Fallen Star had fought him a few times and she had never yet managed to defeat him. Her instincts told her that Shen Wushuang's Sword Dao might have elevated to the state of True Meaning.
'If Xie Lin encounters him as an opponent, I wonder who'd win…'
Fallen Star let her train of thought run wild for a moment before quickly collecting herself and continuing to analyze the rules of the trial.
'Defeating one BOSS will give me 100 cumulative points. This means the BOSS must be extremely powerful. I'd probably need to team up before I can hunt one down. The rules didn't say that we're not allowed to form teams. In a way, they've acquiesced to us doing so.
'Cumulative points are non-transferrable and indivisible. They've managed to apply some form of restriction on teaming up, in that sense. Yet, if all teammates have great trust in each other, this rule won't be an obstacle.
'The three sword cultivators from Combat God Temple should be eligible for the trial this time. If they bump into each other, they might form a small team with Shen Wushuang as their leader and assist Shen Wushuang in accumulating points.
'Four sword cultivators from God Capital are participating in this time's trial. However, based on the temperament of those Pure Blood Protoss from God Capital, the chances of them working together are fairly remote. That's one thing I don't have to worry about.
'Precious Treasure Pavilion only sent one sword cultivator. That's another that I don't have to worry about.
'So far, it seems like Divine Clapnet and Xeno are the only ones strong enough to compete. The former sent five sword cultivators while the latter sent six of them. As an intel organization, Divine Clapnet's organizational and planning skills are shockingly good. Meanwhile, as Xeno is where the non-Pure Bloods gather, their sense of unity is something other organizations can't beat. The highest possibility is probably that these two organizations successfully team up.
'However, right now no one knows how big this trial space actually is. After all, the trial will only last ten days. If the space is big enough, there's still the possibility of not encountering anyone from the same organization.'
After thoroughly analyzing the likelihood of the seven organizations teaming up, Fallen Star suddenly realized that she had greatly underestimated the difficulty of this trial.
Chapter 1308: Unable To Last More Than 30 Seconds
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Somewhere in a study, Twin had just finished dyeing her hair with two different colors—icy blue for the head on the left and fiery red for the head on the right.
After reading the rules of the trial, her two heads started conversing closely.
Suddenly, however, both heads turned toward the window.
"We have a guest, it seems," the left head with the icy blue hair mumbled as though she was talking to herself, "And here I was thinking about familiarizing myself with our surroundings while everyone's cumulative scores are still equally low."
"A person who pops up immediately after reading the rules of the trial is either terrifyingly strong or unbelievably stupid," the red-haired right head sneered, "I think it's more the latter."
"Let's test them out. If they're very weak, we'll just kill them. If they're as strong as us or stronger, there's no need to fuss either." As the blue-haired head spoke, she began to form hand seals. "Remember, this is just the first day. If we overwork ourselves or get injured, it'll be hard to get through the rest of the trial."
"I was thinking the same thing." A long sword about 160cm in length appeared in Twin's right hand. There was not much difference between the length of the sword and her height.
The moment she finished her combat preparations, a red shadow sliced through the air toward her.
"The Abyssal Tribe. We have to watch out!" As the words escaped the blue-haired head, she extended her left palm, swiftly forming a hand seal.
The temperature in the entire study dropped rapidly. A layer of frost crept swiftly across the surface of the floor and up the walls, visibly becoming thicker even to the naked eye.
Outside the study window, water vapor suspended in the air condensed into puffs of icy white mist.
Further ahead, at the tail end of the icy mist, a translucent ice crystal blossomed like a gigantic flower bud opening and blocked the speeding red shadow's attack.
The ice flower now measured about ten meters in diameter, cutting off the attacker's path completely.
Icy white mist spewed from the flower's petals and a terrifying chill swept across the sky towards the red figure.
Realizing that coming into contact with the freezing mist would be inadvisable, the red shadow slowed down and slashed at the gigantic ice crystal flower with his sword.
A red sword gleam cleaved through the flower like sunlight through a canopy of trees.
When she saw this, however, Twin's blue-haired head twitched her lips up in a grin.
A swift alteration in her hand seals and both halves of the towering ice crystal flower began to bloom again. In the blink of an eye, they became two even bigger ice flowers with a diameter of twenty meters each. The flowers appeared more seductively vivid than the originals, their whiteness now tinged with a hint of blue. The overwhelming chill grew even more terrifying.
Seeing this, the red figure did not hesitate. Before the two flowers could release any more deadly mist, he cut through them again with his sword.
This time, the red gleam sliced the ice blossoms apart horizontally.
