Chapter 1341: Ranking No.1!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
After passing the job of getting rid of all three BOSSes to Lin Huang, Unrivaled God, the other three and the rest of the competitors beat a hasty retreat.
Apart from Lin Huang, the only ones who remained were Fallen Star and the other two members from Death Sickle.
However, Fallen Star and the other two did not participate in the one-against-three battle. Instead, they watched on the sidelines. Only after making sure that all of the competitors had left the sensing zone did they speak to Lin Huang.
"Xie Lin, we can't make it apparent that we know you. Otherwise, we might be targeted by all of the other competitors. We hope you'll understand."
"I know," Lin Huang nodded.
"We finally have a chance to speak to you alone," Twin's icy blue head on the left said while smiling.
"You've pretty much secured the No.1 ranking in this Trial now!" Twin's fiery red head on the right seamlessly continued the conversation, "Nobody can surpass you currently."
"Boss Xie Lin, I never thought your real abilities would be even more powerful than my expectations!" Destiny took over the conversation immediately, "You can participate in the Great Heaven Trial if you achieve the No. 1 spot! It'll be a piece of cake for you to get the Great Heaven inheritance!"
Lin Huang shook his head, smiling, "If it were really as easy as you say, that would be fantastic."
"Xie Lin, you're a participant, which is different from us. If I'm not mistaken, the Competitive Trial being initiated has something to do with you?" Twin could not help asking. She had wanted to enquire about this a few days ago, although, in reality, she had already guessed the truth. She just wanted to hear the confirmation from the horse's mouth.
"Yes, I initiated the Competitive Trial." Lin Huang did not deny it.
"So that's it. No wonder you're the only candidate, Boss Xie Lin, while the rest of us are competitors!" Destiny had an epiphany.
"Once this Trial ends, let us know if you need our help with anything," Fallen Star said after falling silent for a moment, "You can look for us if you need help in the Trial later too."
"I will," Lin Huang nodded, "However, apart from this Competitive Trial, the other stages for the Great Heaven inheritance are all designed for a single person. I don't know what the assessment will entail for the later stages. I'll contact you if I really need help."
"Are you confident about the stage after this?" Fallen Star asked again.
"To be honest, no," Lin Huang shook his head with a forced smile, "According to some information that I obtained, I more or less know that the stage afterward will be very difficult."
"Try your best then," Fallen Star comforted, "It'd be great if you can get the Great Heaven inheritance. If you can't, don't force it. You only need to fight to the best of your abilities; leave the result to fate."
"That's what I think too," Lin Huang smiled while nodding.
He never had been a sore loser. The main goal when he entered the Swordfiend Abyss was not for the inheritance, but to elevate his Sword Dao and ability, because he knew from the beginning that the Great Heaven inheritance was definitely difficult to obtain. Of course, if he really did manage to get the Great Heaven inheritance eventually, that would be an amazing extra reward.
Fallen Star and the other two left, but only after chatting for some time with Lin Huang.
Lin Huang then focused entirely on fighting the three BOSSes.
Unlike Sword12 earlier, the abilities of these three BOSSes were similar to what Lin Huang had expected—roughly between 100 to 200 among the Sword Servants.
Lin Huang did not use Sword Dao true meaning. Instead, he maintained his use of peak level-6 Sword Dao from the beginning until the end. He only defeated all three Sword Servants teaming up to fight him after one and a half hours of battle.
"Candidate Xie Lin has defeated a BOSS, he has obtained 100 points!"
"Candidate Xie Lin has defeated a BOSS, he has obtained 100 points!"
"Candidate Xie Lin has defeated a BOSS, he has obtained 100 points!"
Lin Huang raised his brows as he watched the three "global" announcements popping up. It felt like the same announcement had been repeated three times.
Some competitors who were far away and had no idea what had happened thought it was strange.
"That's some special treatment alright! Three announcements for killing one BOSS?!"
"Why did the "global" announcement pop up three times when Xie Lin killed a BOSS this time?! Can it be that the BOSS he just killed is special?"
"Being a participant is really something else. Kill a BOSS and there are three announcements. Wouldn't our screens be occupied if he killed three BOSS and nine announcements popped up?!"
Only some of the competitors who knew what happened guessed the truth.
"Three announcements at once—did he defeat three BOSSes at once?!"
"Xie Lin is really something. We can't even fight one BOSS and he defeated them one against three!"
"I've always thought that Virtual Gods who got to the level of Unrivaled God and the rest would have reached their ultimate peak. Now that I've seen Xie Lin, I realize that I was too naive…"
…
Unrivaled God and the other three who were now far away from battlefield looked rather sour.
The four of them knew very well that the three BOSSes who had come after them had personal abilities higher than all of them put together. However, the BOSSes had still lost to Xie Lin even though all three of them took him on at once. Clearly, Xie Lin had not depended on luck to defeat Unrivaled God's group of four.
Forbidden Lamella and Frontier might have felt somewhat dissatisfied earlier, thinking they might have been able to win if they had sufficient time to prepare and familiarize themselves with the sword formation, or even use a more powerful sword formation. However, upon consideration now, they realized that the disparity between their personal abilities and Xie Lin's was far too great.
Lin Huang knew that he would definitely be discussed this time but he did not care at all.
"11 o'clock, 517 kilometers from where we are now. There's a suspected Sword Servant who's coming in our direction at high speed. He seems to have been attracted by the unusual phenomenon that was generated by the battle earlier. This fellow is a humanoid monster. His head looks a little like a red octopus and he has a beard on his chin that looks like multiple tentacles…"
After defeating three BOSSes, Lin Huang did not linger around. With Warlord, he headed to the next destination.
A few minutes later (everyone's flight speed in the Trial space was significantly slower since they needed to travel through the interiors of many houses in their journey), Lin Huang met the octopus-head.
After roughly half an hour of intense battle, Lin Huang defeated the fifth BOSS.
He did not linger either but proceeded straight to the 6th target.
Warlord had earmarked a total of 60 suspected Sword Servants as targets, while Lin Huang only had some 60 hours left. If he wanted to defeat all 60 suspected BOSSes, he could only spend an hour on each BOSS. That included traveling time, which made his schedule very tight.
After defeating the octopus-head, Lin Huang fought the sixth target soon after. It was a monster that looked like a crocodile but walked on two feet just like a human.
The crocodile's abilities were very powerful—his ranking was Sword21. Lin Huang spent a full one and a half hours before achieving a final hard-won victory without using Sword Dao true meaning.
After defeating Sword21, Lin Huang headed to the next target immediately.
He fought one battle after another. In the space of the next two days, Lin Huang had to spend almost 39 hours without rest before he managed to defeat all 60 suspected Sword Servants that Warlord had targeted.
In reality, all the 60 suspected Sword Servants were actually Sword Servants. Warlord had made no mistakes in his filtering. It was fortunate that none of the 60 were hunting targets of Unrivaled God and the others.
Later on, Lin Huang spent almost 20 hours to hunt down the second round of suspected Sword Servant targets that Warlord had come up with. A push notification popped up when he defeated the 37th Sword Servant.
"Congratulations to the participant and all competitors; all 300 BOSSes are defeated. This Trial ends ahead of time!"
COMMENT
Lin Huang was not surprised when he saw the pop-up push notification. This was because he had seen announcements popping up several times throughout his two-day hunt about Unrivaled God and the rest successfully killing BOSSes.
The Trial ended in advance approximately an hour before the official ending time. Of the 44 Sword Servants, apart from the 37 Sword Servants that Lin Huang had killed, it was obvious that Unrivaled God and the rest had killed the remaining seven.
"Congratulations to the participant for defeating 279 Sword Servants and obtaining a total of 27,911 points. He is ranked No. 1 in this Competitive Trial!"
"Congratulations to the candidate for becoming the champion of this Competitive Trial and achieving the qualifications for the final Trial!"
Lin Huang finally looked serious after seeing the two notifications that popped up one after the other.
Chapter 1342: The Ten Palaces
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
A massive mountain sat in plain sight under the scorching sun.
Lin Huang stood at the foot of the mountain, unable to stop from squinting as he looked up at its lofty peaks.
He had not seen the sun throughout his ten days in the Competitive Trial space. Now that he had been suddenly teleported into a new Trial space, he was slightly uncomfortable.
The mountain before him was massive. The area above the mountainside was almost entirely wreathed in clouds. Even Lin Huang could not tell just by looking how much more of the mountain there was above the clouds. He could only vaguely see a gigantic shadow.
"A mountain…can the last trial be hiking?" Lin Huang also noticed that the entire mountain was covered in lush trees. If the assessment really did involve hiking, there must be obstacles in this dense jungle.
As his mind was occupied with multiple thoughts, trying to figure out what the assessment was, a push notification popped up before him again.
"The last Trial – the Ten Palaces!"
"Golden Crow Mountain is the courtyard of the Great Heaven Palace. This is where the swordmaster's bodyguards are stationed. It is also the usual domicile of Swords 1 to 10, under the command of the swordmaster, and is known as the Ten Palaces."
