บท 115: Astral Blades, Astral Fortitude
Even though the silence was trying to distract him with loneliness, Ace remained unfazed with his sword in hand.
There were many things in life he has yet to experience, but even when compared to most veteran cultivators, the ups and downs he has been through were still more than then.
He had experienced the despair of helplessness.
He had lost a loved one who left him silently so as to not worry him.
He had carried on a destiny only he could fulfill from the day the system chose him.
The Phoenix Sword was his source of courage. Accompanying since the early stages of his cultivation.
The path of solitude was only a short distance which Ace soon covered.
Arriving at the entrance of where the voice called out to him from, Ace came to a stop.
The gate was preventing him from advancing any further, in the middle of the gate formed by two leaf shaped doors, was a seal.
The seal was circular in shape, caves inwards to form the shape of a drop of blood.
"Drip a drop of blood into the seal, if you manage to open the gate, you may enter, if not, take your leave."
The voice mentioned before going silent once again.
Ace did as advised considering that there were no other choices to make at this point of time.
Forming a shallow cut on his thumb with his sword wave, Ace delivered a drop of blood to fit into the seal perfectly.
The seal rotated clockwise after interacting with Ace's blood, breaking into two halves which allowed the door to open.
"You may enter."
The voice told Ace.
Ace stepped through the door which closed shut behind him as he continued to advance forward.
At this point of time, backing out is no longer an option.
"It seems that you've arrived, the destined one I have been waiting for my entire life." The voice said as a wisp of spirit energy manifested into the form of a monkey which was hopping around.
"Are you the voice which has been calling out to me the entire time?" Ace asked as he chuckled at the sight of the monkey which was wearing a headband and holding a rod in hand,
"Of course, who else but the great monkey king who has soared the heavens, traversed the oceans, roamed the lands would call out to such a weakling like you? You have to know that this monkey king was…"
The monkey stopped abruptly without elaborating any further.
"It seems that you have already made countless breakthroughs from lucky encounters, but I'm sorry to tell you that you meeting me will be your misfortune. I have a request you can't reject. I want to become the guardian beast of your sect, as for my whereabouts, that isn't for you to be concerned about."
The monkey demanded from Ace as it hopped onto his shoulder, coiling its body inwards to sleep on Ace's shoulder.
"You can leave through the entrance directly in front of you, I'll return to your sect during this time period you're away."
The monkey said as a portal spiralled before Ace's eyes out of nowhere as he stepped into it.
The moment Ace returned to the cultivation world, the first thing he noticed was that the monkey had really vanished into thin air as though it didn't even exist to begin with.
The second thing that caught his attention was the entrance of the cave already being opened even though he had just left the illusion realm.
The man was nowhere to be seen and from Ace's deduction, he was sure that the old man was already inside the cave.
Recognizing the truth that the treasures weren't destined to be his for the first time, Ace felt disappointment and even greed rising from the depths of his heart.
But before the feeling of greed could consume it, Ace calmed himself down immediately as he entered a state of cultivation,
The man had already given him the chance to awaken the first layer of his nine blood pools, asking for anything else would be too much especially when the man still owed him a sword skill of an unknown grade as well.
Ace was sure that the man wasn't only giving it as a reward because he had no use for it, but because that man had no use for it and compared to whatever he needed in the cave, this sword skill was of no use to him.
"Young boy, you can recover from your state of cultivation now."
The man whispered towards Ace in a gentle voice so as to not distract him from his state of focus.
Ace completed the last circulation of spirit energy before opening his eyes gradually to see that the man had already obtained the item in the cave.
Held in his hand right now was the sword manual which he had promised as the reward.
"I have already called the mercenary guild to inform them that you have completed the mission, if there's nothing else, I'll take my leave first."
The man passed the sword manual over to Ace and turned around to take his leave.
"Senior, wait a moment."
The man stopped his flight and asked without turning back to face Ace, "What's the matter?"
"Can I have the privilege of knowing your name? I have a feeling that we'll meet again in the future."
"My name's Eira Snow."
The man left his identity behind without turning back, muttering to himself in a voice only audible to him.
"This is the best I can do, hopefully that sword skill will help him arrive at that height in four years time after becoming the legend among the seven continents two years later."
On the cover of the sword manual, was the name of the sword skill written on it.
<Astral Blades>
There are four realms to this sword skill, each strong enough to undergo a transformation from its previous realm.
The first realm is the realm of 'Terra Destruction'. To achieve this realm, the cultivator would have to cultivate the <Astral Fortitude> to the bronze realm.
In the realm of 'Terra Destruction', each slash of the cultivator will carry the strength to cause destruction and havoc in the cultivation world. The ground will rumble, the seas will tremble, the air will split.
The second realm is the realm of 'Fallen Celestial'. To achieve this realm, the cultivator would have to cultivate the <Astral Fortitude> to the silver realm.
In the realm of 'Fallen Celestial', each slash from the cultivator will carry the strength to destroy the earth, split the seas, and tremble the void. The cultivator will possess the strength to travel at the speed of light while possessing immense attack power.
The third realm is the realm of 'Rising Celestial'. To achieve this realm, one must step into the gold realm of the <Astral Fortitude>.
In the 'Rising Celestial' realm, the cultivator would gain the strength to amplify his sword by another level, the cultivator's senses and combat sense will also be strengthened greatly. Most importantly, attacks of this level are enough to penetrate through the profound laws of space and time.
Last but not least was the 'Stellar Meteor' realm which can only be cultivated in the Diamond realm of the <Astral Fortitude>.
In the Stellar Meteor realm, every attack from this cultivator will have the strength to impact stars, causing explosions in the highest order of the cultivation world. Each attack isn't as simple as being threatening anymore, the attack will be able to attack any target from millions of miles away as long as the target is decided and locked onto.
As for the <Astral Fortitude>, it was a body tempering martial skill which he has been lacking all this while.
After pondering for some time, Ace made the solemn decision to cultivate in this forest. Since the next segment of the cultivation tournament would be up to his disciples and with him being unable to assist them in any ways, the best option now would be to strengthen himself further.
And just like this, Ace started his physical training with the <Astral Fortitude> body tempering martial skill.
To even achieve the bronze realm, his physical body would need to at least have the strength to contend against the weakest of Martial Lords.
It has been a long time since Ace did physical training since the benefits he could gain were negligible compared to the effort he puts in, but circumstances have changed right now with a body tempering martial skill.
There was another way of cultivating his body right now and that was to rely on consuming fruits or any elixirs or treasures that was useful to a body tempering cultivator.
It might be rare and difficult to locate outside the forest, but with him being in the forest with countless cultivation resources to fight for, it was possible to make full use of this three months and strengthen his physical body.
Heading deeper into the forest as he kept his sword, Ace started his hell of a training as the competition day drew closer.
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