Once again Twin altered her hand seals and the two halved flowers bloomed once more. In a few seconds, they had now become four flowers. The four enormous blossoms were yet more vivid and seductive than the first two, and more visibly bluish rather than white. The icy fog that emanated from the flowres instantly deposited a layer of light blue frost over the houses within the vicinity of several thousand meters.
The red figure finally realized his mistake and ceased his attacks.
He could clearly sense the aura from the four ice crystal flowers—they were akin to four Rank-9 Virtual Gods blocking his path.
"If you dare attack again—even if you're Shen Wushuang from Combat God Temple—you'll find yourself in serious trouble this time!" the blue-haired head said indifferently, the barest hint of a smile playing about her lips.
The red-haired head, though, shook her head in disagreement. "Shen Wushuang wouldn't be this stupid; he's not weak either. With his abilities, he could've broken through this move with one swing of his sword. He definitely wouldn't let it come to this."
While the two heads engaged in their discussion excitedly, the red figure hovering in the void went to war with the four enormous ice crystal flowers.
The four bluish blossoms were not just able to spurt out icy mist, they could even spit out whip-like mist vines that snaked toward their opponent.
The lightest brush against the vines and ice crystals began forming on the red figure, slowly spreading over his entire body
In truth, it was not the spread that was slow, but the red figure using his Divine Power to suppress the attack.
The fight only lasted for around half a minute, by which time the attacking red figure had been reduced to his lowest, most vulnerable state. He sensed that things were not about to go well for him. After destroying a more few mist vines, he backed away and attempted to retreat.
"You want to escape now? Too late!"
Twin's blue-haired head curled her lips into a mocking smile and her left hand immediately formed another hand seal
The next moment, the rapidly retreating red figure stopped short as the ice crystals on his body multiplied as fast as lightning.
"Another idiot who fell for the trick. He didn't even notice the anomaly in his body." The red-haired head nonchalantly loosened her grip on the sword in her right hand. She knew that this fight had come to an end.
The red figure had paused only for a short second. Yet, this was all the time it took for the four enormous ice crystal flowers to simultaneously spew out waterfalls of icy mist that swallowed him up completely.
Around ten seconds later, the icy mist dissipated. A bluish human-sized ice crystal sculpture crashed onto the frozen roof of a nearby building and shattered into a pile of ice crystals.
"So weak. He didn't even last 30 seconds. What a disgrace to rank-9 Virtual Gods," the red-haired head said scornfully with a touch of dissatisfaction.
"He must be a local sword cultivator from the Great Heaven Territory." The blue-haired head snapped her fingers. The four gigantic ice crystal flowers suspended in the void disintegrated instantly into a sea of cold mist, dissipating in the air.
"If people of his level go to the God Territory, they wouldn't even be in the top thousand among the Virtual Gods. If this is the standard of all the participants from Great Heaven Territory, Fallen Star might be able to become number one," said the red-haired head, pursing her lips.
"You think too much. There are 3000 people in this trial after all, not including participants from the God Territory like us. The probability of us encountering the top ten from the Great Heaven Territory is only about one in three hundred, and the probability of meeting those beyond the top thousand is two out of three," the blue-haired head explained seriously. "Despite not being as powerful as us participants from the God Territory, the top-ranked powerhouses in the Great Heaven Territory shouldn't be too far behind us in abilities either.
"Moreover, those who will be competing against us aren't just participants local to the Great Heaven Territory—there are also other organizations from the God Territory for us to consider. Just a mere Shen Wushuang from Combat God Temple is already an immovable obstacle. If Fallen Star is aiming at becoming champion, it definitely won't be easy."
"What about Xie Lin? Think he has a chance at getting number one?" the red-haired head asked.
"Don't know. I haven't seen him in action after all. Even if he was the one who killed the two Bug Tribe Mother Bugs, we don't know the kind of tactics he employed. As to whether such tactics can be reused or if they're allowed in this trial, we can't be sure. The only thing for certain is that his overall abilities won't be weak. Otherwise, Master Buried Heaven wouldn't think so highly of him. As for whether he'll be able to become champion…I really can't say."
"Alright, enough chit-chat. The waves of the match just now have probably alerted any nearby powerhouses. This is just the first minute after the trial started too. I don't know about you, but I definitely don't plan on getting eliminated so early."
"Understood. Let's lie low first and familiarize ourselves with the trial environment." The red-haired head nodded vigorously.
With her two heads in agreement, Twin flitted into a small building nearby and followed the orientation of the rooms inside to escape into the distance…
Chapter 1309: Lin Huang Enters The Trial
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
In a messy room, a corpse chopped off at the waist showed clear marks of cauterization. There were similar traces of scorching on the wall to the right and the wall next to the window.