"Among the Ten Palaces, the First Palace is the highest while the Tenth Palace is the lowest. They are guarded by Swords 1 to 10 respectively. There are many God's Servants (not necessarily Sword Servants) all over Golden Crow Mountain, all under the command of the ten bodyguards."
"As the participant's combat strength is on par with Virtual God rank-9, all of the swordmaster's bodyguards and the God's Servants under them have an average combat strength of Virtual God rank-9."
"It has been detected that the participant's Sword Dao has been elevated to True Martial Level (level-1 of Sword Dao true meaning). The swordmaster's bodyguards and God's Servants will have their Martial Dao level capped at True Martial Level in this round of the Trial."
"It has been detected that the participant has mastered preliminary God Rule Power. The swordmaster's bodyguards and God's Servants may use God Rule Power that is on the same level as the participant in this round of the Trial."
…
"All of the participant's techniques are allowed (excluding heavenly god-level techniques) in this round of the Trial. You may use god rule relics and other treasures of the same level. The swordmaster's bodyguards and God's Servants are entitled to the same treatment as the candidate."
…
Lin Huang could not help but frown even more after reading all of the Trial rules.
According to Sword12, even Sword10, the weakest among the ten bodyguards, had peak level-6 Sword Dao on the same level of intensity as Lin Huang's Sword Dao true meaning attacks.
In this trial, all the Sword Servants' Sword Dao was now uncapped to True Martial Level, just like Lin Huang. This meant that their overall abilities would be boosted a full level.
A Sword Servant's ability at peak level-6 Sword Dao was already terrifying, what more the most powerful ten Sword Servants among the swordmaster's bodyguards. Lin Huang felt he might not win even if he were to fight a swordmaster's bodyguard who was using peak level-6 Sword Dao, let alone a swordmaster's bodyguard whose Sword Dao was elevated to True Martial Level.
The elevation of Sword Dao alone at this stage of the Trial had doubled the pressure on Lin Huang.
Apart from Sword Dao, being able to use God Rule Power now would boost the Sword Servants' abilities even further.
In the previous Trial stage, apart from having their Sword Dao capped, Sword12 and the rest of the BOSSes were prohibited from using God Rule Power at true god-level ability. The main reason why Unrivaled God and the rest could defeat the Sword Servants was because of God Rule Power. If the BOSS could use God Rule Power too, Unrivaled God and the rest would probably not have defeated even a single Sword Servant.
However, since the ten swordmaster's bodyguards could use God Rule Power in this stage of the Trial, this was certainly bad news for Lin Huang.
On a certain level, mastering God Rule Power was almost like being a True God. The differences lay only in the strength of the flesh and soul, as well as no Divine Fire within the body. One's Divine Power quality was weaker, as well as one's endurance. However, based on technique alone, it would be no different in nature than a first-rank True God.
However, Lin Huang had not used God Rule Power at all when fighting the Sword Servants in the previous stage. The most he had used was Sword Dao true meaning.
Another thing that concerned Lin Huang was that apart from the ten swordmaster's bodyguards, there were God's Servants under their command with powerful abilities.
Even though these God's Servants' true abilities were nothing as powerful as the Sword Servants who ranked 200 to 300, their Martial Dao true meaning and God Rule Power would be sealed in this stage of the Trial. Even if their combat strength was capped at Virtual God rank-9, their overall ability would still be above most Sword Servants from the previous round.
"I wonder how many God's Servants there are and if they would create battle formations to surround me…" Lin Huang could not help frowning slightly at this point in his thoughts. To tackle the sword formation that Unrivaled God and the other three created, he had used most of his Sword Dao techniques. If these God's Servants created battle formations, the strength of the formations could only be more powerful than the previous formation he had encountered.
Lin Huang was not concerned with losing. He was worried that he would drain too much Divine Power when fighting the God's Servants, which would affect his battle with the swordmaster's bodyguards later on.
However, the rules for this stage of the Trial were not entirely disadvantageous to Lin Huang. At least the fact that he could use god rule relics was an advantage.
God rule relic armor was sufficient to defend against attacks that utilized God Rule Power and Sword Dao true meaning. The most one would suffer would be the draining of a great deal of Divine Power but no direct harm.
Meanwhile, Lin Huang had Divine Power within his body as well as ten Life Wheels. The amount of Divine Power within him even surpassed most Protoss. Were he to be attacked by the swordmaster's bodyguards eighty to a hundred times, the Divine Power in his body might not even be exhausted.
However, the Divine Power within the swordmaster's bodyguards, who also wore god rule relic armor, would most probably drain completely after being attacked 20 to 30 times at most.
Lin Huang had the upper hand on that.
Furthermore, the last rule mentioned that no techniques were prohibited.
This was a great boost for the ten swordmaster's bodyguards and God's Servants' overall ability because apart from Sword Dao, they could use other techniques as well. The ten swordmaster's bodyguards who were under the command of a Heavenly God would have mastered unimaginable techniques apart from Sword Dao over such a long period.
A rule like this was definitely a disadvantage to Unrivaled God and the others.
To Lin Huang however, this was an ideal rule.
One must know that he was a man with cheat codes. The existence of such a rule meant that he could use all of his Function Cards as long as their power was below heavenly god-level.
To be frank, Lin Huang did not have much confidence that he could win this Trial without that last rule. However, that rule was the equivalent of putting a loaded gun in his hand.
It did not mean that he could not use his Function Cards if the rule was not there. Lin Huang was unwilling to use them because he was afraid the Trial system would fault him for cheating. Under such circumstances, his previous efforts would have been wasted.
However, he had no such concerns now. As long as he was willing, he could absolutely use his cheat codes publicly in the coming Trial.
Chapter 1343: Lin Huang VS God's Servants
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Lin Huang ran at lightning speed through the dense jungle. He stepped on big trees and snapped them one after another, targeting the top of the mountain.
According to the description of this stage of the Trial, Golden Crow Mountain was actually a self-contained world of its own with an extraordinary Space Rule. As long as the Ten Palaces were not visible, Lin Huang could not get to the top of the mountain even if he was to run for a million years at the fastest possible speed.
In reality, the Ten Palaces were not located anywhere on this great mountain. The swordmaster's bodyguard would only materialize with the Palace when Lin Huang defeated the God's Servant under the command of that particular bodyguard.
Beginning with the Tenth Palace, Lin Huang could only enter the next Palace for the challenge when the swordmaster's bodyguard gave permission.
To put it simply, the entire process would be thus: Defeating the God's Servant under Sword10—the Tenth Palace materialized—obtaining Sword10's permission (where Sword10 was either killed, defeated or battled into submission)—defeating the God's Servant under Sword9—the Ninth Palace materialized—obtaining Sword9's permit…and so on. Lin Huang would only be considered to have completed the final Trial when he obtained permission from Sword1 from the First Palace.
Although this round of Trial did not restrict Divine Telekinesis at all, Lin Huang was only able to scan an endless sea of plants after sending out his Divine Telekinesis. He did not sense even a single monster.
As such, he chose to run in the dense jungle. He even damaged it on purpose, making loud noises to activate the Trial as soon as possible, as well as accelerate the appearance of the God's Servant.
If it had been anyone else, the person would definitely be cautious, making as little commotion as possible to prevent being surrounded and killed by the God's Servants. The person would then take the initiative to find the God's Servants and defeat them one after another a step at a time.
However, Lin Huang harbored no such concerns. Instead, he hoped that all of the God's Servants could come at him at once. This way, he would save time and kill all of them in one go.
His deliberate strategy of making a commotion worked very soon. In less than a minute, several overpowering auras appeared, heading in Lin Huang's direction at high speed.
"There are only four of them?" Lin Huang's Divine Telekinesis picked up the auras as soon as they appeared. He could also clearly sense that the four people's auras alone were above Sword12.
It did not mean that their overall abilities were definitely more powerful than Sword12. It was the unsealing of Martial Dao true meaning and God Rule Power that gave them a direct, significant boost to their auras.
As soon as the four auras appeared, Lin Huang halted immediately. Sword in hand, he waited patiently for the four of them to come.
All four God's Servants arrived almost simultaneously in the time it took for a few breaths.
Lin Huang did not wait for them to attack; he swung his sword as soon as he saw the first person appear.
He performed Thunder Eclipse at peak speed as soon as he attacked.
A blood-hued sword gleam cut through the void like terrifying lightning. Not only it was charged with full force Divine Power, but it was also powered by Sword Dao true meaning and the God-slaying Power under God Rule Power.
He did not hold back at all in his attack; he charged at full force.
The newcomer apparently had not expected Lin Huang to attack directly, neither had he expected the attack to be so fast.
A mere moment of being stunned, and he failed to dodge or defend himself.
The blood-hued sword gleam sliced through the void like lighting and impaled the newcomer. His gigantic head with six eyes flew into the air.
The muscular body that was running ahead stopped abruptly. It stood there, spurting blood for a moment before it collapsed onto the ground.
