Sword Intent

Sword Intent

Experience exceeded 10,000.

The system unlocked several new functions.

Killing enemies would not only yield experience; with good luck, it could also drop all kinds of items, such as cultivation methods, weapons, immortal pills and miraculous medicines.

Killing a Child of Destiny, however, was guaranteed to drop an item, and its quality would not be low.

This made Lu Zhaojin want even more to kill Zhao Jinzhi and see what good thing might drop.

At the same time, cultivation methods such as the Brute Ox Stance and Gale Sword Art could actually continue to improve.

According to the system's prompt, after a cultivation method reached perfection, there was still a realm of supreme mastery, also called the Extreme Realm—the ultimate limit of a cultivation method.

When a cultivation method reached this realm, it meant one's mastery of it had already surpassed its creator. One could only imagine how powerful it was.

However, breaking through to the Extreme Realm required 10,000 experience points. That was truly no small amount.

There were currently no other cultivation methods that could be improved.

Lu Zhaojin poured those 10,000 experience points into the Gale Sword Art.

Gale Sword Art (Extreme Realm)

Experience: 2318

As the sword art reached the Extreme Realm.

Lu Zhaojin felt as though he could hear different sounds. He felt the sword in his hand speaking. Though crippled, its will remained resolute; it spoke of fighting again. Though shattered, it would still die upon the battlefield.

At the same time, he felt that this Cave Mansion had become somewhat different. Wind seemed to flow through it at all times. He had been unable to sense it before, but now he could easily perceive its presence—soft, smooth, like an invisible ribbon slipping through his hand.

The wind was joyous, and it was free.

Yet though it seemed harmless, once it raged, it could uproot great trees and whip rivers and seas into monstrous waves that drowned the earth.

Gale.

The word "gale" could be extended to mean swiftness.

In truth, when wind became swift to the utmost extreme, it transformed into blades.

Lu Zhaojin cultivated the Gale Sword Art. Even with experience points poured into it, even after reaching perfection, he had still not broken free from the confines of the sword.

It was not that the sword was unimportant. Rather, if he wished to surpass the creator, he had to deeply consider when and where the creator had been, and with what state of mind this cultivation method had been created.

Lu Zhaojin now seemed to possess the creator's body. In the form of a soul, he personally witnessed that figure swinging a sword amid the gale.

Strands of fierce wind resembled blade after blade, soaring recklessly through the void, asking not where they went and having no origin.

Wherever the gale passed, mountains and rocks split apart, trees snapped at their roots, and every fleeing animal enveloped by the wind was torn into pieces.

That figure faced the surging gale. Without any visible movement, he merely stood straight and still. Then, between heaven and earth, there came only a resonant clang of a Sword Cry.

The wind ceased, while the clouds still moved.

Before this sword, even the gale had to bow its head in defeat.

For this sword was faster than the gale. It seemed to sever the source, and also seemed to sever the past. It involved mysteries of a deeper level, things Lu Zhaojin could not yet see through. He only felt that the man's sword was so fast that no shadow could be seen, beyond even what the naked eye could perceive.

At this level of swordsmanship, even a martial artist of the Sixth-Rank Realm would likely perish at the sight of it.

Lu Zhaojin sank into this profound and mysterious insight. Only after an unknown length of time did his consciousness return to his body.

Unlocked Sword Intent—Gale

Lu Zhaojin lay quietly on the ground, the long spear still embedded in his body, as though all life had left him.

Uncle Chen did not immediately step forward to inspect him. Having lived more than half his life, he understood the treachery of the martial world well. Playing dead was an essential trick.

At the same time, the disturbance here caught the attention of Zhao Jinzhi and the others. Seeing that Lu Zhaojin seemed to have been killed by Uncle Chen, they felt as though a huge stone had finally fallen from their hearts.

Lu Jinlin furiously tried to rush at Uncle Chen to avenge his son, but Zhao Yuanshan and Xu Huan did not let him succeed.

Uncle Chen finally let out a breath. As Lu Zhaojin's opponent, he had felt as if he were fighting an enemy of the same realm.

He was clearly a Late Seventh-Rank Martial Artist. Why had dealing with a martial artist in the initial stage been so exhausting?

Uncle Chen stepped forward, preparing to pull out the long spear and stab him a few more times before he could truly rest easy.

He had barely taken one step when a wisp of cool wind brushed past his ear, accompanied by a faint sting.

Uncle Chen halted and raised a hand to touch his earlobe. His fingers met something slick and greasy. He brought them before his eyes for a look, then lifted them to his nose and smelled a scent of blood.

What was going on?

Uncle Chen was half doubtful, half convinced. Could he have been cut by that youth during their fight?

Before he could settle the doubt in his heart, denser gusts of cool wind rose within the Cave Mansion. They had no source, as though they had been born from thin air.

Uncle Chen's pupils contracted slightly as he noticed that Lu Zhaojin's corpse had actually moved. "He's not dead!"

The long spear had not pierced Lu Zhaojin. His skin was comparable to bronze; the material used to forge this spear far surpassed ordinary materials, yet it had only left a pale mark on his skin.

However, the penetrating force carried by the long spear had still inflicted considerable damage upon Lu Zhaojin's internal organs.

He was now like a turtle with a hard shell but untempered viscera.

If only he could find the later portions of the Golden Body Technique.

Lu Zhaojin rose to his feet again, merely wounded. Blood spilled from the corner of his mouth, trailing down in a crimson line.

Yet his eyes shone brightly as he stared at Uncle Chen, who stood frozen in place. A cyan gleam flickered in his gaze. As though a gentle breeze had swept past, the wind here became swift and sudden.

Zhao Jinzhi and the others still did not know what was happening, but his master had noticed something unusual. "This is... Intent!"

Zhao Jinzhi did not understand. "Master, what is Intent?"

His master did not explain. "Your master does not cultivate the martial path and cannot explain it to you. But I have once heard that when you train a cultivation method to the realm of reaching the summit and attaining the ultimate, you may come into contact with Intent."

Zhao Jinzhi was even more confused. "Reaching the summit and attaining the ultimate?"

In his understanding, there were only Beginner, Lesser Mastery, Greater Mastery, and Perfection.

His master patiently explained, "The person who created this cultivation method is that mountain peak. When you cultivate this method, you are climbing that mountain. Even if you reach the realm of perfection, you merely see the same scenery upon that peak. But when you reach its summit and see different scenery, that is surpassing the creator. In the martial path, this is called the Extreme Realm."

Zhao Jinzhi understood, but no joy at gaining new knowledge arose in his heart. Instead, the jealousy and dark thoughts he felt toward Lu Zhaojin grew even stronger.

His master could sense the changes in his disciple's heart. In the past, he could still offer more guidance, but now there was nothing he could say.

For even he felt that it would be extremely difficult for his own disciple to surpass Lu Zhaojin.

The gale appeared from thin air right before them.

Yet the others could not see it. They merely felt that something had changed, but could not explain exactly what it was.

Only Uncle Chen, who faced the Gale Sword Intent directly, could clearly see strands of fierce wind howling before him, like countless blades carving through his flesh and dismembering him into a thousand cuts—yet he was truly still alive.

In his eyes, Lu Zhaojin drew his sword. Brilliant cyan light filled his vision, leaving him unable to see.

But when he saw clearly again, there were unexpectedly two Lu Zhaojins.

One stood before him, and one stood behind him.

One drew his sword, and one sheathed it.

After a slight daze, the Lu Zhaojin before him slowly vanished.

So it had been too fast...

Uncle Chen's head fell from his neck.

Experience for killing a Seventh-Rank Martial Artist: +5000

Experience: 7318