Even though the extreme heat had cauterized the body enough to prevent extensive loss of blood, fresh purplish-red blood still managed to stain at least half of the floor in the room.
A man wearing a white shirt stood in the room, the area around his feet coincidentally free of blood.
Blood was still dripping from the blade of the long sword in his hand like rainwater from a roof.
"Can't believe how weak this fellow was," the man in the white shirt commented while eyeing the body.
"If my opponents are all like this, even if I mess up I might be number one too, what more that Fallen Star girl."
In the entire Death Sickle organization, there was only one person with a thick enough skin to come up with a quip like that—Destiny.
However, Destiny quickly turned his gaze away from the dead body to look at the wall.
'I knew something strange was going on when I used my sword just now; how come the walls are only marked by cuts?! Not to brag but one slash and I can kill a True God, as well as quite a few Rank-9 Virtual Gods. In the God Territory, I don't even know how many houses I'd destroy with a single slash! But here I can't even stab through a single wall?!"
'I'm sure this restriction was put in place in the trial space to prevent these buildings from getting severely damaged. But that's a bit cruel. Could Boss Xie Lin break through these walls, I wonder…'
…
58 minutes after all competitors had entered the Competitive Trial.
A figure suddenly emerged in one of the houses in the trial space.
Upon realizing that he was now standing in a building, Lin Huang paused in confusion.
He was in the living room of a small residential unit. The living room was rather small with an open concept kitchen. Altogether, the space measured around forty square meters.
After scanning his surroundings, Lin Huang sent out his Divine Telekinesis. His brow furrowed.
'The probing range for Divine Telekinesis has really been severely reduced. It only has a maximum radius of 1000 meters…'
Thankfully, Lin Huang did not detect anything out of the ordinary within range of his Divine Telekinesis. Immediately, he let his consciousness sink within his body to check on his personal status.
'Most abilities are not restricted. Monster Cards and multi-function cards are all permissible. Combat Souls and God's Figurines are permissible too. Although Divine Telekinesis has been reduced in range, its strength hasn't been reduced. It's a pity that those god telekinetic weapon relics mentioned in the rules can't be used here.'
After confirming that these restrictions on his abilities did not put him at too much of a disadvantage, Lin Huang felt a bit more at ease.
It was at this moment that a push notification popped up before Lin Huang's eyes.
"Participant, please set a username. If no username is chosen, the participant's real name shall be automatically used. (Username set up is a participant-only privilege. Competitors are required to use their real names in this Trial.)"
"Xie Lin," Lin Huang gave the name he used in the God Territory.
"Set up complete. The participant's name is 'Xie Lin'."
After setting up his name, Lin Huang noticed that he could now check the rankings on the leaderboard.
Lin Huang expanded the leaderboard out of curiosity.
"1. Shen Wushuang: 5 cumulative points"
"2. Yi Ke: 3 cumulative points"
"3. Twin: 3 cumulative points"
…
"32. Fallen Star: 2 cumulative points"
…
"85. Destiny: 2 cumulative points"
The leaderboard listed only the first hundred names. As for competitors who obtained the same amount of cumulative points, the earlier they obtained the points, the higher their position on the leaderboard.
Lin Huang was familiar with the current leading champion, Shen Wushuang—the number one Virtual God in the Combat God Temple and also the number one Virtual God powerhouse in Sword Dao in the entire God Territory.
With five cumulative points, it meant Shen Wushuang had managed to eliminate five competitors in merely an hour. Of course, that did not exclude the possibility that he might have gained the cumulative points from competitors that he defeated.
Twin was second runner-up, which, to Lin Huang, was something quite unexpected.
Based on overall strength, Twin should be the weakest among the four Death Sickle candidates. However, the evaluation was done on a comparative basis. After all, she was still number seventeen among Virtual Gods and one of the stars of the God Territory. Looking at it now, she was clearly skilled at probing, which had given her an early advantage during the Trial.
Lin Huang scanned down the leaderboard and saw many ranked Virtual Gods from the God Territory. He also saw Fallen Star and Destiny's names. One of them was positioned at number 32 while the latter was at 85. Each of them had accumulated 2 points.
In truth, even the 100th person in the last place on the leaderboard had obtained 2 cumulative points.
'Based on Fallen Star and Destiny's stats, obtaining two cumulative points in less than an hour after the Trial started should be the average in terms of kill stats. As for that Shen Wushuang fellow…he either has terrifying probing-type skills, the gods are smiling on his luck, or he gave it his all without holding back the moment the Trial started.'