Within a split second of contact, one of the four God's Servants was killed.
The remaining three stopped immediately and did not dare to approach any further. They had fear in their eyes when they looked at Lin Huang now.
Sensing the swiftly-fading vitality, Lin Huang glanced over the remaining three God's Servants without even a look at the headless body.
These three God's Servants were not in normal human form.
One could even say that they looked odd.
However, this did not confuse Lin Huang. All Protoss had human forms but most Protoss were too proud to become somebody else's God's Servant.
Being a God's Servant would mean becoming a vassal and losing most of their freedom.
Under normal circumstances, apart from a minority who would surrender themselves to a strong powerhouse to become a God's Servant, most of the God's Servants were forced to sign an agreement. They would usually die if they refused to sign it, therefore they had no choice but to surrender themselves.
Lin Huang had no idea which category of God's Servants the three of them were. However, he was quite sure that the abilities of these three were most probably below Sword10.
There was a female among these three monsters.
She looked a little like a mantis but had a dark-purple body. The lower part of her body above the waist was that of a human female; she even had breasts similar to a human female. The only things that differentiated her from humans were her arms that were similar to a mantis' thorny legs. Below her waist were four long and curved insect legs. One could tell that they possessed explosive and powerful leaping force.
One of the remaining two male monsters was a beast-man with a feline head, four big eyes and tiger stripes all over his body. The other one was a black dog beast with five heads and three tails.
Lin Huang merely gave them a cursory glance and soon targeted the mantis lady.
This was because she looked as if she had the weakest defensive ability.
As soon as he locked onto his target, Lin Huang attacked again. The battle sword in his hand turned into blood-colored lighting again as it sliced through the void.
He was still using Thunder Eclipse!
He used this extreme speed technique in the hopes of killing his enemy as swiftly as possible.
A blood-red gleam shot through the air like lightning, targeting the mantis lady.
However, the mantis lady, who had seen her partner being killed, was prepared. She moved almost at the same time the lightning flashed. The four wings on her back fluttered slightly and she leaped with all four legs using God Rule Power. She dodged Lin Huang's sword attack easily.
The best way of using Thunder Eclipse was in a stealth attack. It was hard for one to launch a successful killing attack when the opponent was prepared.
Lin Huang realized that his plan had failed since his attack had missed. He had merely considered that the mantis lady might have the weakest defense, but he had not expected her to have such terrifying speed of movement.
It was not that he had not considered her speed of movement before he attacked. It was just that he assumed very few could dodge the speed of his Thunder Eclipse even when it was a head-on assault.
The mantis lady's speed obviously surpassed the peak of normal virtual god-level.
"Is this a Speed God Rule?" Although Lin Huang was not sure what kind of god rule his opponent had mastered exactly, he was sure that she had used a Speed God Rule.
After a moment of thought, Lin Huang shot a glance at the other two God's Servants and soon made up his mind.
The next instant, blood-red lightning lit up the sword blade again. However, this time, Lin Huang did not swing the sword. The blood-red lightning grew brighter and brighter; within the time it took for a few breaths, one could no longer look at it directly. It was like a red sun surrounded by countless blood-red electric arcs sparking in all directions.
The mantis lady and the rest attempted to attack but they were blocked by the electric arcs. They did not dare to approach Lin Huang.
Meanwhile, the initial sunny, cloudless sky above Lin Huang's head was suddenly covered in dark clouds without anyone realizing it. These depressing dark clouds blanketed the entire sky, turning daylight into darkness immediately.
Faint blood-red lightning flashed above the clouds.
"I didn't want to waste my Divine Power on this technique but fighting Speed God Rule is really annoying and you all can escape at a moment's notice. To make sure you stay put, I've no choice but to use this sort of containment attack…"
Lin Huang swung his sword again once he was done with his soliloquy.
A glaring, gigantic sun exploded the moment he aimed the point of his sword at the mantis lady. It transformed into countless electric arcs and spread in all directions like a flood.
At the same time, the blood-red lightning above the dark clouds in the sky rained down like a storm. They turned the entire space into a prison made of lightning!
Chapter 1344: Sword10
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
By the time he blood-colored lightning had faded, the three God's Servants' auras had vanished completely.
Lin Huang glanced at the three carcasses, then closed his eyes where he was to activate the Divine Fire within him so as to replenish the Divine Power that he exhausted earlier.
A moment later, he opened his eyes all of a sudden and stared at a spot not too far in front of him.
A black palace had appeared right across from him without him realizing it.
The palace was massive, suspended in midair. It looked as if it were completely fashioned from some kind of black metal.
It was a lifeless thing but it gave Lin Huang a faint sense of oppression. However, when he probed deeper into it, he sensed nothing.
"A god sequence palace relic…" Lin Huang, who had come into contact with Thousand Face before, immediately recognized that the palace before him was not some building, but a god sequence relic.
Lin Huang felt slightly tongue-tied at seeing such an item. To him, such a thing was incredibly costly.
Be it a god sequence relic, god rule relic, normal god relic or relic, generally, weapons and armor would be the cheapest. Telekinetic weapons were much more expensive, not to mention there were similar weapons which could be put together in a combo package. However, the most expensive were not telekinetic weapons nor combo packages but spaceships or buildings, because both used a great amount of material and the building process was tedious. Not only that, but they also took a great deal of time to make.
A normal god sequence relic was at least 10,000 Divine Crystals (the equivalent of up to 100 billion Divine Stones but Divine Stones were not used for trading) in the God Territory. A god sequence telekinetic weapon relic would be at least hundreds of thousands of Divine Crystals. Meanwhile, it would be normal for spaceships and building god sequence relics to be sold for millions or even several dozen millions of Divine Crystals.
Meanwhile, if Lin Huang were to add up all the Divine Stones that he had in his storage space and trade them for Divine Crystals, he would not even have 10,000.
In his eyes, this palace in front of him was absolutely an item that only tycoons could afford.
However, he also knew that he could not compare with how fast heavenly god-level powerhouses earned money.
As Lin Huang was completely swallowed by envy, the black palace slowly descended from midair, crushing the plants on the ground into nothingness.
The entire edifice landed accompanied by a rumbling sound like an earthquake and the palace's door was pushed open slowly as if by an invisible force. It sounded ponderously heavy in the extreme.
Very soon, the door was completely opened. Lin Huang could no longer look away from what lay behind the door.
He felt a terrifying aura spreading forth from deep from within the door. The aura was weak at first, so weak that it was almost unnoticeable. However, it was skyrocketing every second, as if there were something frightening in this palace that was waking up quickly.
Lin Huang's heart beat faster and faster as he sensed the growing aura.
"So powerful!"
In just the time it took for a few breaths, the aura hit its peak.
Just by sensing the terrifying aura alone, Lin Huang was sure that this was a powerful enemy he had never encountered before. This person's ability was much higher than all of the opponents he had encountered so far in this Trial.
Lin Huang forced his legs to stir and walked slowly to the palace after getting his breathing under control.
His leaping heart eased a little every step he took and his emotions gradually calmed themselves as well.
By the time he arrived at the palace entrance, his heart was beating normally again while his emotions had settled into a calm like still water.
He stood at the entrance for a moment. Just as he was about to step through the threshold, he sensed an intense wave of approaching danger.
Lin Huang squinted slightly and saw a colorless, formless sword gleam coming straight at his face.
This was an attack of extreme speed, no slower than Lin Huang's Thunder Eclipse. Not only that, but it was also unpredictable.
However, Lin Huang did not even dodge it. His battle sword was already out of its scabbard and in his hand the minute he stepped forward.
A blood-red lightning gleam shot forth like a spirit snake, no slower than the colorless sword gleam.
The two sword gleams collided almost as soon Lin Huang stepped forward. As soon as the sword gleams faded, a fierce wind arose, flapping his clothes violently.
However, he did not even blink, taking a second step while returning his sword to its scabbard and stepping through the door.
Lin Huang did not turn his head when he heard the sound of the door being closed slowly behind him. Instead, he lifted his eyes to observe the environment that lay behind the door.
This was a massive palace, the interior completely different from its dull exterior. Instead, it had a sumptuous, dazzling vibe. However, apart from several dragon pillars, there was nothing else in the entire palace. It was empty.
The palace ceiling was over 30 meters high. Judging by what he saw, Lin Huang estimated the place was least 3,000 to 4,000 square meters in size.
However, Lin Huang knew that this was just the size on the surface.
There would always be dimensional formations inscribed inside of a palace god relic. Not only that, but there would also be space attribute materials within the construction material itself. The actual interior size of this palace was definitely several dozen or even several hundred times larger than it looked.
Not only that, but this palace was also a god sequence relic that only a heavenly god-level powerhouse could activate. There was definitely a dimensional sequence rule inscribed. It would not be surprising if the interior could contain a planet; it might even be larger than that.
"Over 300,000 years and finally someone's managed to make it to the final Trial…" A voice suddenly drifted in when Lin Huang was studying the palace. A silhouette had appeared in the middle of the palace—he had no idea when.
Lin Huang stared at the silhouette but discovered that the person did not look at all like what he was expecting.
Initially, he thought that Great Heaven's bodyguards might not necessarily have supreme charisma, but they would at least have a dignified appearance.
However, this man before him who was supposedly Sword10 was a sloppy middle-aged man.
He had chestnut-colored hair with a side fringe; it looked as if he had not washed his hair in a long time. The dark circles below his eyes were so intense they were frightening. His eyes were rather bleary; he looked like he was still half-awake or had indulged in too much debauchery. His voice sounded a little dispirited as well.
Most importantly, he was short. He looked merely 175 meters tall.
Although his aura was powerful, his entrance gave very little oomph.
"Your response was not too shabby against that attack," the sloppy man said while yawning, "If you had chosen to dodge, I would have shut the palace door right away. That would have been the furthest you could go. Fortunately, you chose to fight head-on. That's more like it."
"Refusing the candidate's entrance, does it fit the rule?" Lin Huang asked, raising his brows.
"Theoretically, no," the sloppy man was stunned for a second at the question. He then shook his head while smiling, "If you dodged my attack, the Trial system won't announce that you failed the challenge. However, I could close the palace door, letting you think that you failed the challenge and thus choosing to be teleported away. If that's the case, it would mean that you gave up the challenge yourself and lost your qualifications for the Trial. I can make you leave on your own without lifting a finger, isn't that great?"
Lin Huang was bereft of speech at the explanation.
"Oh yes, let me introduce myself. I'm Sword10. It's just like the thought that's popped into your head right now, I'm the weakest bodyguard under the swordmaster." Sword10 seemed not at all to mind the fact that he was the weakest. He even emphasized it on purpose.
This soliloquy made Lin Huang speechless again.
"You can say that my assessment is pretty simple. I'll let you through as long as you satisfy me. However, I must tell you this unpleasant fact—I'm not an easily satisfied man…"
Chapter 1345: Rapid Speed Versus Rapid Speed
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
"Among the swordmaster's ten bodyguards, I have the weakest combined abilities and miscellaneous abilities. I don't like to learn only one thing and I've never been a fan of specializing in any specific path. However, I rank No.2 under the swordmaster on the number of sword skills I possess. I know a bit about all sorts of sword skills too."
"That swing of the sword you used earlier upon entry could be considered within the threshold of rapid speed. Let me see first how fast you are then!"
Sword10 delivered his monologue and swung his sword without waiting for Lin Huang to respond.
To an outsider, he seemed to have only swung his sword once.
However, to Lin Huang, Sword10 had actually swung his sword up to a hundred times within the blink of an eye. As each swing had a subtle change that the naked eye could barely discern, it made it seem like these hundred or so sword swings were merely one swing. If there was a cultivator who had stellar vision here, even if he were not well versed in Sword Dao, he would have been able to see the battle sword in Sword10's hand shudder for a fraction of a second at the moment he swung his sword. Up to a hundred shadows reverberated at minimal amplitude.
Just this one swing proved to Lin Huang that Sword10's Sword Dao basics were far ahead of him.
This was not only about the speed of the swing but also extreme control while using rapid speed.
At the very least, Lin Huang could not do what Sword10 had just done. He figured the most that he could conceal in one sword swing of a similar technique would be 50 sword swings. People would be able to clearly see there was more than one sword swing if he did more than 50.
Up to a hundred colorless, formless sword gleams pierced through the air as Sword10 swung his sword. It was just as fast as the sword swing he had delivered at the door earlier, except that there were now a hundred times more sword gleams.
Lin Huang did not mind that he could not do what Sword10 had just done. He picked up his sword and swung it over and over again. Dense sword shadows filled the void.
One could say his technique was nothing in comparison with Sword10's sword swing. Lin Huang knew that he was subpar in this aspect compared to his opponent; he did not bother to compare at all. Although he might lose in terms of skills, it would be enough as long as the actual combat results were not inferior to those of his foe.
Furthermore, from an outsider's point of view, Lin Huang's sword swing was even cooler.
To them, Sword10's sword swing would be just a normal attack. However, Lin Huang's sword swings looked like they were ghostly aftereffects. The visual impact was much more powerful than Sword10's sword swing.
Countless blood-red electric arcs spread out like spider webs. They soon collided with the colorless, formless sword gleams and exploded into blood-red fireworks that filled the heavens.
Lin Huang seemed like he was in deep thought as he watched the blood-red fireworks exploding in the sky.
Although Lin Huang knew that Sword10's sword swing at the door earlier had utilized rapid speed, he had not managed to observe the exact specifics of the attack.
However, he had finally figured out what some of it entailed.
"It seems to be a wind attribute Elemental Enlightenment. The attack's effect of rapid speed seems to come from Wind Elemental Enlightenment…"
According to general classification, Elemental Enlightenment was actually a type of god rule power. However, unlike most god rule powers, the elements were a category with very clear rules. Therefore, someone took the elements out of the messy god rule power system and made them an independent system that people later called Elemental Enlightenment.
In reality, following general classification from earlier days, all sorts of Martial Dao true meaning were considered god rule power as well. It was only later on that people grouped them into an independent system.
Elemental Enlightenment powers usually came with very clear elemental features.
In the technique that Sword10 executed, for example, the sword gleam that contained Wind Elemental Enlightenment not only inherited the wind's rapid speed, but also its unique invisible feature.
Right as Lin Huang finally understood the secret behind Sword10's attack, Sword10, who was not far away, laughed all of a sudden.
"Pure rapid speed Sword Dao technique, that's rare!
"If I'm not mistaken, there's no Lightning Elemental Enlightenment. You've only imitated the lighting concept and created a rapid speed sword technique that's similar to a lightning strike."
Lin Huang was not surprised that Sword10 had seen through the secret of Thunder Eclipse.
No matter how his opponent suppressed his cultivation base, he was still a top heavenly god-level Sword Cultivator by nature and still possessed keen eyesight.
Sword10 proceeded to speak before Lin Huang could confirm his speculations.
"I'm a lazy person. Imitating Sword Dao to create sword techniques takes too much effort and time. I'd have to make mistakes and adjust over and over again. Meanwhile, my rapid speed is powered directly with Elemental Enlightenment, it's much easier.
"You must have seen that the sword swing earlier has a rapid speed effect resulting from Elemental Enlightenment. I've another sword technique that's also rapid. It's rather similar to your technique…" Truth to tell, Lin Huang could roughly guess what Sword10 was trying to do when he said that.
"Let's see which is more powerful—my rapid speed from Lightning Elemental Enlightenment or your rapid speed that imitates lightning!"
Purple electric arcs began sparking from Sword10's body after he said that.
Purple electric arcs, easily seen with the naked eye, radiated from his body instantly. Even the silver battle sword that he was holding was soon enveloped in a layer of purple plasma.
From far away, Lin Huang sensed the dangerous aura coming from the purple electric arcs. Lightning was the most powerful attack ability among all the Elemental Enlightenments. Techniques that came from such Enlightenment had terrifyingly powerful attacks.
As Lin Huang had his guard up, Sword10 smirked lightly and suddenly charged, battle sword in hand.
It was a thrust attack!
Charged with Lightning Elemental Enlightenment, this technique was already at its peak; Sword10's thrust attack boosted his sword's speed even more.
The extremely high-speed sword swing gave the illusion of being slow.
It seemed as if Sword10's sword swing was executed in slow motion, to the point that each image was crystal clear.
All of a sudden, the sword point seemed to pause in midair and countless purple electric arcs surged wildly from it. They turned into overwhelmingly dense webs that charged toward Lin Huang
Meanwhile, on the other side, Lin Huang seemed to have grown hundreds and thousands of arms in the blink of an eye. They were swinging hundreds and thousands of blood-red battle swords. With every sword swing, blood-red lightning sparked randomly as if a giant tree made up of hundreds and thousands of scarlet lightning was spreading its branches to the heavens.
In the void, blood-red and purple occupied half of the sky respectively. They then expanded towards each other's territory. The two colors intersecting dazzlingly in the air, continuously entangled.
The entire palace interior was as bright as day under the dazzling red and purple gleams. Here and there the faintest hint of haze hung in the air.
A long time later, both colors vanished gradually after the collisions, and the deafening thuds finally stopped.
Lin Huang stood where he was, looking rather serious now.
He had held almost nothing back throughout the two attacks earlier—at least he had not held back anything in Sword Dao. He had charged with Sword Dao true meaning and God-slaying Power, as well as all the Divine Power within him. Despite that, he had not managed to do anything to Sword10.
Meanwhile, Sword10 was still faintly smiling. He seemed to have restrained his abilities still.
"Your rapid speed has a great deal of room for improvement. Since you're imitating lightning concept sword skills, if you can add on Lightning Elemental Enlightenment, this sword technique's speed and power won't even begin to compare with your current technique.