Based on the cumulative points from Fallen Star, Destiny, and all the names he was familiar with, Lin Huang came up with some rough speculations based on their kill stats.
The Trial had just started. Most participants would want to lie low while quietly attempting to familiarize themselves with the Trial's environment and rules. Therefore, the overall speed of the hunt was currently on the slow side.
The slow pace suited Lin Huang well, however. After all, he had entered the trial space nearly one hour later than everyone else.
'The restriction placed on my Divine Telekinesis' probing range is ridiculously high. If I want to hunt down other competitors, I'll have to use other probing skills…" Even as Lin Huang was speaking, he already had an orange Monster Card in hand.
After the card was crushed, a humanoid figure resembling a bald robotic man of about three meters tall appeared before Lin Huang.
The figure's gleaming, round head was so smooth it reflected the warm glow from the lights.
He had summoned a mechanical Overlord this time.
"Use the fastest, most discreet way to locate all competitors in this trial space."
"No problem." After emitting a series of synthesized sounds, the Overlord scattered countless tiny mechanical insects in every direction like dandelions blown by the wind.
The reason Lin Huang summoned the Overlord and not the Bug Tribe Queen Mother was because the mechanical beings created by the Overlord could camouflage themselves as static metallic items when necessary.
Even if someone was probing with Divine Telekinesis, they might not be able to detect this anomaly.
As Lin Huang was making all the necessary preparations for combat, the other three Death Sickle members experienced some confusion about the same matter.
'What's going on with Xie Lin? The Trial started more than an hour ago and he still hasn't gotten into the top hundred yet?' Twin found this hard to understand.
'Xie Lin hasn't climbed up the ranks yet. Could it be that he's missing some probing abilities?' Fallen Star noticed the absence of Xie Lin's name on the leaderboard and could not help furrowing her brows.
'Boss Xie Lin isn't ranked? Don't tell me he's secretly working on some impressive move?' Destiny had full confidence in Lin Huang's abilities because Lin Huang had been personally recommended by Buried Heaven after all.
Chapter 1310: Shen Wushuang
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
In less than half an hour, the Overlord's tiny surveillance bugs found more than thirty participants.
After watching the surveillance footage that the Overlord projected, Lin Huang noticed a familiar face.
However, that did not mean Lin Huang and this person were actually acquainted—Lin Huang merely knew of the person's existence and had read up about him.
After finding out about the Virtual God rankings, Lin Huang had scanned through the leaderboard the first chance he got, then looked on the internet for information on some of the top-ranked people on the list.
In the projection, Shen Wushuang—number one among the Protoss Virtual Gods and a sword cultivator—was the person Lin Huang had paid the most attention to and had looked up the most details for.
Shen Wushuang was the number one genius from the Combat God Temple and a sword cultivator. He was a non-Pure Blood Protoss. Rumor had it that his parents were both big shots in Xeno, a grade-7 organization. Yet, he did not join Xeno. The next day after he came of age, he inconspicuously signed up at one of the Combat God Temple's branches. After joining the Combat God Temple, he had steadily made a name for himself without receiving any preferential treatment.
Due to his impressive talent and good looks, Shen Wushuang had many female fans in the God Territory with female non-Pure Blood Protoss forming the largest percentage of them.
There were even videos of him in combat on the internet, mostly taken by his female fans. Lin Huang had watched some of the videos too and thought that they were not exactly impressive. He could only say that among people of similar combat strength, Shen Wushuang's sword skills were undoubtedly of the highest caliber. However, he still had some ways to go before he could become the Number One Virtual God.
However, in the few years after Shen Wushuang achieved rank-9 Virtual God, he rarely fought in public. The tasks that the Combat God Temple allocated to him were similarly discreet, as though he was intentionally hiding his real ability from public scrutiny.
Moreover, Shen Wushuang's had fans stopped sharing his old combat videos to outsiders as well. The most recent combat video that Lin Huang had watched dated from seven years ago.
Therefore, when Lin Huang saw Shen Wushuang's face in the projection, he could not help but wonder if the Shen Wushuang of today was worthy of his title as the God Territory's Number One Virtual God.
"Overlord, zoom in to his footage."
Lin Huang pointed at Shen Wushuang's face in the surveillance footage.
The footage, originally the size of a palm, was swiftly transformed into a big screen of about fifty inches.
In the video, Shen Wushuang was currently in a room that looked suspiciously like a storeroom and was locked in fierce combat with another person.
After concentrating on the video for a few seconds, Lin Huang could not help raising his eyebrows slightly.
"Is that a Sword Servant?"