"Of the ten bodyguards under the swordmaster, there are four who can perfectly integrate sword skills with Elemental Enlightenment. Sword2 is the top one among these, his rapid speed sword skill is integrated with Light Elemental Enlightenment. Both of us can't compare with his sword speed. I'm not exaggerating at all when I say that you would be killed by him in one sword swing if you encountered him now!
"Also, the two sword swings earlier were just warm-ups. My sword can be even faster than that!"
Chapter 1346: Sword10's Approach
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
"The core of my rapid speed technique is wind attribute and lightning attribute Elemental Enlightenment. You've experienced two attacks previously, the next attack is the real sword swing at peak speed!"
As soon as Sword10 was done speaking, countless purple electric arcs began to radiate from the silver battle sword in his hand. However, the purple of the electric arcs soon faded into colorlessness very rapidly.
Lin Huang's pupils contracted slightly as he witnessed this.
His opponent had very obviously integrated Wind Elemental Enlightenment and Lightning Elemental Enlightenment, which was why the lightning arcs in his Lightning Elemental Enlightenment were now colorless.
As a result, it seemed as if Lin Huang was currently looking at a silver sword in Sword10's hand with no trace of energy at all surrounding it. Of course, this was merely an illusion. His Divine Telekinesis and perception could clearly sense the energy waves coming from the battle sword that Sword10 held.
It was definitely impossible that the integration of two types of Enlightenment would only have the effect of turning the electric arcs colorless. Lin Huang could almost guess that there would be a fairly good cumulative effect from the two Elemental Enlightenments.
If not, Sword10 would not say that this was his fastest attack.
Seeing that Sword10 had entered battle mode once again, Lin Huang did not dare to hold back at all.
If he failed to defend himself against the attack, it was possible that he might be killed by Sword10 right away.
The Divine Power within Lin Huang's body surged forth unrestrained, as he utilized Thunder Escape in a sword swing that encapsulated his most powerful Sword Dao and God-slaying Power.
To accelerate his sword speed further, Lin Huang had even activated Seraphic Speed—something that he had not used for a long time.
This Seraphic Speed ability came from Kylie.
To be exact, the Seraphic Speed that Lin Huang had retrieved from Kylie was not a Monster Skill, but a Life Seed Skill which was part of one of Kylie's core abilities.
As Kylie elevated in rank, her combat strength had increased as well, which meant that the Seraphic Speed within Lin Huang's body had also undergone continuous transformation. When Kylie elevated to virtual god-level, this Seraphic Speed had evolved entirely into a divine ability.
Not only that, but Kylie also belonged to the Nephilic Judge Tribe—one of the most ancient Pure Blood Protoss bloodlines.
Even though her current combat strength was merely at the level of Virtual God rank-8, the effect of the core Seraphic Speed divine ability was similar to the effect of a true god-level god rule.
With the support of Seraphic Speed, Lin Huang's Thunder Eclipse had instantly surpassed the original limits of its speed.
A blood-colored sword gleam flashed through the air; the speed of the electric arc was now many times faster than before.
Sword10 could not help raising his brows upon seeing this. "Seraphic Speed?!"
As a veteran heavenly god-level powerhouse, he had seen many divine abilities. A glance was all it took for him to identify that Lin Huang added the Seraphic Speed divine ability into his sword swing.
Almost simultaneously as Lin Huang launched his attack, Sword10 sliced down with his battle sword. A colorless sword gleam charged with double Elemental Enlightenment surged out from the sword point.
The next instant, blood-colored and colorless sword gleams both collided violently in the void.
As the sword gleams collided, blood-colored and colorless electric arcs sparked wildly in all directions. They looked like countless electric snakes crawling distortedly everywhere.
Oddly enough, the energy impact from the electric arcs and energy waves would vanish at once whenever they came into contact with the ground or the dragon pillars. No damage was done at all.
This was not because the duo's collision impact was weak. If the battlefield between the two was somewhere without Rule Bending Power limitations, the damage done in combat would spread as far as 10,000 kilometers.
Each electric arc that sparked from this collision of sword swings could collapse mountains and evaporate seas, destroying everything it came into contact with.
However, in this god sequence palace relic, mere true god-level power could not do anything to this place. It was even insufficient to activate the palace's defensive system. The internal construction material itself was immune to the duo's battle impact.
Lin Huang was in the midst of battle and did not notice these details at all, otherwise, he would have been envious all over again.
After that first clash of swords, he moved almost at the same time as Sword10.
The sword speed collision between the two was of equal power, therefore this battle of rapid speed transformed into an even more intense collision.
In the void, Lin Huang transformed into a blood-red electric arc and charged. Meanwhile, Sword10 vanished completely.
With Wind Elemental Enlightenment support, Sword10 turned completely invisible.
Meanwhile, Lin Huang had turned into a bolt of blood-red lightning.
The two silhouettes collided wildly over and over again in the void.
If one was to observe with the naked eye, they would only be able to see a blood-red lightning bolt flickering non-stop. It would pause for a moment each time as if it had collided with an invisible wall. Right after that, dazzling blood-red lightning would explode in all directions.
This happened again and again, repeating almost several thousand times per second.
It was like an intense battle between a raging blood-red thunder god and an invisible deity.
Within a short four to five seconds, these high-powered collisions happened over 50,000 times.
In reality, Lin Huang's speed was subpar in comparison with Sword10.
After all, Sword10 had the effect of double Elemental Enlightenment in his sword swing. Not only that, but he had also mastered this technique for many years. Meanwhile, Lin Huang's Seraphic Speed divine ability was not a real god rule or Enlightenment power; he was still breaking in his divine ability and sword skills and had yet to reach perfection.
The single collision earlier might not have been enough to identify any disparity. However, as the duo charged at each other using rapid speed, even if a sword swing was just a little slower, the cumulative attacks finally exposed the gap between Lin Huang's rapid speed and that of Sword10.
Cold sweat broke out on Lin Huang's forehead as an invisible electric arc charged past his left hand and sliced through a little bit of his sleeve. The battle that had lasted less than five seconds paused all of a sudden.
Suddenly, Sword10 retreated hundreds of meters away and stood there after sheathing his sword.
"I could have severed your left hand with that attack earlier. It would end this way—your speed would drop further and you would be entirely dominated by my rapid speed. You would have lost your chance of turning the tables completely." Sword10 had no intention of going after Lin Huang. Instead, he began chatting with Lin Huang, entirely at ease. "There's a lot of room for improvement in your rapid speed."
"First of all, you don't have a thorough understanding of your Seraphic Speed divine ability or how to use it effectively. You're just using it to boost your speed. However, the Seraphic Speed divine ability can actually be a rogue element if you truly know how to use it. Not only it can accelerate, but it can also decelerate, change speed, enable explosive speed, enable rapid change of direction as well as space flickering… You haven't broken in your sword skills and divine ability properly either. You're completely at a beginner's level…
COMMENT
"In reality, as long as you familiarize yourself with how to fully utilize Seraphic Speed, you can absolutely offset the rapid speed gap between us. However, you'll be at a dead-end when you encounter Sword2 later on.
"There are only two ways for you to pass him. You can either elevate your Seraphic Speed divine ability to a god rule or gain understanding of a type of Speed Elemental Enlightenment. Otherwise, you won't even be able to counter one attack from him."
Lin Huang had an epiphany at this point. He had finally discovered Sword10's approach. Hurriedly, he asked, "You must be in the Succession Sect, am I right?"
"Seems like you know about the Succession Sect and the Regression Sect." Sword10 nodded slightly.
"Sword12 told me about this," Lin Huang explained.
"That's great, it saves me wasting words to explain." Sword10 glanced at Lin Huang and continued, "Our rapid speed sparring will end here. I already know what level you're at so we'll move on to the next round!"
Chapter 1347: Force-type Attack
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
"Force-type attack is different from the extreme sword speed and agility required for rapid speed in that it aims for the ultimate charge in an attack. You would need extreme strength and force, even extreme usage of Divine Power…"
Lin Huang was completely focused as he listened to Sword10's explanation.
Previously, he had never given these matters much thought. Although he knew that there was force-type cultivation direction in Sword Dao, his understanding of force meant fighting his opponent in the most unyielding manner! He thought that a force-type attack was swinging his sword with all his might and not holding anything back!
Sword10 seemed to know what was going through Lin Huang's mind. He continued, "Many people think that force-type attack means fighting without thinking. The assumption isn't exactly wrong, but real force-type attack isn't merely mindless combat.
"To me, a real force-type attack should have extreme strength, extreme explosive ability, extreme physical capabilities, and extreme usage of Divine Power… It's a combination of all these extreme elements; there should be no shortcomings whatsoever.
"If only a single aspect reaches its peak, or there's a clear flaw, that would not be considered a genuine force-type attack. At most that could be called a strength-type, explosive-type or Divine Power-type attack…"
After Sword10 finished this earnest explanation, he looked at Lin Huang across the distance. "Next, let's see what sort of level you're at for your force-type attack!"
As soon as he was done speaking, Sword10 withdrew the silver battle sword he held from its scabbard once more. Divine Power slowly spread from the sword hilt to the very tip of the blade. As Divine Power enveloped the blade of the sword completely, a layer of red flame surged up around it as well. At the same time, wispy blood-red sparks appeared
Lin Huang only needed a glance to tell that that Sword10 had not only added Fire Elemental Enlightenment to his weapon, but he had also endowed it with Lightning Elemental Enlightenment.
"The red Lightning Elemental Enlightenment seems to be different from the previous purple Lightning Elemental Enlightenment. The same type of Elemental Enlightenment probably has subdivisions of different functions and effects. He was using the purple Lightning Elemental Enlightenment earlier for rapid speed, which resulted in a boost to his sword speed. Now that he's using red Lightning Elemental Enlightenment for a force-type attack, the effect might be different…"
Lin Huang did not have a detailed understanding of Lightning Elemental Enlightenment. However, he knew that Sword10's sword power would certainly be terrifying with the addition of both Fire and Lightning Elemental Enlightenments.
In an instant, the battle sword in Lin Huang's hand was also enveloped in blood-red Divine Power. With the addition of Sword Dao true meaning and God-slaying Power, the blood-red glow on the blade was even more intense than before.
The blood-red glow very soon transformed into a state resembling flame and enveloped the entire blade.
This layer of "red flame" was naturally not a real flame like that of Fire Elemental Enlightenment. Instead, Lin Huang used Charcoal's Dragon Flame as a model and simulated the flame with Divine Power.
"I definitely can't fight his double Elemental Enlightenment attack with my God-slaying Power alone…" In his mind, Lin Huang was rapidly searching for skills and divine abilities that could be added to his force-type attack. He soon found the answer.
The Superhuman Strength divine ability!
The Superhuman Strength was a natural talent originally from Gong Sunying, who was born with this innate ability. However, when Tyrant elevated to virtual god-level and his Immense Strength skill evolved into Superhuman Strength, the Superhuman Strength natural talent integrated automatically with his Monster Skill to become a new Superhuman Strength divine ability.
Tyrant had the Celestial Giant bloodline, which meant that Superhuman Strength—his core skill—was no less powerful than God Rule Power itself.
The effect of Superhuman Strength on Lin Huang's attack was very obvious.
One could say that both combatants held nothing back in this attack.
In the void, two red gleams lit up half the sky. One was rather dim, while the other was as bright as a flame; they lit up the palace so brightly that there were no shadows anywhere.
The next instant, both red gleams transformed into two meteors and shot through the air, colliding with each other.
The second the dim and the bright red gleams collided, dazzling red light was released. At that moment, the red gleam was even faintly tinged with white. Endless bursts of red light surged in all directions like flowing water, completely blanketing all the spaces within the palace in the blink of an eye, turning it into a blood-red edifice.
If there were other living beings in this place, the residual red gleams of light emanating from the sword swings would instantly turn anyone below true god-level into dust…
The collision of these two similar red gleams came to an end in no more than ten seconds. However, a glaringly bright red afterglow remained where the point of impact had been.
Suddenly, a black silhouette shot out from the afterglow, landing hard onto the ground and stirring up a cloud of dust.
"Let's continue!" The silhouette slowly clambered up from the dust and stood up.
All of a sudden, it moved again, stepping out of the dust-covered area.
A figure in a black robe emerged; it was Lin Huang.
Lin Huang did not seem to mind being defeated in this first round of combat. He drew himself up without hesitation and initiated battle again.
Sword10 raised his brows slightly but did not say anything. He transformed into a stream of light again and charged at Lin Huang.
In the void, the dim and the bright gleams collided over and over. As a result of the tremendous impact, dazzling red star-like sparks illuminated the air continuously.
However, Lin Huang was repeatedly forced to retreat due to his opponent's attacks.
The first dozen or so times, Lin Huang was immediately sent flying. However, he was gradually starting to retreat less and less far away.
By the time Sword10 sheathed his sword and exited the battlefield, Lin Huang had reduced the distance of his retreat to within ten meters.
"Although I'm a Protoss with a naturally powerful physique that gives me a natural advantage in force-type attacks, if I compare myself to a genuine force-type powerhouse, there's still significant room for improvement.
"Of all those under the swordmaster, Sword3 is the person who has gone the furthest in force-type ability. Out of the ten of us bodyguards, he's also the one with the most in-depth comprehension of force-type attacks.
"He has the Celestial Giant bloodline, which means his strength, explosive ability and physique have surpassed even the Protoss. Given that he was able to cultivate using the Celestial Giants' methods, he's much more powerful in Divine Power usage compared to ordinary Protoss. You could say that he's reached the peak in all aspects of force-type ability.
"If he used no other technique except force-type Sword Dao to fight, at my ability level I would probably only be able to sustain three sword attacks from him at most. Even if I brought out all of my techniques, he would only need around ten sword attacks to kill me.
"Going by your current force-type level, you might be able to take one sword attack from him…
"If you'd like to take steps for a breakthrough in this area, overall, there are only two ways to go about it. You either achieve a breakthrough with your Superhuman Strength divine ability so it becomes a rule—or you can master another God Rule Power or Elemental Enlightenment that can be used in force-type attacks. An example would be the Fire Elemental Enlightenment; it would be quite effective if combined with simulated Dragon Flame…
"Of course, everything I've mentioned is based on my personal understanding. They're just some suggestions; they're not necessarily correct. If you have ideas of your own, you can try them out and find a suitable breakthrough method that best suits you."
Chapter 1348: Lin Huang's Ridiculous Request
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
"The three main cultivation directions for Sword Dao are rapid speed, force-type, and ultimate dao-type.
Rapid speed requires ultimate attack speed, force-type requires the ultimate output, while the ultimate dao-type requires the ultimate Sword Dao.
Cultivators who go for the ultimate dao-type tend to elevate the level of their Sword Dao true meaning as much as they can. While they are still at the same rank of Sword Dao true meaning, they pursue the mastery of more sword skills and sword skills of a higher grade. Some even learn a great many effects and other divine ability skills that are helpful for Sword Dao.
However, ultimate dao-type isn't an easy path to master. Talent and hard work are essential; you can't have one without the other. If you have insufficient talent, you might be several dozen or even a hundred times slower in cultivating sword skills compared to people with innate talent. Even if you've spent a great amount of time cultivating many sword skills, it's difficult to actively use them all in actual battle. That's why taking this particular path is a difficult journey for anyone who doesn't have the talent. On the other hand, if one doesn't work hard enough, having talent alone is just futile. No matter how prodigious one's talent is, as long one's foundation in Sword Dao isn't strong enough or one hasn't accumulated enough sword skills, it's almost impossible to build something out of nothing and become a genuine Sword Dao powerhouse.
"Since you've managed to get to the final Trial of the Great Heaven inheritance, this is sufficient proof that you have stunning talent and Sword Dao potential. However, I would only be able to judge where you're at in Sword Dao through actual combat."
Sword10 spun the battle sword in his hand as he finished speaking, tracing a sword arc in the void.
"Let's spar with pure sword skills this round. We won't use any God Rule Powers, Elemental Enlightenments, or any other skills. We'll spare only with pure sword skills containing Sword Dao true meaning and the lowest level of Divine Power! What do you think?"
Lin Huang agreed right away to what Sword10 suggested.
He did so because this rule was beneficial to him. Although he had ample Divine Power in his body and Divine Fire to replenish it, he still had to face ten Sword Servants after all, not just Sword10 alone. Naturally, the less he needed to exhaust Divine Power the better.
After agreeing on the rules of engagement, the duo soon went into battle mode.
Naturally, this round of combat was not as colorful as the previous two.
There was no ultimate speed, no clash of ultimate force, and no dazzling sparks coming from intense Divine Power collisions…
There were merely battle swords imbued with Sword Dao that were swung with the lowest possible level of Divine Power.
In the void, two silhouettes collided over and over again.
Lin Huang attacked repeatedly in earnest; likewise, Sword10 did not dare to delay.
Although this battle was less visually interesting than the two previous ones, if one were to talk about Sword Dao skill, then this was the climax of all three battles.
If there had been other sword cultivators present, this third battle would definitely be the one that they would most willingly watch because they would be able to see the clash of tens of thousands of sword skills. Even if they only managed to assimilate one percent out of everything in the entire battle, that in itself was a significant amount of knowledge reaped.
Lin Huang delivered blow after blow with all of the sword skills that he had ever learned.
Meanwhile on the other side, Sword10 would always find ways to counter Lin Huang's attacks.
In the void, the two silhouettes leaped continuously, battle swords clashing again and again.
However, over two hours later, Lin Huang had utilized all of the sword skills that he had ever learned in his life but had not even managed to graze the corner of Sword10's shirt.
Upon observing that Lin Huang had exhausted his sword skills, only then did Sword10 sheathe his sword back in its scabbard and initiate a retreat from battle.
Lin Huang did not insist on continuing the fight after that.
He knew very well that Sword10 had obviously mastered way more sword skills than he had.