In the video, Shen Wushuang's loose long hair gave him a disheveled look. Meanwhile, his opponent was a middle-aged man sporting a beard. Despite his rather ordinary appearance, this man looked as if he was winning this fight with Shen Wushuang.
Both of them clearly displayed skills higher than Level-6 Sword Dao. Going purely by their accomplishments in Sword Dao, Lin Huang felt that they were no weaker than himself.
What prompted Lin Huang to think that Shen Wushuang's opponent was a Sword Servant was that there was no such person in the God Territory's Virtual God ranks. If there had been, this person would have been in the top ranks; at least the top three. Yet, Lin Huang had seen all the pictures of the top twenty Virtual Gods and none of them resembled the person in front of Shen Wushuang.
Of course, the man could have been a resident of the Great Heaven Territory. Lin Huang considered this as well, but he was leaning more towards the assumption that the man was Great Heaven's Sword Servant, who was also a trial BOSS in the Competitive Trial.
Judging by his ability to contain Shen Wushuang's attacks, Lin Huang would not have been at all surprised if the bearded man's actual combat strength was at Heavenly God level.
In the footage, both of them directed their Sword Dao through sheer will.
In the void, shafts of gold and black sword gleams clashed against each other, triggering explosions.
Every sword gleam that they sent out was almost on par with Lin Huang's current abilities.
However, Lin Huang quickly noticed something strange—he suddenly realized that Shen Wushuang was a left-hander.
However, in the combat videos that Lin Huang had watched a few days ago, without exception, Shen Wushuang held his sword in his right hand.
'Has this fellow been hiding his real strength from the very beginning? Or has he realized in recent years that his left hand makes him more skillful, so he switched to cultivating with his left hand instead?'
The fight in the footage fascinated Lin Huang greatly, but it was purely a match of sword skills and Sword Dao. From beginning to end, Shen Wushuang did not utilize other skills and neither did the bearded middle-aged man.
The fight lasted for more than half an hour. When Shen Wushuang started showing defeat, Lin Huang saw his figure retreat frantically out of the storeroom-like space.
The bearded man did not chase after Shen Wushuang however. After he sheathed his sword though, his head suddenly snapped in the direction of the surveillance camera. The screen blacked out in an instant.
"Discovered," the Overlord explained.
"I know." Lin Huang was more convinced now that his upcoming opponent was one of the 300 Sword Servants in this Trial.
Despite being restricted to rank-9 Virtual God abilities, a Heavenly God's detection abilities were far above those of a Virtual God. It was not too much of a surprise that he would have discovered the Overlord's surveillance bugs.
Shen Wushuang might have lost the fight in the footage, but Lin Huang did not dare underestimate him. In the half-hour fight, Shen Wushuang had demonstrated enough of his abilities to prove that he was indeed the Number One Virtual God.
'This bearded fellow in the footage—Sword Servant or not, he'd make a great opponent. He didn't pursue Shen Wushuang when he retreated. Whatever his reasons for not giving chase, I guess he won't pursue his opponents no matter who retreats anyway…' The thought of training with the bearded man arose in Lin Huang's mind. After all, even if Lin Huang could not defeat him, he would not need to use any skills than a direct retreat. 'If I train with an opponent like that, he'd probably be a great help to me in assimilating what I've harvested from the first two stages.'
Most people would prefer to stay away once they realized how powerful the bearded man was. Yet, for Lin Huang, the man was the perfect training target.
"Overlord, plan my route from my current position to this bearded fellow's location. If there are other participants in between, mark them for me too. I can take them out on the way and earn more points," Lin Huang proceeded to make good on his thoughts.
Immediately, the Overlord created a route as directed and projected it to Lin Huang.
"Target is currently located two hundred and eighty kilometers away. Based on the previously determined locations of the Trial participants, we ought to encounter four participants en route. This is calculated based on a ten-kilometer deviation along the route between us and the target. If we take a twenty-kilometer deviation, there'll be nine participants.
"Basically, all the participants are moving around; I'll be constantly updated on their positions. But there's still a problem—the target can detect my probing methods, so he can't be tracked. There's a good chance that he's left his initial position."
"If he's a participant, then he's left for sure. But if he's a Sword Servant, he'd most probably guard his own territory. No matter what, let's go and find out."
Naturally, Lin Huang hoped that the man would remain in the same location. It was hard to find a good opponent after all. If the man turned out to be a participant from the Great Heaven Territory, he would probably not stay in the same spot after a match. With his abilities, the man would be actively out hunting and would probably not linger in the same area.
Nevertheless, Lin Huang decided to go and find out.