"There are two main issues in your ultimate dao-type attack.
One is that you've mastered too few sword skills; another is that you're lacking in the mastery of high-grade sword skills.
Both these problems are why your Sword Dao true meaning is constrained by limits.
Going by your talent and potential, once you've mastered sword skills in sufficient number and at a high enough grade, it might be possible for you to breakthrough to Sword Dao true meaning from Sword Dao and straight away achieve peak True Martial Level. However, your Sword Dao true meaning is only average at present.
However, the good news is that you're the participant in this Trial round. Therefore, the Sword Dao true meaning of the guardians in this round will be capped to the same level as when you were when you entered the final Trial.
Even with that, however, your lack of accumulated sword skills is also your biggest flaw. I can even say without exaggeration that this might be the biggest obstacle for you in obtaining the swordmaster's inheritance.
Each of the swordmaster's bodyguards has mastered at least 300,000 sword skills. Some of them have even mastered over a million skills. If you can conclude a battle within a short period of time, you'd naturally have no issues later on. However, as soon as you enter the exhaustion stage of the battle, it would take two hours at most for your combat style to be seen through completely.
However, the biggest issue now is that this flaw of yours can't be fixed within a short period of time…" Sword10 frowned hard.
"So from your perspective, the chances of me obtaining the swordmaster's inheritance are extremely low?" Lin Huang asked after a moment of consideration.
"It's not extremely low, it's basically zero," Sword10 said honestly.
"There's no need to even talk about other people; you definitely won't be able to pass the battle against Sword1, the most powerful bodyguard under the swordmaster. Of all the ultimate dao-type powerhouses under the swordmaster, Sword1 is the most powerful of them all. He's mastered at least a million sword skills. Not only that, but he's also integrated all of the sword skills that he has mastered. Any kind of sword skill in this world he can counter immediately the next round, after engaging in battle just once.
Sword1 looks down the most on Sword Dao cultivators with insufficient sword skills because to him, it's proof that one's Sword Dao foundation isn't solid.
As far as you're concerned, there's another worse piece of news—Sword1 is a loyal member of the Regression Sect.
As a Regression Sect member, he'll judge all candidates by the strictest and most difficult assessments.
Even if you're lucky enough to overcome all the other nine palaces, you absolutely won't be able to get through the last one!"
"You really have such low confidence in me?" Lin Huang said with a smile while scratching his nose.
"It's not that I don't have confidence in you; I'm just telling you the facts that I'm absolutely certain of." Sword10 sighed rather helplessly. "In reality, as a Succession Sect member, I, more than anyone else, hope that you can pass this and obtain the swordmaster's inheritance. I hope that the swordmaster's mantle can be passed down to his heir; I also hope that these 300,000 years of waiting can finally end… However, it's a pity but I don't see the possibility of you obtaining the swordmaster's inheritance."
"Is there a time limit for this final Trial?" Lin Huang asked suddenly.
"There's no time limit. Moreover, since Golden Crow Mountain is within the boundaries of Great Heaven Palace and the swordmaster predicted that the final Trial might take a long time, the time flow is 1,000 times faster than the outside world."
"Since it's been 300,000 years in the outside world, have all of you actually been guardians in here for 300,000 million years?" Lin Huang asked, eyes wide.
"Theoretically, you could say that. However, we're in hibernation most of the time. In the beginning, we'd still observe the trials in the Swordfiend Abyss—we would wake up to watch every time someone participated. However, we stopped checking as time went by. If you hadn't managed to make it all the way to the final Trial, the ten of us wouldn't have woken up at all."
"Since there's no time limit, I have a ridiculous request to ask of you, Senior," Lin Huang said with a smile before uttering his request, "I hope that Senior Sword10 will be my sparring partner!"
"Huh?!"
Sword10 was dumbfounded.
Chapter 1349: 300 Days of Diligent Cultivation
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
After some gentle persuasion, Sword10 could not help but agree to Lin Huang's ridiculous request.
The main reason was that he knew very well that if he waited for the next candidate to show up, it might be another 300,000 years or even three million years.
As a member of the Succession Sect, since 300,000 years ago he had been hoping for someone worthy to come and take over the swordmaster's inheritance. Now that 300,000 years had passed, his hopes regarding the arrival of the swordmaster's heir had become even more pressing. He really did not want to wait any further.
Another reason was that he had been incredibly bored over these 300,000 years.
It would not matter even if he spent time training Lin Huang and the lad failed to obtain the swordmaster's inheritance in the end. At least Sword10 would have something to occupy his time for a while.
If Lin Huang was ridiculously lucky and really did manage to obtain the swordmaster's inheritance at the end of it all, then he and his old comrades could finally end their mission as guardians once and for all.
After a brief moment of consideration, Sword10 agreed to Lin Huang's request without much hesitation.
…
"Senior, earlier on in battle you already brought up the issues I had.
"First would be rapid speed. The main direction of improvement that you suggested would be mastering speed-type God Rule Power or Elemental Enlightenment. At this moment, apart from possessing the Seraphic Speed divine ability, I have the light attribute skill (Divine Purification) and the lightning attribute skill (Lightning Lord). Therefore, my main cultivation direction in rapid speed should be the exploration and usage of the Seraphic Speed divine ability. Ideally I would be able to elevate it to a God Rule Power. Another direction would be going in-depth into the light and lightning attribute skills. It would be best if I could elevate them to Elemental Enlightenments.
"Next would be the force-type attack. You mentioned that advancement in this direction would still take the form of God Rule Power or Elemental Enlightenment. I have the Superhuman Strength divine ability and the lightning attribute skill (Lightning Lord). There's potential for elevating the Superhuman Strength divine ability into a God Rule Power; there's also the possibility of elevating the lightning attribute skill to Elemental Enlightenment.
"Lastly would be the ultimate dao-type attack. I definitely have mastered too few sword skills and I'm severely lacking in high-grade sword skills. In reality, however, I've obtained many sword skill inheritances, quite a few of them in the previous Trial, but I haven't had the chance to assimilate them yet. Now that I have you to practice actual combat with, I should be able to accumulate many more sword skills very rapidly…
"At the moment, I think as long as I'm given enough time, I should be able to improve these flaws that Senior Sword10 mentioned." Lin Huang felt fully confident in himself.
At least he had cheat codes for the learning of skills.
"Tell me how you want me to spar with you." Sword10 did not have confidence in Lin Huang but he did not crush his enthusiasm.
"I'll cultivate the ultimate dao-type attack first to remedy my unstable foundation." Lin Huang wanted to seize the opportunity of having a sparring partner to digest all of the Sword Dao inheritances that he had obtained so far.
He had actually prepared his plans very thoroughly in advance. Even if his cultivation in rapid speed and the force-type attack failed later on, causing him to lose out on Great Heaven's inheritance, at least he would have some solid improvement in his Sword Dao ability.
Sword10 had no objections to that. After all, the main factor in elevating divine abilities to God Rule Power or elevating elemental skills to Elemental Enlightenment was a thorough understanding of divine abilities and elements. Compared to other methods, one would see results faster by cultivating sword skills. He was not surprised that Lin Huang chose to do this first.
After discussing the general direction of cultivation, Sword10 did not say much more but immediately went into sparring mode.
Meanwhile, one by one, Lin Huang began to utilize the sword skills that he was unfamiliar with.
The next few days had Sword10 completely in shock.
He was a genuine Sword Dao genius as well, but Lin Huang's speed in cultivating sword skills stunned him.
The lad was clearly a beginner in almost all sword skills when he utilized them for the first time. However, he would basically master them on the second try and use them in a familiar manner by the third try, as if he had been training in those sword skills for dozens of years, even up to a century.
Even Lin Huang himself was shocked. His sword training progress with Sword10 was much more efficient and effective than when he was training on his own. The improvement in his sword skills would skyrocket with each sparring session.
For context, of all the sword skills that he was practicing currently, the lowest grade was legendary-level. There were also many pseudo-mythical-level and mythical-level sword skills.
He would basically master legendary-level sword skills entirely after training with them just once. He only needed to practice pseudo-mythical-level sword skills three times; for mythical-level sword skills, at most, he needed only five practices to fully master them.
In the first 24 hours of his training, he had mastered a total of 358 new sword skills.
Over the next two days, this number settled to a steady 350 sword skills per day.
Given how fast Lin Huang was picking up, Sword10 could find nothing to complain about at all.
Although he knew that Sword1 could also perform similar feats of learning, Sword1's combat strength was already at peak heavenly god-level by the time he was able to do that. Moreover, he had accumulated terrifying ultimate dao-type attacks which were sufficient for him to deconstruct the nature of most sword skills.
However, Lin Huang was currently only a beginner in Sword Dao true meaning while his Sword Dao accumulation was nothing in comparison with any of the Sword Servants under the swordmaster. By managing to achieve such results, he had proved that he had terrifying talent and potential.
Sword10 had initially not placed any great hope in Lin Huang. After witnessing how fast Lin Huang picked up sword skills, however, his dead hopes ignited once more and he became increasingly enthusiastic as a sparring partner.
As time passed, the number of sword skills Lin Huang mastered increased rapidly.
By the time 200 days had passed, Lin Huang had finally mastered 100,000 sword skills. That was almost ten times more than what he possessed before he entered the Great Heaven Trial.
Not only had he entirely assimilated all of the sword skills that he had obtained in the Great Heaven Trial, but he had also assimilated many of the inheritances from the golden sword.
Lin Huang could even clearly sense that his current Sword Dao was much more powerful than before.
"Previously I kept putting off cultivating true god-level sword skills. Now it's almost time to assimilate all of my true god-level sword skill inheritances."
Throughout around 250 days of cultivation, Lin Huang had been putting off the cultivation of true god-level sword skills. Now he finally decided to assimilate all of those inheritances.
In this next stage of true god-level sword skill cultivation, Lin Huang's progress slowed down significantly.
Previously, for mythical-level sword skills, he usually only needed to practice them five times; he would master them after six or seven practices at most. However, for true god-level sword skills, he could basically only master each one after practicing up to a hundred times. Not only that, but his practice speed was also much slower than before.
On the first day of his next stage of training, Lin Huang only managed to master two true god-level sword skills.
Upon observing this, Sword10 made him rest for a day to relax his tense nerves.
On the third day, Lin Huang began practicing true god-level sword skills once more. He finally completed cultivating three sword skills within a day.
Since then, Lin Huang maintained a steady cultivation speed of three sword skills per day.
Not only was there a significant elevation in Sword Dao true meaning through practicing true god-level sword skills, but Lin Huang could also clearly sense that his Sword Dao true meaning was advancing every day.
After close to two months, Lin Huang had assimilated all of his true god-level sword inheritances.
By then, his Sword Dao true meaning had elevated to full True Martial Level.
Over 300 days cultivating with practically no rest had completely remedied Lin Huang's flaw of his lack of mastered sword skills. Apart from that, he had also elevated his Sword Dao to full True Martial Level.
After witnessing Lin Huang's rapid advancement, Sword10 began to think that the lad really might have the qualifications to inherit the swordmaster's position after all.
Chapter 1350: Making It Past the Tenth Palace
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
"My Sword Dao true meaning is at peak True Martial Level—my shortcoming in ultimate dao-type has basically been remedied. It's rather meaningless to continue cultivating sword skills any further because, at such short notice, it's quite impossible for me to break through from Sword Dao true meaning to the second level, which is the True Meaning Level.
"In that case, let's begin the cultivation of rapid speed next. We'll begin with the utilization of the Seraphic Speed divine ability…"
After a full day of sleep, Lin Huang got Sword10 to cultivate with him first thing in the morning for this next round of his training.
Since he had such powerful innate ability and his pet monsters carried out many things for him, apart from Sword Dao, Lin Huang did not often utilize many of these skills at all.
This was even more so for speed skills such as Seraphic Speed. As a result, Lin Huang was miles away from Kylie and the rest, as far as the usage of various Monster Skills and divine abilities were concerned.
However, to force himself to explore the usage of rapid speed techniques such as Seraphic Speed, Lin Huang trained his rapid speed attack by having Sword10 use Elemental Enlightenment without holding back.
Time passed by. Under Sword10's repeated suppression, Lin Huang spent merely three days to get his Seraphic Speed divine ability to its peak.
For a week or more after that, he trained his lightning and light elemental skills to their peak through rapid speed attacks.
After this Lin Huang spent some ten days perfecting the integration of his lightning and light attribute elemental skills with Seraphic Speed divine ability and Thunder Eclipse.
Although he had yet to elevate his Seraphic Speed divine ability to a God Rule Power and his lightning and light attribute elemental skills had yet to evolve into Elemental Enlightenment, Lin Huang's current rapid speed level had surpassed that of Sword10.
To advance his breakthrough, Lin Huang initially began using Seraphic Speed or Thunder Eclipse with a single attribute elemental skill added on. However, he did not achieve a breakthrough even after trying for close to half a month.
Feeling helpless, Lin Huang had no choice but to temporarily set aside his cultivation in rapid speed; he began to elevate his ability in force-type attack.
It had to be said that Sword10 was indeed an excellent sparring partner. His abilities in all aspects were very balanced.
Lin Huang's cultivation in force-type attack went on for over half a month. At the end of this time, he had at last perfectly integrated his use of Superhuman Strength divine ability with lightning elemental skill and sword skills.
However, just like his cultivation in rapid speed, his Superhuman Strength divine ability had yet to evolve into a God Rule Power. Meanwhile, his lightning elemental skill had not yet elevated to Elemental Enlightenment either.
Sword10 was astonished as Lin Huang had only spent less than 400 days to surpass him in all aspects.
Whether it was rapid speed, force-type, or ultimate dao-type, Lin Huang currently completely dominated him. With the elevation of his Sword Dao true meaning, Lin Huang's overall ability was over several times more powerful than when he had just entered the final Trial.
"Your overall ability has already completely surpassed me now. You've spent less than 400 days to achieve this. To be honest, this is completely beyond my expectations." Sword10 sheathed his sword in its scabbard. He knew that he was no longer of much use as a sparring partner now.
"Your Seraphic Speed, Superhuman Strength, and light and lightning elemental skills haven't had any breakthroughs in their nature. However, your overall abilities have been elevated so completely, it's as if you're a brand new person compared to before. With your current ability, anyone below Sword3's level shouldn't be an obstacle for you. However, the Trial will get more and more difficult for you from Sword3 onward.
"My job as a sparring partner has ended; I can't elevate you any further. However, your cultivation isn't done just yet." Sword10's eyes gleamed faintly from his sloppy face. Even the dark circles under his eyes seemed to be less obvious than before. "Next, I'll give you one last Trial mission."
Lin Huang looked at Sword10 in confusion. He had no idea at all what kind of mission Sword10 would give him.
"Your mission is to make every guardian in the remaining rounds your sparring partner. Try your best to suppress them to learn from them. Also, before meeting Sword1, you must complete your breakthrough in rapid speed and force-type attack! Otherwise, you'll have no chance of winning at all!"
"I'll definitely remember that!" Lin Huang nodded and agreed earnestly after he heard that.
"Lastly, I'd like to give you a gift!" As soon as Sword10 was done speaking, in a flash, he suddenly appeared in front of Lin Huang.
Lin Huang instinctively wanted to draw his sword, but he firmly suppressed this impulse.
Sword10 extended his index finger and touched it to his own forehead.
The next instant, a sea of sword skill inheritances flooded Lin Huang's mind.
This was a heavy load of inheritances; it even made Lin Huang briefly blank out for three seconds.
When he snapped back to his senses, Sword10 had turned around and was walking back into the depths of the palace.
He waved without even turning around. "I've lost this Trial, send him out!"
Before Lin Huang could respond, the palace disintegrated immediately. It transformed into countless mosaic-like pieces, vanishing while flying into the sky…
Lin Huang only felt a faint sense of melancholy at that moment. The next instant, his surroundings had reverted to dense jungle just like before.
Everywhere there was lush greenery; there was no trace at all of the black palace; it was as if the palace and Sword10 had never been there.
"Congratulations to the participant for making it past the Tenth Palace!"
A notification box popped up, snapping Lin Huang out of his reverie.
He did a scan with Divine Telekinesis but did not sense any living beings. Lin Huang did not proceed further after that. Instead, he stood where he was and spread his consciousness within him to see what inheritances Sword10 had left for him.
He was shocked by what he found.
"Damn! There are over 800,000 sword skills…"
Sword10 left behind over 800,000 sword skills of all sorts. Moreover, the lowest grade was pseudo-mythical-level. There were over 8,000 true god-level sword skills alone while there were over 70 heavenly god-level sword skills.
Only now did Lin Huang truly understand that none of the Sword Servants under Great Heaven were weak in their abilities.
Judging by Sword10's terrifying Sword Dao background, he could almost imagine that Sword10's combined abilities would definitely be in the top ranks of the heavenly god-level powerhouses.
Powerhouses with such rich accumulation of skills would grow even more powerful as time went by. However, they might not have Lin Huang's immense talent and potential, to begin with. Therefore, under the restriction of rules, it was not surprising that Sword10 lost to Lin Huang.
"Judging from my previous cultivation speed, I'd need a few years to completely digest this inheritance of his…" Lin Huang shook his head while forcing a smile.
He would never forget Sword10's generosity to him, however.
Without these last 400 days of practice day and night with Sword10, the chances of him obtaining Great Heaven's inheritance would be very slim. Even though he had greatly improved in his abilities now, he still did not have an absolute guarantee of obtaining the Great Heaven inheritance.
"Oh that's right, I forgot to ask earlier which of the bodyguards under the swordmaster are in the Succession Sect and which of them are in the Regression Sect," Lin Huang mumbled softly in the direction of where the Tenth Palace had appeared earlier, "It's alright though; I'll just treat everyone as a sparring partner!"